Hot Rods The Belly Button Bucket Build Thread

Looks familiar!

 

Great minds think alike. Corrupt minds probably think alike, too, though…..

 

So with all of the weight savings, the next coffee and donut run, you'll be able to get a 2nd donut...

 

I'm not done with the weight savings yet!

 

Ooooo;
Helium/hydrogen in the tires; (used back in the 30's as lighter than air)
Kevlar/carbon fibre, (Probably used in the early 60's space program & a little leaked out of the SkunkWorks for you)
Aluminum, (since the early teens)
Titanium, (50's probably)
Magnesium, (40's at latest)
Unobtanium... ( Howard Hughes since the 30's, if not that, then Rocky n Bullwinkle, certainly every govt program since early eternity)
but you'll need a short (featherweight) chain to keep your now-lightened wallet from floating away. .
Yes, Adding Lightness is the Answer, the Way & where it's at!
Marcus...

 

Well, I’ve been working on fiberglassing the bed floor to the body, as well as cut/fiberglassed in a new one piece oak support for the top of the bed. Additionally, I cut out the rear crossmember hump, as it was not made very well, and I know I can do better now.

 

Made a template for the rear crossmember cover, as well as some support spines for the tailgate as it seemed pretty flimsy, and these double as license plate mounts. Slow process but so far so good.

 

Well, I did my best to make the crossmember cover- I think it will turn out ok. What I did is make a poster-board template, wrapped that in a thin barrier to create a small air gap between the crossmember and cover once complete, taped it all up to keep the fiberglass from sticking, and cut out a flange from 1/8” Masonite to keep things somewhat on track. Overall it worked well, although next time I would use something other than tape to hold my pattern to the flange as that separated during layup and I had to scramble to finish the job. There’s a couple photos below showing old cover next to new template cover. This new one will be removable with the flange as well. Much better.

 

I’m happy to report the rear crossmember cover turned out pretty decent! Next, I made a panel out of 1/8” Masonite to close off the bed from the cab. It took a couple tries, but I got it fitting great by relief cutting the bottom edge to help it make the curve. After confirming fitment, I laid up 2 layers of 1.5 oz matte and one layer of cloth to the backside, then installed it. Once this is dry, I’ll do the frontside in the same way. I’ve been dreading this project since I bought the body, but I am really happy with how it is going.

 

Looking good

 

Nice work Tim, you sure are getting well rounded in this hot rod fab stuff!

 

You could use this photo to scare kids into going to bed at bedtime

 

Got the front side smoothed out and laid up some glass. It’s quite the chore to work with that much surface area and against the clock on the pot life, but I got it done.

 

What body is it that has that area open? Most I've seen are solid there.
Also, that rear hole in the floor looks like you need a bit of a bubble to clear the pinion.
Are you going to add a trim strip around the top edge? Seems like you've got more itchy stuff in your future.

 

This is a now extinct Total Performance body.

There is 3" of clearance between rear axle housing and floor of pickup bed - I will add a bump stop when I have the body turned over. There will be an access cover in the floor/seat back for accessibility to 3rd member, which will have a small speed blister for pinion clearance. When you have wide open space to close up, it is easier to define your constraints by closing everything up first, then cut in flanges and access panels, etc.

There will be a trim strip around top edge, as well as significantly more fiberglass work in my future. I have a lot of intricate things in mind I wish to incorporate into this build, which will certainly test my abilities.

As for the itchy comment, I know you're just poking fun - I read this in every fiberglass thread. But to be serious here, I have yet to have an issue. I wear an N95 and gloves with any handling or sanding of fiberglass materials, and I wear a respirator and gloves when dealing with resin. This goes without saying, but I do not touch my face or bare skin with the gloves on. I wear long sleeve clothes and close toed shoes, that I blow off before leaving the garage and change out of as soon as I get in the house. If they look especially dusty when it's time for laundry, I'll take them outside and hose them off/soak them in a bucket before I put them in with my wash. In the garage, I vacuum the area after every sanding/layup session, which keeps the dust down. There's still a lot of dust, but it's no different than paint/body work. Fiberglass work doesn't have to be miserable if you plan ahead.

 

Spent some time tonight bonding the door jamb boards to the body, which allowed me to start roughing in my seating arrangement.

