pont35cpe Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) Stooge, I did my garnish, glove box lid and insturment surround of my `36 Buick coupe in the Hydographics Coffeewood Burl, would have done the dash also but it is not removable. I really like it. Don`t forget to do the vent window divider post covers.. One difference in the `37&`38 transmission is the dia. of the input shaft, `37 is larger dia. Tom Edited March 7, 2018 by pont35cpe (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 i managed to find one piece of 'clean'ish trim piece with the original wood grain that I will end up using for a reference, although the coffeewood burl does look really nice according to google. Unfortunately theres very little remaining on the window garnishings, any other interior trim and the dash is completely void of any of the simulated wood grain, but I will put the woodgrain back on all of the pieces that originally had it. I haven't looked too closely at my dash, but I would assume there is a way to pop it out from referencing Gary's thread where he had removed his dash, unless the '36 was non-removable versus the '37. Plus removing the dash from the car, will make it a whole lot easier to sand all of the rust off. it's pretty solid, without any rot, but has a lot of surface rust covering everything. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Yes, the dash on your 1937 Buick is removable. There are quite a few small screws to find around the perimeter to be able to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 So this may be one of those areas of Modest restoration where i might lose some people so i'll try and make it quick, but remember, this car was destined for rat rod status on a minitruck chassis and an LS swap before i bought it Today i started on the driver side running board as this car didnt come with either side, nevermind even a junky set that i could repair. After alot of studying pictures of other coupes, and figuring out some reference points and temporarily hanging the driver side door back up, i started with some cardboard and transfered that over to some sheetmetal and added a rounded edge and squared bottom edge that folds underneath to make it a little more rigid. There will be more structure underneath when i find/make some adjustable brackets to make aligning it easier and will be covered in a corrugated/ribbed mat eventually. The edges also still need to be trimmed and i will be adding a lip on body facing edge Where it will tuck up into the body like the stock one would, as well as an edge around the front and rear fender facing edges. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Looking good! Don't believe I'd told it was not the real thing.. Looks like it will be better than original. Ben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 It looks like they will certainly do the job. If you would like them to look a bit more like the originals, I could take some measurements for you. The profile looks like it sticks out a bit further than the originals and wraps around the front fender quite a bit more than the originals. If you want to see some photos, the first page of my restoration thread has some photos that show the shape of the original running boards. If you need dimensions or better photos, I will be happy to help you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 Thanks guys, i wasnt sure if it was going to be one of those high hopes situations where it ends up looking like trash, but its coming out a little better than i was expecting. MC, that would be great, as i was mostly just sitting on the floor with some rulers and tape trying to zoom in on blurry pictures of where the ends met, (notice the blue tape 'guess'mark on the front fender ). I intentionally left it a bit long so it could be shortened/reshaped back a bit. right now it is butted up against the frame, so i can trim back the frame side along with "opening" up the area where it wraps around the fenders and pull it in a bit. A measurement from the frame to the corner of outmost, curved point at either end would be the most helpful guide, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary W Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Here are a few photos of the finished running boards on my '37 Special. There is just about a 3/4" clearance everywhere, and that's with the rubber vulcanized on the board. I basically loosened up all the mounting nuts and bolts, positioned the board so the gaps were consistent following all the fender contours and tightened it up. I hope these help! Keep up the great job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) Thank you Gary, both for the measurements and compliment, I really appreciate it! If you had to venture a guess, how thick would you say the material is that was vulcanized to the boards, I would imagine in the 3/16 area on the non-beaded flat spots? Planning ahead, I am thinking if I trim them back to leave the better part of an inch gap between the board edges and the front and rear fenders, that will leave me with ample room to align and adjust accordingly, even with the added thickness of the rubber mat, but without leaving too big of a gap, that it looks "off". Unfortunately, no work on the Buick yesterday as I am trying to finish up the metal work on a GTO for someone so it can go to paint sooner than later. This is a car that came in about 2years ago that looked great, but was hiding a lot of rust and very poor previous repairs and has turned into a much bigger project than I would have imagined, though it is finally in the home stretch. although I'm not so much into 60's muscle cars, this has grown on me a bit. Edited March 12, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 I have a set of 1938 Special running boards with the metal in decent shape as well as a really bad set of 1938 