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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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#3,385 ·
Wow, Good stuff from all. Brian, if you can get one I will cover postage and even send it back to you if you need me to.

I could probably bring myself to spend $60 dollars if I knew it would do the job but have to admit, I would hate to. Mixing it would work for some places but there are some that application would be tough with a putty knife.

Reading my old post above from Christmas really brought back the emotions of the day. It's amazing how close you can feel to people you have never met.

Thanks guys.

John
 
#3,386 ·
That floor had to be a whopper of a suprise! Priceless expression.:cool:

John a thought just popped up... make your own? A few mods to an old caulking gun should do it. Bolts for plungers on a plate, trim notches out front to fit the cartridge... eh?

I searched for a plan on the web, did not find any. Just a frugal idea. The cartridges come with just two nozzles, you'll want a bag of 6 also because the work time is so short. Also worthy of note is that the mix tips can make it kinda hard to squeeze after awhile, and you don't want to have to stop for a cramp. The DIY gun might offer more leverage.
 
#3,391 ·
I have the brushable self leveling seam sealer in the can and it is really nice. It's not runny, but give it 5 minutes and it is almost glossy, it's so smooth. I've used a whole can of it now on various cars and once cured, you can sand the stuff. Not 2k, but I think it works really well. I use acid brushes to keep the seam narrow and toss them when done.
 
#3,392 ·
That would work well for most of my needs. I also have a tube of SEM single stage urethane seam sealer that I bought a while back.

The reason I was so interested in the 2K is I have the areas where the inner fender well, outer fender well and Drop down panel meet the quarter panels. I would like to get a really good seal there and to be honest there is a 1/8 inch gap in places that really needs a quality product.

John
 
#3,394 ·
Goody, Goody. My first gallon of red paint arrived today. I had finished grinding and touching up the welds on the bottom of the floor but decided it would be wise to go ahead and finish closing in rhe front of the rockers as well as fabricating the lower fender mounts.

I cleaned the welds after grinding and brused on 4 coats of SPI epoxy just to smooth them up some. It won't make them go away but it really did soften them. The negative was it took longer to sand them than I expected. I probably would not do it again but we all live and learn and it certainly did not hurt anything. I did not get a picture of them after they were sanded yet.



Here is the unfinished front of the rocker boxes.





I was lucky to have the parts car behind the house in order to get the correct dimensions





 
#3,404 ·
The first thing I did today was clean up the bottom of the A pillars I did last week and run over the panels one more time with a DA and 80 grit.





Second thing I did was go over the entire floorpans with SPI waterborne wax and grease remover a couple of times.



The third thing I did was mix up a quart of Red SPI Epoxy primer, mixed it well and covered it up so all those little molecules could consummate their relationship all night long and be one tomorrow.



LOL, The last thing I did was reconstruct the paint booth walls after I cleaned the floor. Tomorrow the dog gets to hunt.

John

 
#3,406 · (Edited)
I thought I read on the SPI forum to use the regular W&G after the waterborne but I don't remember that for certain. I used the regular on my floor, as I don't have any waterborne products and I can't remember my password for the forum to look it up.\\

OK, I got in the forum, seems the concensus is the waterborne is best, but there is a wait time.

Bare metal either way is just plain overkill. Reason we have in tech book use the 700 and then the 710 is our productions shops tend to do it that way to speed up the dry time of the waterborne. they don't like the 30-45 minute wait time. Barry@kives.net 404-307-9740 OR Text, Tech Line (7 days)
 
#3,418 ·
You are fine. I enjoy the feedback and other points of view.

This not being a customer project allows me to play with it as my mood leads me. Spending my customer's money wisely is a non issue. Keeping myself intertained is what it is about.

Don't be surprized if I make this thing a yard driver way before it makes sense to do so. I would love to be able to back this thing into the driveway to play with it on a pretty day. I may assemble the chassis, Paint the dash, install the gauges and put the drive line in before I do a lot more bodywork.......Who knows........:)

John
 
#3,421 ·
I suspect you meant to type Fatman!? :D

I am pretty stoked today again. I am sooo impressed with the SPI basecoat. A gallon of paint must be all paint instead of half thinner like so many other products. Recommended reduction is From 1:1.5 to 2:1 for quck coverage. I reduced mine 1:1 and shot two wet coats with full coverage. That was 1 quart of unreduced base for the entire floorpans and wheel wells or two quarts ready to spray. I shot them both wet and not only got good coverage but no runs.

Very impressed for sure!:thumbup:

John



 
#3,423 ·
No, Your batman alright...Im as stoked as you are John.:thumbup:
Which clear did you choose?
SPI Universal Mike. I have wanted to try it for a long time. I have heard so many good things about it.

It was funny, because I called SPI to order the Dark Red in SS and found out they only make the Dark Red in BC. I told my wife, "well, the good news is, I am going to get to shoot the Universal clear sooner than I thought.":D:D:D

Most likely, I will just do 2 wet coats on the bottom..........Hopefully tomorrow.:thumbup:

John
 
#3,426 ·
Today saw a couple of coats of SPI universal clear. I have never shot the Universal Clear before and flooded it on a little. A little more pressure at the gun would not have hurt either. There are a couple of places that remind me slightly of Niagra Falls but I would rather have some flow indicators than it being sprayed dry. The shop was about 68 degrees and it probably would have been wise to let it flash for a full 30 minutes. Also, I used a different gun than I shot the epoxy and base with so that also was a bit of a learning experience.

All and all I am very pleased and looking forward to getting the chassis ready for the body.

John







 
#3,431 ·
One of the things I have not done is address a little rust in the fuel door "box" on the car. It appeared to me that we could make the piece and tip the collar where it transitions to the tube the fuel pipe runs up through. After a couple of tries though Tim and I gave up and changed our plan of attack.

Instead of tipping the ring we startted with a 90 degree and stretched the radius into it and then formed the area that makes the bottom ot the "box."



Here you can see the small area of rust we needed to eliminate.



My first step was to remove the tube that the filler pipe runs through and break the welds loose that held it to the transition coller on the bottom of the "box."





After making a pattern, Tim and I formed a 90 degree piece and stretched one side in the shrinker/stretcher jaws forming the radius of the tube. After we had the radious formed we finished it off making it fit the floor of the fill door box.





Here it is sitting in place but as of yet it has not been welded in.......Thanksgiving dinner beckoned. :D:D:D

 
#3,433 ·
LOL, I may yet. After I made the tube it doesn't fit worth a crxp. I destroyed it in the process of trying to fit it. :(

I made the tube today...Started by forming the tube in my home made slip roll with a little extra length.






It fit really well and I could have left it alone but......




......the origional factory piece had three beads around it. I decided to duplicate the origional piece. I laid out the pattern and tied it with safety wire so the bead rolling process would not destroy its shape.








I personally like the end result. It looks like the factory piece to me.



All that is left is to trim it flush with the bottom of the trunk pan. I am pleased. :D

John

 
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