Projects 59 El Camino.. Build Pics

Yes, I know they have been photoshopped. I was posting them to show that wood can look OK if done right. Light blond stain, polished bed strips & high gloss varnish.

If I cannot find a replacement for my bed floor then it may end up with wood like the ones pictured.

If anyone has any further info on the reproduction bed floor please post it up. the bed floor in my car is in poor shape.

 

Can you not use the bed floor out of a late model truck? Cut it to fit? Thats my plan.

Seems like logical solution.

JH

 

Tone,don't some small metal sheds have walls made of steel that have a somewhat similar beading in them? Excuse the filth. Still under construction. Click to enlarge.

 

Yeah, maybe. I will have to see what i can discover when I get that far. I have a model A to assemble before I can tear too far into my elky. It is already disassembled but I don't want to spread it too far apart until I have one less car disassembled. I have been saving a bunch of the pic's Jay has been posting of his car for reference so I have them when I get to mine.

I seem to be really good at taking things apart and fairly slow to put them back together. At least the new one I don't have to take apart.

I know I have been talking about my car a bunch & I have not posted pic's yet. I will start a thread on it when I get it home, I promise. I am headed to Kentucky to get it this weekend as long as everything goes smooth.

 

I'm doing wooden door panales in my wagon stained green but after seeing thoes pics of the elkys I'll probly do ther rear floor section of the wagon in wood also it just looks so awsome ,great pics thanks for posting Toner

 

Looking forward to that.. Yours and Mikes!

Today, I was trying to figure out how to make the window regulator & the ign switch, work together. It's a ground issue & won't work. The keyed switch on my 57(it's hide behind the gas door, where you would fill the tank in the fin.. it has a fuel cell in the trunk, so it worked out for me there) An it will only power the drivers side, electric window regulator, one way only. So now I have to use two momentary switches. One to open, another to close.


I was just getting started here.. you should've seen the organized choas I had going on. I also tried to hook up everything hot, an use the switch to distribute a ground.. but I am not able to ground the w/regulator & the switch. I'm still learning. My Dad was even thinking about it, after he seen me working on it. he came back out & said, 'you're gonna need two switches'.. and that was that!

 

I can't wait to see the green stained panels.. The floor section wood look cool green also! Hot Damn!

 

Hey Jay, in your sig you are looking for some impala trim. Post up a pic of what you are after & I will see if i have any in the parts pile I got with my car. I know there is a bunch of impala stuff with it but I am not totally sure what is what yet.

 

i heard late model chevy pickup bed floors work well..

 

I will find a picture and post it.. tonight as a matter of fact, but i'm hungery right now. Be Right Back!

 

Pics are stolen from ebay.. once again the arrow points to mldgs I'm looking for. The pics under that, show cruise control.. Thats neat to me. I would only like to drive that car if the cruise was hooked up and operational. Be a cool experience.

 

Use a GM single power window switch. That's what I did for a similar project. They are cheap on ebarf or at Autozone. I also recommend putting in relays to activate the motor, as it increases the life of the switch, as they are usually rated for low amperage.

 

Already a hundred an somethin' outside. So I'm done for the day! Welded up the hole in the bottom of the fin, cut all the metal in the wheel well uniform. Worked on the quarter panel some more. Then finished welding the rocker. Little things that all add up.

 

I finally removed the screws, holding the psngr rr side bed-floor. Then I pulled out the cutting torch, to remove the 18 broken bed-floor screws. Laziness is a bitch, an I hate drilling out broken screws and bolts..period
Now there's 15 needing removed, an I still don't like the cutting torch.



I am going to use the plasma cutter, to cut out the area around the bed screws.. That's some laziness for dat' ass, right there.

 

Yesterday, Eric from Gazelle Machining stopped by. Class was in session, he helped me a lot. I started on the A/C HTR control knobs,(club, diamond, spade, heart) for my 58 Biscayne.. Shame they're hidden inside the glove box!