Century running boards. I also have a decemt set of original 1937 running boards on my 1937 Century. It appears that the 1937 and 1938 running boards are probably the same size, although they have different part numbers so they should not be exactly the same. My current plans are to take the Special boards, cut them and insert a 4 inch wide section to lengthen them to use on my 1938 Century project. I took some photos to attempt to help you this morning. It was starting to rain as I finshed up so I did not pull the 1937 Century outside into the sunlight for some better photos. I will be happy to do that whenever I get a clear day again soon if you would like. The inner edge of the Special running boards are approximetely 58 1/2 inches long. The inner edge of the Century running boards are approximetely 62 1/2 inches long. The outer edge of the Special running boards are approximetely 62 1/2 inches long. The inner edge of the Century running boards are approximetely 66 1/2 inches long. The narrow end of all of the running boards are approximately 9 1/2 inches wide. The wide (front) end of all of the running boards aare approximately 15 inches wide. If you need any other photos or measurements, please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 Hi MC, sorry it took a bit to reply, i was busy getting bombarded with about 2ft of snow yesterday. Those pictures are absolutely perfect, and between the ones you took for me and the ones Gary posted earlier, I have a much better idea of where i am headed with these. Much easier to decipher than trying to make out some points or reference from most of the pictures I was searching for, and especially clears up the underside of the boards and how the stock structure is set up. Thanks again! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary W Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Here's some detail of the running board restoration: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 1, 2018 Author Share Posted April 1, 2018 A slow few weeks, took a nice spill down some icy stairs so i've been hobbling around and taking it easy, as well as being busy with having dogs over , ( a good buddy owns a dog walking /boarding business and i help out taking his extras) so i couldnt pop out to the garage much lately. Had a productive day yesterday and made some final changes and fittings with the driver side running board so i could make the template to make a copy of for the passenger side. Pretty happy with the fit, so i started and finished the sheet metal of the pass side, alot easier the second time around and didnt have to guess as much, still a little adjusting to do that will have to wait until i put some rubber body shims/mounts in and straighten out the body as it is off center of the frame by about 3/4". Also pulled the passenger side door off so i can start making the new lower skin for that. The outer looks worse than the other one, but i might be able to get away with using the inner section that i had to make on the driver side. There doesnt seem to be any holes or extensive rot in it, but i'll see when i get the outer cut out, but it should save quite a bit of work if i can use it. you can see the original.piece of blue tape where i had the front edge meet for how much it has been pulled in.The passenger side sticks out a little more than the driver side, but after the body is aligned on the frame, they will match and are the same distances/ dimensions from the frame right now.And cleaned up some of the heavy crust and paint to make it easier to reference mark for making the new panel45" x 6.5" piece cut for the new panel, a little.oversized but i wanted some extra for the crimped edge as well as some side to side play for any misalignment when makin the shape. started adding a little shape but didnt get far yesterday. Off topic, got the interior of the '66 gto stripped out of the seats, console and carpets to figure out whas needed for new floor pans. Someone previously did a poor job on repairing them and just stacked the new over the old rotten ones and covered it in bedliner so im anticipating being pretty miserable soon. Also pretty close to finishing fixing the absolutely rotten and hacked together front windshield frame/cowl that was held together with JB weld, pop rivets and gobs of brazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 3, 2018 Author Share Posted April 3, 2018 Some small but productive steps on the passenger side door last night Starting to add some shape to it, I cut it longer than I needed as the sides will get trimmed but also folded over and crimped to the door structure as they are from the factory, so there is some unshaped edge that gives off a bad profile, but that is just the last inch or so on either side. the outer skin of the door was in worse shape on the passenger side than the driver's side, but the inner sill structure was in much better shape on the passenger side. I'm going to just try and repair the offending areas rather than make a whole new piece like I did on the driver side. even with having to repair it, it will still be a lot less work and a lot less risk of it losing some shape or having a fitment issue with the body. Pretty happy with the shape of the new panel, a little massaging here and there but not a million miles off. i'll start on repairing the inner structure in the next day or 2, then I will treat the rest of the inside, before painting it and starting to weld in the new skin panel. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) About as much as i can get done on the doors and running boards until i align the body/get some rubber body mounts in there and find some brackets for the runing board mounts.This was cleaed up more after this but i didnt take many pictures. Along with the corner puece, i made a new lip piece to replace the rotted one.Rust treated and some black paint before welding in the new outer.Few areas to tidy up, but most of its welded up and the edges are spot welded, folded and "crimped" And started planning out the panels to fix the swiss cheese floor sections. Its worse than i was imagining so its going to be more involved aroubd the area where it meets the door sills but ill figure something out Edited April 8, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Nelson Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Stooge, the radiator is definitely different. The series 40 (248 cu in) radiator is only 2 cores thick. The 320 engine is a 3 cores thick radiator. (50% thicker) If there is any question, have it re-cored with modern stuff. Make sure the engine is completely cleaned out. It seems to be a problem that occurred with most older systems. I'm in Fla. and it is hot in the summer time so keeping the engine running cool is very important. Engine boiled out, new water pump and new guts in the radiator. That has solved most high temp issues. You need to use a '37' 320 radiator. It has different mounting points to hook it up. My '38' 320 radiator would not work. I have both a '37' and a '38' coupe. Both are small engines. There is a book from a group in Michigan that is called "Buick Technical Tips" . That with a '37' service manual will give you ton's of info. Especially when the year you need can be replaced with a later more available item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 The radiator was something I've been thinking about lately, as cooling and overheating is a big nervous point of mine, and was thinking of having one made. Walker has a '37 buick radiator listed and will do custom configurations with their different levels of cooling gimmick. Listed at $650, I don't know what the custom add set up would be, but if it doesn't fit/ line up perfectly in the core support, I could always make some sort of adapter flange for it, but obviously would rather just buy the right one and not have to worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 21, 2018 Author Share Posted April 21, 2018 (edited) Still plugging away over here, and making some progress on the floor. I had been looking for some possible patch panels to cheat a bit and make life a bit easier but didnt see anything worth buying that wouldnt have to be extensively modified. A few areas that could have been made easier with a few pieces of equipment i dont have, but its coming along. Mickey mousing the the 4ft long bend, i used to have a small homemade sheet metal brake, but it wouldnt have been nearly big enough Marking out the differential recess and this probably would have been a good job for a step die on a bead roller to recreate the step on either side of the stock floor differential area on the floor, so i used a chisel tip stretching body hammer, a chunk of aluminum bracket and a handful of clamps still need to make some filler panels for the side pockets, do some trimming, final welding and pretty it up a bit, but starting to look like something atleast, and isnt a million miles off. I need to grab a few short sticks of tubing to brace the inside of the body to keep it square before cutting the old section out, but hopefully in the next few days that will be out. Edited April 21, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) Still plugging away and keeping busy over here! Aside from my Buick, I've ben trying to finish up the '66 GTO project so that can go to paint, not much left of me to do on it, just replacing some floor braces and patching a spot in the floors and the driver side door. Also started cleaning up and planning out the '58 Edsel Villager station wagon project, figuring out what is needed for the new drivetrain, what we can add as far as power brakes and power steering as he wants to haul the family around in it safely/ confidently, and what we needed for patch panels for the floor/ what would fit as theres not much for aftermarket edsel stuff. And a smaller project, is buttoning back together a 64 impala SS, numbers matching 327 with the correct heads, after an engine cleanup/ refurb and making it a little closer to stock appearance / period correct upgrades regarding the engine cam, carburetor, etc. Finally braced up and cut some of the floor out of the Century, enough to make sure the new piece I was cobbling together was going to work, and I am pretty happy with the fitment, nice and snug, although I still have some trimming of whats left of the original trunk divider/ axle bridge area . i'll need to pick up another large piece of sheet metal and get my hands on a bead roller to finish off the flat areas of the floor before I get much further so i'll probably be buying a budget friendly one this week, leaning towards one of the Eastwood's ones since they are pretty reasonable and its not something I think I will use a lot. The new piece is only very loosely cleco clamped into place, and has not been aligned, and nothing has been welded yet as I want to do some more adjusting and wait until I have a few more pieces ready to go in. I was also able to retain the factory "tray" shelf bracketry from the stock floor, that you can see on either end of the new piece. Edited May 15, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 He has new glass and the hatch back piece, but while its being worked on, he didn't want to risk any damage to it so he left the plastic wrap on that was there when we picked it up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted June 6, 2018 Author Share Posted June 6, 2018 Not as much progress being made, but im just about finished with the '66 GTO so I can start putting more time on the buick. Slowly accumulating some vital parts, and my steering column for the Buick came in, along with the pitman arm and the brake and clutch pedals, so I have the complete steering