Stooge's Longer term car projects, Part 2

[Kev442]

Lookin' real good already.

What's your preferred way of finishing off the deep pits in metal?
30 years ago I think my buddy just put spot putty on, then primed. That seems backwards in these days of super specialty etching primers.

 

[Stooge]

Gonna be following trhis one for sure. seems like quite a fun project.

the running board looks pretty good already, even though its early days.

Hey thanks, i apreciate it! Its weird how much just the running board can change the appearance of it and somehpw make a giant car look even bigger!

Lookin' real good already.

What's your preferred way of finishing off the deep pits in metal?
30 years ago I think my buddy just put spot putty on, then primed. That seems backwards in these days of super specialty etching primers.

Thanks! Right now, the only thing i have done with the body has been to hit it with a coarse surface conditioning disc on a grinder, like a stiffer scotch brite pad to get most of the heavy crust off of the surface. Overall, the surface is alot smoother than the discoloration looks, but there is pitting. Plan is to have a go at it with sanding and get the surface a bit closer, and use aUPOL primer i have that is a direct to metal heavy fill primer, (i believe ineed to acid etch it as well) that should fill most of the pitting, but im sure i'll have to use some plastic filler in a few spots. For filler, i like Evercoat rage gold or extreme

 

[Kev442]

So you do put the filler on before priming yet? I caught a few minutes of that show where they are resurrecting old Mopars and they were literally mudding the entire car, but I didn't see whether there was an etching primer on first.

I went down the UPOL rabbit hole and my head hurts now....
#8 etching, #5 high build, 2:1 with hardener, 4.1 with hardener.... holey moley it's complicated out there!

 

[Stooge]

Must be a british thing with all of thir numbers! I like the upol stuff and its pretty affordable.
Usually i go filler then primer, but there really isnt going to be many places in the car that im going to need much filler, so i think i'll go acid etch priner, a coat or 2 of high fill primer, block it down to see where it will need plastic filler, primer over the filler areas, then a primer sealer before paint, probably a single stage similar to what i used on the white truck

 

[xtremek]

This looks like your doing a good job of "eating the elephant".

 

[Stooge]

This looks like your doing a good job of "eating the elephant".

Whats funny is, after the truck and that I bought it pretty well blown apart and as sort of a basket case, I was pretty adamant the next car was "going to be complete and maybe even a driver that just needs to be cleaned up a bit", and instead was a car that was even more blown apart, missing a lot more than the last one and has more rust Just little things like how/where some trim is , or the doors guts are put together, can be a pain to figure out what goes where or to know what your missing when its stripped down to the shell and the parts you do have are sitting in milk crates.

Thankfully most of the rest of the body is in good shape. After I finish the driver side running board, there lower few inches of body on either side of the door need to be repaired, then I can just do the door bottom, running board and same area on the passenger side, but should go quicker as I already have an idea what to do as well as the template made for the running board. then I can start on the floor section that needs to be repaired and the metal work will be mostly done. I'm really aiming to have it painted this year, but it's going to be black so body work and sanding might take awhile with my snails pace!

 

[Kev442]

"going to be complete and maybe even a driver that just needs to be cleaned up a bit"

Thanks to Velocity TV and Barret Jackson fever, those start at about 12k these days. The dreamers ask 28k for their 20 footers...

I'm at the point where I just want to slap some paint on and start playing with them. 50 footer anyone?

 

[Stooge]

Hah, i wasnt even sure what i was looking for when i found this one, but was mostly just looking at anything pre '54 and cool! I was more after a complete 49-52 chevy coupe, but found this on my end of the country, (upstate new york) with massachusetts title and was one of those 'love at first sight cars, just at how gigantic it was, with such a nice late 30s, art deco, classy look to it! I drove 13hrs in a day, 2 days after getting home from driving 29hrs straight bringing the edsel station wagon back from Iowa, it was a weird week! I paid $2500 for the buick, $500 for the engine, sold off $400 worth of intake, carb and exhaust manifold and paid $800 for the trans, and have a complete driveline now, so im not too much into it yet. New or used and rebuilt, 4 stromberg 97s are going to be expensive though!

