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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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#657 ·
You must have a list of clients a mile long waiting for you to heal up. But don't worry, your modeling career will be back on track in no time!

Brian
 
#662 ·
Those parts do look NOS !!
I got my Goodguys Gazette today and there's a pic of a '51 Chev convert. GEORGEOUS car !! It has frenched headlights and it looks like they are factory. They blend into those fenders perfect...:cool:
I was gonna post a pick but that edition isn't on-line yet.

Glad you're feeling better, now get to work...;)
 
#674 ·
This is some of Advance Platings work, all interior trim ,handles guage trim under hood trim ,air filter are chrome plated ,the Bumpers are triple plated,
the rest did not need the copper underneath as there were no pits,
all exterior trim has ben chromed instead of polishing
I know not original for the bird but it sure looks good
 

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#675 ·
Very pretty. If money os not an issue Advance Plating is a good choice.

Hulon is a polisher. He does all his own polishing. He has stripping tanks too. Once he strips a part, He polishes it and sends it to the plating shop to have it run. The fellow who was running his parts was the founder of Advance Plating but Arles has passed away and I don't know who is actually dipping them now. I just know they are very nice.

John
 
#676 ·
I will be using one of these you listed,the customer requested Advance and it was his money so that's where they went.

I will have to pay for the vents so they will go where I can get the most for my money, some people have to have Prestige names ,that's not me.
Yours look great to me
 
#679 ·
it's getting harder to find a chrome shop every day. those who are good are expensive and buried with work . i know well ahead of time it will take forever to get the parts back so i try to send them out early on .
the plating i did when young would break me today . :(
i know, chrome wont get you home but i'll look good setting there .

enjoying the build john. keep the pics coming.
 
#680 ·
Thamks Shine. In the basement today for the first time in a while. Hope to have something worth posting tonight.

Since Hulon does not have copper tanks he is not the one to send junk to. Since Polishing is his trade he is the perfect one to send a solid core to and not have to worry about getting it back with all the detail destroyed. I will probably not send much of the pot metal out on this BelAir because it is so very rough. It is cheaper to find a good core than it is to send a pitted piece of junk and hope someone will salvage it.

As with the others who are any good Hulon usually will have a 6 to 8 week turn around so planning ahead is wise.

John
 
#681 ·
Today was a dirty day in that I spent a good deal of time dissassembling the inner rocker on the passenger side. The quarter looks pretty sorry from the outside but is unbelievably rust free from the inside. I had never looked at it until today while I was removing the spot welds from the floorpans and inner rocker. There is and old repair that was done with lead also.



Here are a couple of shots of the inside of the quarter. :)

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I did get the rear inner rocker made but did not accomplish near what I had hoped.
 
#684 ·
Reading some of your older posts and seen that you were under the weather a bit.Glad to see you back at it! This fourm should consider itself (and i'm sure it does) very lucky to have a guy like yourself on here taking the time to show what is rapidly becoming a lost art.Aren't car guys cool? :thumbup:
 
#689 ·
Today was rather interesting. When I checked the inner quarter panel on the car I found a place that looked as if it had been hot. Since it was not solid I cut it out and sure enough it has been marked with a sharpie and heated. It appears this car has had a body pull done at some time.





I replaced the piece and installed the inner rear rocker. I have only tacked the front and rear so by breaking these tacks the rear body section can be moved forward or rearward to make sure the door gaps are correct. This is one big plus with a ragtop.

I also plug welded it from the top so there are still no welds that are visible from under the car.




 
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