C1 My plans for this week end and any advice you can give me

[IH2LOSE]

Tomorrow night I get my car back from the body shop for the week end,No it's not done yet but pretty close.(thats another story)

Well what I have to do is dismount the car from the rotisery,And mount it up on the SR111 frame to mount up my bumpers so I can weld mounting pads to the frame for the bumpers. I also have to make up a battery tray to mount on the frame rails

So I am just looking for any advice on how to start adjusting the bumper brackets.Where to you start? I am mecanical but I just want to hear how you guys do it.I have purchased all new mounting hardware(I think)

I am bringing my assembly manual and what ever knowledge I can gain from this post

Once I get my bumpers mounted I will fabricate mounts to the new frame.adjust them,mark them. Then I can remove all the bumpers and send them to the chromer on Monday.

I then have to re-install the car back on the rotisery to have back at the body shop Sunday night.

I will post photos of what I get done this week end. And the work the body shop has done so far. All I know for a body that I was told looked good there sure is alot of plastic on it now .Then Again I did tell them I wanted it RAZOR STRAIGHT.

Wish me Luck

PS John McGraw let me know what steel you think I should have on hand to get started with (U channel Square tupe?)

 

[John Mcgraw]

Larry,

Go to this album: http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1017411 , and look at image 801 and 803. These 2 pics should give you an idea how I did my bumper brackets.

The rear bumper mount was easy. I located it at exactly the same location as the original mount, so no modification of the brackets or unusual adjustment was necessary. You will notice that they are made of 2" x3" rectangular tubing which I boxed in and angled the front facing end for appearance. I welded those boxes in place and then welded a peice of 2" x 3/8" flat stock to the top of it. The flat stock was then drilled and tapped to allow the mounting bolts to thread into it.
The location and elevation of these mounting plates are identical to the original frame mounting plates. I located them by measuring the original locations in relation to the rear body mount location. I made a jig for these mounts and the rear bumperette mounts, and you are welcome to use it if you want, or I will send you the dimensions.
If you look at the front mounts, you will see that they are fairly simple as well, but the brackets will need some modification. The front mount plates are just some 1/4" thick channel stock which was notched to clear the swaybar mount studs. I drilled the holes for the bracket mounting studs, countersunk the rear of the holes, and welded the studs from the rear. Then I welded the completed mount channels to the front frame rails. The elevatrion of these mounts is exactly the same as the original mounts, but the frame rails are much wider than the original rails, so you will need to rework the mounting brackets.
You will need to pie-cut the sides of the brackets at both offsets and take some angle out of each bend. once you get the brackets to line up with the bumpers correctly, you can weld up the cuts you have made,and the brackets will look like they were built in a factory. You can not even see where mine were reworked. Then the flat bracket that goes outboard to support the end of the bumper will need to be re-bent to fit the reworked bracket. It took me the better part of a day to get the fit I was looking for, but it worked well.
I did not use the little angle brackets that originally were used on the front frame rail horns, since it just looked like too much trouble!
Larry, feel free to call me if you need help.
I get to start working on the 65 this weekend since the 59 is finally going to the upholstery shop tomorrow morning! Yippie!


Regards, John McGraw

 

[John Mcgraw]

Larry,

Here are some better detail shots of the brackets.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1135198

You will see the jig I made in the first pic, it is mounted to the body mount pad, but is hanging down out of the way while I was welding.

Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

Thanks John

I am printing the pictures as we speak,I May have to call on Saturday if I get jammed up.

I have to pick up some steel.Ill have my hands full for sure. I also have to make some mounting plates for the wise guys seats while I have the car.I just want the seats high enough off the floor pan so not to have problems with the seat adjuster getting stuck in the carpet.I am also reinfourcing the fiberglass under the hand brake.

I have a 2 page list of what I have to accomplish but the bumpers will come first so I can get the bumpers to the chromer and start braking down the frame for painting.

Congrats on getting the inside work started post some pictures of the seats once he gets them covered.

Dont let that C2 side track you

I spoke to mike at SR111 (What a great GUY!!) he is still backed up so you better get your order in soon.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Okay. You guys are driving me crazy. I need another project. :cry

 

[IH2LOSE]

Okay. You guys are driving me crazy. I need another project. :cry

Bob I have said it a hundred times "this is the last car I am doing"

As soon as the car is done. Some how I get invoulved in another one. Look at John He allready has a 65 ready to get its place in the garage.