 

[Stooge]

Made some final changes and fittings with the driver side running board so i could make the template to make a copy of for the passenger side. Pretty happy with the fit, so i started and finished the sheet metal of the pass side, alot easier the second time around and didnt have to guess as much, but still took awhile without a brake or anything, and the big pieces of my scrap pile were a little short so i had to add a few pieces together for the 5.5 feet of running board. theres still a little adjusting that will have to wait until i put some rubber body shims/mounts in and straighten out the body as it is off center of the frame by about 3/4".

20180331_132230 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

you can see the blue tape on the fender marking first fitting to see how much it was pulled in/ reshaped. I will still be adding a lip around the bottom edge to sort of box it in and make it a little stiffer, but will also be adding an inner structure for strength and for something for the frame brackets to attach to.

20180331_132158 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180331_132207 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

The passenger side sticks out a little more than the driver side, but after the body is aligned on the frame, they will match and are the same distances and dimensions from the frame right now, just the body favors one side. I will probably have to trim a little here and there afterwards, but it was something I didn't realize until I was fitting the passenger side one.

2018-04-03_07-08-05 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180331_132102 by Dan Haas, on Flickr


Happy enough with the running boards for the time being, I pulled the passenger side door off, and gave it a quick once over with a coarse surface conditioning disc to knock the heavy crust and most of the paint off of it to make it easier to mark some reference points on it

20180331_132932 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180331_140303 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Cut out a 45" x 6.5" piece of 18ga and started giving it a bit of shape.

20180331_150928 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

I cut it longer than I needed as the sides will get trimmed but also folded over and crimped to the door structure as they are from the factory, so there is some unshaped edge that gives off a bad profile, but that is just the last inch or so on either side.

20180402_180206 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Cutting out the skin. the outer skin of the door was in worse shape on the passenger side than the driver's side, but the inner sill structure was in much better shape on the passenger side. I'm going to just try and repair the offending areas rather than make a whole new piece like I did on the driver side. even with having to repair it, it will still be a lot less work and a lot less risk of it losing some shape or having a fitment issue with the body.

20180402_183403 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180402_192737 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Pretty happy with the shape of the new panel, a little massaging here and there but not a million miles off

20180402_193352 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180402_193859 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Stooge]

And a little GTO. Finishing up the front windshield lip/ lower cowl piece. out of the whole car, this area has been the most frustrating. it was previously, poorly repaired with a lot of brazing on the very thin dash sheet metal connecting to the fairly thick, (I would guess it is atleast 16ga) replacement windshield lip panel. all of the brazing makes trying to weld around it a real pain, pairing that with the thin sheet metal, and the generous use of JB weld or plumbers putty that was used has me chasing my *** trying to 'fill' some areas and just constantly burning through the contaminated metal.

I thought I had taken more pictures of the repairs but I didn't and the ones I did, came out pretty bad.

20180328_180755 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180328_180252 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Digging out all of the jb weld that lined the corner windshield pocket and ran up the A pillar lip, not really any offending areas on the lip, I guess they were just feathering it in or something.

20180328_180747 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

making the new corner piece did at least give me an excuse to use my Jewelers anvil- makeshift dolly

20180328_183402 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Also stripped out the interior of it to figure out what was needed for replacement floor pans. the top side didn't look bad, but the underside you can see where a previous owner just laid the new pans over the old rotted ones and fixed a few other places with scrap and sheet metal screws. all new pans aren't really needed, but will try and keep it to just the driver side front and the passenger side rear to keep it from *********** too much. Also uncovered a few little rust spots in the driver side door and passenger front fender that was bubbling under the paint. looked worse than it is, so they should be quick repairs as the owner wants to get this in paint sooner than later.

20180331_143516 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[xtremek]

I love watching your progress.

 

[Kev442]

Wow, the hinge screws on the passenger door gave up without a fight too? I've never gotten that lucky on my 60's GM projects/ partouts....

The body being off 3/4 of an inch seems huge to me, it will interesting to hear why.

I know all about those windshield channel rustouts, I've got two of them staring at me. There is a noise reduction foam exposed that I am thinking over how to deal with.

Congrats on the income increase, looks like you can buy a new phone after all!

 

[Stooge]

Thanks! More money should help push this thing along, and good point about getting a new phone, this ones been acting up but the first thing i had thought about with the new promotion moneys was how i want a 70s/80s van. Gotta have your priorities straight!

