yes, continue with this and in the end it will be worth it :tu , continue with up dates and pics too

 

I got that same scenario sitting in my shop waiting on someone to fix. So should I get a bottle of crown now or wait a while?:character0029: Been fretting about it for months.

 

I made him promise we stop before we get to the hood bird.

Funny but true. That is the snowball that some frame-offs originate from. Keep your head up and the friend happy and you will have it back solid and clean again.
Terry

 

:anim_25: Jim. :tu

 

I would do it now. Mike

 

Its a common area that rusts out, don't do any more poking and that all the rust you`ll find

 

Do it once ,do it right ,:tu

 

A little progress each day

Well, we all know how some days we feel like we really made great progress in the shop on the project, and then other days we feel like "why did I start this"?:sign0020:
I like the comment "don't do any more poking and you won't find any more rust", that sounds logical, but we know it still is there .
Our first plan of attack was to replace the rear section of the trunk floor, and keep it as simple as possible, going corner to corner, yeh, right.

Well, we found that the corners were in pretty bad shape also after some "poking around", and Don said "don't worry, we can fix it, I know Sean Penn's dad, and he has an awesome tool kit".
I was relieved to know that.:sign0020:

These gave us good metal to work with for the inside corners, which we had to make patterns for and hand make.

Well, we were at the point of no return, ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.

Don prepping the new pieces for primer and sub assembly.

Stay tuned, I'm sure there's more to come, ya think????

Yes, I keep the crying towell handy at all times.:sign0020:

Don assures me that it will start looking better.:tu

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

WOW! Now I'm afraid to open my trunk and pull back my trunk mat... :sign0020: :anim_25: with the project, Jim... L8R Dave

 

Hey Jim,
Fantastic work so far. It's always nerve racking cutting up a nice car, but you wouldn't be happy if you took short cuts. It will all be worth it in the end.

 

My fist 55 build I got to digging around in the trunk they had put duct tape down and pour Bando in it when I replace the quarter they had unfolded a prince albert can pop riveted on to cover a rusted out hole. You never know what you will find on these old cars.

 

Who's to blame?

Well, after owning this car for 56 years, it looks like there's only one feller to blame for all this rust problem.

.......................Murphy, it's gotta be him, he fouls everything up.:sign0020:

Another situation we're battling along with the rebuild is the fact that back in 1960, one month after I had got the car it was rear ended as I was sitting waiting to make a turn into Cordova drag strip.
The bodywork was done by the local Chevy dealer and looked nice, but we're finding things as we go that weren't done in a craftsman's manner.
It also seems as though the tail pan piece wasn't designed to be used with new corner pieces, more of a piece to be used with existing corners, and the bend at the place where it matches the bottom edge of the trunk lid isn't nice and sharp as it should be.
Maybe there's more than one tail pan piece to choose from, I only found one in the Danchuk book.
Well, tomorrow's Labor Day, so we're planning on going to the shop and do a little laboring on the 55.
Hope everyone has a nice holliday.

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

Little by little.

Well, for the last few weeks my days have been starting a little earlier than normal.
Up at five, and prepare to leave around seven, stop at Casey's for my coffee, tune in on Bob and Tom and head for Don's shop, about 20 miles away.
I'm worried that once this trunk project is finished I will start having withdrawal pains, maybe we can "poke around" some more and create another project.:sign0020:

Each day we see a little progress, we usually get four to five hours in each session, and naturally allow ample time for some "sit back and reflect" time.:tu

Now, we're just about finished with all the welding, and starting to dress the welds and get it ready for a special "stuff" Don has that dissolves rust and etches the metal, can't remember what he called it, but it works.

