Pa Dunka Trunk

Yeah….well, I have been trying to get as much done this week as possible. Having this kind of time off is really helpful. Even more so..is having other car guys off as well. I have been working mostly on the rockers, floors and patches. I ran into a problem with the rear door, but got that fixed. Yesterday, my good buddy Sawzall came over and helped fabricate the basis for the trunk.

This area was really weak because the lower trunk latch piece was rusted away as well as the entire floor was gone. So…we went to work.

Prepped the area for the welding we were going to do required the trunk to be attached and permanently fixed by some spot welds. Though the trunk needs to have the latch figured out yet, it had to be there so that we can see what needed to go where.

I will let the pictures speak…and yes Tuck..there is a really nice compartment for my guns….

This will be a great functional area, with a spot for the much needed tools and spare tire, the air tank, air compressors and storage for the road gear. I will let the pictures do the talking. I have plans to fill in the small pieces around the wheel wells and add more welds to certain areas. In counter clockwise rotation……

The big picture shot. There is a section welded to the original floor on top of the crossmember..

Drivers side wheel well

Rear area. Small notch is for the original gas tank filler tube to fit through.

Back lower trunk panel

Moving onward to the passenger side. The 1×1 square tube really strengthened the rear section….

Rear passenger side wheel well. There is little flanges on the fender panel that will allow a piece to be fitted to the area rather nicely…

This is how it worked. One long piece of metal fit under the car. Measured something like 68 inches long and 13 inches wide. This piece has been welded solid to the lower trunk latch and will be ground smooth and serve as a base for the outer spacer piece that runs the length of the car and connects to the two rear fenders.

This is the filler panels that both sides needed. I will fully weld them and smooth them out some. But no one will see this and I will make sure to undercoat all these areas to prevent further rust issues.

This was a big step in the completion of this project and one that I couldn’t have done by myself. Thanks Jeff.

Rocker Panel Update

So, I have been welding alot. Notice I didn’t qualify that as good welding, because certainly the pictures below show that. I put more heat into those pieces that was probably needed. Oh well - no one is going to see them anyway.

Here is the rear part of the inner rocker panel and floor piece. This was rotted away and was causing the door to not be supported. so, about 5 patch pieces later I have something a little more solid. I will have to put a relief cut into the pillar piece to get the rocker panel to slide into it.

Here is the lower side of the inner rocker panel. It is attached to the wheel well and should work out as a good mounting point for the rear fender.

Here is the other side of the door. This piece is often rotted all the way up to the seam and is an integral piece of strength. I replaced this pretty easily. It fit between the gap in the door and the body.

Lastly, in my attempt to find all the pin holes, and rusted through areas I went a little crazy with my scraper. Probably my favorite tool of all. I complete cleaned the floor of all the rubberized undercoating and dusty dirt left on the floor. This was a pain, but now I can be certain that the floor will be clean and not smell old! I plan on seam sealing evertyhing then covering it with POR 15 - black of course.

Mercury Hood Project

As you can tell by now, this car is going to be a big project. Or I should say a number of small projects. Rocker panels, suspension, and now the hood. Seems like everything I have is a bit on the “rough” side. It is giving me plenty of practice and I am starting to think my new nickname should be cut-n-grind.

So, now the hood. I got this hood when i bought the car. It is originally from a 51 as can be seen by the imprint of the front lip chrome piece that was removed a long time ago. As as can be expected, I have my work cut out for me. Behind the trim there is always more rust than you think. So, I measures up some pieces awhile back to replace the front lip. I will reinforce it later.

So, here it is on the car. The eccentric bolts for the hood are 5/16th’s fine thread with a shoulder on it. I had to get 4 of the 6 on to make it workable.

With it on, I can say now that it officially will not fit in the garage length wise.

A close up of the front lip area with the patch panels in place.

I marked these off with a metal awl, then removed then and started cutting.

This is what lies behind the rusty lip. There is an inner brace structure that is rusty as well, however, most of it I cut away and shouldn’t have a problem reinforcing it.

Pieces welded in. I have more work to do. Much more. There will be a decent amount of filler on this piece and I am okay with that. This is my first shot at this stuff and I expect to get better with more practice.

Rocker Rust - One step closer to the end.