set up for it, and I can figure out what im missing for the clutch stuff and brakes.looks like they might have sandblasted the pedals, but everything seems in good shape and the column is in better shape than I expected. I have the box temporarily bolted in place as I didn't have enough of the correct hardware and didn't realize beforehand that the gear box had threaded mounts rather than through holes, and the column is just ziptied in place until I get a column support bracket/ ignition switch. Now I still need to find the correct transmission mounted master cylinder and hope I have the pedal hardware/ return springs and the linkage for the clutch fork. Also got a new toy in the form of the "new" eastwood bead roller. I don't have any bead rolling experience, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but for the price, I am fairly impressed. A handful of bead and flange/ step dies and an upgraded 4 spoke handle so it wouldn't be as clumsy to use by myself. I would have liked to get a nicer one from Mitler bros or someone, but a bead roller just isn't really something I see myself using a lot and didn't want to just have something expensive sitting for 1 year or 2 until it gets used again. (Posed action shot And to connect the rear section to the new pans, I hand hammered out a 54" curved piece to mimic the stock floor set up. Not the greatest picture and everything is just cleco'd in place over parts of the original floor so it doesn't quite fit right yet. I plan on saving part of the torque tube tunnel and just remaking the end piece that flows into the rear as that was pretty rotted. A handful more pieces to make and I can finish cutting the rear floor out and start tacking the new pieces in place. I would really like to get some primer on the body by August and some paint sprayed by the end of the year, so its going to be a lot of body work the rest of the year. After the floors are in, the front and rear fenders need to come off so I can repair the rockers/ door bottoms on either side of the doors on both sides that a previous owner tried to fix with self tapping screws and some roof flashing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted June 6, 2018 Author Share Posted June 6, 2018 Also cobbled together some running board brackets, may not look like much and will never be seen, but they work and are pretty strong, at least enough to not flex at all when I stand on them ( a svelte 6'1, 225). just some 1x2 1/8 wall rectangular tubing, some weld nuts and some 90* bent steel plate, (slightly prettier than angle iron) I had from work, and the only place any money was spent on the running boards, some 1/2-13 weld nuts and flange bolts Some weld nuts for the bottom rails of the running boards. the rails are just quickly stitched in and will get final welded later on, this was just sort of a test idea I had and wanted to see if it would work. the front outside bolt mount will get a shim to kick it up a hair so it sits flush with the front fender and I still need to trim a few spots where the sheet metal of the board is hitting the bolts on the frame bracket. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted June 11, 2018 Author Share Posted June 11, 2018 A big step in metal work progress over the weekend, although it did uncover some new work in the form of inner rocker panels/ bottom of the body structure behind the door sills which was a little worse than I was thinking, but theres not much left after that. I am aiming for spraying some high fill primer in august, so I have some time for the rest of the planned metal work, an am actually taking next week off from work, and aside from a few planned things, most of the time will be spent getting the Buick's sheet metal sorted. I still need to make a piece to finish off the torque tube tunnel end that I had to cut out due to rot, but that shouldn't be too bad. Overall I am pretty happy with the fit of everything. i added a few bead rolls to the lower pans on the rear piece, along with the stepped center and added a rectangular step across the top of the rear piece to give it a little more rigidity. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 Some forward progress on what is becoming rebuilding the bottom half of the car. I needed to start the inner and outer rear rocker repairs before I could get the flat floor pans welded in since it gave me a lot more access to the back side of everything with the floor out. The cheap eastwood bead roller is earning its keep, though it might need some reinforcing with stuff like this, but honestly if I can get what needs to get done on the buick, and the bead roller is complete trash afterwards, money well spent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 just held in with a few magents over the existing metal Just a first pass, still need to fill a few areas and pretty it up a bit, but happy enough with it and the passenger side should go a little easier now that I have an idea of what to do Also remade the end of the torque tube tunnel and got the rear piece tacked in as well as the tunnel piece. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 I seem to recall you needed a seat. I have a lead for you... https://youngstown.craigslist.org/pts/d/1937-buick-parts/6670887444.