falconvan

Sounds like a big life change, Tommy. I'm really sorry about Terry; that has to be tough to go through. In our prayers, as always.

Wow, this was worse than I thought once I started cutting. The drivers side was worse so I'm knocking it out first. The bottom 4 inches of the B pillar was gone as was 1/2 of one of the braces and the inner rocker. It looks like someone had put a new outer rocker on right over the old rusted out one at one point. So I didnt have to remove the old rocker, it just fell out on its own once I started cutting. I'm not fixing it all right now; just building a structure that will support the floor and give me something solid to build from if I decide to go back later and go further with it.

Sound like a good accomplishment. That's a lot of work done! Where did you get your HEI and how much did you pay for it?

Never heard of them but I know replacement floors for these cars are pricey. Have you thought about building your own? Raw sheet metal is pretty reasonable. I just bought a 4' x 10' sheet of 16 gauge cold rolled for $75.

For sure; that's pretty much why i bought this. My 48 is realistically about 2 years and several thousand dollars away from being done. I can wrap this car up in a few months and probably have less than $1500 in the whole car. I wanted a cheap old cruiser to putt around town in; driving the minivan to the car shows can be pretty depressing.

They feel pretty solid on the passenger side; I'll probably wire brush them and hit them with POR-15. The drivers side is bad; I'll have to cut them off and splice on some repair pieces. Luckily there were a couple replacement sections in the parts that came with it.

Well, what do you do when you keep cutting and there's nothing solid to weld onto? I went to the steel supply and got a 4 x 10 sheet of 16 gauge and an extra spool of MIG wire. Looks like it's getting more floor repairs than I thought. Also I never did trust those old single reservoir master cylinders. This one is for a 67 Fairlane; I've got a plan for a bracket to make it work. ORielys still carried the factory wheel cylinders; only $21 a piece.

Maybe we should change your name to "Quickdraw":D

I pulled out the seats to see what I have to deal with for a floor. It's pretty rough with some really bad repairs. Some previous owner laid sheet metal right over the rusted out metal and fiberglassed it in with fiberglass cloth and resin. Plus they put on new outer rockers but left the rusted out inner rockers in place. But in keeping with the cheap driver theme, I'm not tackling all that at this point. For now I'm just going to cut away whats completely gone,put some patches in, and hit the rest with rust inhibitor to stop the progression. I just need a solid place to put my feet and something solid to hold the seat in. Also painted up some of the trim and power washed the engine. I was just going to put in in as is but I think I'll set it on a stand, pull the pan, and make sure the bottom end looks OK. I probably need to see what the clutch looks like before I bolt it in, too.

I bought some Harbor Freight ones; for a one guy shop they work fine. As long as the floor is kept clean, that is.

I finally got the passenger door finished today; there were a lot of hours in this door. Got all the welds ground and some filler along the bottom, got all the old door gasket off and coated the inside of the door with a rust inhibitor. Next is the drivers door which is not as bad. the bottom fits good so no work there. I got the latch installed and have a small repair to make in the front corner.

Just plain old Rustoleum spray bomb, Joe. I did primer and wet sand it first.

Sorry guys, I decided not to lower my car right now. I'm just concentrating on getting it safe and roadworthy for the time being. I plan on hanging onto it so maybe somewhere down the road I'll tackle it.

Thanks, Joe. I'm going to try and make this as quick and simple as the budget allows. I was going to lower it but decided to hold off on that until sometime in the future; right now I just want to get it on the road. Got all the suspension and steering back together today and got it back on it's feet. After looking at the mess of 60 year old wiring I grabbed my side cutters and chopped it all out. The insulation was crumbling off when you touched it so I figured I better just start over rather than burning the thing to the ground. I also glued the headliner back up. That crap brown dash had to go; the puke green is bad enough. I like this color better.

I've got six days off; three I get to spend in the garage, the other three mama has me doing chores but that's OK. I got out there early this morning and finished repairing the crossover, building some shock relocation mounts, wire brushing off the front of the frame, and hitting it with a coat of paint. I've got both side of the suspension tore apart for cleanup and reassembly, and I pulled the dashboard out to sort through the mess of chopped wiring. Taking a road trip tonight to pick up a better steering box and back on it early tomorrow!

That sounds like a really cool car, Phil. Just set aside a few hours a week and plan one small job at a time; you'll have that baby on the road before you know it.

I thought it was R2D2

I've done it but cant find the pictures I took. Easy job; I'll probably be doing it again on one of the cars I'm doing now so I'll try and get some pictures.

I dug into my scrap steel pile and found some 3/16" plate that's pretty stout. I think that will work well to patch the crossmember. I got most of one side done tonight.

Is her birthday coming up?

Yeah, that sucks. The engine even had an older rebuilt tag on it. I wonder if what would happen if I called in for a warranty?

Good compression on cranking; back two rods came apart about 30 seconds after it started. There's a week and a half in between those two posts.

I have to give Little Mo the big thumbs up for being a great guy. After I found out the motor in this was junk he stepped up and gave me and engine and trans. I went and picked it up today; one heck of a nice guy and I'm glad we met. OK, drive train is out and suspension is off so now I'm at a good starting point. First I have to do some serious rust repair on the crossmember; then I can start cleaning things up and reassembling.

Looks great, Chet! Who did you get your carpet from?

I tried a neat trick on lowering my first 48 Dodge and it worked pretty good. I took off the lower control arms, cut the spring mount off the top of the control arm, did some minor trimming, and welded it to the bottom of the control arm. It gave me a nice 2-2 1/2" drop and still rode well.