Small victories ...

[Budd]

After 4 years, the body has been mated back to the chassis of my 1956 Buick. It came off Nov 2009, and it's back on now Nov 2013. I'm so happy to make progress, albeit ever so slowly. My daughter came out to lend encouragement and some ballast as I lowered it back into place with the hoist.

Just had to share ...

Cheers,

Budd

Edited November 12, 2013 by Budd (see edit history)

[bhambulldog]

Hooray !!!!

Congratulations !!!

In 1969 Dad took his 1940 Cadillac off the frame.

He sold the car in 1983 , still off the frame…

[bhambulldog]

Keep us posted !!

[JohnD1956]

Ugh! 4 years so far! This is the main thing stopping me from fixing up my cars. Wish I could come out there and help you along Budd..

[49_buick_super]

Congratulations on the progress. Great web site, too.

Dan

[buick5563]

Heck yes. Great job Robert!!!

[Budd]

Thanks for all the encouragement -- I'm certainly not going to win any "restoration races" at this pace, but the forward progress puts a smile on my face whenever I go in the garage.

As a side note, I'll put in a plug for "Zero Rust" http://zero-rust.com/ which I used to paint the frame. It is topcoated with their Zero Rust clear that protects it from UV damage. My chassis sat outside in my driveway, uncovered, for all 4 years and after washing with warm soap and water, looked as good as the day I applied the coating (granted the weather in Northern California is not all that extreme). I treated the rubber components with 303 Aerospace Products (marine UV protectant -- if you have a boat, you know what this stuff is). This stuff also allows your hot tub vinyl cover to last 2x as long as it would normally -- for you folks with a hot tub.

So -- frame and rubber held up well. Some things unfortunately did *not* hold up well and I had a few rust issues to resolve.

1. anything that was powdercoated that was rough in texture (e.g. brake drums, pitman arm) apparently had enough porosity to allow moisture to get to the metal. The rust was minor, but unexpected. Anything powdercoated with a smooth texture (like plain silver, plain black, etc.) with a semi gloss or gloss finish was fine. It was just the rough powdercoats that are apparently a bit porous. Clear coating those would have helped.

2. I replaced all the brake hard lines and fuel lines, and they come as bare steel finish. I should have cleared those or something to give them a barrier. They've started lightly rust in a few spots.

Another thing that I should have done differently, in retrospect, is that when I replaced all the bushings/rubber on the front end, I should have left the front A-arm bumpers off the front frame until I was ready to put the engine back in. Since I had installed them, they've been in their "crushed" position due to lack of front weight on the A-arms for 4 years and are probably ruined (they are mushroom shaped now, not torpedo shaped). Thankfully they are inexpensive, but still, I should have thought a little more about that and left them off until later.

Lastly -- in case anyone is wondering why I did not have some sort of car cover or tarp over the chassis whilst it was parked outside -- I did try that but it didn't work out. If I used a tarp, it was impervious to rain, but also retained moisture under the tarp and against the frame (and chaffed on the frame on windy days no matter how I strapped it down). I also tried a car cover, and although it breathed better, it still chaffed on the car. So in the end, I just took it all off and ensured everything was as UV protected as I could get it. I think it held up pretty well. Best thing would be to have it inside or under an awning, but I had neither to offer.

Cheers,

Budd