Don has assured me since the very first cut that it would look ugly, but definitely get better, he was spot on, it was ugly and it is starting to look a lot better.:tu:tu

We have had some issues with the rear, lower corners of the quarter panels, the metal there is very thin, so the welding was a little tougher, and we made some backing pieces to help.
I'm not about to start replacing the quarter panels, so this was the definite stopping point for this project, and it worked out ok.
The repairs that were made back in 1960 when I was rear ended aren't what one would call "done in a craftsman like manner", so we are correcting all those issues as we go. ( all but one)
The trunk floor from the donor car wasn't cut to fit for a butt weld, but lapped over and tacked.
We decided not to wake this sleeping dog, and leave that as is as it doesn't really look that bad.
And, I can't see it through the trunk floor mat.:sign0020:

Sure is nice that Don has all the "stuff" needed for this project, his shop is very nice.
He just finished his 70 Cuda, a four year project, and it's gorgeous.
Yeh, he's a Mopar guy, but likes Chevies also.

You can see the blue trunk floor, and the overlap is over to the left side, this will look much better when it's painted white.
We painted the bottom part of the car back in 83, the Centari, acrylic enamel has held up very nicely.
I was fortunate to get some here locally, and they guarantee a perfect match, the camera scanner they used to match the color was pretty slick.
I'm thinking down the road we might do some inner and outter rocker panels and the headlight caps, there we go "poking around" again.:sign0020:
Don says if we do that, the car will be painted base coat/clear coat.
Well, I'd better get my breakfast, don't want to be late to the shop, Don might fire me.

Later:burnout:
Jim

 

Looking really good Jim! Nice work... :happy0030:

 

" It also seems as though the tail pan piece wasn't designed to be used with new corner pieces, more of a piece to be used with existing corners, and the bend at the place where it matches the bottom edge of the trunk lid isn't nice and sharp as it should be.
Maybe there's more than one tail pan piece to choose from, I only found one in the Danchuk book."


I have an NOS tail pan if interested.

 

Had a visitor at Don's shop, and another surprise.

Yesterday, about mid morning we were paid a visit by Don's Co-Op man, he was delivering some gas.
Anyway, he came into the shop to see what was going on.
He's a Chevy guy, so was definitely interested in my 55, and we started chatting, etc.
One thing led to another and he asked us if we had seen the 56 Chevy that was won at the Tri-Five Nationals ?
Don or I hadn't so, he downloaded the pics to his phone and we all drooled, what a gorgeous piece of work.
Then he told us the gal that won it lives only eight miles from Don's shop, we will definitely have to check it out when she gets it home.
He also told us " she said she can't drive it, she doesn't know how to drive a stick shift"
He said he offered to show her how.:sign0020:
Small world, huh?

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

Yesterday, about mid morning we were paid a visit by Don's Co-Op man, he was delivering some gas.
Anyway, he came into the shop to see what was going on.
He's a Chevy guy, so was definitely interested in my 55, and we started chatting, etc.
One thing led to another and he asked us if we had seen the 56 Chevy that was won at the Tri-Five Nationals ?
Don or I hadn't so, he downloaded the pics to his phone and we all drooled, what a gorgeous piece of work.
Then he told us the gal that won it lives only eight miles from Don's shop, we will definitely have to check it out when she gets it home.
He also told us " she said she can't drive it, she doesn't know how to drive a stick shift"
He said he offered to show her how.:sign0020:
Small world, huh?

Later,:burnout:
Jim

That it is, They were sitting next to us in the stands when her number was called. You could see the disbelieve in her face as her husband tried to convince her it was her number that was called. Really cool moment and a nice car too...

 

A little filler

The project is moving right along, and it feels good that we're finally getting to the more finished portion of this project.
A couple of days I was thinking" there is no end to this".:sign0020:
Don kept assuring me that it will get better, and it is.:tu
I'm sure there's more sanding involved now, but much better than grinding welds, done enough of that, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
I laid out and drilled the holes for the fire extinguisher bracket, and I'm making a backing plate that's drilled and tapped for the other side of the trunk wall.
I'm also redoing the wiring and gaskets on the tailight housings, new gaskets and the rubber bumpers for the deck lid are enroute.
Don said, "we'll have some paint on it by midweek", be it primer or whatever, it's getting closer to the finish line.
I'm undecided about reusing the old, rubber floor mat, with the trunk all new and spiffy, I might want to go with a new rubber mat, but the $80.00 tag kinda chokes me up a little.
Maybe that could be an early birthday or Christmas present.:sign0020:3:

I'm anxious to get back at it on Monday, things should really start to take shape now:tu
More pics to come.