 

Shaping up to be one heck of a hot rod

 

The rear panel layup left a little to be desired in finished surface, so I gave it a quick scuff/fill, followed by some block sanding. Looking much better now, and when I feel like living in a haze of dust some more, I’ll knock the rest of this down and call it good for now.

 

Preferring "white-haze" to Purple-Haze" ? .
Marcus...

 

Tonight I got the top body moulding wrapped in oak. I’ll tab these in once they’re sanded uniformly. Initially, I tried to make this in a few pieces, but my woodworking skills and patience did not allow that, so I cut a bunch of 1x2’s (0.75”x1.5”) in 1”, 2”, and 4” sections to make the curves.

 

Tonight I got the top rail pretty well smoothed out and looking decent. I’ll wait to tab everything in until I have the remainder of the wood bracing on the back of the body glued up.

 

Got the first X-brace fitting pretty good. This area of my body is very flimsy- when I sit on the seat, the cushion push-out of the seat flexes this panel area lol. So to me, it needed some attention. Bonding it to the body now with long n’ strong.

 

As something like this is probably in my future, please tell me, what is long and strong? So far I only have cut fiberglass out, haven't had to put anything back in...

There was that time with the car hop, the snowmobile and a bowl of chocolate pudding.

But I'm feeling much better now

 

long n strong is long strand fiberglass filler, the important part of that is the long strand part. It creates a stronger bond than short strand, or regular fiberglass filler. Think of it as the JB Weld of fiberglass.

https://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.c...ilTe8EMe_LzQ7tML5yx2dvqhiIHDReyBoCxfEQAvD_BwE

There are two methods of bonding wood to fiberglass- lay up some matte and slap the wood over the top, or smear some long strand filler on both parts and stick them together.

For me, it is easier to work with the long strand filler. Once everything is set up, I can go back through and tab everything in with matte and cloth.

For panel repair, I would just use the filler as a filler, not as the bonding method. If that makes sense, hopefully. Like for example, when I put the seat back area in- I laid that up with matte and cloth, then used the filler to smooth it all out once done.

 

Thanks! BTW, you're still welcome here on the east coast some day or week in the future. You'll have the experience with yours. And you know you'll need to keep current and stay in practice with fiberglassing!

 

Managed to get the driver’s side x-brace cut out and bonded to the body. I’m really happy with how it’s turning out. As mentioned earlier, I was not looking forward to this work, but I’m gaining confidence as I go.

 

I hated doing that part on mine, I used Liquid Nail to glue the wood to the body, then put a layer of mat and resin over it to make sure it stuck.
18 yrs later it's still stuck, never had any of it come loose.
I used to frequent the NTBA forum and they had a ton of tech topics on how to build these cars, it was a wealth of information when building from scratch.

 

Come over here and we'll work on some more of that confidence building.
Nice work Tim!

 

Today I worked on the seat frame. I noticed the plywood I had cut out had some delaminating going on, likely from living outside for a couple years stacked against the garage. I used them as templates to transfer to 1x4 oak, then assembled and bonded to the floor/body. I’ll be adding some steel reinforcements and will tab all joints when I get a little further along. The pins sticking out index the seat cushions (4th gen f body rear seats, which will get different stitching/upholstery when the time comes) to the seat frame. Each night, I sit in the car while I post, and I gotta say it’s pretty comfy!

 

After work tonight, I removed the firewall in preparation to undo my past sins. I’ve mounted quite a few things that changed throughout the build, and the firewall is one of those areas that needs attention. I plan to close up misc. holes, as well as tighten up the gap around the bellhousing - those are the major things. In an effort to save space and dead weight, I reduced the oak reinforcement to a 1.5” border, which needed some glueing on a delaminated area once complete. I plan to bond/tab this to the body once the other firewall issues have been addressed. Still scheming that out.





Once I had that cut out, I cut a new tonneau cover for the pickup bed. The previous one was 3/4”, and the new one is 1/2”. The reason I made a new one is because the old one was intended to have the fuel filler come out of the center, and it would have been a fair amount of work to change that and re-cover it. I’ll probably switch up the way it is mounted, hinged and latched, as I felt there was room to improve when I removed the old one. I think I can knock that out this week.