The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network (https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/index.php)

- Alternate Tinkerings (https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/forumdisplay.php?f=140)

- - 55 Wagon Progress (https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=564201)

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

That quarter is already looking good...Jim

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Thanks for the info and pics.
Looks like everyone was having a good learning experience, hope the thumb heals quickly.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Nice, that stuff takes years to master.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Thanks for the pics and the vid.
Amazing

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Really glad to look at pics and the video, thanks...Jim

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Fender turned out great...Jim

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Thanks Jim!

Not much to show, still working on grinding welds and filling pin holes... A good testament to using Tig or O/A welding ;)

Also welded up/shaved the upper firewall seam....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203535.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203536.jpg

Lesson for this evening is to watch welding around stuff mounted JUST BEHIND the firewall! :banghead:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203538.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Great stuff. Wish I was there.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Well, more welding, grinding, and then we decided to give the roof insulation removal a try. Picked a spot and dumped on some lacquer thinner, which softened it up nicely and then made a sticky mess. So we put the putty knives aside and tried the paint scrapers..... without solvents. Dry removal was definitely better...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203539.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203541.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203543.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203542.jpg

Also got another shipment of shirts in from Bonehead Graphics...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203547.jpg

and promised the owner a modified set of spot welder tips to tackle his own wagon roof repairs...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203545.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203546.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203548.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Kyle was off tonight so I missed getting some in-process pictures.. Still cleaning up welds to get the body ready for media blasting. The rear brackets for the gas tank straps were welded in...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203582.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203583.jpg

I also worked on the passenger quarter this evening. One of the biggest problems with welding a horizontal seam down through the middle of the quarter on a car is the tendency for the seam to cave inwards.. I had some help this evening using the Watervliet hammer and a 24" radius die..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203591.jpg

Still have some highs and lows to address, but the weld seam is back out close to where it should be, and the Atlantic Ocean has calmed quite a bit..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203590.jpg

Next was to remove some creases in the cowl vent, seen here...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203584.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203585.jpg

Looks like someone may have kneeled on it at some point in the last 60 years. I've found the easy way to "highlight" an area like this in need of repair is to use a piece of 80 grit on the back side:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203587.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203589.jpg

Got the creases out using the body hammer with the chisel tip, and forgot to get the finished pictures. Next time...

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

More great work! It all looks awesome from my chair.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Thanks!

Here's the top side of the cowl vent.....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203607.jpg

....using this hammer....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203609.jpg

the marks on the back side show where the strikes were placed to remove the creases...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203610.jpg

Kyle has the inner roof insulation about gone...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203611.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

That came out real nice...Jim

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Yes, the fender patches were done with tig, though it would be easier clean up.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Our enclosed trailer has the white wagon wheels that always seem to turn rusty in a few years, so I have been trying different wheels to see what might work....

These are some late model Mustang wheels, the hub hole would need to be opened slightly, but the offset was, well off.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203619.jpg

Perhaps on a fancy trailer with more stainless trim, but these just looked too much. Next, some plain Jane Ford Ranger wheels....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203620.jpg

Much better, correct offset, and no wheel modification needed. Just need to change up the color and add some stainless trim rings. I do have some bright orange, some bright red, and a few other colors in the paint locker.. :lol:

Some before and after media blasting..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203615.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203616.jpg

Two down, two to go. Can't get it all done in one night. And more weld grinding and other prep work on the wagon continues. Since the big cleanup in preparation for the class in the shop earlier this month, we haven't been able to find our quarter panel profile template, so Kyle made a couple of them, one for in front of the rear wheel, one behind, and we've been working on the weld seams and doing some metal bumping to minimize our stock in filler products. Drivers side is looking much better than it did last week, still about another day to go and the quarters should be good for epoxy primer..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203617.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203618.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Beautiful as always. Need to stock up on tips for the squarebody bedsides I'm gonna have to do.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Thanks!

Well, we didn't get pictures of the funny part. Kyle and I loaded the frame in the trailer and headed off to the local car wash to remove the grease from the front cross member. We had quite a few stares and a couple horns honking as he pushed the frame around the car wash parking lot and I was sitting on the frame rail, maneuvering with the Jr. steering wheel. We found the tire presoak and a wire brush does wonders for the engine grease. The car wash attendant did not look too pleased, but never said a word.

Back at the shop, bolting the adapter plates onto the frame...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203633.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203639.jpg

You can see in the above picture we used 1-1/2" long spacers to get a better access for media blasting the frame..

