Projects Winter Project: 1957 Pontiac Starchief

Great post. Inspiring. You can brag on the merits of building with what you got....

"junk stuff in the garage??", what does she call it now? !!

 

Nice to see your parts are coming together. I admire anyone who sticks with a job muchless do everything right and posts pictures of their dog. Thanks for sharing your project you're tunnel is getting a lot shorter.

 

Almost forgot to thank the folks that helped me out with all the transport, blasting etc. My bro Kevin for letting me borrow his truck a lot; Steve F. for lining up your friend to do the blasting and helping me haul it to his place; Don A. for helping me haul it back and unload it; Jesse D. for borrowing me the trailer, which was key to the entire operation; And mom and dad for helping me load it up and for not changing the locks or refilling the garage with something else while it was gone. More pictures are coming soon so stay tuned for more!


Note-If you are interested in who I used for sandblasting PM me. They did an awesome job!

 

Car looks great man! See ya Friday.

Slim

 

Thanks a lot! You should see it since I got on it with a DA, it looks AMAZING! More pictures coming soon!

 

Okay its been a busy month and so I am back with more progress and photos for show and tell. When I left off I was just prepping for etch prime and epoxy primer. I had DA'd everything down that I could, basically everything in the last group of pictures. I can see why some people leave their cars bare metal sometimes, it looks REALLY cool. Of course you need mad metal skills and/or a super straight body to do that, of which I have neither!

 

Once I got all the sanding out of the way it was time for some primer! I had never, ever painted anything before unless it involved a brush, roller or rattle can. Since I needed some painting education I signed up for a PPG paint clinic at the local parts store. It was 2 4-hour sessions and I really learned a lot. From what products and equipment to use, to how to set it up and make your garage into a paint booth, they covered it all. Also answered a lot of questions I had and gave me some confidence that I could do it myself. So I got it prepped and sprayed it out..... of course I made some mistakes and had a couple of issues, but nothing I couldn't figure out on my own. The worst part was working in a smaller area and having to move things in and out constantly. I spent aprox. 2 weeks getting it all in etch prime and then laying out the epoxy primer. Not too bad for only working 2-3 days a week on it and having no previous experience. So here are some primer pics!

 

All in all I am fairly pleased with my 1st car painting job, even though it is no where near perfect. Too thick in some spots, too thin in others an there's some tiger stripey stuff too. But its primer and you got to mess up really bad for it to be totally ruined. Thanks again to Mom and Dad for continuous garage access. Thanks to Chad R. for material hook-ups and advice, and Jimmy, Jason and Steve for paint advice. PPG and Welle Auto put on a great paint clinic, best $10 I have spent in a while. Taking a little break for 50's, the 4th and to bank some more funds but should have some more progress before too long.

 

Hey Bryan just checked out the post again, the 57 looks good

saw the Welle a.p. paint class etc in the Linechaser looks like it's worth the time & money

 

'57 Pontaics are very cool. If I had the choice between a '57 Chev and Poncho I'd pick the Poncho. Nice work.

 

I KNOW how rust prone they are... My '57 Safari had been sitting in a damp field with the windows rolled up for years! If you need weird trim pieces, hardware, etc., I might have it.
PM me with what your looking for.

jay

My car before:
No floors, rotted door corners, hood corners, entire roof... Rust everywhere!


My car after:
Patch panels, new floors, more patch panels...

 

Hey Bryan nice talking to you & looking over your Star Chief

keep up the good work

 

Thanks! You've probably forgotten more about these cars then I'll ever know! Let me know if you need/want to look at anything else. You'll have to come look at the rest of it some time too. Bryan

 

Okay, it's been a while so time for an update. After primer I wanted to add seat belt mounting points (lap belts), re-seal body seams, undercoat/insulate the floor pans and paint the firewall. Biggest thing was getting the firewall painted before we set the body back on the frame, so I wouldn't have to pull the engine to paint it later.

First pictures show some of the areas I re-sealed, you can also see where I added my seat belt mounts.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=10482&pictureid=105367

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=10482&pictureid=105368

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=10482&pictureid=105360

Large thanks to Bull for helping me make those belt mounts. Basically took 1/8th inch flat steel 2 inches wide and cut it into 2x2 squares, drilled the holes and welded one on each side of the floor. Also added the same mounts in the rear package tray for child seat restraints.

 

Keep up the good work! looking good.

 

Then I went through and added my undercoating/sound deadening/heat blocking stuff. I used Cool Car Ceramic... It's supposed to be similar to the Lizard Skin product, but better. Apparently Lizard Skin changed their formula recently so the heat formula is no linger combined with the sound formula so you have to buy twice as much. Cool Car Ceramic has heat and sound protection covered in one bucket I guess... It turned out well, some more photos...

 

Then I went to work filling all the major divots in the firewall. Filling, sanding, filling, sanding etc... First time using body filler, sets up A LOT faster than drywall compound! Then Jimmy, aka slim53, came over and laid out some primer surfacer, we sanded some more, and he laid out some white single stage on the firewall. Came out AWESOME! Very large THANK YOU to Jimmy for spending ALL DAY helping me out! It turned out better than I could have expected!





The next morning unmasked,

 

Then I had my brother come help me drop the body back on the frame for the 1st time in 10 years or so. We tow-dollied it from my house to my parents and set the body back on in the street since it was a more even surface. Some nervous moments between the towing and putting the body back on, but it all went well and I am pleased with the results!

 

Looks good! I see I've posted in this thread, but just wanted to say you're doing a great job and a '57 Pontiac coupe is worthy of all that effort. Keep it up man!

 

The last group of pics was from yesterday morning so that's where I'm at. Back seems a little high right now. There's 3 inch blocks in the back, but someone re-arched the springs right before I bought the car, of course there's a lot of stuff to bolt on as well. Guess I won't worry about it for now.... Just happy its back together!

 

cool Bryan you got it back together, thanks for the heads up

have to check it out that coating you used, the Star Chief is looking good

 

Isn't that cool...I mean the body remarried after ten years...WOW...bet there was a lot of nervous anticipation while lowering it...is it gonna match up? Did we move something while patching so it won't? Is the engine tranny back in its proper place? Firewall in correctly? I know, we went thru the same thing but did a whole lot less metal patching than you did.

Don't worry about how high it sets right now...you've got a ton of stuff to put back on...and the body has been off the chassis for years...it'll settle back down...

Now comes the fun part...putting it back together so it looks like a '57 Pontiac again...you're on the downward slide...it gets easier and soon you'll be taking it out for a drive...nice job...

R-

 

Looks great Bryan! It's been lots of fun seeing this car come together after so many years. Keep up the good work and hopefully you'll be able to cruise it down the road next spring!

 

Such a bad ass car. I really regret selling my 57 Chieftain and I wish I could go back and un-do the sale. Still have a few odd's n end's maybe if you need anything. What I have I don't remember but there may be some stuff.

 

very well done! good thing you have long winters.

 

Wow...so jealous. You are doing some great work man. Thanks for keeping us updated. Lookin' GOOD!

 

Excellent - really cool car.

 

Lookin GREAT !!!!!!!!! I like all the fine detail work...Keep posting the progress...Thanks

 

Thanks for all the kind words, guys! The light at the end of the tunnel just got a lot brighter!