Customs '54 Chevy 210 post build

Well, I didn't get much time in the shop this weekend. I had to go to a friend's son's birthday party on Sat. and today I went to a local car show that my dad had his car in. But I got into the shop for a little bit after the show.

I got the eyebrow piece fit and clecoed on.




I'll show you guys how I fit a panel using clecos. Once you do this, you'll never use those butt weld clamps again.
After the piece is fit and clecoed over the stock panel, I put down some Dykem, and scribe a cut line. Then, I'll cut on the cut line, but leaving small tabs where the clecos are.



Then I use these pliers to offset the tabs so that when you cleco your panel back on it is at the proper level for tack welding.



Here is a not very good photo of the tabs after they have been offset.



Cleco your panel on and get it tacked between the tabs. Once it's tacked, you simply break off the tabs with a pair of pliers.



Here is the tacked panel with tabs removed, and a nice tight gap, you can't get with butt weld clamps.



It was getting dark by then, so here is a dark photo of where I left off, with it tacked. Hopefully tomorrow, I can get into the shop, get it welded and metal finished. Hope the panel fitment helps someone.

 

Looking nice, thanks for sharing.

 

Looks killer

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Another great informative build. Subscribed

 

awesome tip man. I'm gonna make a pair of those pliers and use that technique when I replace the rockers on my car...

 

Thanks guys.
Glad the cleco tip can help someone.
(I also went back and fixed where auto correct had changed everywhere I tried to type "cleco")

I brightened up the last photo, so you can see whats going on a bit better.

 

Got into the shop for a bit today. Got the driver side eyebrow fit and tacked in, and the welded them both on.






Then I worked on hammering and sanding out the welds. They still need some adjusting and straightening, but they are mostly there. Still need to take care of the cleco holes as well. Some people take care of the holes when they weld the seam, but I prefer to do them separately.

 

Man that's sharp

 

Subscribed.. Thanks for sharing what you have learned..... Keep after it!

 

Updates?

 

Unfortunately, I have no update. I've had other things going on and haven't been able to get into the shop.
I also have a big deadline coming up at the shop and will be putting in extra hours, but will try to fit in some progress.

 

Subscribed. Killer work

 

What a great build thread! So glad I found it, never knew this was the car when I walked around it at the Hollywood Hot Rods open house before LARS back in June. Hope you find time to make more progress on it. Thanks for sharing the build tips. Bob

 

Well, I finally made some more time for the ole girl.

Last time I had the eyebrows welded on and the weld dressed, but still had cleco holes and some straightening to deal with. So I filled the cleco holes and sprayed the area down with dykem.




Then I hit it with some sandpaper to show the highs and lows, so I know what I need to work. I just use some sandpaper stuck to a strip of aluminum. Although, I really should switch it to a strip of thin stainless.
But, so here you can see what needs to be leveled out.




After a few rounds of hammering, and hitting it with the sandpaper, and applying more dykem, I'm calling it done. It's still far from perfect, but you can spend countless hours trying for perfection. And I'd like to get this car back on the road in the relatively near future.





So, now I'm ready to finish off the inside of these headlights, which I'll hopefully make good progress with the rest of the day.

 

Can't wait to see this thing done! That's a neat trick with the Dykem.

 

WOW! The TIG welding looked perfect, what was step one in leveling things out a file or a DA? Please keep posting the progress. Bob

 

Thanks Bob.
Well, after I hammered and dressed the weld with an 80 grit roloc, I DA with 80 grit so everything is uniform. Then I spray on the dykem hit it with the sandpaper, and do my hammer and dolly work.
After that I DA with 80 again, and then I scotchbrite it by hand, then wipe some Gibbs on it.

I do sometimes use a file, but I didn't on this.

 

So, to anyone watching, There won't be an update this weekend. Leaving for vacation tomorrow morning, but will probably have an update on Monday the 24th.

 

Great build, thanks for sharing your progress and tips.

 

How's the '54 coming?

 

It was great to have you share that tip. Hope you have more tech to share with this build. Looks good.

 

Sorry I've got no update guys. I haven't touched the '54 for a while. I've been concentrating on my T project. The T will be a pretty quick build, so when that is running I will get back on the '54, because I really miss driving it.

 

Well I don't have much of an update, but an update none the less. I had to go by the shop for a bit yesterday, so I decided to go early and work on the '54 for a bit. I got the to half of the headlight mounting flange, and inside section of the eyebrow fit, and test fit the bezel. Then I started welding it all up. Still have a little bit of welding and some fine tuning to do, and have to finish up the transition of the eyebrow to the fender on the sides, but it's finally almost there.

I only got a photo of the test fit. hopefully I'll have finished photos soon.

 

This is going to be a beautiful build. Nice workmanship.

 

Sexy !
Great build and info, subscribed.....

 

Nice work!
Just curious,what kind of tig welding rods you use?

 

Thanks guys!
Hopefully after GNRS I can do a better job of juggling this and the Model T and get some more progress to show. Or maybe hit the T hard and get it driving so I can concentrate on this car.

@Finnrodder I use ER70S-2 in .045 diameter or .035 diameter for the sheetmetal. Same rod, but in 1/16" for frame.

 

Okey,thanks!

 

Awesome work man!

 

Hey man. I'm gonna send you a PM. Do you have any belt line pullmax dies for your chevy? Need some repair pieces for my project...