57 Chevy Wagon - Californa Dreamin'

[Ol Blue K20]

Its coming along nicely. It's gonna be pretty cool.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Its coming along nicely. It's gonna be pretty cool.

Thanks, Dale. Been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but they were pretty eventful. Kathy and I had to make an unplanned trip to Houston to attend a funeral which set me back almost a week. And just prior to our leaving, the Roadster Shop called to say the chassis for the wagon was ready to pickup. So a good buddy and I went up a little north of Chicago and trailer'd it home Thursday and Friday of this week.

In between all the seat time on the road, I started welding the liftgate to the tailgate. I currently have the 1/8 x 1/4 1018 strip done as well as tacking in some 1 x 1 temporary braces. Still need to plate the sides, but I've tested it and it works. I'll have to admit, it's heavier than I thought it would be. And that's without the glass or latch hardware in it. I'm not so sure anymore that the gas struts will hold it up. For the test, I reinstalled the stock sliding supports and they will work in the event the gas ones don't. Obviously, the factory had a good reason for using heavier hinges and torsion rods on the sedan deliveries. When I get all the welding finished on the tailgate and the latch hardware in it, I'll post a video of how it works.

At the bottom is a photo of the chassis. Right before we got to the Roadster Shop, we drove thru about 6 miles of hail. It was really banging the truck and I was sure we'd have dents everywhere, but we escaped unscathed. The clouds parted and it was about 65 degrees while we loaded the chassis. Then the front caught back up with us and we were in rain and freezing weather for a couple of hundred miles on the way home. Tail end of the "bomb cyclone" I guess. The guys at RS gave me a can of Gibbs oil to wipe the chassis down when I got home which worked great. They'd already oiled most of it prior to delivery, so there was only a little surface rust in a few places. Mainly where they used a disc sander. Overall, it looks killer. It will be in the way somewhat until I can separate the body from the existing chassis, but it's a small price to pay.

[mongocanfly]

chassis looks great Vic....

[Ol Blue K20]

X2 on the chassis. The tail gate is coming together nicely too. I believe you can buy the gas struts in different strengths too (weight they'll hold). It may be worth a call to the manufacturer.

[mongocanfly]

Thing about those gas struts is the stouter you get them ,the more pressure it takes to close it...could easily bend something if you went overkill...

[swamp rat]

Digging the chassis! The way my legs are going I’m tempted to do the same with my rat, still kicking myself for installing a 4” lift 😊

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

chassis looks great Vic....

Thanks, Greg.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

X2 on the chassis. The tail gate is coming together nicely too. I believe you can buy the gas struts in different strengths too (weight they'll hold). It may be worth a call to the manufacturer.

Thanks, Dale.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Thing about those gas struts is the stouter you get them ,the more pressure it takes to close it...could easily bend something if you went overkill...

I'm inclined to agree with you, Greg. The hinges and liftgate are pretty flimsy and could possibly bend if they see too much torque. The stock support mounting points are only about 4" down from the flat area where the hinges attach. From there to the bottom of the tailgate is another 32" which gives approximately an 8:1 ratio. That's a lot of leverage when you pull down on the gate to close it. Too much resistance and something has to give. The big unknown for me is how much the glass will stiffen up the liftgate frame. For now I'll stick with the old supports and when I get everything assembled, I'll test the Madmooks gas struts and see how they do. If they're not up to the task or the one piece tailgate doesn't close properly, I'll buy some new supports and go that route.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Digging the chassis! The way my legs are going I’m tempted to do the same with my rat, still kicking myself for installing a 4” lift 😊

Hey Mike, I hear you. Anymore, I need a stepladder just to get up into the bed of most trucks. This chassis is supposed to lower the wagon statically a couple of inches. Looking at the adjustable coilovers, there may be another inch available there as well. I'll see what works best when the chassis is fully loaded. No matter what, it should be easy to get in and out of.

I removed the tailgate and have been patching up the open spaces on the sides. I ended up cutting the corner off the liftgate where I'd previously repaired it but it made for a nicer transition. The sedan deliveries have a continuous rib that runs thru that area. The side of the tailgate is also flatter than mine where the tailgate and liftgate meet. It would have been a heavy lift to construct my sides to look like a SD, but it should pass the quick look test.

[Vic1947]

So the more I looked at the sides of the tailgate, the less I liked what I'd done. I realized there was no point in keeping the raised area where the liftgate stop attached. There's another stop a little further down on the tailgate that's in better shape anyway. At any rate, out came the cutoff wheel and I removed the hump and some of the adjacent area. I formed a piece that connects the liftgate and tailgate on the sedan deliveries and welded it in while I was at it. It may not be exactly like the SD's but looks better to me. I then duplicated the look on the other side, removed the braces and mounted the tailgate back where it belongs. I had to tweak it about 1/8" in the upper left corner, but other than that, it fit just fine. I reattached the sliding supports and tested it and it works nice and smooth.

