Hey all, I've been floating around for a while be it's been ages since I posted (not sure where my ole posts went), but I acquired a new project this weekend and thought I should start a thread for it. She's a 29' buick, that has bounced around between a few people and had a few attempts at her and finally ended up in my hands this weekend (i've got a thing for 4 wheel leaf spring).. She came with a disk break conversion, stripped channeled, shortened, and an incomplete chop. As I'm not much of a fabricator (yet), I opt'd to drop her off at SD Rod & Customs to finish off a couple things before I towed her back up to my home about 7 hours away..partly in fear of having the roof fly off somewhere on the 395.. and party because there are some core things that I felt were a bit beyond my ability at this time I'd rather have them get square on my behalf. So with that said, this is my starting pics. When I get the car back from SDRC, the front end will be Z'd, and they are going to fix the chop get it squared up, supported and true'd but leave all the finishing welding to me. So with that said, for some of you guru's out there If anybody has anythoughts or advice I'd appreciate it. My plans are to.. lower the body quite a bit more over the frame so the *** end doesn't stink bug so high, and move the wheels outboard (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=385436), motor wise I'm thinking of going with a buick nailhead if I can find one at a good price, with either a 700r4 or th350 since I have a th350 setup floating around the garage. Other plans box the rest of the frame, fill in the roof, and not get canned for day dreaming about which direction to take her in during work hours Thanks for your time -Brahm
WOW. Looks like a real solid start to something Cool and a LOT different. No advice for you here but thanks for sharing.
well since the th350 won't bolt up I suggest finding a 64-66 401 or 425 with the ST400 or SP400. You'll be much happier and no stupid adapter.
Thanks for the feedback guys, glad you dig it. When I get to the drivetrain stage I'll see if I can't find a ST400, or SP400 with the motor, I'm thinking of going with the 401 I believe it will be quite a bit cheaper. The only reason I'd go th350 or 700r4 is I have a very stout th350 I pulled out of my 69 that rattles your teeth when you shift, and a good stall to go with it, I also have some good 700r4 parts (3500 lock up converter, shifter) floating around my garage from other projects. I'm trying to fool myself into thinking I can do this car for 5k including the purchase price haha I figure if I keep repeating it..it will come true.. As far as the body,chop I did a couple mocks ups in photoshop of how I'd like SDRC to fix the chop, and how I want it to sit after the Z.. I still want to get drop axles to lower that straight bar up front but here are a couple really rough comps.. Any thoughts? The big thing for me is the more I look at the *** end of it, the more I hate how the guy did the chop for the rear window (leaving it full size) there just isn't enough metal between the lower body line and the window.
Question for you all, how much do you think has been chopped already? I don't know how tall these already sat. To fix the chop, SDRC said they can take more off if I want, it won't make it more difficult since they have to pop the top off again to re-align, and strengthen it. here is a quick mock up of what I'm thinking, I don't want to go so excessive that it makes it impossible to drive.
Wow, you bought a pre-37 wood-structured GM car and have been jacking with the body and didn't say a thing about the condition of the wood, the existance of the wood, replacing the wood with tubing, or asking did this car have something holding it together 'cause there's nothing in here? Why is that?
I bought it as it sits haven't done a thing to it yet, the wood is partially in there but mostly MIA he did reinforce the roof. I have no plans on replacing the wood, with more wood (except the floors). I was aware it was was originally supported by wood, my '29 DeSoto was the same way. As per why, the price was right, and Well ****, that's why I'm here. Ask me how to do an EFI retro conversion, debug wiring, most things mechanical, build a solid drag motor that will put you in the 8's, or shot down a coat of hot rod flatz I can chatter on all day, but ask me how to fab something, or how I think I'm gonna finish this ****er up I'm going to look at you like a deer in headlights. I bought this car to cut my teeth on and learn. So to answer your question cause I don't know any better, and I want to have a fun time with a grinder & welder instead of spinning wrenches and running wires for a change
So I've been milling over paint whether to paint or not, and if I do.. What colour to go. I am leaning towards flat orange, partly because I dig it, and partly because I have another gallon left of it after I shot my camaro.. If I do decide to shot it orange at least, I'll have to fill in the roof. I think a black top with this bright of an orange would be to much contrast. The other line of thought is just to paint the wheels orange, and shot the car black, and go with a cloth top. Any of you seen any flat orange sedans out there? Here is a shot of my camaro after I finished painting it last summer, with the same orange I have a gallon of sitting in the garage. Still need to see if the paint is good it's a brand new gallon but about a year old at this point.