Later:burnout:
Jim

 

We're getting there.

Each day we make a little progress, it's starting to go from butt ugly to kinda nice.:sign0020:
Just a few minor spots for a little filler work today and it will go into the spray booth for some epoxy primer, then back out for another round of fill n' sand.
One nice thing, the trunk area is big, so I can get comfy when I go in for sanding on the side walls:tu

Getting it all one color and the seams all filled will really make me smile, should be doing that before the weekend.

The new rubber gaskets for the tailights and rubber bumpers for the deck lid arrived yesterday.:tu
It should look a lot different the next picture session.3:

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

Lot of work was done. MIke

 

She looks sexy in white.

Well, we had a good morning, made some progress, and got the ol' gal into the paint booth.
Still had a lot of masking, vacuuming, wiping down, vacuuming, wiping down again before applying the coat of epoxy primer.
Tomorrow, we'll lightly scuff the epoxy coat , apply the seam fill and apply the fill n' sand primer to the trunk and areas on the outside.
There's a little filler work left on the outside yet after we get a guide coat on it and check it out.
I told Don "it looks good enough just the way it is".
He said "we're not done yet, but getting closer".

I'm thinking I'm just gonna have to break down and buy a new floor mat for the trunk.
I plan to make a cover to replace the cardboard that covers the back of the rear seat.
A plywood panel , cut to fit, covered with black vinyl with the DelRay stitch pattern in it, that's the plan anyway.:sign0020:
Tomorrow should be another fun day, getting the seams all filled.

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

A little more done.

Today went well, we got all the seams filled and started working on the tail pan and outter corners.

I also bead blasted and metal etched the bumper brackets, will paint those tomorrow.

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

looking good well worth the troubles... good luck

 

Just about there.

Thanks for the comments, this has been a very rewarding project for me, thanks to Don for his assistance and the use of his beautiful shop.
What started as "just paint the interior of the trunk" turned into something a little more involved.:sign0020:
I'm sure everyone here on bowtie-trifive knows that scene very well, seems like that's S.O.P. for a lot of things.
I couldn't make it to the shop on Tuesday, but Wednesday when I got there Don had a big surprise for me, all the white was done.
So, today we'll color sand and buff after we put it on the lift and undercoat all the new pieces.
New trunk seal, and rubber bumpers are ready to install, the new rubber gaskets are on the tailight housings, so it's just a matter of putting it back together.
For now, I will be using the old trunk mat, don't know how long I'll be able to go without getting a new one.:sign0020:
Maybe a birthday present, or Christmas is coming also.
I added the new fire extinguisher, a larger version than the old one .

We do have plans for more bodywork in the future, working our way towards the "hood bird", lower quarters, inner and outter rocker panels , then the headlight caps.
It's a shame to cut into the car as it does look good as it is, but we know what's there, and if we go "poking around" we'll surely find it.:sign0020:
We're done "poking" for this year:sign0020:

Later,:burnout:
Jim

 

Wish mine was on the paint booth. Have to say yours looks great!!

Sent from my SM-E700F using Tapatalk

 

The end of a project, but not the end of the project.

Thanks for the comment Sporty.
Well, yesterday we a little touch-up with the detail gun and decided it was time to quit, good enough for now.
More bodywork planned for the future, this was a good starting place.
After we rolled it out of the paint booth and got it on the lift, we undercoated all the new metal and started installing the rear bumper.
I'm finding out what a blessing a lift is, those that have them are fortunate, they really make things a lot more pleasant.
It shouldn't take too long to get it all reassembled for the trip back home, we might wait and see what the weather is going to do, been a lot of storms the last few days, possible flooding, etc.
Storms again last night and still this morning, and with all that rain they had up North a couple of days ago, along with all the rain we've had, the Cedar River will definitely be rising, hopefully not like 2008.

Later,:burnout:
Jim