Projects 1957 Chevy basket case Canadian fix up and 2 door conversion

Hey all!


Progress is now well underway with my 57 Chevy project. Basically I took a 4 door car sitting in the field and aim to give it the DD speed shop treatment and turn it into a fun beat around car on a budget. (I know that pretty hilarious concept given the material).

So I’m basically taking this car, with good fenders and firewall and replacing the rockers, floor and doing a 2 door conversion.

It looks like it got damaged in the B pillar area previously, probably by someone trying to jack up the car on the rocker instead of the frame. Seems as though the rocker was pushed up, which pushed up the B pillar; and then pushed up the roof. I was able to get the door aligned at the front and back of the roof line, but there is a noticeable peak in the gap. I’m wondering what tips you guys have for pulling the roof back down a touch?

Thanks as always!

Duncan

 

How much gap between top rear of door to gutter? Does rocker have a crown when looking front to back?

That said if second question is no, squaring body to the door is done via body shimming.

 

Does this body mount look bent?

 

Your going to have to get inventive,and build a fixture so you can pull it back down. Since your replacing the rocker use it as an anchor. Bolt a 18 inch by 2 inch 3/8 steel plate with a eyelet in the center to the rocker. Make a plate for the roof area with an eyelet,and bolt it in the area to be pulled down.Put a piece of chain on the upper eyelet,and lower eyelet.Use a heavy bolt and nut between the two chains ,and tighten them.Hopefully the roof will come down in the area of the pull.Another thought is a slide hammer with a threaded end.Drill a couple holes,and bolt the shaft to the top,and work the slide hammer to pull down. Good luck.

 

Irish Steve - okay, sounds good. I’m concerned with buckling the roof, but will give her a go!

As per the other questions, the floor is pretty much shot and rockers completely gone. This whole thing was discovered in trying to replace the rocker and the door not fitting. I’ve playing with the body mounts, but the crown of the sill is super visible, which leads me to the bend not out of alignment. I’ll post some pics tonight!

 

Pics?

 

What about a porta power?

 

do they power contract or only expand?

might run a solid beam under the frame, and then ready rod to tighten down.

 

I’d use a come-along to pull it down. As said above, bolt or weld a fixture you can hook to into the inside of the roof rail, and hook the bottom of the come-along to the frame.

 

Pictures will help a lot. We dont know if the outer skin is buckled ,or just the jam area. One thing to do is find a Tri 5,and look at what a good body looks like. I know on the longer two door post the top of the window frame is flat while the roof/ jam has a small curve. Some times the gap in the center of the car looks bigger than the ends because of this.

 

First rule of collision repair.
Reverse the action of what caused the damage.

 

Where are you located? Here's a link to an ad for a roof that my neighbor has. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/for-sale-55-56-chevy-pontiac-roof.1251442/
He only told me '55 & '56, but is a '57 roof similar? It is a hardtop roof and also don't know if it could be changed/converted for use on a 4 to 2 door car conversion. Maybe a '57 roof is completely different? Body work, especially in doing such a conversion is not in my wheelhouse.

Lynn

 

4 door and 2 door post’s share the same roof. As for finding a good Tri 5 why not just make a template of under side of gutter of the good side of the car?

 

And this is why I post here! A great suggestion. Going back out to the garage with cardboard now.

 

Maybe a ratchet strap from roof to frame, ran so it's pulling down on the bent side, you have to get creative

 

Lots of good suggestions here: Scenarios like this are why I installed tie downs in the concrete floor before pouring.

Like a 'sky hook', only opposite.
Template on the straight side: Great call, @ Johnny Gee!

 

Need a complete side view. The gaps are secondary if the rocker is pushed up.
I’ve straightened stuff like this without a frame bench.
If the rocker is pushed up then it can be reversed. Use a long straight edge to compare side to side.
If the rocker is up under the B post, figure out a way to clamp under it. I’m spoiled having frame clamps.
A heavy beam under the rocker with the b-post attached to it. Use 2 floor jacks to push up, one each end. Place a 2x4 block between the rocker and jack.
Monitor each end to make sure you aren’t damaging the ends.

 

Can't see the rocker, but agree the entire rocked needs to come down to lower the b pillar to lower the roof.

Or if the door fits the hole all the way around - except the roof - section the b pillar

If you've already pulled the rocker down, you may have been distorting / tearing the weld area where it connects to the b pillar.

 

And
I prefer to check door gaps with the strikers removed.

