Projects 1948 Chevrolet fleetmaster

o nooo, that sucks. it takes just seconds to destroy stuff on it but days, months even years to restore it all back to original. i remember as a kid in LA we used to go through the alleys to find fruit trees to raid, there was one house that had a peach tree that wed get up on the wall then jump on the car in the back yard to reach the peaches. me and my little friends completely caved in that roof and cracked the back glass and windshield. i remember it was an old car, an early 50s but cant remember the make or model but remember the curves definitely a 50s. after i bought this one, i think back at that, and think how pissed off id be if someone did that to mine and how screwed id be in the restoration. so yea it takes seconds to do many months of repair and restoration. as for the woodgraining, im currently making a video which will show the whole process in action. for now heres some more of the woodgraining

the dash switches

















that was my original 48 horn cap, needs work. this was the steering wheel the day i bought it in Pomona



now















its not a banjo, but its not bad either. will feel good when im driving it knowing i made it and there isn't another like it. i can buy the banjo, but because of that personally id rather fly this one

 

the horn button i got plans for it, i just threw it on as a mock up but im redoing it this weekend. but everyone tells me its fine like that, gives it alittle bit of a patina look just glad it cleaned up nice, cleaned the stainless on it with coca cola and some steel wool. look it up its a trip. heres more







































polishing that steering wheel was a pain in the ass, i can tell im going to hate doing the steering colum too. its cause its round, polishing flat is easy round isn't. tomorrow i work, Saturday i silicone seal the back window and finish polishing the rest of the window frames, sunday early i wet sand and buff the steering column and hopefully by sunday night ill have the headliner in completely and windlace. if so, by Monday night the whole interior is in =D

 

as for the woodgraining, im currently making a video which will show the whole process in action.

Thanks for the reply. I'll be looking forwrd to that video!

 

Very cool... no splinters either!!

 

thanks guys. tomorrow ill put in alittle more work, got home from work late today now im just chillin. not for my 48, but feel ready to step up and repaint my 59 with better paint, wanted to get a bit more experience and now feel im ready. so now 59 will get new paint job in 2 weeks when im done with 48, and flakes =D







2 weeks, repaint starts and build continues, just have to wrap up final things on 48 and this is back on, and better than before =)

 

Can't wait to see the engine block wood-grained.

I saw the blue sparkle before I read the explanation that it's not for the 48 and almost had a panic attack.

Great stuff. Keep it coming.

 

noo no flakes on the 48, nothing too custom like that thatll take away from its age. that's why im going to be very subtle with the pinstriping, not too much or anything wild it will be the only thing that will be mild custom. the inside will be sort of custom but will go with the car, youll see what I mean I have some things up my sleeve =)

 

sealed up my back window today. took It out



to take it out you just take the back window molding and screws off and it falls in towards you. cleaned it up



and gasket was still good and flexible so used the same one. I think I could have used the same for the windshield too but I already had it bought



shoot some silicone to seal it up



and pop back in. tightened up the molding back on to hold it on and to push the glass up against the metal. squeezed enough to make the silicone come out a bit which is good because it gets in all the cracks



and it took a long damn time but sanded and polished up the steering column and handles



























and for this the shifter handle, you have to soften it in boiling water for 5 min then pull it out and quickly run and slide it on. not hard just you have to do it quick before it cools





the handle looks alittle plain to me, but does match the dash knobs but if I find something cool im swapping it out. I also polished all the window moldings already but was too dark to take pictures so ill post tomorrow. tomorrow hood goes back on and I wash it for the first time. I know I said it before but this time it looks like itll happen finally

 

also thank you monkeyspunk, I received the dash bezels today and using those instead of mine they are in better condition. I will send you one of the things im secretly working on, just let me finish them, youll like it trust me. again thanks monkeyspunk

 

That clear coat isn't going to make your gear shifter and other moving parts stick until you move them, correct? You make me want to take my windshield out myself so I can put the top trim on, so i just might do that.