Disassembly starts....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203649.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203651.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203652.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203653.jpg

After a few revolutions and a bit of air pressure, we had quite a pile of 60 year old dirt..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203654.jpg

Override springs from the era. The handyman wagons were often used as work vehicles, and this option helped with the heavy loads...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203655.jpg

All stripped....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203658.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203661.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Had an early Chevy hood side show up at the shop tonight, the owner wanted a couple different versions of louver samples made up that he could hold against the hood on the car to better visualize. One style he was looking at lends from an early Alfa Romeo that extends the louvers onto the cowl, as shown in the green tape..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203663.jpg

We took a paper pattern of the details so the hood side could go back with him to use as a pattern for the opposite side that still needs to be made.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203664.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203665.jpg

Spot welded on some "end stops" for the louver die.....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203667.jpg

.....and a squared plate for the back gauge.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203668.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203669.jpg

Louvers in the Lennox.....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203670.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203671.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203672.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203674.jpg

One sample down, one to go..

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Very nice work...Jim

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Now that is some kool work. Rich

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

You make it look so easy.
Fold your arms, nod your head, blink of an eye, poof, done. Perfect

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

That... is awesome. Too cool.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Thanks guys!

Well FedEx showed up today with a CL delivery, got a matched pair of 48" linear rails. The two bearing blocks will have a material clamp bolted to each block, and used on one rail. We'll get a chance to try it out on the second louver sample. Where we had been manually holding the workpiece against the back stop, this should work better with a simple glide back and forth once clamped in place..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203676.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203677.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203678.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203679.jpg

While I was getting that squared away, Kyle was removing some scraps that were left on the frame from the original trans crossmember.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203683.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203684.jpg

He also removed the spot welded guides from the louver panel. The good part about samples is we can see what works well and what doesn't. Here we can see that we won't use spot welds next time as it's too much clean up. I think we'll give some stainless rivets a shot on version 2...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203680.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203681.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203682.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

The more I looked at our panel with the spot weld carnage, the more I disliked the result, so with new linear guides installed, we made all new today using stainless pop rivets to hold the guides in place. This will leave a few 1/8" holes to fill, but should be much less issue than cleaning up after the spot welds...

We needed just a bit more throat for this set of "lengthened" hood sides, so one bolt was removed from the material clamp and then rotated the clamp inward 90". This lets the panel pass through rather than bottom out in the clamp.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203686.jpg

Guides riveted in place....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203687.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203688.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203689.jpg

Here's the new version 1, much cleaner, less distortion, and we can re-use the guides...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203694.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203695.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203696.jpg

The cowl piece was done without guides....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203700.jpg

And version 2 with the cowl piece.....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203699.jpg

Dave (the car owner) stopped by this afternoon and picked up the samples, and indicated he was being over-ruled by most parties on louvers in the cowl, so likely that version won't be used...

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

....And, in the interest of showing the good with the bad, the lessons learned if you will, Safety tip of the day is to deburr your sheet metal even if it's only for practice pieces....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203685.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

That's a good chunk, keep it clean my brother inlaw just spent a week in the hospital for a infection in hes finger.

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

So far so good, nothing oozing.. :metal:

Tonight we worked on the frame, used some poster board to make a pattern for a strengthening plate to span the pocket kit on each frame rail..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203705.jpg

While Kyle filled in some frame holes by plug welding to the pocket kit, I cut out the frame plates...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203706.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203708.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203709.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203710.jpg

And the shop vacuum is about on it's last leg, it leaves behind about as much as it picks up. For anyone at DYSON or SHARK vacuum that would like to send a test sample, we can sure do a stress analysis on your product.. :lol:

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

More prep and welding on the frame....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203722.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203723.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203724.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203725.jpg

and we cleared out the remaining vacuum inventory from the yard sale pile.. This one is working a bit better!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203721.jpg

We've been going through a dry spell here in the shop, it's been quite some time since we've seen any yellow body panels. Soon to change....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203726.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ure%203727.jpg

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

My first summer working in a body shop was spent sandblasting school buses from the cowl back. I think we did 5 that summer. That was 1974

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Were they trying to keep ahead of the salt corrosion in stripping/repainting?

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

We were stripping and repainting due to old paint peeling in spots. We did one every two weeks. It took as long to tape the windows with cardboard as it did to actually blast them. The paint blew right off. Then sanding ,priming painting plus the two tone. All in Dupont Dulux enamel

Re: 55 Wagon Progress

Lovin' the louvers. What is the pocket kit for? Will this one be going bags and a 4-link?