dannypascoemetalshaping.com
Quality custom & restoration sheet metal work & repair
The trunk drip rails had tubing bracing welded all the way around don't know why.
Checking for the over all flow & transition shape from the main body section to the front motor & suspension section.
With the ride height set now the front clip is fully welded in place.
The front suspension is a C3 corvette clip grafted on to the 3x3 frame rails with strong arm upper & lower control arms with coil over shocks
Using my Baileigh Magnetic brake I bent up the 2 new lower 6 in tall skin sections.
The right 4 bar front cap weld is now radius ground clean.
Grinding the welds down.
The rear door was rough looking & weak not so good for hinge mount areas.
The right side panel is fitting pretty good now.
New upper shock mounts fabbed up.
After stripping the front fenders it uglys realy show & what all is missing, the previous repair was just riveted on then covered with sculpture material.
Rough cut the 2 sections are fit together & marked for trimming.
Fully welded & ground clean now hammer & dolly fine tune up.
I now will have a clean looking installation.
Time to trim & fit the upper wheel belt line left side first.
The outer retainer plate was temporarily tack welded to the rail so all the bolt holes are in alignment.
This is what the customer brought in a steel body with fiberglass fenders, a small block motor & 4l80 trans
The rear alignment plates are gone & the fronts will be removed later after the latch system is installed.
Donner fender lip area is very salvageable & easer to rework & install then build a whole lip section from scratch.
Cut away even more.
The flow from the roof is nice.
Sculpture material removed from the side & front lip.
Now its back to tire clearance body stance issues.
Starting to fab the rear frame area
Working on the left side then checking for basic shape.
I am rough forming & stretching the right rear panel, on my Baileigh MH-19 power hammer.
Both body door jams were stripped to bare metal, now I have a clean area to work from.
The sculpture material in the drivers door was almost as bad as the rear body panel plus another new surprise. The bottom 4 plus inches of the drivers door is filled with brass, this will be replaced.
Checking for fit and alignment with the 4 bars in & fuel tank room which will be custom made to fit in the rear drop down area later.
The owner was in and we finalized the rear fender shape & wheel opening.
Before sorta close. After finalized just slight difference.
Plenty of travel clearance now.
Over all they fit decent & will some work they will fit great.
The rear s section.
The rear suspension is C3 corvette frame section & independent suspension grafted on to the 3x3 main frame rails
Typical front fender cracks where the fender braces bolt on that were repaired in the past just a re weld wont cure the problem. A new repair section will need to be made.
Both rear body panels were then tack welded in place.
Now to start fillet grinding all the welds.
Dead nuts on matched pair.
Ready to tack weld in new upper shock mounts.
The right side is now fit & tacked into place.
Using my air powered power - planishing hammer I am working in the bulburus shape of the door skins.
Hinge mount end not much thickness.
We have also been working on the new chassis.
So to fit the lower front edge of the rear fender I need the running boards setting in place & for them to be in place I need the front fenders in place, but to have 2 nice steel front fenders I need to use 5 for parts & pieces plus some patches. Finding 2 real nice steel front fender is not going to happen so its slice & dice time.
Lastly we are changing the main rails to 2x4 1/8 wall to match the Morrison front clip.
Clecoed & start tack welding together.
Then all the welds were radius ground clean but leaving plenty of weld for strength.
After some more tweaking the upper quarter filler is ready to be welded in place.
Temporary shock ride height bar.
The welded slugs will give full support to the four bar bolt area.
A repair section from another fender.
The right side suicide hidden hinges are welded in now.
Clamping the inner frame supports in place.
Welded in the same as the left side & the upper section will be replaced also.
Temporary reveal line braces were installed.
Earlier I started making the upper quarter repair sections from flat stock on My Baileigh Multi Hammer.
The side and front lip will need some patches also.
Issue number 1 tire clearance the main body is at ride height so we have tire clearance issues first picture, the bottom dotted line is the top of the tires & the 2 upper dotted lines are 2 1/2 and 3 inch suspension travel for the tires. second picture is with the widened fiberglass fender that came with the car but we will be using the smaller steel fenders that will need a lot of rework & at present the fender is out of alignment front to back. Welcome to the world of extra large tires & small fenders.
The rail holes were bored over size so the slugs could be tig welded in place for more strength.
Back on the doors the left door is 3/8 of an inch longer then the right due to the old build that will be fixed.
The previous builder when they made the new upper inner door cross pieces the did not put a downward piece to attach the window felt so new ones were made up for both doors. The one on the right is the way they will look in the doors.
The back of the door was cut out to be repaired properly
Final fit & trim for the back section.
Tig welding the panel in.
The under side has to be ground clean also.
I cut some 10 gage plate for stiffness & to help clean up the ugly's and plug welded it in place.
I neded to do some clean up work on the rear frame rails & it is easer to do out of the car.
1936 Chev 5 window coupe build.
The owner is not happy with the previous owners sheet metal work & after talking once the project showed up the chassis was also a disaster. So its time for a major redo sit back & watch the build.
Stripping it down to the bare metal multiple layers of contour sculpture material & primer inner mixed not a good process.