Its only a matter of time youll see.What could you possible do with all of your extra time?

 

[67HEAVEN]

What could you possible do with all of your extra time?

I was thinking about joining O.J. in the hunt for the real killers.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Well only got about 5 hrs of work on it today, I did not get to pick it up on Friday night because the body shop wanted to get some coats of the slick sand on it before they gave it to me.The shop owner met me at his shop at around 11 am to give me the car.

All I was able to get done was to remove the car from the rotisery and body dolly and mount the car up on the SR111 frame. It is all shimmed just the way it will sit when complete. I had to take the wife and kids to get the tree.I will up load what photos I have taken.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Here is a link to the photos I took today

http://members19.clubphoto.com/lawrence748455/2891569/guest.phtml

 

[John Mcgraw]

Looking Good Larry, it is moving right along!

 

[richscorvettes]

Larry,

Sure looks great sitting on the chassis!

Rich Lagasse

 

[IH2LOSE]

Today miakes it 90 days since I purchased and picked up the body. I am about 3 weeks behind my original time line (damm media blaster) but the body shop is really getting things done for me. He was originally supposed to paint the frame for me ,But I have contracted with a different shop to paint the frame so I dont slow down the progress on the body.He wants the body back only on the dolly so his guys can do the top side of the car. then back on the rotisserey next week end so he can paint the bottom of the car, trim it out.then back on the body dolly only to do the final paint,it should be in paint before christmas.

 

[IH2LOSE]

I like this photo the most it looks like an old gasser car

 

[JohnZ]

Larry, looks like you still have some surgery to do for distributor clearance to the firewall?

 

[studiog]

Larry,
The car looks great. Your rate of progress is tremendous. I don't know if this will be a consideration for you or not but if they did body work around the front grille area I would test fit the old chrome mouldings holding them in place to be sure you are happy with the fit. Just a thought.

 

[Mac]

I was thinking about joining O.J. in the hunt for the real killers.

You wanna hand with that, 67? :L

-Mac

 

[John Mcgraw]

Larry,

I am with John here, It sure does not look like the distributor will clear that firewall. I have hammered enough Tri-five firewalls back to clear bigblock distributors, and that looks tight to me! I hope for your sake that it is just an optical delusion.


Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

Larry, looks like you still have some surgery to do for distributor clearance to the firewall?

YOU GUYS SCARED THE HECK OUT OF ME

I had to think for a minute if I actually tested this,I went to my punch list for what I was supposed to do when I dropped the motor and sure enough it was listed and checked off,Also if its listed I know I will also have photos of it .
I would be lost with out a list,

 

[John Mcgraw]

Larry,

Obviously, the distributor cap ends up much higher than it looked like.
It is a good thing that you are losing that wiper motor though, that would be close!

Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

Well I almost completed every thing I set out to do.I did not put the battery tray mount on my list,and of course I did not do it even though I had a battery listed on my material list to bring with me.And I only realized that after I had the body remounted on the body dolly and was putting all of my tool back in my truck.( I worked in the shop at my place of buisness).

So if I am not able to tell from John McGraws photos how to mount it ,the battery will end up in the trunk.Its just to much work to put the body back on the frame just for that .And I also have an appointment to have the frame painted next friday.

I just tacked my bumper braces mounting pads on the frame and will work on them during the week nights.

Today did not go well and I was definatley not properly prepaired for this project.I had sand blasted all of my bumper braces,I primed them.

I never cleaned or checked the threads on all of the bumper brace nuts.They were all shot.I had to chisel each one off and then re weld new nuts on. I also had to find a hardware store that had 7/16th nuts. Home depot and lowes go from 3/8th to 1/2" I lost 2 hours looking for nuts.Then at least another 2 hours removing and rewelding them.All of this could have been done weeks ago SHAME ON ME

The camera I took with me, the media card was full and I could not erase the photos on it, and had no way to down load them.So no photos of today work,


I was using my die grinder to section and re shape my bumper brackets.I was wearing a light linen work shirt and the sparks were shooting on my belly and the shirt caught fire, I normally wear a welding shirt when doing this type of work.No major damage to me just except I have no hair left on my stomach.

The good news is I did not damage the body while dismounting it and re mounting it.