Surprisingly the passenger side hinges came out even easier than the driver side, no heat, no pb blaster needed, im not so worried about the body being off, i havent looked at all of them as the fenders are still on, but i dont believe all of the body mounting bolts are in place, i know the ones that are in are not tightened down, and it does not use the standard thought of body mount pucks/donuts. Its really just holes in the body floor that lines up to a hole on the frame and there is a 3/8" piece of rubber in between, which are all currently nonexistent on my car.
Looks like this, although the rubber on this one is pretty rotted

2018-04-09_07-13-10 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

About as much as i can get done on the doors and running boards until i align the body/get some rubber body mounts in there and find some brackets for the runing board mounts.

IMG_20180408_130659_343 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

This was cleaed up more after this but i didnt take many pictures. Along with the corner piece, i made a new lip piece to replace the rotted one.

IMG_20180408_130659_341 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Rust treated and a quick spray bomb

20180406_201227 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180407_101501 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

IMG_20180408_130659_340 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Few areas to tidy up, but most of its welded up and the edges are all spot welded, folded and "crimped"
2018-04-09_07-04-15 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180408_105731 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

And started planning out the panels to fix the swiss cheese floor sections. Its worse than i was imagining so its going to be more involved aroubd the area where it meets the door sills but ill figure something out

IMG_20180408_130659_346 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

IMG_20180408_130659_344 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

And my go-to grinder broke because it had all these extra bits in it! so that hindered more progress! I'll need to pick up some tubing this week to brace the inside of the body before i start cutting the floor out so it doesnt distort too much.

The insides of an Ingersoll Rand 307B, lasted a little over 3yrs, it was good while it lasted so im not sure if I will just buy another one or try a different one.

20180408_103248 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180408_103525 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Stooge]

20180408_120132 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180408_120057 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Stooge]

Well i guess trying to use tapatalk to post pictures was a mediocre success!

Edited with flickr attachments instead, I got an error halfway through the post with tapatalk so Im guessing that's why half of the pictures were missing?

 

[kbs2244]

The PICs came through
That car is just triple x rated.

 

[Stooge]

The PICs came through
That car is just triple x rated.

thanks! I think?

I ended up just putting the flickr images in place of the tapatalk ones, they weren't showing up for me and the attachments links were bothering me. tapatalk just seems too clumsy or maybe its me!

 

[xtremek]

Looks like it's ready for a scuff and paint. Are you using butcher paper for your templates in the back?

 

[Stooge]

Looks like it's ready for a scuff and paint. Are you using butcher paper for your templates in the back?

No, that would make too much sense! im using leftover cumbersome, thick brown paper that I used for masking the truck when I was painting it. theres a lot of shapes back there so im going to have to make some puzzle pieces when I go to make it out of sheet metal, came up with a few ideas on how i'll do it, so the paper template will probably get trashed anyways

I'd really like to get the body ready to bodywork sooner than later so it can be painted before winter! gotta start working a little harder or more consistently!

 

[tinker rick]

Don't rush or push yourself Dan it will all work out in time and you have some you have not used yet.

 

[Stooge]

Don't rush or push yourself Dan it will all work out in time and you have some you have not used yet.

Just trying to keep some momentum going so I can get to the fun part of getting the engine and stuff set up! Few plans are changing for that, leaning towards some different carburetors over the Stromberg 97s. After talking it over and getting some advice from the owner of The Carburetor Shop who's a member over on The HAMB, now i'm looking at Carter W-1 single barrels. Stock on chevys from the 40's, cheap to come by and simple to use, so it fits my very loose criteria! Theres a big swap meet coming up next weekend, so i'll have to keep my eyes open for some rebuildable ones.

My thread over on that board is called "Slow and Poor '37" and here is some of the "poor" that I started the other night I made some very early starting pieces for the floor. I haven't started cutting any of the existing floor out yet, still need to grab some smaller steel tubing to brace the inside of the body, as well as keep the floor as a template to copy a bit.
I don't have a sheet metal brake, but even if I did, it probably wouldn't be wide enough to fit the 49" area between the wheel tubs for the axle and differential clearance. For the simple angle I needed for, this worked enough, wouldn't really want to do it again and it was probably a little harder since the metal was 18ga, but I got the piece I needed although I could have at the least spent a few minutes cleaning and used my longer table.
This could be a good time to buy one of those cheap bead rollers to stiffen up a few of the floor panels and make it look a little more professional, as well as make some flanged edges to fit some of the pieces together better.

