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53 Belair conv rust repair

1M views 6K replies 111 participants last post by  Eduramac 
#1 ·
I just brought home a 1953 Chevy convertible Monday that is 100% there. 100% there except for the bottom 6 inches that is. I have always built rusty cars no one else wanted but have tried to do a quality job of repairing them on a budget.

The key wordhere is budget. I admit to being frugal but friends all say I am cheap. Whatever, for me to be able to enjoy this hobby I must be able to build the car and have my money invested, not just spent

The cost of replacement floor pans, floor braces, inner rockers, outer rockers, lower quarter panels, tow boards, trunk pan, rear pan extension, tail pan, and rear splash apron is well over 3000 dollars. That is money that will buy front suspension, rear axle, and good buildable engine. Maybe even a complete parts car.

I have basic sheet metal tools but nothing exotic. Small 3' brake, Shrinker/stretcher jaws, home made slip roll, and a home made english wheel and 110v mig welder.

My purpose here is to show the new hot rodder who is apprehensive about what he can do what is possible with a little time and patience and not much money.

Below is the patient. She has stage four cancer but we are going to try to save her. If we don't who will? :mwink:








So far I have stripped the inside, removed the front fenders and adjusted the doors. If the body shifts or moves during the build process I want to know it before everything gets welded together. Frequently checking door gaps will let me make sure it has not moved.




Tomorrow I plan to cut the toe boards loose from the front floor brace and expose the brace. The first job will be to remove the brace and reproduce it.

I hope you guys follow along and feel free to comment share thoughts, opinions, etc.

 
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#598 ·
John, gather all your pictures together, glue those pieces to a sheet of plywood, put a glass covering over top, throw it in the back of a trailer that's towed by your convertible and go on the road. I'm sure that no matter where you go, there are enough people that would pay dearly to see what you've transformed. Hell, they pay money to see a three headed calf and they know that's fake before they go into the tent...yours is real.

Ray
 
#606 ·
John, gather all your pictures together, glue those pieces to a sheet of plywood, put a glass covering over top, throw it in the back of a trailer that's towed by your convertible and go on the road. I'm sure that no matter where you go, there are enough people that would pay dearly to see what you've transformed. Hell, they pay money to see a three headed calf and they know that's fake before they go into the tent...yours is real

Ray I once (true story! as is all my stories) bought a ticket to see a "live" three headed calf at a carnival and when I couldn't find it I asked "where this marvel of nature was ?" The Carney Guy told me I just missed it! It had died the day before! What were the chances?
Just my luck. And then I went to see the Egress and I found myself out side.
What a day!

BB :thumbup::thumbup:
 
#602 ·
I am very pleased that all 5 of you guys have been interested in the build. :mwink:

I started a PhotoBucket file for '53 BelAir build pictures. There are 330 pictures in it so far. I will create a build album but it will certainly be hard to choose 40-50 pictures to represent a whole build. I guess I have about 3-4 years before I have to make those decisions though huh? :)

This IPAD I use makes it soooo easy to document, save, and post pictures I tend to over do the pictures instead of under doing them. The only negative is, for some reason I can not get the IPAD to upload thumbnails from the IPAD or PhotoBucket either one.

It seems the more they improve PhotoBucket the worse it gets. :pain:

John
 
#607 ·
BB that must be the same 3 headed Calf that died the day before at our one day carnival...now...I ask you what are the odds of that...sure glad the calves around here mostly are only 2 headed, much longer life span...LOL...we had that one at a local carnival once both days just after it died, of coarse they couldn't show it...but the whole town understood....LOL

Ray
 
#609 ·
I'm one of the many that just likes watching your progress...I dont have anything to say that hasnt already been said and no advice to give that'll be of any help...Watching your build is almost as good as working on my own car at least your getting yours done...I cant imagine anyone thats NOT watching your progress...I sure am glad you got that ole chevy ....
 
#610 ·
I'm with you Mike, I have been in a funk and just off kilter, don't know why. So I haven't worked on my truck now in weeks. Seeing Johns car underway makes me feel good that's all there is to it, it makes me feel good seeing it get done. That along with learning some new tricks, it's just so damn nice to open this thread and see what has been posted, perfect pictures, good explanations of the work, it just begs to be looked at.