I have been busy with alot of stuff lately, and have only been able to work on the rust problem in this car on a limited basis. However, I am particularly happy in the last few days, I have been busy welding and grinding away and getting closer to making the repairs this car needs.

i had some help a week or two back from Sawzall with making patch panels and offering some help in the planning of this project. Starting on the drivers side, I cut away alot of the inner rocker panel and forgot to take pictures. However, I have the pieces pretty much welded back in and the rocker is almost in place.

Here is the look from the ground:

From the top

Inside rear post

Inner Rear Wheel

There is still more to do as can be seen from this picture above.

Steering Wheel

I planned on running my accessory steering wheel but in the meantime I needed something to move this car around with. I happened to have a stock mercury wheel that wasn’t in the best condition. I got to messing around with it the other day and cleaned up the horn ring cover and inserting a piece of blue plexiglass. Just a little custom trick, but cool none the less. I plan on putting an led light in there somehow so that it glows at night.

Rocker Panel project

Got to tear into the car some more, trying to get the hard part started. This car, as you have seen, has rust issues. Kind of all over the place including pretty much the lower 5 inches around the entire car.

I got to cut into and remove the entire outer rocker panel assembly. Previously I trimmed the outside, but this time I dug deep and separated them from the inner rocker panels at the spot welds. I think this should be a fun and soul cleansing experience, if I can get it done without screwing something up.

This is the Drivers Side front piece below the door. Notice the damage to the cross member. Not quite sure how to deal with that yet.

This is the Passenger Side front piece. Same issues here.

This is a picture from below. This is one of the cross members that need attention. All in all there are three braces extending across the body.

Home at last…

Well, alot has happened since my last update.

I bought a house and moved in. It has a great big garage and that means I could finally get my car home to work on. Getting it home wasn’t hard, jeff again helped me by towing with his truck and we didn’t run into any problems. But how much fun is that!!

I did find out however that I have a leak from my rear end. The seal for the third member didn’t do a good job - so of course that means that I have to pull the axles, pull the third member out and reseal it. YEAAHH..

Here is a pic of it sitting at home in my new garage. Notice it just fits in the garage without the front clip...my measurements indicate that it won't...so..I will have to figure something out..

Radiator Install

Well, it has been awhile since my last update…man that kinda sounds like an intro to AA.

Anyway, I ordered my new radiator and couldn’t be happier with it. A 1980 dodge truck fits into the stock radiator brace with only some trimming of the side pieces. Took me about 15 min to trim it up and test fit it. I will drill some 1/4 inch holes to mount it tight and work on the lower radiator hose fit but it looks good to me.

This will allow me to fit the inner fenders and front sheetmetal pretty easily and should cool this engine effortlessly.

Here is some more pictures of the side and fitment. Pretty nice I think.

Moonlighting no more…

Well, it is officially a 1 year anniversary. Jeff mentioned this to me and I was shocked that it had been that long. So, Yeah, I got this car about the same time last year and cannot believe it is this far. Today I got the front airbags finally completely installed and plumbed. I also got some steel wheels for the car - but might pick up another two when I get the chance (87 lincoln towncar).

Jeff helped me out a bunch today and I can’t thank him enough. For aesthetics we put on the front fender and rear quarter panel. We also got the alternator issue figured out. It is slow progess on this front end as I have replaced everything. Still have to tighten down those up-right bolts.
Below are a bunch of pictures of the first sun it has seen since the drive home. In the last picture you will see Jeff’s 47 Chevy Coupe.

Full Car Shots

I noticed that I have alot of pictures of parts of the car, but no full car shots.

So, here you go.

and one more

Tom and Jerry

The other week the weather was soo nice, that I got the urge to rip into the center of the car. Do some interior work, mostly cleaning, but it needed to be done.

I ripped out the headliner to find 2 garbage bags full of padding- filling and a tenant who had been there long before me.

In my “about me” page, i talk about a dead cat that i found in the trunk - but in this car, I found his friend. Kind of a Tom and Jerry kind of thing.

I like to think that he is waving to me.

Rust Issues

Well, as I started to rip into the interior I also got around the under side of the car. What I found is an extensive amount of rot. Rust repair will be needed everywhere. Take a look at the inner rocker panels, outer rocker panels, rear section of the floors, kick panel areas as well and body mounting points.

I will need to get some square tubing to help support the car when it comes time to tackle this stuff.