20180410_183201 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_184023 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_191455 by Dan Haas, on Flickr


Not much to look at now, still need to make a handful of filler pieces for around the differential recess and tie in the sides that support the square tubing for the trunk tray/ false floor and connect to the wheel tubs. but its a start.

20180410_193713 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_193725 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_193750 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

I think we are playing with the Edsel a bit this weekend, and pulling the inner fenders out of it so I can patch some of them up, so we can throw some paint on them, get them back in and get it ready for figuring out how we are going to fit the 460 big block in there.
Also was approached by someone about fixing the fenders off of their Plymouth Barracuda, although I haven't seen it yet, and im not sure what to charge for something like that, but could be a little extra cash to throw away on Buick parts!

 

[yaidunno]

Wish you were closer, I'd be happy to help with some bends. Looks like you've got your work cut of for you on the floor pans!

 

[Stooge]

Wish you were closer, I'd be happy to help with some bends. Looks like you've got your work cut of for you on the floor pans!

Hah, Every time I try and preplan to buy some tooling or equipment before I start a project to make things a bit easier, but every time I procrastinate or figure out how to get by without it. Making the door skins would have been a perfect time to buy a bench top English wheel or plannishing hammer, but then I was thinking that after I finished the doors, that it would probably just sit around unused until the next car, where im sure i'll just end up doing the same thing! I think I could actually get some use out of a bead roller, and it would certainly help do the floors, so I may try and actually buy a halfway decent motorized one, but I've been saying that for a few years! Theres a smaller 24" Mittler bros powered one for under a grand that I've been ogling for a bit, so we'll see!

 

[gahrajmahal]

Just make a hammer form out of wood for your floor beads. There are several threads on the HAMB on the subject. Check out "Tech Week".

 

[Kev442]

Old iron farmer is doing good work with a simple bead roller, one of those along with the wooden form means not having dead money sitting in the corner for two years until the next use.
Save the $1000 for important things, like hookers and blow.

 

[Stooge]

Old iron farmer is doing good work with a simple bead roller, one of those along with the wooden form means not having dead money sitting in the corner for two years until the next use.
Save the $1000 for important things, like hookers and blow.

that's the dig that keeps me from ever buying anything! I just want something to make things easier for once instead of just always mickey mousing it and making do! I don't remember the last thing I actually bought for the shop that was more than a few dollars!

I'll end up having to make a hammer form for a few of the things around by the doors where there is an especially high "bead", I would guess atleast 5/8". what i'm thinking is, 99.8% of the time, I am alone at the shop, and from my limited bead roller experiences, guiding the sheet around while trying to crank the drive mechanism is at best, clumsy and hard to control. We'll see, if I know myself, theres a 10% chance of actually buying a bead roller, and theres a 95% chance that if I do buy one, it will be a cheaper manual one, but a boy can dream of having something nice!

Theres a big swap meet and car show this weekend, so i'll bring some cash and maybe come across some buick stuff I need or find a few of the carburetors im looking for, but even if I don't, its been a long winter and will be good to get out and see some old stuff on a nice sunny(hopefully but atleast according to the forecast) day.

The car club out front was having an open house or something a week or so ago and I was approached by a few people about possible work, so we'll see. Not full cars like the gto, but some tri five chevy floor issues, something on a 70s trans am, and a pair of unknown year barracuda fenders that need the bottoms repaired/ replaced with sections from donor fenders. He seemed pretty excited about the barracuda and explain stuff to me about it, but im not a muscle car guy and so I just kind of nodded in agreement.

Not much to interesting progress to post, plugging away on the floor a bit, and repaired a few spots on the GTO that we uncovered on the passenger side fender and driver side door, but the pictures I tried to take of that where pretty blurry. Not much left for me to do on it now except fix some of the floor and replace a cross brace on the underside, the end is near!

Started roughing in some of the filler pieces for the over-the-axle section of the floor, just the differential recess and the side pieces that **** up against the wheel tubs. theres probably never going to be a backseat in there in the time I own it, and originally there were only these little flip down seats, so im trying to not go too crazy with it, just need it solid and without looking too bad.
I should be able to start the next section of it this weekend, and would like to get as much of it welded together before going in the car to make things easier on my knees and back!