 

no I tested it it didn't stick so that came out fine. and the windshield with yours its definitely a 2 man job so be careful. you might need a new gasket if it tears and for that you install it using a small rope. its how I did my 59

 

That's good, and yea no way in hell i'm doing that myself haha. The gasket is new so I'm hoping I can just reuse it again. Only reason I need to pop it out is just to get the upper trim on. Windshield is new as well.

 

Nice to know how to take out the glass, my windshield leaks BAD..
Does it come out just like the rear window?
I need to take them both out anyways to polish my stainless.
Now that my car is painted it makes everything else look bad

Looking really good man, I like all the woodgrain.. with all this work you're gonna have to paint the body just as nice! Heck.. you could always woodgrain the whole car!

 

are you sure you need to take the windshield off to get the upper trim on? on my 59 it goes in through the top and secures behind the edge of the headliner inside the car on the upper windshield. can you post a pic here, ill tell you if yours is the same.

today what should have taken me only an hour took me over 5 hours, my whole day went into bolting in the hood for good and aligning it just right. first time I put it on it was too wide, it went beyond the fender lip onto the fender and that wasn't going to work . what happened was the rivets holding on the brackets were old and really loose. and I mean loose. so I drilled them out and used bolts tightened enough to still let them move up and down and then used jb weld on the threads to keep them from coming loose. it worked perfect



then I bolted everything up and thought that was it, I was wrong. the hood was so unaligned it wouldn't even close. there was a gap on the front, gap along the driver side, and gap on the cowl. it really let me down I thought I had to break down the whole front end and use shims everywhere to get it right. what happened was you first loosen up the hinge from the firewall, bolt on the hood to the brackets, then line it all up. after you see it all lines up just right then you go inside the car and tighten up the two hinge bolts from the inside on both sides, then open the hood and tighten up the one bolt that's on the firewall/cowl. now your hood opens and closes just fine and is lined up right.

one issue though, don't know if anyone else experienced this, as soon as you put the spring on (grab a long screwdriver and hook the lower hook to it, put the screwdriver on the notch where it clips to and pull back hard. itll slide down and snap on the notch). once I put the spring, it made the hood unalign just alittle and now rubs alittle when I open the hood. but if I take the springs off its fine again. anyone have this problem?

 

yea for mine all I did was take the inside window molding off and it just fell out. should be the same for yours. when you do take it off, the windshield molding is mounted on another gasket that slides on the metal lip on the body around the windshield/rear window. not hard, on other newer models you need a rope and its a 2 man job. but on my 48 its how its done and its super easy. what year is yours?

and I had that idea, like a woody people tell me the inside now wont match the outside even tho the flat paint looks cool but ill have to make it up on the outside eventually. headliner and windlace goes in tomorrow, if its a quick job, hopefully by the night the whole interior is in. and when it is in, youll see why everyone is telling me I have to step it up on the outside now. god I hope I can pull it all off tomorrow =) it all depends on if I have to replace the stuff that the nails/staples go in to hold down the windlace and headliner, its starting to deteriorate. its easy to replace just a long process, a days work

 

[QUOT people tell me the inside now wont match the outside even tho the flat paint looks cool but ill have to make it up on the outside eventually. headliner and windlace goes in tomorrow, if its a quick job, hopefully by the night the whole interior is in. and when it is in, youll see why everyone is telling me I have to step it up on the outside now. god I hope I can pull it all off tomorrow =) it all depends on if I have to replace the stuff that the nails/staples go in to hold down the windlace and headliner, its starting to deteriorate. its easy to replace just a long process, a days work[/QUOTE]

Funny how you mention this because I have been thinking that myself for the past 2 weeks while following your wood graining. You did just a beautiful job on the inside that the outside is not up to par.

 

Hum..I see what you did with the hinge, I put new ones on and then the problem began. I think I need to add some seam sealer to the support on the hood after we media blasted it. That might help reshaping the hood slightly. We used a big screwdriver to put the springs on the spring box. Rgit now I don't hav the springs in place.

