51 Shoebox - Mild Custom Build

I picked up this 51 ford last weekend. This is the most solid shoebox I think I have ever seen. The only rust in the floors is about the size of a quarter. Small amounts in fender bottoms and around trunk panel, but all in all I am very happy.

I plan on turning it into a very mild custom and driving the hell out of it. It's got a strong running flathead six in it, but I will probably put in a flathead 8. I have a nice rebuilt one on an engine stand. Other than that, it will get a static drop, new brakes/fuel lines, freshened up interior, and some other odds and ends. I'm holding off on the chop until all of the mechanical is done, I usually get impatient and start ripping right into the bodywork and have the entire car torn apart before I know it.

If you've seen one, you've seen a hundred but I thought I would share anyways.











Here she is next to the 49 Ford.

 

Great solid project !! Looking forward to the progress !

 

Hey, was that it...? Come on, more pictures and details...We want more..!

 

If the car is solid it's much easier to build

Good luck

/Stefan

 

so, did the girl come with the '51? always a cool body style to cruise in.

 

No she did not. That was a rare picture of my girlfriend giving the thumbs up to any of my "junk car" projects.

For some reason the only real rust area on that car was in the spare tire well. It looked like it was touching the exhaust pipe and that could have led to the problem. I got the rusty one cut out and got a "not as rusty" one cut out of a parts car. I hope to have it straightened out and welded in tonight if I can scrape off the 2 inches of undercoating to lay a weld down.

I also got the frame and underbody scraped so I can paint the frame later this week. The rear is lowered with new shocks and the parts arrived to lower the front. I got new brakes I hope to get on later this week as well.

More pictures to come tonight. Thanks for the interest.

 

WOW...nice start. Starting with a solid bod not only saves a ton of time and money but the quality of the car when finished is worth a lot more. So, the floor and body braces are are good to? Freak me out. More pics please and keep us posted.

 

Well, I was able to get a couple days work in on the ford. I got the rear lowered 3" with lowering blocks and aerostar coils in the front for close to 3" drop. I also got all new brakes installed. That master cylinder replacement was a real pain. One of my brand new wheel cylinders was bad out of the box, leaked fluid everywhere. I got a new one on order. That is the only thing keeping me from driving it. I also got my wide whites installed. I also got the spare tire well cut out because it was rusted out and got it replaced with a "not as rusty" spare tire well that I had laying around. I got a few loose wires chased and now have every light working except the interior dome light.

I got my gas tank sending unit installed on my new tank and plan on getting that put in next weekend.

It's coming along. More pictures to follow.

 

Oh ya, I forgot to mention I scraped about 10 gallons of crap off the underside of the car. That is about 6 hours of my life I wish I could get back. They definitely laid the undercoating on thick, but it did it's job because there is hardly any rust on the underside. They also weren't shy about lubing the front end. I had to carve out 3 inches of dried crap to even find which bolts to remove.

 

Cool project, those make a great lead sled customs.


If you should go Carson top convertible, can I buy the roof?

http://ruffrodders.com/forum/showthread.php?p=528519

 

Man I wish my box was that clean, that thing is solid. I wanted to do a mild custom too then the sawzall came out...LOL Not so mild anymore.

Brent

 

I have a parts car with a good roof on it if you are serious. After I get my chop done and hopefully don't need a spare roof I will cut it off for you.

 

That is what I am looking for.

Thanks

 

I found a clip of a Carson Topped 50,

 

Seems 50 % of a build is cleaning parts. The 50% i really hate

 

That build is EPIC! And here it is.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=458747&highlight=shoebox+carson

 

It's been a while, so here are a few update pictures. I finally got all my latches installed. This turned out to be a much bigger pain in the ass then originally thought, but I like the way it turned out. I wanted to keep the inside factory handle location.

 

I started getting into the quarter panels and found some rust. I knew this looked too solid to be true, but I am fine that this is the only rust I've found in the car so far. Cut and weld, cut and weld. Luckily I had a donor car with good parts to scavenge off of.



I also got the door handles shaved, trunk shaved, and all the trim holes along the side welded up. My fenders are frenched and the interior floor and underside are ready to paint. I will get some more pictures up soon and hopefully will have a good weekend of prgores this weekend.

