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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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#1,225 ·
Not so, the guy told you what his BOSS told and teaches him. No one wants their service guys to know how to *fix* anything anymore. The guy did what he thought was right. Us older guys who were taught how to *fix* things know better. All the shops do today is teach guys how to change warranty parts at random, and they MUST use factory parts or the world will end with the death of the home owner, and when the warranty is over shut it down & sell a new one. You have no idea how many times a week I go to a unit that was shut down because it couldn't be fixed & get it going with no parts needed. In an hour! I have a waiting list of people wanting me to take over their buildings because of this. I just cherry pick the best customers, and keep going. They don't teach HVAC service anymore, they teach HVAC parts changing.

As for mixing up some wires, don't sweat it. I spent 3 hours looking for my door remote and it was in my glove box. How it got there I have no idea.
 
#1,226 ·
What Craig says is right. The young service tech actually advised he had gone to his boss to see what could be done and his boss told him there was no way to replace that particular motor with a generic. I truly believe the tech would have been willing to do anything he could to get me going had he been allowed to.

John
 
#1,230 ·
I have sinned

Forgive me brothers and sisters but I have sinned.

I found a LH EMS front floorpan and inner LH rear quarter panel for about 2/3 of their usual cost and ordered them. I feel so dirty.

Only the LH were available for that price. It will be interesting to see what I need to do. It would be fine to have both hand formed or both reproductions but They do need to match. I may have opened up a real can of worms. We will see.

John



 
#1,235 ·
Well I had always figured he was going to use a ford engine. I mean really after all this work he needs a dependable car that will actually move. Chevrolet is one of the few companies that speak truth in advertising "Like a rock". Anyone else ever see a rock move without being pulled or pushed?:evil:

All in fun guys, all in fun. Now if he were to shove a duramax in that thing..........

Looking great John, Hope you and the family are doing well.

Kelly
 
#1,238 ·
My big plans for the weekend did not materialize. I ended up with a mild stomach virus or some such thing but just did not feel well.

My dads favorite expression when things did not go well was "Yee Gads!" Today I said worse. The panels fit well individually but when put together they were over an inch out of square in the car.

3 hours later they are pretty good though not perfect. I have marked them to drill the plug weld holes, punch the other body mount hole, and marked the one I already punched since it has to be moved. :pain:

Patience is the key, patience is the key, patience is th.................:drunk::spank:

John

 
#1,242 · (Edited)
Thanks guys,

I spent a little time researching metal while I was lying around and came up with this for a low carbon malleable material. Do any of you have anything to add as far as availability or preferences go for a good metal for forming.

Pugsy, This should be right down your alley.

By the way, I am pretty well over what had me down. Thanks for the good wishes.

John
 

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#1,248 ·
My Valentine let me play in the shop for a while tonight.

i tweaked my template to make sure it fit the contour of the inner wheel well. it needs to be close for sure but I am going to replace the lower potion of the wheel well so it will be easier to make it a tight fit to the floor pan than making the floor pan tight to the wheel well.



I formed the redious on the panel with the tipping wheel I made for the bead roller. I was very pleased and it made a nice sharp flange.



This thing require a downward curve outward to the inner rocker as well as a upward curve toward the rear of the car. In order to get this compound curve right the material has to be stretched and/or shrunk on 3 sides.



I have it where it will sit on the floor board but it needs to be trimmed back about 1/2 inch and the area on the floor board marked with the sharpie will be tipped up with a torch and a gentle touch.

Hopefully what I have in mind will work out well. I will try to take a few pictures of the final fit. The flange to the wheel well ended up being a very nice tight fit. i was very pleased with it.



 
#1,253 ·
Not sure Dina would be so excited to see the USA in old Rusty here.

No one can say my car has no floorboards. While I am not done, the passenger side rear floorboard is now part of the car. I thought I would impress you guys on how well I can MIG weld gaps so I trimmed it a little short. :confused:

Everyone who believes that stand on your head. :D

John



 
#1,254 ·
I just realized I had not posted a picture of the way I rolled the edge up before I welded in the section over the frame. I really like doing this and moving the welds off the edge when it is in a place that will be seen. I think it gives a natural look to the corner area. This was taken before I trimmed and aligned the 2 pieces.



John
 
#1,260 ·
Today I tried to get the other side finished but did not get that far in the couple of hours I had.

I went about making this piece a little differently than the RH side. I put the shape into the panel before I tipped the flange. Then as I tipped the flange I used the shrinker/stretcher to maintain the shape.

It took 4 passes through the bead roller to tip the flange to the point where I could finish it up with a hammer and dolly. I did not get it finished but the piece is ready for the last bend so it won't take lomg to get it ready to weld in....I hope.:mwink:







 
#1,262 ·
1248 and 1253. I am going to be a pest. I see you sprayed some primer. Did you use anything else on the metal? Is the metal in its final state with the primer? Or will you take the primer off and do anything else with the metal?

Curious minds want to know. I just have no real idea of what is good or bad.
 
#1,263 ·
Craig, All you are seeing in that picture is weldable primer sprayed out of a rattle can where ever I felt I would be covering up bare metal. I did paint the cross channel with Epoxy on the inside when I installed it as well as the inner rocker. I did not paint the bottom of the floor board with epoxy though it would have been good to do so. I did spray the area with weldable primer though.

Once the floors are fabricated and welded in my intentions are to strip the windows, dash and trim off the car and strip it inside and out. I then intend to Prime the intire car with a couple of wet coats of Epoxy. A new gallon of SPI is sitting on the shelf waiting.

Once the rockers and quarter panels are replaced (as required) this thing has to come off the frame and the bottom of the floor boards have to be detailed and ground. They too will then get a couple of wet coats of epoxy. Eventually paint

I tried to find a tutorial MartinSR did on paint but have not found it. Maybe Brian will provide a link to it. It is excellent and I think you will enjoy reading it.

Also SPI has a fantastic WEB site and on that site the have a tutorial named "The Perfect Paint Job" that will lead you through the paint progress. They also have a forum which is broken down into sub forums for primers, base coats, etc.

One last thing. I noticed your concern about the flash rust when you used the rust mort. I would rather fight the flash rust as to have acid left on my panel. DeadBodyMan uses Acid to keep a panel from rusting back and it will do that. It will also eventually neutralize itself and allow epoxy to cure but I personally am not going to use Osho or any thing else this morning and paint it this afternoon and not know for sure the acid is neutralized. If you read the thread on Ospho you will find page after page of heated dicussion on this subject. You will have to decide what advice you want to follow. For me clean metal with a good 80 grit sanding is the way I want to go.
 
#1,265 ·
Basically they all do the same thing though some of the techniques may differ.

What you have to do is:

Have clean metal

Have metal as straight as possible and sanded with 80 grit

Epoxy primer for moisture and rust protection as well as enhanced adhesion. Must be scuffed if left for more than 7 days.

Body filler as needed blocked straight. Final sanded with 120 or there abouts.

High build primer for finish of minor flaws and final blocking. Final sanded with 400-600 depending on top coat.

Epoxy primer for sealer and adhesion.

Paint that sucker. :thumbup:

Hopefully Brian will post a link to his tutorial. The above is an over simplification but bottom line, that is pretty much standard practice. What makes the difference is the attention to detail, proper preparation, and having the patience to have each step completed properly and thoroughly before going on the the next. Also, using each product for its intended purpose and following the manufacturers instructions. Many people cause there own failures by just failing to use the material as designed.

John
 
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