 

The trick with the hinge springs is to insert some thick washers in between the turns when the hood is open. Then you push the hood down a little (or get someone to do it) and you can remove the spring by hand. Leave the washers in there, and you can replace the spring. Mine has the same worn out hinge pin problem, there's not many that don,t. I have heard of people putting in new hood springs, and have had worn out hinges, and the first time they open the hood, It springs up so fast and strongly that the back corners of the hood dig into the tops of the fenders- Ouch!

 

Yes, I need to take the windshield off , or at least pop the top out, to get the upper trim on. The last owner who was restoring it told me that, and the shop manual says it as well. It sort of sits inside the upper trim, rather than the trim snapping on the outside or something.

 

hmm, what year and model is it, ill look it up and make sure or see if theres an easier way

 

1956 Pontiac 870 Catalina, the Chieftain series, not Star Chief. I have a pdf of the shop manual for it that demonstrates how to take it out, put it back on, etc etc.

 

might not seem like much and look like earlier pictures I posted, but this is after the first car wash (actual car wash not just hose it down to knock some of the dirt off) I ever gave the car since I had it and before that it was stored since the 70s. feels good because about 3 months ago it was rotting away in the back yard. when I first painted it I had to let the paint cure, so I never got it wet and since da 1 it got dirt and stuff off my trees on it. but now that I washed it, the paint actually looks nice, a nice satin look like velvet. I am happy with the results, and am happy I got this far and just needs interior put in which is all done already

 

not a show car, but im totally happy with it. felt good washing it for the first time, something 3 months ago I never thought id be doing now, I was very close to selling it in project state for $3500 before I decided to put my hands on it. will feel even better driving it for the first time. very very soon. now I can throw all the interior in it and complete the car =)

 

smart, I like that idea. makes it a whole lot easier that way but I can see it would definitely work. thanks for the insight roadster, made my next jobs a whole lot easier

 

Funny how you mention this because I have been thinking that myself for the past 2 weeks while following your wood graining. You did just a beautiful job on the inside that the outside is not up to par.[/QUOTE]

doing what jc? the windlace and headliner or the stuff that its stapled to? and yea, washing it came out nice but still wont match the inside. hopefully you guys will get a peek at it by tomorrow night, once the headliner and windlace is on its that fast

 

where exactly is your hood unaligned? if you were to just loosen the hinge and have the springs off, when you close the hood it has a lot of play to perfectly align the hood to the cowl lines and fender lines. when you get it just right then without opening the hood you tighten up the bolts on the inside to secure the hinge then tighten the one on the firewall and its done

 

Looks like it's about ready to start driving. Do you plan on taking it to any local car show soon? The Chino corn feed run is this Saturday and downtown Ontario is having a 3 day car show September 20, 21, and 22. on Euclid Ave.

 

You can see the gap it slightly bowed out...yup the hood did come down with a bang. I had new hinges and springs which we powdered coated. I'm thinking media blasting took out all the seam sealer at the cowl hood brace and thats part of the problem. We tried a dozen time trying to adjust the hinges to the cowl w/o success. I've stripped the new springs of the coating. I'm goignto see a more patient friend this coming weekend perhaps I can pass along some suggestions. Thanks

 

when its driving im taking it to all the shows, from OC to LA and local here in inland empire. its ready to start, I just have to figure out why the rear driver side wheel is locked. hope its just the brakes seized and not something inside the diff. and yea im going to that show, all 3 days

 

wow that's nice. yea I see the gap. mine has it now, AFTER I put the springs on even though I aligned it good. before that it didn't have it. I push on the sides and it pushes it back in, but when I open it and close it again it does it again till I push it back in. im on another forum where its nothing but 30s to 50s cars, and allll the guys with 40s cars have the same issue, its not just us and they are asking me the same questions. but there has to be a solution, I see a lot of 40s cars with the hood aligned just right