WOW! It's been 5 years since I've posted on this thread. I got so busy with family work and general life stuff that this project sat on the back burner. Actually, sat outside and began to deteriorate in fact. This car became a source of guilt and shame due to the neglect. Well, my little ones aren't quite as little and I've begun to have a little more personal time and decided to get back after it. I had to prioritize just to prevent myself from becoming overwhelmed. My first move was to do a general clean up, then complete some body mount brackets. I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but I got this frame for a case of beer. The guy I got it from inexplicably removed all the passenger side body mount brackets. This was fairly easy to do, my welding was a little rusty at first but not as bad as I was expecting.
I recall leaving off with a member commenting that I lacked the bellhousing side engine mounts and would likely suffer the consequences of the engine torquing over with catastrophic results. Figured now was as good of a time as any to address this. Originally, I was hoping to utilize the original K-member, but the transmission got in the way and there wasn't any direct way of setting of connecting the mounts between the member and the bellhousing. I wound up just cutting off the body supports and bolting them to the frame rails and then set about building the mounts in a different way. The passenger side was pretty straightforward. I built a bolt-on outrigger from the inner frame rail that connected to the bellhousing sandwiched between two pieces of horse stall mat. The drivers side was trickier due to the exhaust pipes. The driver's side is a bracket that bolts vertically to two holes on the front face of the bellhousing and then extends to the frame rails to another frame mounted bracket. Again, the mount is sandwiched between two pieces of horse stall mat. The mounts have large holes so there is no metal to metal contact between the brackets and the bolts. I have not idea how well these will work with their geometry or using the stall mats, but I built them to be bolt in so worst case scenario, I can scrap them and go back to the drawing board.
After the rear engine mounts, I fabbed a little bracket to mount a heim joint support for the steering shaft linkage. I picked up a rusty cowl cheap and this has served me handy for measurements and assessing clearances. I used a light bulb grabber shaft to simulate where the steering column exits the firewall and then lined up the bracket to position the heim joint to allow the the linkage shaft to have the least angles. I think it should work and can always cut this off and reposition if it doesn't. The engine to firewall clearance is a little tight - about 3/8". Down the road, I'll likely recess it further for piece of mind.
I removed the engine, trans, mounts, crossmembers and front suspension so that I can wire wheel the shit out of the frame, do some finish welding and then paint it. Before I can do that, I" need to remove the rear suspension - hopefully tomorrow!
Glad to see you back Devin, don't feel bad I haven't made much progress on mine the last few years either. Larry
All I see are excuses. Work!...wait, isn't that what seems to happen every day? Keep at it!! More pictures!!
Not the most fun work today, but progress was made. I wire wheeled the chassis and finished the welds in the bottom side. There’s still some work to do on the brackets, radiator support and suspension, but that should be fairly quick to get through. I have some Mastercoat bb c hassis paint on the way. Hoping to lay it down after some work travel.
looking gooder! Stripped the paint down to shiny metal and then have been applying Mastercoat permanent rust sealer and AG111 top coat. There are a few brush marks and runs, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.
Nice work! Glad to see this project back up on its feet. A clean, solid frame is nice to work on and a great milestone!
Finally finished all the wire wheeling, painting and other messy shit. I replaced the axle bearings, pinion seal and rear brakes and then bolted everything back together. I am now running brake lines which I really enjoy doing for some reason.
The gmc 270 oil pan just barely cleared the crossmember. I didn’t feel comfortable with that so I sectioned the pan to clear it. Overall went well. Had to make a new oik baffle and reeled in and about a few times to fix pinhole leaks. I wanted to test out gold engine paint as that’s whT I think I want when the engine is finished. The gold definitely calls attention to all the dings and imperfections and weld beads. It’s ugly! But it will function fine à provide more piece of mind.
It’s been forever since I’ve been able to work on the Chebby. I was able to dial in the chassis and assemble it last year and have been itching to separate the body from the old frame and transfer it to the new chassis for some time now. I had some time off work and my original intent was to remove the body, get it in a trailer and have it blasted. Reality set in and I realized this was a larger undertaking than I had time for. I compromised and figured I could at least attack the front clip. My 14 year old daughter helped me disassemble the front end. We had a lot of fun doin this an I think she learned something. The crazy thing is that she was a toddler when I began this project.
The panels were rusty and crusty but had less rot than I was expecting. I spent some time with a needle scaler and wire brush removing old undercoat, dirt, rust, paint etc. I still have a long way to go but can at least see what I’m working with. The biggest issues are the rear fender baffles, the battery tray and passenger side fender apron. The bases of the panels are pretty pitted as well.
I started by just remaking the fender baffles. Figured it would actually take less time than fighting the rust and be more solid in the end. The first baffle I made I fucked up trying to roll the bead into it. The beads weren’t very straight and it oil canned the panel. The new ones have no bead but are still more rigid than the originals.
I actually don’t remember the name if this panel but the mounting flange at the bottom was pretty rotten so I am replacing them.
Patched up the inner fenders and rusty bits of the other inner fender architecture and mocked everything up with a pair of ‘51 fenders I have. Feels good to have something resembling a car again.
I’d like to mold the fenders into the grill surround and front gravel pan. Not sure if this is a good idea or how exacly to go about this but I love the clean, smooth look.any advice?
Thanks! Life got really hectic and I was pretty bummed Out seeing this project languish in the garage.
My front end is all molded together in one piece. Haven't had any problems with that, but I haven't had a reason to take it apart or take the front end off. Car was finished in the mid 90's, has well over 100k miles on it, so I guess I'm gonna say it's totally fine to mold it all together with the likelihood of it being a problem later minimal.
I’m going to mold it. It looks so much better and more finished. Just a little unsure how all the inner fender pieces are going to work. Also I think panel fit ent will be challenging as there’ll be less opportunity to adjust panel gaps and ferment with shims and the like.
I was messing around with some poster board and foil trying to envision the grill opening and the grill bar insert. I think I like the wider spacing but not sure I love this. Again it’s only 2D and the grill bars look like baked potatoes lol
Chopped the steering column and added a column saver. I was originally going to Fill all the holes in the firewall but wound up making a plate out of 16 gauge steel and killed two stones as I now have more secure mounting for the colum.
Been slowly chugging away at this. I replaced the rotten rear fender bottoms. Trying to rig weld this in. Going ok but I really suck at it. One day I won’t dip my tungsten.
Then I proceeded to replace the front of the fender bottoms from the wheel arches to The grille opening. I wanted a flat panel instead of the raised stock portion that outlines the stock grille. My guiding light is an interpretation of Brett Cowan’s Devil’s Lettuce grille. It’s such a beautiful car. I made an MDF buck to shape the wheel arches and then bent the panel to follow the fender’s contour.
The Jalopy Journal
