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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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#3 ·
I will do that down the road. First I will build all 4 braces and the floor pan assembly. By having the doors on I can check them to see if the body tries to move. Then I will brace the car well before I unbolt it from the frame so it doesn't fold up or move on me. Also, I will pretty much have the entire assembly made along with inner rockers before I join them to the car to limit the effect of shrinkage when it is welded up. That way any stresses on the floor pan will not transmitted to the body.

John
 
#6 ·
Bracing the body.....

IF possible,I would save the trans tunnel,and make the front floor in 2 pieces welded to that tunnel.USE 5/8 in re-bar welded in, to X the body so it doesn't flex,front to rear,and side to side,IF the rockers need replacing those re-bars will need help to insure it doesn't move around,4 or 6 jack stands should help,looks like a very interesting project...;)
 
#9 ·
Since this is a convertible there is no broblem with it moving at this point. If I am not able to get to all the damage in the bottom of the cowl I may even pop the windshield, pull the cowl assembly off and turn it upside down. after the braces and the lower structure is repaired I could reinstall it. Shim it. Hang the doors back and then tie it into the rockers. We will see how it goes. Unlike a sedan you don't have to worry about it shrinking. Until it is tied into the rockers it is a seperate unit from the rear body section.

Obviously It must be braced very well before it can be taken of the frame. When it is ready, I will cross brace it horizontally and vertically.

John I didn't notice a cherry picker do you need to use on to set the engine out or will you leave it in to keep ride height level, great project .
I do David. Thanks. The truth of the matter is I couldn't wait to see how bad this thing was and have the cart befor the horse a bit. I also need to protect the windshield. A grinder will ruin a windshield in a heartbeat from a lot further away than you would think.
 
#10 ·
I still have not decided for sure whether I am going to pull the cowl of the car. I did get the two front RH braces out of her today.

The good news is the A pillar support is in excellent shape. I took some patience to get the floor board loose from it since it is sandwiched between the frame support and the a pillar support.

Here is a shot of they A pillar support that I was able to leave in tact.



These are two braces I removed and will have to reproduce. The long one is not repopped as far As I know. The shorter one (second picture) is, but 2 of them are 140 dollars. Let's see what I can do.






The bad news is the lower A pillar structure is gone. I will have to remove part of the outer skin to get to the inner structure. Both sides are so bad I don't have a really good pattern. Of course the key is building it in such a way it is strong, looks factory. provides lower attachment point for the front fender and provides a strong connection for inner and outer rockers.

This picture is hard to visualize. You can see the corner of the door. The area to the right and down from the door is the bottom of the A pillar.... Or lack there of.

Turn the picture about 45 degrees to the right and it is easier to understand it.

 
#13 ·
John when I was restoring 55-57 chevys ,I ordered from a place in Florida ,Titusville,, Classic Chevy International,, if I remember correct ,they have ANY and Every part for tri fives ,they were starting Late and great chevy for 58 -64 but now the have 52-54 parts ,They offer Ne as well as Good used parts ,might want to check it out.:D
 
#14 ·
John when I was restoring 55-57 chevys ,I ordered from a place in Florida ,Titusville if I remember correct ,they have ANY and Every part for tri fives ,they were starting Late and great chevy for 58 -64 but now the have 52-54 parts ,They offer Ne as well as Good used parts ,might want to check it out.:D
Thanks. I may decide I need to go that route. We will see when I get this opened up. I had to go get my Bead roller tonight. I had loaned it to my nephew awhile back. It was hard to quit and climb into the shower this afternoon.

John
 
#16 ·
John, I respect that you want to meet the challenge of fabricating as much as possible and as "frugally" as you can. The area where that toe board, cowl, pillar, rocker, etc. etc. come together is critical to the overall alignment of the surrounding panels and structural integrity. I had the same scenario when I got into my '67 GTO. There are 7 LAYERS of metal all joined in that area. I took the "easy" way out and bought cut offs from donor cars. Makes the rest of the job much easier to work from.

The background somewhat hides details but the pillar piece on the left is what I cut out and the right is a mint donor from Oklahoma.


This is what I cut out to get to good metal. You can see what is left of the frame under the floor. It was completely rusted off.


With one, intact piece, I was able to move on to the body mount and outer rocker replacements. I staggered the cut to avoid one straight weld line inside and out. I felt this would provide more strength and minimize warpage from welding. I did this to both sides.


OK, no more "unsolicited advice " from me, unless you ask...
 
#17 ·
I appreciate all advice and opinions. putting a new post on certainly would work well but that is not easy either. You have to find a REALLY GOOD one, cut it off, cut yours off and then you still have to open yours up to weld it in so that it has strength.

If I had a good one in my hand I probably would use it but I am not going to go looking for a 60 year old lower A pillar that is rock solid. Hey, this is the part I like, unlike most people.

My friends like to do the Fab work or build engines. I like the metal work. I know I am strange.

As far as unsolicited advice goes, I did solicit it at the beginning of this thread. I promise not to be offended by those who dissagree with what I am doing and I hope no one is upset if I truck along following my vision of what I want to do. Having fun is what this hobby is all about. :thumbup:

John
 
#18 ·
I trimmed the front rh A pillar until I got to solid metal. It is in pretty good shape from here up. As you can see from the pictures I have made my first piece. It still has to be scribed trimmed and welded. I will not trim the bottom to length until it is welded in. That way I can know it will fit after I make the piece it joins. Also, larger pieces will not get as hot and when you are welding so difficult angles it will not blow through quite as easily.

