Projects My 51 Shoebox build thread

Thanks,Andrew.
I knew that there was some bumps on the wheel well,but i got a bit surprised too how bad it was.
I have monday off from the work,so hopefully i'll get something done before tuesday.But we'll see,the panel replacing can be really time consuming thing to do..

 

I got the wheel opening lip done,cut off the rest of old crappy quarter panel and i laid some primer on the wheel well and on the inner side of the nos panel too.



Too bad that corner above the tail light section was pretty pitted on the nos panel,so i had to leave more of the original panel than i planned.But my plan was to leave the frenched tail lights as they are anyway,so its not a big deal.

It was not easiest job to clamp this size of panel all by myself,but its there.I am glad that i had enought clamps..



I guess next job is to weld it..I've made few tackwelds,but the top ridge needs some trimming before i can make more progress.

 

Panel is pretty much the same thing i did except i used the hole thing from the little seam on top and trunk gap. You cut it about the same spot at the front which is a good thing so you can reach in thru the window and work the panel after welding. Staying away from the spear was smart to. A lot of work there but it'll be good in the end. Keep it up.

 

That birthday present looks familiar.

 

I had to use so much of the NOS panel that it was possible.The new panel covers most of the damaged area,but it misses one slight dent only by 2 inches.The top seam is shaved,so I cut off the remains of the top seam and cut the whole thing off from the new panel with spotweld cutter too.There is no sense to leave slices of the seam collecting rust between the body and new panel at this point.I think my weekend will be busy,but hopefully i'll make some progress.

Yeah,that was the best birthday present for yrs,so no need to send that present back
Thanks again for the deal!

 

good job so far! looks great!

 

Thanks man!

 

love your work buddy
cheers Darren

 

Looking great bud!

 

aren't these clamps great? have lots of 'em, great stuff! looks good, pal!

have a good weekend,

Cheers, Carsten

 

Thanks guys!

Yeah,those clamps are really useful.I got something like 30 of them.I bought over 20 of them for 50 bucks from ebay.So,its not always total rip off when buying stuff from there

 

Subscribed.
That's some real nice fabrication and engineering you have done.
Very motivating, but I have a lot to learn.

 

Thanks!
Good to hear that my thread can be motivating.I started to mess with cars when i was 19-20 yrs old,but i still have a lot to learn.There are few things in this project that i havent done never before.
I guess you are never too old to learn something new,the lessons are over when the wild chervils are growing up from your ass

 

LOL,
wouldn't want to garnish my salad with "chervils" from the ass.

I remember being excited just handing my dad wrenches when he was working on the car.
Learned a lot about cars from him, but still learning.

 

Now there's something you don't hear everyday

Hell yes your thread is motivating.

 

AWESOME work!! I just read this whole thing...don't know how I missed it.

 

Thanks guys,good to hear you like it.
Its been a bit quiet with this project.The quarterjob is almost done.My plan was to ask help from a friend of mine,he got better tools than i have and there are few spots where i need an extra pair of hands.
Over week ago he had a car accident and broke few ribs.He was lucky,it could been a lot worse than that.
He is out of game for a while,so i have to think something else.Maybe some side project could be good to have at this point...

 

Be careful with a side project, Shoebox's can get jealous if you neglect them lol!

 

I ment some other phase by side project.When i have to wait parts etc.or other reason that makes everything suck with the project,i do some simply and motivating job to get the motivation back.Doing two different projects at same time just doesnt work with me.
I guess someone can handle it,but sharing time and money for 2 different things at same time just doesnt lead anywhere.I've learned my lessons long time ago in this case.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of a female side project.

 

Nope,that kind of projects will take all the money and time in the long run.Right?
You suggested to make a slapper from leaf spring,so i butchered one Ford Escort MK I leaf spring and turned it to slapper.It works fine



But that was not the side project i was talking about,this was:
Another one of my little bros works in the small company that makes tin roofs and tin insulations for industry.
They have good tools at the work,so i went there with my bro and we rolled some sheet metal.
That was easy like eating candy with their slip rolls,nothing like working with the crappy rolls we have in my work.



I've planned to do this for a long time,so now was good time to get it off from the to do-list.I raised the back section of the tranny tunnel:



It took some time to get it stretched to the correct shape and butt-weld it,but its there.There was some pitting and pinholes(again),so i had to make a small patch under the rear seat.
If i ever to floorjobs like this i think its good to start with rockers and floor bracing,after that tranny tunnel and then the floor panels.
That kind of order will make this kind of job a bit easier.

 

Good work Antti!

 

Nice job on the slapper, now make all different shapes, longer, shorter, curved what ever shape you need. You will be surprised how you ever did without them.

Smart move on the ladies.

 

I like the slapper Antti, nice. The tunnel came out looking great! Keep up the good work.

 

Great job on the tooling and fabrication!
Can you tell me how much you raised the tunnel??
And how much clearance are you allowing for driveshaft... I will be doing mine similar and am looking for ideas.

 

Thank you gentlemen!

Well,i got 2 packs left of the Escort leafs,so that pipeline is not dry yet.I guess i'll make more of them when i need those.Its easy and cheap way too to get some new tools.
I think those euro leafs are just perfect for this purpose,US mades could be too wide..
I didnt take any measures of the tunnel,i just took off the driveshaft from rear end,cut off the tunnel and raised the driveshaft against the rear x-member.Thats how i figured out how much i have to raise the tunnel.
I am going to notch the x-member,so i counted that too with the raise.That raise is not much,but i am pretty sure that i have to modify the bottom of the rear seat.
I dont know about the clearance yet,because the motor and tranny are mounted too high at the moment.I think it will be just fine,after the motor and tranny are mounted a bit lower.
Almost forget this.I scored this cast sign,i've been looking one for a while:



Thats a recast of vintage country code sign for cars.
SF stands for Suomi Finland,SF was our country code before they changed it to FIN.Nowadays those codes are painted on those stupid euro plates.When travelling in foreign countries at 50's to late 60's,law required that there must be a country code on the car,so we had those plates then.
Later they were replaced to stickers,but there is nothing cooler than alloy cast sign

 

Great score on the alloy cast sign!

 

Thanks Eric!

I guess original one could be a bit cooler than this one,but i guess i can live with it.

 

The package tray was lapwelded and it looked like a bit weird,so i buttwelded it.
And i decide to use the original package tray bracing.Its a kind of tight fit,but it fits there:



Friend of mine called me at yesterday and offered to help with the hammering,so we finished the quarterpanel job.I am glad that he came to help me.It would be almost impossible to get the hammer/dolly phase done by myself.



There is no need for a inch thick chunk of bondo at this time on the quarter panel.
Well,plan is still to use lead instead of bondo,but that wont take inch thick chunk of that stuff either.

 

Good to see progress!