 

That’s not all that terrible. Funny that’s on the driver side. I had the same issue on my driver side. Got it all back into shape by re-shimming body mount’s. The shell has more give in it than you think.

 

Found it first try. https://www.danchuk.com/images/Down...1956-1957-Body-Mount-And-Door-Adjustments.pdf

 

X2 on pulling or pushing after trying to adjust or shim.
I check frames for square.
Checking height is a little different but not difficult if you can establish a datum line.
these old bodies can flex a lot.

 

Update: After the good advice here I rigged up a pull down setup using a long chunk of angle over the far side of the frame, and under the close side. Then used chains and piece of ready rod. It needed a lot of finessing and pulling out I got the roof line into alignment. And then I saw that warn 120v pull all and rigged that up. Much more satisfied with gaps now. Also included a photo here of the tool I used to pull down. Allowed me to slide it around and pull down without damaging the inside of the roof line. Worked really well.

Thanks everybody!

 

I've done quite a few 4 door to 2 door conversions and I do all of my rocker and floor repairs before I do any cutting for the conversion. The body really needs to be solid and square before you start swapping doors and B posts and whatnot. The last one I did, a '57 Chevy as well, needed the forward and rear body mount braces replaced as well as most of the inner rockers but the center ones were intact. This body may have the same issues and just sagged down at the front and rear instead of getting jacked up in the center, the center stayed put on solid mounts while the front and rear drooped down, giving you a bit of a peak in the center.

Fixable, but you really need to get your floors and mounts in order before you do any more work on the swap. Both sides, all floor and rocker and mount repairs done before anything else gets cut. Now that you've moved the post on the driver's side you've moved the one solid point on the body and may have made more work for yourself.

Trust me on this one, I've done the exact same process.

 

If you've got the body squared up with reasonable door gaps now, you need to complete all of your floor and mount repairs before you go any further. If you get it all welded solid with gaps that look good before you get the floors and rockers in, things are going to shift around or bind when it comes time to do those repairs later.

 

^^^^^ Don’t forget front clip as well. I don’t see it in any of the pic’s.

 

This is a good point. You really want the front fenders bolted on the car and square as another reference point to line your doors up to. You've already replaced the rockers it looks like, or are in the process of it, and you have had to move the roof around to fit, so you're depending heavily on the cowl and windshield post as a guide to get your doors to fit, and '57 Chevys are notorious for having poor fit in that area from the factory. Having the front fenders bolted on and fitted square gives another large reference point/line to work off of.

This was a $300 4 door I bought at an auction, I did the same stuff, it's the 4th 4 door conversion I've done and I learn some new things every time. The doors on this one close nicer than the original 4 door doors that I took off did and the gaps turned out very nice.

I used donor car B pillars so I'd have stock quarter window regulators and whatnot, I know the DD speed shop guy cuts up the original 4 door B post and rear door to fill in the rear. That's not my style, but it does work, and gives an option when no B post pieces can be found. If you're in Wisconsin or near enough to it to pick some up, I've got some donor car B post pieces I'd sell pretty reasonably for this conversion. Makes it a much easier and cleaner job.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/57-chevy-2-door-conversion-pics-build-thread.1199065/

 

Thanks for all the help guys and I appreciate the offer for parts. Unfortunately I’m up in Canada. Parts are hard to come by up here, so I’ve gotta do the ghetto chopping B pillar route.

sqaublow I’ll be honest - I read tons of your stuff and frankly your ideas and DD speed shop vids are what led me to believe this project was even doable. I really appreciate all your input!

As for getting the front clip on the car and cutting out the rocker and B pillar comments - I should clarify - this car was a total basket case (which is about all you can find sub 40k up here). The drivers rocker was completed rusted out, with entire gaps in it. Under the drivers door it wasn’t even attached to the body it was so bad. I have a bottle jack under the cowl area at the front to simulate the body mount there, and have the cowl frame mount. My entire goal here is to get a new passenger side rocker in, so that I can lift the body off the frame to replace the floor. Being that there was no rocker initial, and the B pillar swung freely in its post area, I figured the best bet was to cut it out, and replace it using the 2 door location. I didn’t want to have to weld it on to the new rocker in a location that was tweaked. Aim is to be able to keep the doors on when I lift the body to provide rigidity. I don’t plan to weld in the rocker to do this, currently it’s attached using tech screws.

sorry about the pics btw - I though I had bit full-size the second post around but it didn’t seem to work.