I also ordered a set of outer rockers today. They are not too expensive and it will help me to position the inner rockers in the right space. I started another post concerning the odd way GM built the rockers but did not get any replies.

John



 
#19 ·
Oh yeah, you have some work to do! I have been thinking about how I am going to handle the rust in my trucks cab........I feel a lot better now. Take some photos a little further back from where you took that last photo. I see the door hinge up there so I have an idea of where you are but would like a little better grasp of it.

Brian
 
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#21 ·
Hot damn, you are getting into that! I like how you have the car on jack stands, something often missed by people, good thinking.

Remember to protect my radio and dash knobs from welding and grinding sparks. :D

Brian
 
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#33 ·
Just a follow up to above. I am a big fan of GM subframes. I have done 2 of them and ended up with cars that drove and road great for very little money. The thing I don't want is a car whit the front wheels sticking out to far.

I hope to find some pictures of 49-54 chevies with S10 frame clips. They are good and narrow if I can deal with the front steer. M2 crossmembers work well but are pricey. Remember I am very, very frugal. :mwink:

John L
 
#34 ·
John ,I don't know the frame width on the 53 car but a 53 truck a Pacer ,(did I say that ) is as close to a direct bolt in you can get it has I think 8 bolts then you set complete cradle out with ps pdisc rack $ pinion sway bars shocks all in ! unit just bolt it under I will go measure my frame width if you need me to ,,also the change narrows front track width 1 inch if that matters.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
#36 ·
Chassis engineering crossmember..has optional mounts. This is $640 and accepts all stock MII front parts. If you have a source for a scrapped MII and can get the rest for cheap, this might be an option. The only issue is it doesn't work with power rack, only manual. They also have a complete tubular arm, disc brake kit to complete this but it's another $1500

 
#37 ·
Chassis engineering crossmember..has optional mounts. This is $640 and accepts all stock MII front parts. If you have a source for a scrapped MII and can get the rest for cheap, this might be an option. The only issue is it doesn't work with power rack, only manual. They also have a complete tubular arm, disc brake kit to complete this but it's another $1500
I definitely is an option. I very well may end up doing that......

John
 
#38 ·
I was going to use the monte carlo front clip which is the same as a s10 just a little wider,,, But the front steering box would have been in the front pan infront of the rad..I read a few guy's on the hamb said they did it with the s10 clip and worked out nice.. I did a few clips with s10's and the steering box was always the problem... I did re-clip the front of a s10 race truck with a rack & pinion mounted in front instead of the box..Worked out great..

My coupe I sold a while back,, I just went install a Progressive Automotive
Mustang II on it... Worked out great... Very nice front end..


What's great about these cars is.. Once you unbolt the front end and take it out,,, It's ready for any mustang II kit... Very nice frame rails to work with..
 
#41 ·
I was going to use the monte carlo front clip which is the same as a s10 just a little wider,,, But the front steering box would have been in the front pan infront of the rad..I read a few guy's on the hamb said they did it with the s10 clip and worked out nice.. I did a few clips with s10's and the steering box was always the problem... I did re-clip the front of a s10 race truck with a rack & pinion mounted in front instead of the box..Worked out great..


My coupe I sold a while back,, I just went install a Progressive Automotive
Mustang II on it... Worked out great... Very nice front end..


What's great about these cars is.. Once you unbolt the front end and take it out,,, It's ready for any mustang II kit... Very nice frame rails to work with..

Randy, that rack with the clip sounds interesting if the geometry works out. The image above showing how to correct the geometry (or narrow) a rack is interesting also. I have heard descriptions of doing that but it is the first time I have seen a picture. I did not really understand it before.


I think I'd use a subframe too those crossmembers with all the goodies are great time savers and look really cool but when labor is free,times not an issue and moneys tight, subframe it...I used a camaro subframe with 12" impalia rotors and Aframes and a 2000 camaro pwr rack (front steer) all from parts cars and cheap cheap, cheap,,,bagged it too.. the air bags were a buy i get i free so they turned out about 25.00 ea ....I dont see why it would be any harder than any other car..as long as the track width is close a little narrower would be better IMO...looks better when they're sittin on the ground....:mwink:
You and I think a lot alike Mike. I don't want the air bags for this car but would like a nice low stance and will probably do a mild C notch on the rear. Lots of time to take measurements. The M-2 certainly would be quickest, easiest, and narrow enough. The only problem is cost unless a low mileage unit falls into my hands. 100 dollars for a frame clip is hard to beat when the labor is free...IF IT CAN BE MADE TO FIT. :confused:
 
#39 ·
I think I'd use a subframe too those crossmembers with all the goodies are great time savers and look really cool but when labor is free,times not an issue and moneys tight, subframe it...I used a camaro subframe with 12" impalia rotors and Aframes and a 2000 camaro pwr rack (front steer) all from parts cars and cheap cheap, cheap,,,bagged it too.. the air bags were a buy i get i free so they turned out about 25.00 ea ....I dont see why it would be any harder than any other car..as long as the track width is close a little narrower would be better IMO...looks better when they're sittin on the ground....:mwink:
 
#40 ·
They have been done with camaro clip's,, But you can't turn when they are on the ground... The camaro clip's are to wide,,, The monte carlo front ends are not as wide... The s10 is a good clip if your ready to deal with the steering box...
 
#42 ·
Not really sure why they don't make a rack for this car.. But if you look under it where the steering bar all ties in in the middle, I can't see where one like this wouldn't work.... I was going to find out with mine,, But had to let it go before I had the chance to try it..
 
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