Progress looks good. I would definitely cut out the old sections of the fender before you weld those headlight panels in (which do look real nice) you don't want to give yourself an area to fill up with dirt and cause rust. Even if you primer and paint it, once some moisture and dirt gets trapped there it'll cause issues later.
thanks, Im sticking w/ the 318 that was in it when I got. Its in need of a rebuild but that will happen after I finish the body work and spray the primer, That way the primer will have plenty of time to shrink, cure, and move around while i do the engine. thanks, jeff
looking real good did you weld the rear fenders to the body ? if your pulling the motor cut the the front support and use two c clips to hold togather then unbolt and motor slides right out and back in, works well on mine. the front pan is outstanding wish I still had mine.
as I was looking at your progress I was thinking you know the front of that rear fender needs reshaped! Than you did it great job! really looks alot better.
Ok My bad! I didnt know that second photo was Photoshoped. Your still doing a great job on the metal work. Makes me want to get back on my 47 DeSoto I started 25 years ago. (Wow I just realized I started that thing that long ago.)
Trim a little, bend a little. Trim a little more then bend a little more. Just trying to line all this up has been crazy. Ive had my doubts that this was going to look the way I wanted but tonight I think Im happy. Before I split the 5" pipe, I thought Hmmmm. Lol, just kidding. And this was the best way I could think of to mark the exact center line. Running the square down the side will only scrape the highest point which is also the center line.You can see the other center line is already marked and that was as easy as rubbing it on the concrete floor to find the highest point of the diameter. I did this on the 3" and the 5" and it worked great. Just because you have a tig welder dosent mean you are a tig welder. (This is the inside view of all the welded up pie cuts) Im really happy this idea w/ the tubing is working towards the look I wanted. Im pretty sure this is what I wanted. Jeff
really nice bodywork. i have a 51 concord semi kustom almost finished but I see some of your ideas and wish maybe i had done sime things differently....oh well im satisfied anyway great job!!!!!!!
poss51kustom, Thanks, There have been a bunch of things that Ive done that I knew if I didnt, I would have kept saying,"I wish I had done that, or I should have done this instead". I have cut some corners, but Ive got a pretty clear picture of what I want this to look like when done. jeff
Cross one big job off the list! (well almost) This headlight / grill surround portion has taken quite a while, w/ all the planning, sitting back and starring and finally doing, they are finally welded in for good! Somethings may look a little out of square but for sure its the camera angle because thats one thing that was watched w/ a close eye (plus the hoods not lined up yet). Heres a quick tip for any one dealing w/ the buick headlight treatment. These cheap clearance marker lights are the perfect size. Just hole saw A 2" hole, tack weld in the metal "bucket" and install the trim ring I may even do a tech post on how I did the buick lights since all this will be buried in the build post. jeff
Your grill opening is looking great! The 5in pipe looks way better than the 3in. Great job. The photoshop that JamesD did with the rear fenders reworked will look bitchin if you decide to go that far.
If I go that far? Am I not doing enough? LOL I kinda like the way the qtrs have such a blunt start. Plus I want to see this car done next yr and dont need any more to do My MIG gas bottle is saying empty but shes still putting out, Hopefully I can kick it tonight so I can get a refill on the way home tommorrow. Later, jeff
Another quick update for anyone that cares or is following along. Another spot that had me stumped for a while was the mismatch between the grill surround and the hood. angle 1 angle 2 Figured before I plan anything I had better see what the previous owner had covered up. Not wanting to make a huge dusty mess grinding bondo in the garage, I rigged up a quick "dust collector" and it worked great , Heres a shot jumping ahead but you can see how I knew there was some uglieness hiding under there. Needing some pcs w/ 90 degree bends, my choice was obvious, More shelving units! LOL The ends worked great. Now that the bottom edge is all squared up its time to address the hoods leading edge. With so much shaddy patch work going on, I decided to just wack the bottom 5"s off and rebuild it. Not turning out too bad so I decided I may as well radius the corners too. Time to go finish welding and grinding jeff
totally side tracked again. Decided to fancy up the corner pcs a little. One of those things you'll never see , well hardly ever see.
Went through your build thread, fantastic work. Gives me many ideas for my projects. Close up step by step photos are the best.
Excellent work! I really like the grille surround.I've really got to get back to my Coronet.It's going to be a long winter.
Winters here so theres only one thing to do...... Get things done in the garage. Im planning on getting the body work done from the windshield forward and then shooting some epoxy and high build on it so it can "set up" while I finish the rest of the car. Well, that was the plan till I got side tracked again. I never did like the Frenched antena HOLE from the previous owner. All the the work Im doing to smooth the body out and then theres this big sunken HOLE. So I was forced to cut it out and fill it in then while wiping things down I found a huge bulge in the front fender. No idea how I never saw this considering the amount of work I did in that area, but Im sure that work resulted in too much shrinking and streching. The only way I could think of to fix this was more shrinking. Not really knowing what I was doing I figured just grab the torch and jump right in. Heres what we started w/ just a little: Maybe a little more: Hmm,, maybe a little too much..... So I may have gone a little too far w/ shrinking but at least now I feel like I can smooth this out and have it look right. Its pretty neat watching the metal react to the hot/cold. Jeff
Very cool thread - these Mopars always looked kinda 'stodgy' to me, you're doing a great job - I like the attention to detail on pieces like the grille filler pieces. Nice work...
One huge step done and now I can feel like I accomplished something! Too bad theres still SOOoooo much left to do. Good to see the front in all one color but now no one will ever know just how much work there is was to get there. jeff
Man thats some nice work...I'll send my 47 your way and you can give it your front end treatment while your at it!!!
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