Shot down to San Diego this weekend to race the Camaro @ Barona, while I was there I stopped in and checked on the Buick a couple times. Abes, made some great progress and I've come to a few plan changes.. First some updated photos. Just the frame, after a bit of thought I've decided NOT to Z the front at this time. I really like the look of the suspension but, I dislike the frame it's self it's very bulky, ugly, and somebody already snubbed the front so it's a bit odd looking. I can't decide should I put my time in two boxing, and holing this one when I get it back or should I just build something out of sqaure or double tube, and transfer over the suspension... Thoughts? Body off the car Abe built some pillars as they didn't exist before. Rear window doesn't look so snub with some metal between it and the body line.. Much cleaner with a 2" chop on the rear. This is how low I want it to sit, can't quite figure out how to bag the concrete though.. heh.. Body sitting back on the frame, chop is now squared away, temp supports are on the inside holding the car in place once I get her back I need to square tube or build that wooden frame to support the body. Last but not least.. a much improved view of her giant ***.
So with that said car loosk great, they are just going to fix the other door and she is all mine again, ready for me to start the body work set the motor, decide what to do with the frame, ect ect ect.. At this point in time I'm starting to lean towards a midnite blue for colour.. I'd like to redo the frame but..that's going to take some serious thought.. I think a Square frame holied with that suspension might be cool what do you guys think? oh and of course this wouldn't be a thread of mine if I didn't sneak in at least one non-hamb friendly photo of my '69.. here's my pup happy to be heading home after about 1000 miles in car. (to SD & back) and outside the station in Johansburg, on the way down to SD..
That's a big ***ed car! Looks twice the size of a Model A!! For reason that car says "fenders" to me. Fenders also might help make it look lower, too. Also, why do you keep posting pictures of the Camaro? Taunting everyone on the HAMB or just retarded?
ditto on the camaro pics ..... is the dog eating the hose? kiding aside that body is cool. One of my neighbors has a 31 roadster. I've been workin on the guy for about a year now to get it. It is mint. crazy lookin hump on the back.
definitely not a fender guy, as far as why I keep posting em.. why not. It's American, it's metal, I built it, had it since I was 16, I just drove it 1000 miles to go see my '29, (what screams hot roddin more then road trips, racin, and gas stations in random ghost towns across the 395!), it's relevant to my interests and will have a serious impact on how I build future cars. ...and it helps me separate the people who's opinions I respect from those who just want to troll hamb, and slap labels on everybody.
Your frame looks alot better.. See how the guy before me snubbed the front and straightened it, he totally ruined the lines. Doesn't look half as good as how yours curves back down. hmm..Maybe I'll try my hand at cleaning her up first, and redoing the front bracket. Any thoughts on where I can get just that downlip on the front to return it to how it was.. Were you planning on boxing yours or leaving it as is.. Where did you shorten yours in the middle? Did you also flatting out the top of yours, my frame "flares", yours seems much more even and level top and bottom.
Not gonna box it. it's pretty damn beefy. I took 20" out of it right where that lowest crossmember hangs, you can see it in one of the pics. No idea where to find another, had this one hauled up from GA.
Ah, k I see what you did.. that was the smart way to do it as it lines up, not sure why this guy clipped the front. That's a good point on the strength, I was only going to box the frame to match the front. As well as I like how it looks boxed and was thinking about going holy so I wanted to the extra support if I did. Basically the 2 things I don't like is, how in 1 there is a "lip" it's obvious it's been cut, and in 2 how it "flares" up while yours is smooth and clean. (and of course I prefer the nice lines of the curve up front on yours)
alright, cleared out the garage this weekend! Ready to bring her home.. Looks like she's all done @ SDRC, and I'll be picking her up next weekend and dragging her back 400 miles to mammoth from SD. In the end we scaled back what they did, to correcting the badly done chop, and getting the body square.. leaving me with a very solid platform to start with. Still debating the frame, I started it under a different thread. (see http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=393994) My current train of thought is to try to build something to the specs I want, which could be fun, and pretty rewarding if it comes out like I envision it. (I've never built a frame before). My goal is to get the body sitting on whatever frame I'm going to stick with before my garage gets snowed in so I don't have much time between 1-2 months. Any thoughts, or pit falls I should look out for? the next step I'm going to try to do before i have to return the trailer is take the whole thing up to my work sand blast it all, and take measurements. If any of you no any links to nailhead dimensions specs, i haven't had to the time to track down and pick up a dummy block for mock ups. so I'm thinking I might just make something out of cardboard for now. Thanks again. -Brahm
What do you guys suggest is the best way to take the car down to clean metal? I'm thinking sand blasting it as I have one at work, and there is no clean up ect..but I'm reading that many of you don't recommend using that on the body, but at the same time I'm reading soda won't do anything at cleaning up the rust? Should I for go the sandblasting or just got at it with some stripping discs?