THANKS JOHN! :thumbup:

Brian
 
#614 ·
Wellllllllll, Had a little issue today. I decided to shim up the rear of the body in order to bring the top of the door gaps in where they belong. The only problem was the floor board and rear cross member is not connected to the quarters.

My solution is to go ahead and remove the trunk floor so I can weld in a support for the rear of the car. At this point I am not sure whether I will weld a cross brace made out of square tubing but will work something out.

I definitely need to have the body properly lined up before I install the rear inner rockers and start welding body mounts in.

On a brighter note I bought a Lincoln Versailles rear end for the car yesterday. It is 58 inches wide and the Chevy is roughly 59 or so. It should be perfect for this car. I am really excited to get it.

John



 
#615 ·
Will you use the Versailles rear as is, or is it getting any changes to gears or? Reason I ask is the Versailles is not a true 9" Ford; it's a 9 3/8" Ford, so none of the 9" gears will fit it. It is the same housing as a 9", so a complete 9" third member will bolt right in. They're a great rear, and very beefy axles and tubes, plus big brakes!
 
#616 ·
Wow! This is the first I ever heard of this. It is a 2:50 gear and will probably need to be changed to about a 3:00 if I run the 4 speed as I intend. It would need to go to a 3:25 or 3:50 if I use a 5 speed.

I have a 3:00 that needs pinion bearings so I thought I would just deal with that down the road. I never considered it would be anything but a 9 inch with 28 spline axles.

Educate me about what I need to know please. :smash:

John
 
#619 · (Edited)
At this time I intend to reproduce it. I made one for my 57 Olds. Was not too bad to make. I did it in three pieces. A band and 2 side "caps".

It truely is odd how this car has rusted. The good thing is it gets pretty solid once you get up about 5-6 inches so there is something to build back too. I origioanlly thought the car had rusted from moisture coming up out of the ground but I am not sure that is correct. The top of the gas tank is rusted out big time but the bottom was still in it. Several things like that have really puzzled me. On the otherhand the spare tire well is worse than that shot shows.

496Chevy3100 knows the folks who the previous owner bought it from. I am hoping he may get a little history on the car but it is probably a long shot.

John

 
#632 ·
Thanks David,

I had a skin cancer on the bridge of my knose that they had to remove today. I feel like Barb hit me between the eyes with my own baseball bat. I am going to have to keep it clean for a few days so be patient with me. Will get back to it soon.

LOL I can't afford to sit around here surfing Ebay much more. Just won a set of BelAir scripts for the quarter panels. That gives me all the side trim and dash trim except for RH front fender. I have a stick that is really iffy but have been playing with it.

I will post a picture just to show what I am trying to do.

John
 
#637 ·
LOL, Don't do that. The quicker you get it taken care of the better. Since mine was on the bridge of my nose they had to really work to get enough skin to cover it and those stitches are r e a l l y pulling. It will get better pretty quickly I am sure.

I am wearing my glaaes way down on the tip of my nose. :thumbup:

Ain't I purdy?

 
#634 ·
This is the only piece of fender trim that isn't just destroyed. It jas a couple of dents that will be an easy fix but the challenge will be a crease that runs about 12 inches down the length fo the front of it.

I played with it yesterday and have it pretty well back in shape but the challenge will be whether or not I can pick it up and down well enough to be able to file it. Time will tell but it will give me something to do until I can get back under the car.

Here you can see where it was creased.



Here is the front after working it out. (trying not to stretch it) It is just roughed into shape and not even close to being straight enough to file.




This is a set of fender trim I straightened for a friend but it was pretty good to start with just a few dings and bends.

 
#638 ·
My Dad had several of those spots removed from his face over the years. You should be good to go in a few days.

A friend that does PDR has a nylon punch about 1/4" round that he rounded the end of for tapping out creases. It leaves a smoother finish than a metal punch or hammer. Just something to consider.

It sounds like you are making necessary progress with your ebay purchases and gives you something to do.
 
#642 ·
You are exactly right TMP. I have a nylon window tool I have modified and some wooden dowel rods I have contoured the ends of. I have also taken paint stir sticks and cut them into small pieces to be able to apply pressure over a wider area of the high spot of the crease. I lay the piece on a layer or 2 or 3 of poster board so it has some cushion under it. With the stainless you have to be really gentle. My problem was/is this crease was so sharp it was difficult to straighten the actual crease with a softer tool. Bringing the shape back was not so bad though I am not nearly done yet.

John
 
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