Projects Does the HAMB really need another shoebox build thread?

Good to see progress with this build.Keep it up!

 

Not much chance of rolling this year, but thanks for the encouragement. Not going to win any awards, just want to drive the damn thing and not be tooo embarrassed

 

I'm sure it's going to look great when your done.
Good to see some progress.

 

Awesome thread Andrew, glad to see you've worked it this far. You have skills and it is very cool to know that they were self taught .. Now come on down and get started on my 56 Dodgem, I seem to have little interest in it anymore...

 

dude we need to start a sanding support group...I feel your pain

 

Any updates?
Is your sanding purgatory over?

 

Andrew - That is way cool - Looks great man - WOW!!!!

 

Write me in the 'I Hate Sandblocking For Life' group also! Tried my best on my fenders, what a shitty job pfff...asked several guys who does it for a living, but even they won't burn there hands on them. 'We only do new stuff and replacing new sheetmetal, little sandblocking now and then' blablabla

Your car looks tits in primer, really like the taillights!

 

I don't think you have much to be embarrassed about, great job and thanks for sharing.

 

Nope. Still sanding...



And sprayed another coat of primer. I won't be posting any close-up shots quite yet, still not done...



Oh boy. More sanding to do this weekend.

 

fun stuff eh?

looking good though dude, keep it up. Those taillights are tits

 

Looking good!!

 

You guys wanna come over and cheer me on? I don't even want to go in the garage right now. C'mon... I have beer...

 

I just happen to work for beer!

I've been following along but I haven't commented yet and I have to say this thing is killer!

 

been there...youll get over that feeling eventually

...I hope

 

Looking good! Now keep it up and get it done!!!

 

Find this tread today, LOVE IT. Will spend hours to read it all later.

 

Amazing work. Gives me hope that mine will get done sooner or later.
Keep pounding on that sanding I hate it too but the end product shows the effort.
Pointer-1

 

Double tail lights remind me of the family truckster and those double double vision Inn-n-out commercials haha

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That's EXACTLY the look I'm going for.

Alrighty then, moving right along... I'm sick of sanding, need to do something on this to get my energy level back up. So, what haven't I messed with on this car? Let's find some virgin steel and cut it

I've had a set of '56 Olds headlight rings stashed away for years. I've looked at all kinds of different ways of using them, most of which involve using Olds buckets and pieces of the Olds fenders. '56 have the nice peak on top, which is hard to replicate... or not tooo hard, as it turns out. I didn't have any luck finding Olds fenders or buckets, and I read a Street Rodder article using the stock Ford buckets so that's where I pointed my compass.

First of all I need to clean up the old rust buckets...



Whip 'em through the sandblaster and hit 'em with some Rustoleum, they look almost passable...



Now, just attaching the Oldsmobile rings to the Ford buckets makes them stand out like a fake tit, so I needed to pull the buckets back about 3/4". I also want to be able to install bulbs and make adjustments from the front (one of the things I dislike about typical frenched headlights is guys mount the bucket from behind, then have to pull the bucket out every time they need to access the headlight).

I started with some 18ga, bent 90°...



I'd never used a shrinker before, but it turned out to be a pretty simple operation to make a fairly decent circle...



Tacked the fairly decent circles to the buckets and after some farting around getting the holes etc. in the right places, I ended up with these...



Which sets the bucket back in the fender...



What that pic doesn't show is the mounting tab on the bottom. I pop-rivetted them on and things were ticketty boo. That's the easy part.

Here's where the real fun begins...



I wanted the natural crease in the stock fender to line up with the peak in the headlight, so I stuck a hunk of rod on there as a guide. Looks a little crooked in that pic, but it was where it needed to be...



That gave me a good couple of starting points to work out a template. I wanted to transition from old steel to new at a point where it would seem natural, and that took a little finagling...



So how the hell do you make that crease? Same way I made my hood peak. Started with a sheet of 18ga, bent to about 75° (I didn't want as big/sharp a crease as the hood, so I convinced myself that 75° was about right... highly scientific guessing)...



And I just started flattening it using my wimpy little schoolgirl hands, don't want tool marks in the steel...



Once I transferred my pattern and cut out the shapes, then I pounded it into a closer approximation of the final shape using a dead-blow hammer and a block of wood...



I tacked a chunk of tubing to my bench with a small gap underneath so I had something to help with shaping...



Then I tacked the roughly shaped steel onto the fender and pretty much just pushed it into shape...



Talk about frickin' nervous. I looked for a couple of years before I found a nice set of fenders I could afford. Found 'em in Missouri on my way to the HAMB Drags, and BenD and Marcy brought them up north for me. Nice, solid, original sheet metal... that first cut was almost painful... but I got over it



Still need to do lots of finishing, but the first one came out pretty alright if I do say so...



The peak worked out...

 

I still need to make a filler piece under the eyebrow, and a bit more slapper & dolly work to make the shape 100% right...



And then I get to do it all over again...



To be continued...

 

You custom guys really make me wonder!

 

Wow. You make it sound so easy......I'll just cut a bit out of the fender and insert a new piece which is the shape I want.

I have nothing but admiration for your workmanship.

 

Awesome work !! I like the new look !

 

Great work,Andrew!

 

Thanks guys. I'll get some better pics up once I get things a bit more finished. I lost sleep over this for a long time before attempting it, gotta say I'm pretty happy with the result so far.

 

ballsy, but turned out great! they will look awesome with the peaked hood. Bravo dude