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 (edited) Still plugging away on the Century, I had a little bit of a stall between an irritated sciatica, the heat/ humidity, working on a few other projects and I had been dragging my feet until I had some parts in hand so I didn't have to guess so much. Firstly, the last big puzzle piece that's been holding up finishing the floor, a split bench seat that fit my price range. I knew I was going to have to have it reupholstered, so I had to figure that into the budget, but I am pretty happy with it. It will stay bare for the time being since its a ways away from being really needed and I would hate to mess up a freshly done seat while im still heavy into metal and body work. Getting this is allowing me to finally button up the floor, as I didn't want to finish it, and have to go back over it and change what I had already done. a few parts to make that I've been putting off. First tacked in the driver side floor pan, rear and inner divider facing edges overlap, and the forward and side facing edges are butt welded. Overlapping edges are primed and painted on the sandwiched edges, drilled holes in the top piece, and the marked off on the lower piece accordingly, kissed with a carbide bit to remove the paint from the lower for a poor man's spot weld. in the vein of full disclosure, the seat is out of a similar year Lasalle, but was within a few hr drive and fits both the car perfectly, as well as my budget perfectly. First was making a new rear outer rocker, same way I did the driver side rocker so I had a better starting idea. Left out the door sill steps on this one and will make them in a separate piece to make it a little neater, lesson learned from making it out of one piece on the driver side. Replaces the panel a previous owner made with a lot of pie cuts to make the body line rib and held in with a dozen self tapping screws. Looked to be made from galvanized. Next was making a replacement piece of the inner body structure that's affixed to the side of the floor pan. Seems a lot easier to replace this piece and get it and the inner and outer rockers welded in before the floor pan just from an accessibility standpoint. Driver side piece was in good shape and didn't require making a new piece. Nice and simple, basically guessed some measurements since it was rotted apart in the middle and traced some of the original Edited September 20, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 (edited) And I know this is the prewar buick section, but still something I've been working on in the shop and so you guys to think im too lazy, a few of the '58 Edsel project, and trying to save the driver side fender And the 'cavity' behind the driver side grill area, (fender is upside down on the stand in these pictures) Im leaving this area a little rough for the time being until I get to the outer headlight bucket. The headlight area is really falling apart and grinding and sanding this area will cause a lot of commotion and may cause further damage before I have a chance to copy whats left of the original. Edited September 20, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Very impressive work on both cars! I really admire your persistence and courage in taking on projects like this. Like trying to make a solid block of cheddar out of a few pieces of Swiss cheese! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 (edited) Some progress being made in an effort to start body working and high fill primer by the end of the year. Rolled the Century out of the shop to move a few cars around and also to spin the Buick around so I could more conveniently work on the passenger side. There's still some paint hiding around in some crevices around the front fenders, and I didn't touch the hood or trunk, but I did a solid first pass with some fairly coarse sanding discs to knock down the old paint and crusty surface rust, and started clearing a few dents that I've found. not many surprises around the body with the paint off, no surprise filler anywhere, a few spots of brazing on the rear passenger fender flange, and some more brazing around the tail pan but that will just be cleaned up as it was done well enough. a few small areas that will get cut out and replaced with new metal, but for the most part, some areas will be treated with a rust neutralizer after a few more sanding passes on the bare body. And started cutting out the passenger side door sill/ rocker areas. Had to make a handful of pieces, including the inner body structure, the inner rocker rail, a new outer rocker skin, and a new outer door sill piece, and have been busy getting those in and looking right, still have some massaging to do with the sill, and I ended up pie cutting most of the length of it to make for a better fit, so it looks a little askew but will look right when done, as the sill corner isn't welded in yet, and the bottom of the sill hasn't been welded to the inner rocker so its just sort of hanging there. Not the prettiest of welds, just slowly tacked into place, but was cleaned up later Start of making the new door sill Added the weather stripping channel to the top, not a million miles off, just the front facing edge came out a little bigger than anticipated which later required some cutting and refitting, but not bad for the side of a table and some stuff I've collected over the years to hammer metal over First pass cleaning up the joining edges of the new and old outer rocker, still a few more passes to clean it up, but that's about where I am with it, Edited October 31, 2018 by Stooge (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 And a little work on the edsel fender im still working on here and there, but started to fill up the large hole around the headlight bucket. Decided to make the raised body line in a separate piece of material to make it a bit more manageable for myself, but still need to make a wooden hammer form for it Don't mind the all over the place cleco clamps, the original metal in this area is pretty soft and I was having a time trying to find spots that they would actually hold. This new piece is further along than what I have pictures of, added a nice bead/ flange around the edge that goes to the other new piece to mimic the factory shape where the driver side grille seats up against that flange. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Nice looking work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted November 26, 2018 Author Share Posted November 26, 2018 Well after over a year of ownership, and 8 or 9 months of slowly plugging away at the Buick, I finally got to actually sit in it! It may not sound like a big accomplishment, but it was certainly a nice feeling, and all I had to do was rebuild most of the floors, rebuild the rockers on both sides, rebuild the door sills, rebuild the inner and outer sections of both doors, make some running boards from scratch, find an engine and transmission, find a steering column and steering box, and find some seats. Also had a few of my most used tools break on me the last few weeks, so I was on hold for a bit while I upgraded some tooling. First few pictures are of getting the last big piece of the floor in, using a method I affectionately refer to as a poor mans spot weld/ plug weld, but for an area that's fairly obstructed for a spot welder to get in to, it made the most sense to go this route. Both the under lapped piece and the over lapping piece that will be sandwiched, are both painted, (I chose white for ease of marking), cleco clamped in place, and the upper piece is marked off where the plug welds will be . These marks are then drilled, the piece put back into position, and the lower piece is marked off to the accompanying holes, and the upper is removed again. Then I kissed the new marks on the lower with a carbide bit to remove the paint, upper piece is repositioned and clamped, and plug welded. the rest of the perimeter of the new piece is butt welded, but is just tacked in place for the time being until I go back in and finish welding the rest of the floor. Im not a fan of weld-thru primers, they seem to have very bad adhesion and poor conductivity so you get a lot of spatter, which can create a dangerous fire hazard when there is still some insulation in the car body....I've also lit a pair of pants or 2 on fire thanks to weld through primer spattering 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted November 26, 2018 Author Share Posted November 26, 2018 Having some issues uploading pictures due to the 9mb restriction so I will cut it a little short. Also finally had a chance to fit the standard black steering wheel that @Ben Bruce aka First Born sent me, I really like it and think it will be a great fit for the car! Thanks again, I will be messaging you this morning 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 its not much of an update, but after many hours or cleaning up the bare metal trying to get the pitting, rust, old paint cleaned up, some dents knocked out, fixing some old repairs from a previous owner in the front fender, it got a skim coat of filler in a few spots and a some high build primer on the passenger side. Good to see it looking a little more whole for the first time, but it was sort of an experiment to see what I could get away with in regards to some of the blemished/ pitted sheet metal. A few people had suggested just covering it all in filler, but I wasn't too keen on that since I would drive myself crazy with sanding it all down and getting it straight, and for the most part, wasn't really necessary. The U-Pol high build covered most of it, with the exception of a few areas where the body trim was that was a little heavier pitted, but overall, im pretty pleased with it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 (edited) (continued from the last post to see if I can use Flickr to get around the 9mb post limit) I was mostly experimenting and just wanted to do the door and fenders, but did the cowl and door jambs as well. still a lot of body work to do, but atleast I have a better idea of the course to go now. next will be the roof, and rear qtrs. before spinning it around for the driver side, (shop is full right now and space is at a premium so I have to work with that for the time being) 20190330_140843 by Dan Haas, on Flickr Also acquired what ends up being, 2 more sets of internals, plus a few extras, for the 6 bolt transmission to replace the chipped gears that were in my transmission when I bought it so I can piece meal the best ones for the rebuild. I still need to find a few things before I can mate the engine and trans, but im on the way. specifically still need everything clutch related, a starter, and the correct front motor mount plate as my 320 came from a later year and has the incorrect plate. I live alone and can rebuild a transmission in the living room if I want to! 20190226_192650 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20190222_163154-1 by Dan Haas, on Flickr and also the 1958 edsel villager is now in the garage at my house to start mechanical work, along with his wife not wanting it at their house. 20181229_153359 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20181220_153518 by Dan Haas, on Flickr Edited April 3, 2019 by Stooge (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 (edited) A few more days of grinding, sanding and cleaning means priming the hood, roof, rear quarter, cowl, etc. Scarily almost starting to look like a real car again Edited April 6, 2019 by Stooge (see edit history) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stooge Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 (edited) Been awhile since an update, I lurk around here atleast once a day but progress has been semi consistent and pictures of sheet metal are sometimes not the most exciting. I've been trying to make sure I work on the Century a few days a week, though I am still in full metal repair mode, the end is sort of in sight and im planning on paint summer/ fall to pick up where I left off running boards done on the passenger side 20190623_125838 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20190623_131219 by Dan Haas, on Flickr While working on the body, I wanted something shiny to look at, while also start figuring out what flavor of black I was going to use for the exterior, so the dash got a bit of attention. Notice the tags in the first picture are from when a previous owner started parting this car out. I still would like to do a wood grain finish at some point, but I also like the simple black dash, but its just paint and can be changed. 