20180416_193211 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180416_193258 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_193750 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

I also inherited a tig welder last week! A Lincoln square wave 175, needs a bottle and some consumables, but should help out with the header and intake projects for the buick engine I have planned. its been awhile since I've done any tig, but im looking forward to playing around a bit

20180414_093148 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180414_094112 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[xtremek]

Sweet score on the TIG. And I get to be the first to say....."YOU ****"

 

[Kev442]

I'll say. I need to inherit some neat stuff.
So, I went down the rabbit hole and one thing that came up is that when beading large sheets, you end up with a Pringles chip from the shrinkage.
So, you now need the power bead roller and an English wheel.
Go for it. If you become even reasonably good at the English wheel, you will pay for your equipment in about 5 panel side jobs.

 

[Stooge]

Sweet score on the TIG. And I get to be the first to say....."YOU ****"

thanks! I've wanted a TIG machine for awhile now, but they were a little cost prohibitive for my uses, but free fits the budget pretty well! Its been awhile since I've done any tig welding so i'll be pretty rusty, but im hoping theres some muscle memory buried down there somewheres!

I'll say. I need to inherit some neat stuff.
So, I went down the rabbit hole and one thing that came up is that when beading large sheets, you end up with a Pringles chip from the shrinkage.
So, you now need the power bead roller and an English wheel.
Go for it. If you become even reasonably good at the English wheel, you will pay for your equipment in about 5 panel side jobs.

I've been thinking the same things that I need an English wheel and powered bead roller, but your forgetting the plannishing hammer! Unfortunately all of those things cost money and take up a nice size foot print in the garage, and I only have a little freed up of either of those things Mostly my immediate needs are for a 3/8 bead to stiffen up some of the floor panels, and a small step bead/ die to recreate a few areas, although I guess the step isn't as necessary, it would be helpful. Woodward Fab has a new one coming out that would fit my needs and is cheap, although might need a little reinforcing and im not sure when its coming out, and Eastwood has a manual one that probably doesn't need any reinforcing, but has some mixed reviews about bead die interchangeability.

maybe i'll just be a router and some mdf

 

[Stooge]

Old iron farmer is doing good work with a simple bead roller, one of those along with the wooden form means not having dead money sitting in the corner for two years until the next use.
Save the $1000 for important things, like hookers and blow.

Well I guess im more impatient than I thought, or I just got a little ambitious and figured I would give something a try, like trying to form steps with a big chunk of aluminum bracket, a few hammers and a bunch of clamps.
Still needs a lot of work, make a few filler pieces, trim down the sides a hair, finish welding it and clean it all up, but for a floor that's going to be hidden, im trying to keep it simple.

20180410_193750 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_183201 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_184023 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_191455 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_193713 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180410_193725 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180416_193211 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

A little bottom piece added to finish off the differential recess

20180421_125631 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Trying to make a little step, its probably 3/8" deep and 11.5" long. needs to be refined and cleaned up a bit, but didn't distort much at all, and made it considerably more rigid.

20180421_133921 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180421_150429 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180421_145813 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180421_145823 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180421_145953 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

Cool. Post pictures of the hookers you hire with the money you saved....

I've had a rotten business coupe sitting on a GM g body frame for 20 years that needs all that done. That's why it's been sitting 20 years. Talk about dead money, but only about 1k into it. Takes up valuable garage real estate though.

 

[Stooge]

Instead of hookers and blow, I bought bourbon and some old carburetors, close enough!
'40s Chevy Carter W-1 1 barrel carb, bought 1 1/2 (the 1/2 is an incomplete parts one just in case) at the swap meet sunday, and bought another one off of ebay on the way home from the swap meet while I was sitting passenger. Still need another 2, but Im going to start picking up some of the tubing and flanges to start mocking up the multi carb sort-of intake. Each carb will feed one of the 4 intake ports on the head.

