decided to start tearing into this thing just to see how it was built. Looks a little ruff to me. I think I can clean it up, will have a good time trying.
drives fine, I drove it home 875 miles the day I flew in to get it. He had it a year and never worked on it. I will weld in a couple of cross braces and fab up a nicer floor.
You just opened pandora's box. Once you start fixin/replacing/redoing and cleaning it up there won't be an end to it. Might just as well plan to pull the body and spend the winter doin the 'ins' (cuttin/grindin&weldin). If you don't you'll have so many compromises that you won't get that sense of accomplishment. That just part of making it 'your' car. Have fun and take some pics for us.
It's a beautiful car and I am very glad you got home safe, wait until some of the cats like from New Zealand or Germany chime in. Good HAMB members that know all too well that type of stuff would NEVER be allowed on the road, EVER. Dont take me wrong, nice car and glad to have you here. I dont wanna see anyone get hurt. I build my frames, that's plain old scary.
You're quite right... that would never get certified here in New Zealand. Another vote for pulling the body and doing it properly. You wont regret it in the long run.
I'm not seeing what you other guys are seeing. It's messy and crude; it's a stock frame with the crossmember cut out and another welded, I ***ume, holding the trans up. Not the worst I've seen. The best idea would be to lift the body and fully weld in a crossmember if you feel it is unsafe. Do one thing at a time and keep it drivable. Don't dive in too deep or you may not be driving it for years --happens all the time.
That was what I thought till I saw pic labeled 3 of 4. I can't really tell what is there, but it looks like plates have cracked apart and pulling away??
I'm with AJ in that I'd roll it in the garage this winter and lift the body off and clean it up and box it right. That has the look that says it was all done with the body on the frame so you can expect plenty of scabs on it. But there may be something said for building a new frame and then swapping the running gear and body over in one shot.
They cut it with a torch and then bolted it down. It had been welded to the frame. I was going to pull it apart this winter any way to clean up some other stuff I have seen. The floor was 3 layers of plywood, I may go with metal. If not I will still not reuse the old stuff.
The Jalopy Journal
