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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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#48 ·
I didn't like how it looked, and I didn't like how wide it was, I just feel it isn't the way to go. Handling, oh hell yes it would work good as far as functioning well, hell yes. I just didn't like how it looked and how wide it was. Cutting up the front rad support, I just didn't like it. It was like trying to put a size 12 foot in a size 9 shoe.

Brian
 
#51 ·
Just not my thing Randy, it looks as beautiful as you could possibly do one, but it isn't my thing. And on a 57 that is a whole different thing, especially the truck. Heck the frame width is almost identical, they work great from what I have seen on the 55-59 Chevy pickup. But on the earlier cars and trucks, they just don't do it for me.

Brian
 
#52 ·
Brian has a valid point about them really looking tacky when one is installed that is to wide. That is a real problem with the shoebox Fords and early Chevies. The S-10 is 2 inches narrower than the 53 according to the Cranksheft Coalition. That part should be fine but the radiator support is a whole nuther issue. I don't want my steering box hanging out into the grill. before I am ready there will be plenty of cars at the shows I can look at. :)

I have a Buddy with a trashed S-10 frame. If the steering box is still on it I may run up and take some measurements.
 
#58 ·
I can't stress enough, it was a personal thing for what I wanted my truck to be. It's that simple, it's like I decided to put five spoke Americans on it, that's all.

Brian
 
#65 ·
Both the rockers and my plasma cutter came today. The UPS guy looked just like Santa to me. :)

I spent the time I had today working on the front body mount. I will post some pictures. I made three designs before I got one that was acceptable. I have not drilled the mounting holes. I will do that after I get the inner rocker positioned so I can be sure of it's exact location. I also need to get some heavy material to reinforce it so it won't collapse when I tighten the body down.

Lots of welding left before it is one piece.





 
#68 ·
frame strength

with that much body rust I am wondering how strong the frame is. And wondering why you didn't do it like your merc with a newer chassis-floor. I looked at a 58 Ford retractable hardtop convert that was in bad shape , rusted out like your chevy , and passed it by Too much work for me.
 
#72 ·
John, I see you have things completely under control. While reading through the posts, I had a thought reading all the options on clips, aftermarket pieces and your Mercury build. Would it be a reasonable thought worth any time to consider using a whole frame from a S-10 or other full frame vehicle (forgive me here, but what about a ranger? I think the track is maybe a little narrower than a S-10)? I'm just asking, because I have no specs on width of either frame, simply just a thought. I'm sure it would have to be shortened, I just didn't know if that would solve the issues with the clip width adn matching to the older frame. I have heard of people doing that with the older trucks to save time and money, don't know if it would be an option for the cars or not.

Kelly
 
#73 ·
Thanks for the thought you have given this Kelly. The origional convertible frame has a massive crossmember under it. I really don't believe the bennefits would out way the work that would be required to do the frame swap nor do I believe the end product would be nearly as stiff as the origional frame.

John
 
#77 ·
Here is the basically finished floor brace. The origional purpose of this thread was to show that a car could be built on a budget. There is 3 dollars worth of metal in this brace. It is built out of 5 small pieces of metal and the only tools used were shrinker/stretcher jaws and a mig welder. Of course I also used a 9 dollar die grinder and and my compressor.

The thing you must remember is I enjoy this. The fact that I have a ridiculous amount of time in it is irrelevant to me. I had fun :D



Beside the original one.

 
#81 ·
Okay John, I don't know if people are just trying to be kind and don't want to offend or maybe they just hadn't noticed but I feel it my responsibility to honestly critique the brace you built. I hope your not offended and I'm only pointing out to you what to me is the obvious...Your knew brace doesn't look anything like the original...it's not even the same color...LOL

Great job John, it is truly a labor of love.

Ray
 
#86 ·
Gorsh. Can you guys tell I'm blushing? :D

Here is the lower edge of the toe board.

I had my wife take a picture of me tipping the curved edge of the lower lip on the flat wheel of my English Wheel. This is done by putting a piece of cardboard or something similar under the axle of the lower anvil (wheel) and then working your piece through it tipping the flange you want to bend. After each pass you adjust it with the shrinker/stretcher jaws to add or remove material as needed. Many people use their bead roller with flat dies or tipping dies to do the same thing.

Tipping the lower flange where the toe board meets the floor board.


Here is where the piece will go.


A good view of the final piece.
 
#87 ·
You've hit a homerun with this thread. John, I admire your can-do attitude! You're so right about the time spent being irrelevant in relationship to the satisfaction of using your ingenuity to successfully craft a quality piece. I am subscribed and look forward to each new posting. :):):D
 
#88 ·
Thanks KVP. The idea is to show that the average person can do this without a fortune to spend. Patience is the key but it has to be fun or it will just end up another unfinished project in the back of someone's garage.

Also, I am blessed to have a built car so I am not doing without while I am building this one.

John
 
#92 ·
Did not do much today but did get my 5 minutes in. Rough cut the toe board and aligned the door a little better. I need to make this corner of the floor board and put it all together so I can slide it in as an assembly. Keep you fingers crossed.



From inside the car.
 
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