Ryan

 

Cool project

 

I've been getting a little more work done on the 51. I've got her taken down to bare metal and hope to be spray some red oxide primer on in the next couple of weeks. I am also getting ready to start rewiring.



I got the rest of the rust in the rear quarters welded in, a little more grinding and it will be ready for a skim coat.


I've got one of the fenders finished up. Headlights are frenched and are looking good. I got the welding done on the second one and need to start the body work nexT.


Next steps are to paint the under body and floor of the car. I got all my materials for some homemade lizard skin. Everything I've read looks like a promising alternative to spending a boat load of money on the real deal.

I also hope to have the wiring finished up in the next couple of weeks. I am torn between the 49 and 51 dash, but I think I have decided to go with the 49. I was hoping to be a little further along, but summer time is always jam packed with weddings and family obligations.

 

I also was able to make it down to see my buddy and drop off some parts for him to start doing some body work for me. He has started building custom bicycles and they are pretty BAD ASS. Here are a couple pictures of some of his recent bike builds.


And here is my personal favorite.............

 

looks like he has a shoe also a 50 in the background.....im so jealous, i have my s10 frame and a 50 coupe parts car for the frame now i need me a good 2dr sedan body to get r done!!!

 

Yep, he has a 50 shoebox as well. That is the one that turned me on to shoeboxes a long time ago. He also has a 60 falcon that he finally finished after 25+ years of being torn apart. His 50 has been neglected these past few years, but he plans on freshinging it up this winter.

Keep your eyes open, there are usually plenty of shoebox bodies out there in good condition.

 

I've been getting some work done, but haven't been doing a good job with keeping up on the pictures.

I got the 51 dash removed and a 49 dash is installed (currently pulled back out for paint and wiring). This turned in to be a major pain in the ass because the steering shafts and covers were different lengths. I had to swap all that out to run the 49 steering wheel. I also had to swap out the emergency brake lever, column drop, and some other things. In my opinion it looks a hell of a lot better. I just couldn't stand the 51 steering wheel.

I also got a coat of primer down on the floors finally. I will be put down some homemade lizard skin hopefully this weekend. Before I could spray that in, I had to finish up with the rust around the taillight.

I forgot to take a picture of the before, but for some reason the passenger taillight area was rusted out a couple inches all around the light. Pretty wierd for how solid this car was.

I got the rust all cut out.


New piece cut, shaped, and ready for welding.

After alot more welding than I care to admit...........

 

explain your homeade lizard skin? i'm into saving money!!

 

Sweet shoebox. You're making some serious progress.

 

Awesomee!

 

Well, the floor painting and insulating took ALOT longer than expected. I got a few coats of lizard skin down on the floor and underside of the car. I also got the frame painted and gas tank installed. The tank install was a real bitch by myself, but I got it in.

After the lizard skin I put down some dynamat stuff. I can't remember the name brand, but I got it from a fellow HAMBer for a fraction of the price of dynamat. It went down pretty easy and I am happy with the results. It just took alot of time to get it right and looking good.

Next thing is wiring. I hope to start on that later this week. I need to get it done by September 1 because I am scheduled to start chopping that weekend!

Anyways, enough rambling, here are a few pictures. Nothing great, but it's progress.


Here's the underside and tank.......


Here is after I got the insulation in......


Got the new fender braces all cut up and fit. I just need to weld em up solid.


And finally, here's a shot of the dash I am going to use. I keep going back and forth on using the 49 dash or the 51 dash. This week it is the 49, we'll see how long that lasts.

 

Monster, all that it is is a gallon of exterior latex paint and a pound bag of microspheres that I buy from wick's aircraft supply. There are a few good threads on here showing exactly how to do it and some tests and results. I bought the best paint I could and it still equated to about 25 bucks a gallon to make my own instead of the 100 bucks a gallon that real Lizard skin costs. A gallon of paint and a bag of microspheres makes 2 gallons. I used a "shutz" gun and it sprayed pretty easily. I'd definitely suggest this.

 

wow its looking good!