55 Wagon Progress

[MP&C]

I got the carbide bit along with some other sizes and shapes a few years back in a machine tool manufacturer close out from a guy on another forum. That was the only 1/8 diameter I got, and chose it specifically for the Dremel knowing something like this would pop up.

[yahoos]

You sir are a mad man with metal.!

[MP&C]

Working on the inner part of the door's un-chopping today..





Tacked...























Then I got on a roll, here's the welded and finished product...























Much better fit..

[MP&C]

Took delivery on the ballast material today for the door paint stand. Without this it didn't care for the one door added at a time, and wanted to do a nose dive. This should work well!

[duallyjams]

Here i thought it was a weather vain.

[Advanced Design]

Really nice work on the door unchop. Thanks for the info on the Dremel bit.

[MP&C]

Today Kyle worked on prepping the driver's door for epoxy primer...





Meanwhile, with the passenger door unchopped, I turned my attention to the slots for mounting the stainless trim and drain holes.. The old door's "window sill" was aligned and clamped in place to mark the slots..








Then the slots are marked onto the new skin, and that location transposed down to the proper location..











This is what happens when you pull the carbide cutter out too far while joining the holes...





Weatherstrip holes drilled, drain holes laid out...











Kyle has the driver's door scuffed and ready to go, once the passenger door is finished we can spray some more epoxy..

[MP&C]

Sneak preview of the powder coating, here's one of the inner fenders...











Kyle working on more media blasting, we should have another batch for powder coating this weekend....











With the passenger door removed and out of the way, I worked on the radius-ing and repairing of the lead gap seam. First to check the radius of the completed driver's side with the Gatormeet radius gauge...











Radius patch is bent using roll former dies in the Diacro press brake and checked to the radius gauge...

















The patch is trimmed for the fit to the A-pillar, and a horizontal tail is left to have something to hold on to while tacking in place. A score is added using the cutoff wheel so the excess can be snapped off after tacking...





























Welded and dressed..











Roof skin patch trimmed and fitted...

















Welded...

















Welds dressed and radius checked...

[swamp rat]

Nice work!

[Advanced Design]

Yeah looks good. Gator Meet tool is handy. Made by Rick?

[MP&C]

On the Friday of the meet he took us on a tour of the machine shop his family runs, they cut some of those out on a laser. In addition to being a square, each corner is a different radius. Yes, it comes in handy!

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by MP&C

On the Friday of the meet he took us on a tour of the machine shop his family runs, they cut some of those out on a laser. In addition to being a square, each corner is a different radius. Yes, it comes in handy!

He told me about their business some time ago and it sounded like they do some high tech and precision work for the aerospace industry. Never been there myself.

Looking forward to more 55 updates! You all do nice work.

[MP&C]

More progress on the wagon today. Kyle had finished the media blasting on the hood brace, so we had a few areas to address. As the hood ornament no longer exists, we didn't need the mounting holes going through the brace.





A piece of brass flat bar is radius-ed to make an anvil..





High spot is heated and tapped down with the hammer.. Then pick the next high spot and repeat....











Slot is welded closed, welds dressed, area media blasted once again...











Kyle working on prepping the passenger door for primer... Sorry for the blurry picture, gonna have to fire the photographer!





The hood ornament hole in the cross brace was also welded closed and dressed...











Next on the list were the stress cracks on the ends of the hood brace.








Some 16 gauge CRS was used to make some stiffeners inside the corners...





test fit..





Plug welded in place and the flanges wrapped around... cracks repaired...














Test fit to the hood...

[MP&C]

Tonight Kyle was putting the finishing touches on prepping the passenger door for paint. Lots of nooks and crannies. We ended up moving the drill press so we could open the media blast cabinet door wide enough to put the door inside. It was a snug fit, but made easier work of cleaning the door on the ends... The rest will be done by hand...








After adding the radius to the doors, it only made sense that the lift gate needed the same modification. Sorry to bore you with more of the same, just wait until we get to wet sanding








Test fit the radius...





Scoring the second cut location, and tacking in place..














Snapped of the excess....





Checking the radius, and welded in and dressed...








They're calling for a heat wave this weekend (in high 40's on Sunday), so we should get some more primer sprayed....

[duallyjams]

there's nothing boring in this thread, glad to see every little detail

[Advanced Design]

Me too, great work for many of us to try to aspire to.

Holy cow, how large a media blaster do you have to be able to put a 55 Chevy door in it?

[youngrodder]

Great work. Can I ask how many years of experience you have under your belt. Your work says MANY.

Very nice......

Marc

[MP&C]

Thanks for the comments and questions!

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Great work. Can I ask how many years of experience you have under your belt. Your work says MANY.

Very nice......

Marc

Thanks, going on about 24

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Me too, great work for many of us to try to aspire to.

Holy cow, how large a media blaster do you have to be able to put a 55 Chevy door in it?

58" wide. This one here, although I didn't pay anywhere near that for it. Bought it used....


http://www.tptools.com/1536-Champion....html?b=d*8016

[MP&C]

Kyle finishing up the prep on the door this morning, found another use for the GatorMeet radius square, here used as a sanding block to get into the tight crevices...





Front fenders were both prepped with DA and 80 grit..








SPI Epoxy is mixed to allow for induction...








As the body parts had been soda blasted, it was cleaned with a hot soapy water (dish detergent) and a grey Scotchbrite, followed by a towel drying session.





Then this was followed up with preclean...











The door handle backing plates had not yet been installed on the back side of the door skins, so a coat of epoxy was sprayed on both, and then bolted together to allow to cure..








A good shot of the door paint fixture in action...





Two coats applied...

[Grizz1963]

Was pointed here from my build thread in my signature as I am no welder or body worker, but need a half decent finish......

WOW WOW WOW !!!

And that is only page one. I need to get to work, but this will be my reading over the next few days when I get a moment.

Thank you for the detailed descriptions, they will help me, for sure.

[NONHOG]

Oh its getting good now! Oh second thought its so cool seeing the work that is being done. I'm torn!

[MP&C]

This evening while we had painted parts still lounging in the booth, we took some time to clean up and put tools away..... hey, there's that welding table!





And found a new location for the ewheel.. Still gives plenty of room for access to the parts bins and gets it out of the way elsewhere in the shop..





After that we worked to fix some pin holes along the passenger quarter's weld.. using a light from the back side to show the pin holes...








....and this one was a pit from the back side, more of the dreaded dirt thrown from the rear tire causing rust....

[Advanced Design]

Great paint work there! Barry makes a good product. We used SPI on my truck.
Shop looks good and I too found my welding table again Saturday.

[Hammered 77]

Just found this site, lots of nice work and info. Where did you get your Gatormeet radius gauge?

Thanks
Rick

[oldman3]

Robert, just found out you were on this site. I had been following you on the HAMB site, when you were doing the tailgate repairs. That was in 2013, then nothing. Glad I found you on here. Now I have to go back and read 13 pages of work, and I look forward to some great work to catch up on...Jim