Im trying to be a little strict on this one and keep track of the money I spend on it so it doesn't get carried away and I can keep it the simple old car that I want it to be. With the cost of the car itself, what I've sold off so far, and buying the engine, transmission, some sheet metal and starting to buy the carburetors, im around $3800, but with the exception of a few trans gears, and a pressure plate/ clutch, I essentially have a complete driveline from carb to rear. Still a lot that I need, most pressing will be a seat so I can figure out where to make the mounts while im rebuilding the floor, and a steering column and steering box to complete the steering system
Screenshot_2018-04-24-07-05-19-1 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

Definitely need the steering set up first before committing to a seat. That is one of the things that stopped the 3 window project, the gm steering is so low, and the 3 window wants you sitting pretty high. I will need to raise the column a good 3" to get the geometry correct, which is a big can of worms.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Stooge. I finally had a chance to go through Longer term projects. You are a talented fellow. Would you look at opening a shop in the future or keeping this as a hobby/side line operation? Take good care of the GTO, I would like one of those. The Buick is pretty cool as all of your projects as well. If those are your kids with the Edsel Wagon you are a lucky man. Good Luck. oh by the way that was bourbon in a beer mug.

 

[Stooge]

Definitely need the steering set up first before committing to a seat. That is one of the things that stopped the 3 window project, the gm steering is so low, and the 3 window wants you sitting pretty high. I will need to raise the column a good 3" to get the geometry correct, which is a big can of worms.

I have a few possible lines on original steering columns with the integrated gear steering box pressed onto the end of them, but nothing definite yet. that would have been nice if whatever previous owner kept it instead of getting rid of it, but keeping the steering wheel? If not I will need to try and find an aftermarket one that will fit and a steering box that will fit the rest of the steering I have, since I have everything up until the pitman arm on the box and its the old style linkage that essentially uses a ball socket that is captured via springs and a threaded plug/ set screw. I was looking at a Limeworks column since it should fit the factory ignition switch/ collar and a Borgeson box if it comes to it.

steeringbox by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Steering0002 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Stooge. I finally had a chance to go through Longer term projects. You are a talented fellow. Would you look at opening a shop in the future or keeping this as a hobby/side line operation? Take good care of the GTO, I would like one of those. The Buick is pretty cool as all of your projects as well. If those are your kids with the Edsel Wagon you are a lucky man. Good Luck. oh by the way that was bourbon in a beer mug.

Hey thanks, I really appreciate it! You read through the first long term projects thread?? I thought all of those pictures were basically wiped out!

As far as opening a legitimate shop, I've never seriously thought about it. All of this stuff, I am mostly just making it up as I go with pretty limited tools and resources so if I want something made or done on one of the cars, I need to guess my way through it. I think I would be too nervous about working on other non friends/ acquaintances' stuff for fear of messing it up, atleast on a commercial/production level, since I don't know what i'm doing....plus I work really slow so it would be impossible to make money! I've had friends ask if I wanted to try and open a shop with them, and it could be fun, so maybe someday but not in the foreseeable future unless someone else takes the reins/ has some initiative.

Whats kind of funny about the GTO, is how very little I ever cared about muscle cars, but they starting to grow on me, atleast the pre-67, pre-slant back ones, after that they all look the same to me From working on it though, some local people and from the car club out in the front of the building, I've had a few smaller projects come through for their cars so i'll welcome that a bit. although those guys make me a bit nervous when they start rattling off all of the facts and minute details, that make it seem like they are never going to be happy with a final outcome....plus I have to pretend to know about muscle cars!...admittedly, I was approached by someone a week or 2 ago, asking about repairing some "Cuda" fenders, talked to him for about 15 minutes, then had to text a buddy asking "dodge barracuda?"

In the hope stretch of the GTO, a few repairs on the underside of the floor, cleaning up a few things in the trunk and on the driver side door, and it will be passed off for paint!
IMG_20141130_113958_300 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

2018-04-25_08-15-27 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

The kids and the edsel wagon belong to a good buddy of mine, no kids or station wagons for me, although I would like a station wagon! It's going to be a sort of marketing thing for his dog walking business, (think Dog- Waggin) plus a family hauler, with a 7.5l big block. This is his first project car/ hot rod, and with a business, a house, 3 kids with the oldest being 8, and a wife that isn't enthused about the car, its going to be a slow project. The weather's starting to get nicer out around here, so hopefully some progress will be made soon

Plugging away on the floor of the buick, nothing really worth seeing, I will probably start cutting out sections of it by the weekend so I can start fitting the new pieces im making. And started making some realistic plans of how I will set up the new intakes for the 4 carburetors on the straight 8. Had to take an obligatory picture of the first carb sort of in place

2018-04-25_07-34-19 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

Did you align the body yet? Seems that would be the first thing before hacking the floor out.