So I started on the spade, first. At this point, Eric was back seat driving. Then, just like that he was gone..



I am contemplating keeping the club organic, like my drawing.. stretching things out oblong. But I like what I've come up with on Master Cam.



Learning how to break, cut & erase. That's where I got stuck last time.. Then figured out a few more things. How to move things around, an all that.



I also removed the front body mount bolts. They were still nice. So Imma buy some new 8 grade nuts and bolts, and find some lower bushings that aren't cracked. The front bolts are good, so Imma assume the rest are cool. Fuck it!

 

Pulled out the plasma cutter and cut around all fifteen, broken bed screws. Then I rolled up the 58 frame and cut it up, too!



The front frame horns are already cut off.. so the frame itself, isn't worth much. It's a weight off my shoulders, cutting all the the bed bolts out.

 

A lot smaller now, an I moved everything over to the recycling/sorting section. I'm only getting rid of the frame steel, and keeping everything else.



The idler arm is premo, from the 58.. So it's going on the 59. Cos the one on there sux!





I think on how much money the tire changer has made & saved us, since the 60's! Yeah, I have a tire machine.. I grab the tire & I am the machine! HaHaha

 

It's lookin good Jay. Progress....progress....progress.

 

Being a fly on the wall, I seen music being made & recorded on a computer. Music inspired me to learn computers, and the rest took off from there. Then I was fortunate enough, to be 'associated', as you would, with Eric Gazelle's Machine shop. He graduated top of his class. Great teacher. So everything's working out for me. I look out my window, and see the college.. never attended a day in my life.

The weather's been soo nice the past couple days.. lovin it! Thanks, Jay

 

Isn't she purdy.. swings like a dream though! I'll clean & paint the idler arm, tomorrow.


So I finally drilled the holes I needed in the strap metal, that I used for supports underneath.



Can of Crisco, to help cut & keep the bits cool & sharp.



Then I marked the sides of the bed, so I will know where to center up the bolts to.. Then it will be a little easier, to get them close within the ball park.



Can you see how the rib on the right, is fatter than the one left of it. It's thinner to compensate where it gets to the edge. Then the edge, ends with the lower area where you attach the bolts. So if you did use a long bed floor, both edges should look like this in order to work. Just a thought!







Replaced the front body moount bolts, too.. Grade 8 Baby!



I was bummed when I seen the newer heads on the 327.. My Dad built this as a replacement engine for his 70 p/u, so the acc holes were more conveinant for him!



1964 327 2bl sj.. mfg'd Mar 12 64 (C124) 3783870 (62-65 327) 250HP

 

Ten down, fourteen to go. First ten were the most time consuming. I welded a nut to the bottom of a washer.

 

I didn't add the two bedfloor bolts in the center, so tomorrow I have to go get more hardware. 26 bolts to hold it in place.. fuuck! I only have 'five' more to weld in tomorrow. The driverside wheel-well has some cancer, an a big dent that needs hammered out. Sigh!

 

nice what you did so far!!

 

Big Daddy Roth said, 'A car in primer, has all the possibilities in the world.. soon as you paint it, there's usually always something you would change.'

I agree, and I hope this things is around for another fifty.. or more!

 

I'm not going through that, I'm welding my floor in, screw that guy 50 years from now, I'll be dead.

 

That will be a lot easier! I shoulda' done that.. I'd been done days ago

 

I went to Patton Steel and found a remnant of 20 gauge shtmtl.. great price, too. It worked out good.





Then I used the porta-power and slap file, to ship this shit into an acceptable shape. There is a 4" pipe cemented into the ground, that I use as my english wheel.. A few more adjustments after lunch, an I will have the new piece ready to be burned in!

 

This morning was nice, an everything went together fairly easy. I just took my time & shaped the panel, until it was all kosher!

 

Amazing work dude . I show your tread to anybody who is dicouraged . keep up the good work . A cheese lover from belgium, europe .