Now that I'm in the midst of boxing the 28's frame, I'm looking ahead to getting the body in shape. Its a 4 door, and the lower wood subframe rails are mostly rotted away, and there is a little wood rot in the roof, and some damaged wood in the doors, so as you can imagine, things aren't very lined up. My plan for the body is to replace most of the wood with steel, except for the roof (for now). I'm also going to remove about the lower 2" from the body. Basically, the rocker panels are going goodbye, and the cowl and rear of the body will be cut to match. Since the body is pretty much misaligned, the lower body is being removed, and the roof is not going to be de-wooded, I am thinking of building part of the lower body rails by bolting them in place on whatever body mounts I choose onto the boxed frame, then pretty much rebuilding the body right on top of the assembly, since thats where's it'll end up sitting when its done. My idea is to remove the roof as intact as possible and use it as a guideline for lining up the upper body. Then starting with the cowl, and working my way back, replace structural wood with steel, mount the body parts to the framework I've built over the frame, and line the upper parts with measurements taken from the roof, and eyeball/ measure from the center to line up the lower body parts. Right now, I'm thinking of using 1X1.5" rectangular tubing for the lower frame rails (where the body mounts to the frame), and using a mix of 1" rect tubing, 3/4" rect tubing, and sheet steel cut and welded to shape for replacing most of the rest of the wood. Once done, I'll probably hoist the body off the frame, pull the frame out to finish suspension and drivetrain work, then drop the body back on, and start working on the interior, controls, etc... Does this sound like a viable plan? What did you end up doing? Any better ideas? Please keep in mind this is a 4 door, not a 2-door or coupe, so the alignment probably isn't going to be as easy. Oh yeah, and someone hit me in the head if I ever say I'm going to box another frame without buying a metal-cutting bandsaw, or a frame that you can get boxing plates shipped to your door. Cutting the plates with an angle grinder and finshing them with a bench grinder and angle grinder is a mother.
I have not done mine yet but it sounds like you have good plan. When you are aredy to get a saw this is what you need. I just got one and it cuts 1/4 inch steel with no effort at all. Gary
Are you referring to the "full metal kit car" thread? I've been through it (heck, posted in it a bit), but wanted to get an opinion on my plan, and see if anyone else had any ideas, and also didn't want to drag it off on another tangent.
check the thread "1928 chevy sedan to a sedan delivery" goes thru it step by step with plenty of pictures.
The Jalopy Journal
