Bride of Young Frankenstein - 1957 Buick Super

[FarmerSid]

Too cool! I have little newer roadmaster. a 95

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by drewskiren

Now that would be funny, who would ever do something like that???

There's one joker that comes to mind.. lol

[drewskiren]

Bead blasted some floor patch panels

Drilled out the welds on the rotten spare tire well and removed. I'm going to get rid of it to help me with running the dual exhaust.

THE BEST scraper ever invented, thanks Milwaukee.

The left side curved up, so I trimmed the right one and made the same curve.

[drewskiren]

Deer dented Roadmaster fender comes through again with some nice sheet metal.

All in about 2 hours work.

[coggonobrien]

you make your own adapter for the sawzall or is that a real tool

[flashed]

Im in for the answer but Im betting he made it .

[drewskiren]

Actually, Milwaukee makes it specifically for their Sawzall.

[snipescastle2]

Cool old Buick! The last one of those I saw, was in the "Christina Applegate" movie - "Don't tell Mom the babysitter's Dead" it was the scene where three "Drag Queens" stole the Buick....
Nice build you have going there!
Ben Smith

[drewskiren]

Saturday night picture time!

Welded in the spare tire hold down. I moved it up to the "top shelf" since it is so far to reach I figured I'd never use that area. - good place for the spare that rarely ever gets touched.

Lookie lookie! passenger side has floors welded in. I'm finally moving forward again and not just tearing down.

[drewskiren]

Moving on to the drivers side - much worse. Rocker has serious daylight showing and has to go. Rear floor was punky and the worst was the pillar brace at the floor - virtually gone. Now it is really gone! Working on cutting this same part out of the parts car and getting it ready to weld in.

[1985-GMC]

Looks great! All that tack welding is so time consuming

[drewskiren]

I worked really hard to keep it all together and swap it in as 1 piece.....

Mission accomplished! Now I'll pull it back out and rust treat/primer the whole thing then the welding begins.

[High Desert]

I love this! I'm taking good notes since the vert will need some spots on the floor replaced too. Good thinking on using parts of the damaged fender for patches. I hadn't thought of that.
I jealous that you get to do so many upgrades from stock. That spare tire well is a stinker.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice rust repair Drew!

[snipescastle2]

Just a side note, these old cars were notorious for moisture in the brake lines, I would highly suggest a complete set of new lines, brake calipers(unless your Jag ones are in good shape) master cylinder and new flex hoses. you will rest a lot better knowing your Daughter will be able to stop, without a brake line rupturing due to rust / rot. Otherwise, your cookin' along! Good job!!
Ben

[drewskiren]

It'll have a complete new system from head to toe. Thanks!

[drewskiren]

Old floor looking like new, ready to go in.

[drewskiren]

In the above picture, a huge pile of carefully cut out rusted parts

Here I've used half inch self tapping sheet metal screws to hold it all down in place.

Beginning of a lot of welding. Tired tonight.

[flashed]

Looks good ,you do nice work .

[1985-GMC]

Oh is this going to be your daughters car? I must have mis-read that.

Nice work!

[drewskiren]

Wellllll..... a shared project that she will drive. If it is super reliable she might even drive it at college a semester or two? Maybe more. I'd also feel better if there was a parking garage.

[drewskiren]

Still plugging away here in Memphis...... get it, plug welds.

Or maybe I should say stitching up this monster........ stitch welds, see what I did there?

Seriously though, I have checked it with a fine toothed comb and can say that I have cut out all the bad rust. What little is left is still very solid and easy to treat with POR15.

[High Desert]

I love how seriously you take rust repair. I seen so many restorations where it wasn't addressed correctly, and evidence of rust started presenting itself a year or two later. It is one of the reasons I would be leery of purchasing a classic car restored by someone else unless it come with detailed photos of the process for review (like you have been doing).
If you still plan to have it dipped, I am excited to see the results. It seems like a great way to get everything exposed for dent repair and cut a significant amount of blasting labor.

[drewskiren]

Don, as much as I wanted to have it dipped, I'm going to have to pass. The closest place is over 8 hours away and they want $4000!!! to dip. If you dip, you must immediately E-coat the raw metal. Conveniently, they offer this service too..... for another $4000!!! Just not willing to put that much money in this project. I'm content with cutting out and treating what is left. Yes I may miss a spot, but if it becomes a problem I'll just redo a spot. I'll be flooding everywhere I can see and can't see with rust converter, rust inhibitor paint, then Al's Liner bedliner as undercoating, and spray cavity wax inside areas I can't get to very well. Should cover all the bases.

[High Desert]

Wow, that is way too much driving, time, and money for what you get. I was wondering why you were being so careful to paint the metal before welding if all the paint will be removed in the vat later anyway.

Also, some of the guys from the Buick forum linked to an article about someone else who recently finished combining the best of a Super and a Roadmaster similar to what you are doing. http://www.hotrod.com/features/1511-...big-sensation/

They made some serious modifications to the interior, which isn't really my taste, but it does look more comfortable than stock. I never criticize what other people want to do with their own cars.

Thanks for all the cool project updates.