 

[Stooge]

Did you align the body yet? Seems that would be the first thing before hacking the floor out.

Yup, I didn't put the body mount/ shims in, but I just used a block of wood on a floor jack to prop the body up a hair so I could put some bolts in their place. Being out of alignment really wasn't a big deal as the floor of the car is literally just sitting on the frame and most of the body mount bolts were missing, really only had to move over about a 1/3rd of an inch to split the difference of favoring one side.

That allowed this to happen last night
20180425_194437 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Had to be a little cautious as the section from the doors forward is solid, but doors back is junk, but also where I had to spend some time sitting while making some cuts, hoping I didn't fall through!

20180425_194450 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Cool looking rear end and interesting frame construction. I think when I get the floors welded in, im going to prop the body up, pull the chassis out to sandblast and paint it. its really solid, but theres surface rust on all of it and will save quite a bit of time.....pulling the body off is a long way from before I bought this car and was adamant that the next car would be a running/ driving car that just needed to be cleaned up a bit Not sure if I will buy a sandblaster or farm it out, I think my compressor will handle it alright, just might be a little slow going, (80 gallon Devilbiss, I believe 7.5hp but possibly 5.5). I've never had anything commercially sandblasted, but from what I've heard locally, most places that come to you, charge around $250 an hour with a 2hr min, so buying a simple set up and splitting it with a buddy, could be worth it to have, plus I just like doing things myself

20180425_194840 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180425_194823 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

I use a HF blaster with my 80 gallon and I'm rarely waiting for it. The trick with black beauty (foundry "sand") is to only have the feed valve on at about 60-75%. It's no fun when it clogs up at 100%, takes a lot of jiggling and whacking the hose to clear it out.

Here is something interesting, you can now value your running boards efforts:

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/pts/d/1936-oldsmobile-new-steel/6564586546.html

 

[xtremek]

I'm also guessing you have a 2-stage pump. I would think with a 5.5 or larger motor, 80 gallons and a 2 stage pump you should be good to go. I used to have a 5 hp, 60 gallon, single stage that couldn't keep up, but it was workable.

 

[Stooge]

I use a HF blaster with my 80 gallon and I'm rarely waiting for it. The trick with black beauty (foundry "sand") is to only have the feed valve on at about 60-75%. It's no fun when it clogs up at 100%, takes a lot of jiggling and whacking the hose to clear it out.

Here is something interesting, you can now value your running boards efforts:

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/pts/d/1936-oldsmobile-new-steel/6564586546.html

Hard to say if $400 is a lot of not enough for them, I have zero dollars into mine as I already had the metal but those ones for sale are about as simple as mine are and I wouldn't pay $400 for mine if I were someone else they probably do not have brackets or anything with them and would need supports and side lips, etc.
I went on his facebook (cheeseball ratrods! I feel a rant coming on) and whats peculiar is in the ad- 40+ years of metal fab experience.

and his FB- 22 year old Luke Merrill restores, fabricates, buys/sells classic automobiles. . that's some weird maths! ... just one my pet peeves that i see alot on forums and social media, is someone building a car, and then all of the sudden they need to pretend to be some radical custom shop with an outlandish persona and make youtube videos. something something extreme customs! blah blah custom werks! I hate these people. Whats wrong with just messing around, trying your best with something, and going about your day! -Rant over

I'm also guessing you have a 2-stage pump. I would think with a 5.5 or larger motor, 80 gallons and a 2 stage pump you should be good to go. I used to have a 5 hp, 60 gallon, single stage that couldn't keep up, but it was workable.

i'll probably buy one, if it takes a little longer than having someone else do it, but I can just roll it out the door and blast it myself and roll it right back in after some paint, instead of trailering it somewhere or having a business come to me, i'll be happier, even if it costs a bit more overall. I was sort of on the fence about pulling the body off but if I can make it a quick weekend thing, im hoping it will keep it fron *********** too much! Plus, I have a few other bigger things I would like to clean up that wouldn't fit in the sandblasting cabinets I have access to, like the wheels, bellhousing, trans case, etc.