That will be a nice car. I have a 29 roadster and a 29 he****.Do you know what the rear end is out of?The grill shell also does not look like any of the 29 grill shells I have.Z-man is a true Buick guru so listen to him.He will know the length of a nailhead for sure I could measure one for you if need be.You probably won't find a fake block for mock up.If you like leaf spring front ends econolines have good brakes and work well.
Hi Hapsboys, Thank you for the response. I was just hoping to pick up a core that I could strip down to just block for a couple hundred bucks, and use that for mock ups I saw a few on craigslist but never made the trek out to pick them up. I'm not sure what the grill shell is to be honest, the first batch of photos is how the car sat when I bought it from the guy I just ***umed it was buick as well, in all honestly I'm not that familiar with older buicks. The diff I believe is out of a camaro or maybe an S10/Blazer it appears to be the standard chevy diff right now it has a disc brake conversion up front, but a friend of mine has a bagged slammed/riveria with 4 wheel aluminum finned buick drums that he wants to switch to 4 wheel disk I'm hoping to work something out with him to pick those up. I'll keep trying to google up some measurements but if I can't find any just a real general idea would be great. I'm trying to figure out how long I need to make the new frame. I believe (this is just my gut thinking) that my current frame is much to long and I can get away with snubbing another foot or so but I don't know for sure.
(for reference purposes) I am posing the body grinding/sand blaster question in this thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4311925#post4311925
Alright update time, picked up the car the other week and towed her back to mammoth.. here are some photos.. also for reference. I started a couple new threads to get some help with some more specific questions. Suspension / Frame Questions - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=399462 Order of Build Question - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396512 Thanks again, everybody for all your help so far.. I haven't done a lot just yet, but you've helped me focus in quite a bit on what needs to be done, and the best ways to do it! Alright, as promised here are some photos, and updates. Here she is loaded up on the uhaul, ready for the 400mile trek from San Diego, Ca to Mammoth Lakes, Ca Door jams lining up body looking pretty sqaure. Body sitting much better on the frame, still not where it needs to be but looking alot better. p***anger side looking alot better, but some things shifted after the drive back, need to re-tack the supports. P***enger side looks sqaure from the side, before the drive, but if you look at the front pillar it's still a bit off (better picture a bit lower) *** end looking sooo much better really glad we made this change! Inside of the cab, showing frame rails and some spare metal p***enger patch panel supports, and roof line (need to build a body frame so i can remove temp supports. same as above but driver side. roof supports.. need to finish welding and grind, I'm thinking of going with a cloath top after much thought. roof line not looking to bad.. much better then before. somebody at some point asked me what diff it is, not 100% sure but here she is close up of the grill shell? Is this a buick Shell?
Rear drums.. ooh fins.. can't wait to get the fronts to match! ...and here she is after 400 miles and week or so. Shot from my living room into the garage! Gotta love this view! Yes she needed some racing #'s it's worth at least 15 horse power...that puts the grand total so far up to 15 horsepower! A few shots of my girl in her new home for foreseeable future... need to get the extension cord to relocate the dryer and toss the bike in the house! Driver side rear window patch Front pillar needs a a bit o work, but better then not having one ugh..things got tweaked a bit after the tow, need to fix the supports that popped loose, and the pillar needs to get grined out and fixed as unlike the driver side it's not level vertically. P***enger side body support need to be retacked back in place so I can build the permanent support. Drive side body support View of fixed rear window chop from the inside. Close up of front axle, and suspension.
Went ahead and measured out the distance from the firewall to the current raidator shell location it's approx 39" according to this.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21645 a nail head is about 29", about how much room is normally needed for fan ect? What's a good rule of thumb for how much room to leave for fans, ect? I don't want everything looking overly elongated if I don't have to.
Good answer! Interested in seeing what you do with the front frame mods. I have my eye on a similar vintage Mopar sedan with parallel leaf springs front & rear. I'd like to retain that feature just because it's different.
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