9 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 2020-03-11_12-43-09 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20190922_120118 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20190922_120126 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 2020-03-11_12-42-48 by Dan Haas, on Flickr With the interior floor pretty wrapped up, I started to look at the rear tail panel and the weather stripping channel/ trunk perimeter that I knew was bad, but snowballed a bit. Several overlapping patches of varying ages brazed, pop riveted, and sheet metal screwed in place. it was also dimensionally wrong and the trunk and rear fenders hung out passed the panel 16 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 18 by Dan Haas, on Flickr the start of a new tail panel 2019-10-14_07-25-15 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 5 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 6 by Dan Haas, on Flickr With the patches cut out to fit the new piece, I decided to cut out the inner trunk recess/ flat area where the clamp for the spare tire is, as it was in pretty bad shape and full of old repairs. 3 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 2 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 2 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 4 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 6 by Dan Haas, on Flickr this was something that I couldn't really figure out a good way to copy the original with the resources I have, so I decided I just didn't want it to look glaringly out of place when the trunk was open. I am also not quite sure what the recess is for, other than that it seems to just kick down to clear the frame rails, maybe a tool kit area? Screenshot_20191229-171149_Gallery by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200105_120936 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200105_120941 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200126_121941 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200126_134553 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200126_113143 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200126_113131 by Dan Haas, on Flickr While doing this, I also started building the new weather stripping/ trunk perimeter channels 20191201_115237 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 4 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20191201_111252 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20191201_111311 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20191123_120223 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 4 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20191201_115826 by Dan Haas, on Flickr And started welding it all in. it was good to start looking like something. I left the sides un-welded since I am repairing some small sections of the wheel wells and wanted to just do it all as one piece 5 by Dan Haas, on Flickr A week or 2 ago, I decided it was time to finally pull it all apart so I can finish welding the body as well as get it ready to pull the body off of the frame to give it a clean up. 6 by Dan Haas, on Flickr I was a little worried about the condition of the frame as it was looking a bit crusty, and was planning on having it blasted, but out of curiosity, I hit it with a wire wheel, looked optimistic, and after about an hour, I had the front half cleaned up and everything looks solid 11 by Dan Haas, on Flickr I knew about the rot in the front rocker/ cowl area behind the front fenders, but didn't know to what extent. Passenger side looks a little better but with the brazing and old repairs, it will be a bigger job to repair over the driver side, which has more rot, but was left untouched. I am going to start making the new pieces this week but need to get some correct sized weld nuts for the fender mounting holes. 8 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 10 by Dan Haas, on Flickr The fenders, hood pieces and front radiator support piece all look surprisingly clean as far as any rust or rot, so im pretty happy to not have to do much with those 13 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 12 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 15 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 16 by Dan Haas, on Flickr I think it must have been bumped at some point in the it's life as there was the same issue on the passenger side with dents and wrinkles in the same area, but I massaged them out 20200301_161909 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200229_164415 by Dan Haas, on Flickr Some layout fluid to highlight the highs and lows 20200301_163231 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200301_164042 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200301_164949 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20200301_165804 by Dan Haas, on Flickr Spent the week sanding out any discoloration/ possible rust/ pits, and sprayed some high build on the fender and hood. There are a few more small dents to knock out in the fender, but having it a solid color instead of bare metal makes it alot easier for me to see where still needs work. 20200308_174037 by Dan Haas, on Flickr Edited March 11, 2020 by Stooge (see edit history) 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 Way to go, sir. Nice steering wheel! Ben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39BuickEight Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 Great work! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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