After a bunch of hammer dolly & clean up work the lip section is taking shape nicely.
Did I mention they will be suicide opening doors.
The left fender flange where it bolts to the body was missing or paper thin so I fabbed up a new one & with a little more tweaking it will be ready to weld in.
All the previous patch work is pure garbage
We built these custom body to frame mounts with custom 1 inch thick rubber isolaters..
Due to the length of this build I am starting another page it is page 2
Tig welding together.
Holes were drilled & the new 10 gage inner support was plug welded in then the welds ground clean now we have strength back in the outer shell. We still have some detail work to do in ths end of both doors to get them to the clean quality we are going for.
Inside joint plugs
Final fit & lots of clamping into place.
The previous metal work is pure crapola, gallons & gallons of sculpture material to cover it all up.
Just a little more tweaking & trimming.
Both flanges were hand turned over 180 degrees then the ends were tig welded for strength.
Its slice and dice time cut most of the old garbage out of the way.
Upper hinges with corner brace support.
Type your paragraph here.
The running boards upper flange needs to be turned down for frame clearance.
Suicide door's now both sides.
Welds were ground clean now its install time.
Then the 2nd one was placed on the jig table & the already pre welded set on top for same fitment check, notice the 4 machinist squares checking for a match. Then the lower one was clamped & fully welded
We are going for a very clean & smooth look on the total build but in the process just like all major builds. It gets the ugly's at times while heading for the clean look.
The old piece was cut out then the new section was clamped in place, fully tig welded then ground clean, then some hammer & dolly work.
The chassis is starting to flow together wide at the back body area & narrower at the front suspension along with the rise for the front section.
Fitting nicely.
The panels look good but in reality the are about 90 percent there the last 10 percent of shaping is the bugger to get them correct. Back to the air hammer for more tweaking the real time consuming part that get the skins correct before cutting the old lower section off.
A c notch had to be made in both frame rails for enough suspension travel. Then the notch was capped with 1/8 plate stock & the welds ground smooth
Now for mounting the hidden suicide hinges to the doors. Old cars as the 36 chev have thin doors not 3 1/2 plus inches thick as 40's up era cars so the pivot point & the L part of the hinge are fat which means the door mount area has to be fattened by about 1 1/2 inches at the bottom and about 1 inch at the top. Which will make the doors funny looking on the inside.
All the pieces predrilled for plug welding.
Fine tuning & smoothing on the planishing hammer.
Over the years the body has had it looks like several repairs not so good & lots of sculpture material, I figured it was fairly deep on the back panel so I used a 1/2 in drill to do a little exploring its 5/8 plus deep in sections. This will get all new hand formed panel.
The owner showed up with the new rear Weld wheels & Hoosier rear tires hope we don't have a traction problem.
About 95% welded up then ground clean and ready for hammer dolly & shrink disc work. It will still need a flange repair sections front grill mount area & rear body mount area, then it can be fit to the body. The fender will still need more repair work but this will make it mountable for now.
The inside plugs tapered to fit inside the S section.
Now it's time for a bunch of sheet metal work. I was planning on starting on the rear quarters, tubs & fenders but real quick after installing the differential & jumbo Hossier tires. With the fenders setting on the tires there is no suspension travel, so there will need to be rework of the fenders & the rear body are to make room. Plus to make the front edge of the fender mount to the running boards I will need to mock up the running boards, then to fit them I need the front fenders mocked up plus the grill shell & hood so its mock up time for the whole outer body. Now the major sheet metal work begins.
Fully tig welded on both sides then ground clean.
The front accent line is welded & ground clean.
After some discussion the owner & I decided to change the rear C notch to match the rear chassis lines better, its all about making things flow.
The hidden suicide hinges are tacked in place.
The fenders will need work but at least we have steel fenders now instead of fiberglass.
With the body off of the chassis we see what was really underneath the not to good grafted together chassis. So we are going to scratch build a new chassis (the boss) owners wife said you only get to build it once so do it wright and the way you want it the first time.
Looking rather bare.
All trimmed then clecoed together ready to weld.
The first round of welding is done, the rear section isn't coming out now.
After a serious talk with the owner & how high a quality build he wants we have decided to change the front plus rear suspension & main rails so its scrap the C3 suspension idea & the 3x3 main rails lets up grade it a bit.
Now I don't have to figure out how to fatten the door & make it look good it just did not go with what we are building here.
The body was first X & cross braced
Working on getting the body at ride height.
The hinge mounts were then welded to the door & now we have a suicide opening door.
We use 19 gage AKDQ steel for our panels.
Welded & ground clean.
The welds were ground clean, with the internal joint plugs now this section is very strong.
Then I called my buddy Brydon at Quick Performance & ordered a complete bullet proof 9 inch narrowed rear end with Willwood brakes.
The body is back on the chassis now its body mount fab time.
Stripping the rear fenders down.
This mock up is getting pretty close to what we want there will be enough clearance for tire travel.
A little clean up grinding & it will look clean.
Both front body mounts were tack welded in place.
The 2 rear rail set next to each other
A temporary support was made to help keep the shape where the fender to radiator shell support bolts on.
First to come out the extra thick trunk floor major over kill.
All the glass has weld splatter from the previous owner
Rear inner body mount panels had to be made.
The mid body mount bolt will be rescessed.
Same process for the right side cut & trim to fit.
The previous owner did the front floor pan & trunk floor in multiple layers of .065 & .085 sheet metal with angle iron, 1/8 steel & box tubing way over kill.
The pieces are fully clamped to the table then tack welded then a full weld on 3 sides let cool till cold.
The old inner structure is cut out & will be discarded from the left door also.
Starting the rear frame layout, this section will be under the main body.
Getting close a little more finessing.
The mid body mount can now be fit on the left side..
We removed the old toe board mounts.
The frame rail is now very clean looking.
Checking for fit its starting to take shape.
Well its a start tats about it.
Not much cross bracing over all pretty flimsy plus real crappy welds .
Weld & grind smooth..
Junk repairs by the previous owner builder.
locating the fender sections in place.
Now for the right fender more sculpture material on the inside.
Using my Baileigh shrinker I slowly worked the panels to the door curved contour.
The center frame section is level & set at ride height.
Welded in solid
Getting the over all look & pieces built.
The C3 rear clip was hacked into to make room for the rear wheels & tires.
Working out the alignment & fit.
Its time to weld it up.
Even the body door jams were covered with sculpture material almost 3/8 of an inch deep in places.
Now for the right door first make the 10 gage inner support.
I installed some threaded mount bracket slugs I the rear rail sections.
The owner picked up some parts vehicles for some original steel fenders & panels.
1 of the many checks for fit.
Both doors had to be removed for the next phase fix them get rid of all the brass in the bottoms plus some other problems & custom touches.
I welded a support bar between the new hidden hinges.
Even & rolled radius's on all edges will be done.
Getting ready to strip the front fenders.
Lower shock mounts tack welded in place.
So I called my buddy Chris Bondy at Art Morrison Enterprises & ordered one of there complete bikini front clips with Willwood front brakes & 2 inch dropped spindles. A real sano front clip.
The main frame rails are being made 3 x 3 x 3/16 wall tube & flat stock with lots of bracing & supports.
The old section removed what a clobbered up patches & overlap 3 layers deep in one area.
Internal gussets at the joint areas for added strength.
Before we start cutting in to the body we wrapped the motor & front suspension.
The shock mounts & panard bar are fully welded in place.
The new front section cut notched & welded.
With the temporary spacer slugs installed the 4 bar end caps were welded in place then rechecked for fit on the chassis.
The body & temp sub frame was then put on a build cart then the rest of the crud cleaned off
The old chassis setting on a build cart. We will use to take some basic measurements off of.
Putting together the 4 pieces for 1 frame rail section on my jig table with the inside joint sections fit & 3/16 gapped for great weld penetration.
My solution was to z step the mount section forward 1 1/2 inches now the doors will clear the jams when opening & when getting in the car access will be easer . Plus no big bulky inner door jam, just an over all cleaner look.
The welds are ground clean now its hammer & dolly time
Well we all make mistakes in this business, building 1 off custom cars is not easy, its time consuming & can be very stress full when trying to build a top notch vehicle. Looking at these rear frame rails I am not happy they just are not the quality I am looking for. So when the owner came in I explained to him I was redoing the rear sections. Thank full he is very understanding & said get it done so we can go forward, and a redo it is.
I made these slugs from bar stock to go inside the frame rails to add extra support for the four bars the new motor will have a lot of HP.
The right rear body mount bung is welded in.
Temporary door alignment brackets while working on the door gapping & inner hinge mount areas..
Time to make patterns & they must be a tight fit to make the panel fit correctly.
The front is now mostly welded & the back is only tacked, I will be replacing the upper rear section.
Its sitting to low in the rear & the fiber glass fenders have to go we will replace them with steel ones.
Ah more sculpture material.
Plenty of bracing.
The jig alignment bolts were re set for flipping over both rails to weld on the other side.
The rear cross brace will get threaded plugs also top & bottom.
Previous work quite ugly.
4 pieces of 3/16 cold rolled plate cut & ground to shape
The trunk area lip is turned over Cass used the Baileigh BR-16E-36 bead roller for a nice clean line.
Then capped off the ends.
After the front floor pan was removed then the fire wall.
Body to frame retainer nuts were made then tig welded into the frame after wards flush ground.
Both lower hinges also have brace supports.
Next remove the body & put it on a jig cart.
The back side of both doors were covered in contour sculpture material it was almost 5/8 of an inch deep what a mess, even the jams were covered up to 3/8 of an inch in places. It will all be stripped except the areas where new metal will go, just quicker to cut it out.
We have made a temporary body mount duplicating the frame section while waiting for chassis parts.
1 of the inside joint slugs installed nice snug fit.
The old upper hinge pockets will be made flush with the rest of the shell.
New outer caps for the 4 bar suspension were made
Pre fitment to the 4 bar end caps.
Time now for the right hidden suicide hinges.