When I was in St. James, MO last week, we dropped by the big salvage yard there. They advertise a lot of seats on eBay and I wanted to see if they had what I had in mind for the wagon. They had four sets in stock and as luck would have it, there was a 20% off sale on all their seats. I picked out a pair from a 2008 Silverado that are full power, etc. The upholstery shop will cover them with new material in the color I want, so I was mainly interested in the size and style. If they look familiar, it's because they're exactly the same as what went into CRLS. I knew from experience they were comfortable, so there was no need to reinvent the wheel.
.

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice job Vic, I never doubted you could get it done. Awesome

[mongocanfly]

Looks great Vic....how heavy is the tailgate when lifting it?....I've been thinking about it and wondered if you could hook a scale to the bottom of it and see how much force it takes to open..and how heavy it is when in the open position....may help determine what gas shocks you may need..but I'm guessing you dont have hinges yet...

[Advanced Design]

Really nice work on the tailgate Vic! And the chassis....drool!

[RockinKees]

Awesome build!!
Just saw this and read it through.
Very, very creative work here!
I will for sure follow along.

I am on the hunt for a ‘57 Wagon too. Have seen three wagons now, the fourth (the best until now) is “in the mail” Let’s see what comes out of it.
Did I see this Wagon over on the Trifive board?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Nice job Vic, I never doubted you could get it done. Awesome

Thanks, Dale.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Looks great Vic....how heavy is the tailgate when lifting it?....I've been thinking about it and wondered if you could hook a scale to the bottom of it and see how much force it takes to open..and how heavy it is when in the open position....may help determine what gas shocks you may need..but I'm guessing you dont have hinges yet...

Hey Greg. I installed the window and hardware temporarily the other day and the whole thing weighs approximately 52 lbs. according to the bathroom scales. The center of mass is almost exactly halfway from the top to the bottom. The gas struts I have range from about 50# full open to 60# closed. I think the only way to know for sure if the struts will work is to wait until the tailgate is fully assembled and try them. Until then, the stock sliders work just fine.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Really nice work on the tailgate Vic! And the chassis....drool!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by RockinKees

Awesome build!!
Just saw this and read it through.
Very, very creative work here!
I will for sure follow along.

I am on the hunt for a ‘57 Wagon too. Have seen three wagons now, the fourth (the best until now) is “in the mail” Let’s see what comes out of it.
Did I see this Wagon over on the Trifive board?

Yes. I have a parallel build thread going there as well. I have a lot of friends on the truck forum, so when I found this wagon, I wanted to take advantage of their suggestions. The tri-five forum is more suited to this build, but I have a feeling that only a few members are following it since I have no history on there. Good luck with your search. I passed up several before a buddy tipped me to this one on FB marketplace.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

I have a lot of friends on the truck forum, so when I found this wagon, I wanted to take advantage of their suggestions. The tri-five forum is more suited to this build, but I have a feeling that only a few members are following it since I have no history on there.

Even though we may not have quite the experience with the tri-fives like the other forum, metal work is similar, no matter if you're working on a C/10 or a tri-five. Same goes for wiring, body work, paint, etc... The specifics may not be something we can relate to, but you know as well as any of us, car guys are full of ideas. Sometimes it takes a group outside the specialized stuff to come up with a plan that will work with custom work. We will keep following and offer whatever pointers or thoughts we can along the way.

Keep it up. You're doing great!

[Low Elco]

Great Lookin' work!

[cornerstone]

I hereby proclaim Vic the Michelangelo of Metal.....wait.....the Sultan of Steel.

As opposed to me with my old low budget high school rides, I was the Picasso of Putty.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Even though we may not have quite the experience with the tri-fives like the other forum, metal work is similar, no matter if you're working on a C/10 or a tri-five. Same goes for wiring, body work, paint, etc... The specifics may not be something we can relate to, but you know as well as any of us, car guys are full of ideas. Sometimes it takes a group outside the specialized stuff to come up with a plan that will work with custom work. We will keep following and offer whatever pointers or thoughts we can along the way. Keep it up. You're doing great!

Thanks, Duane. You guys have been a big help both from "you might want to consider this" to "don't even think about doing that!"

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Great Lookin' work!

Thanks, Chip. Good talking to you the other day. Let me know when you're ready to zap some aluminum.

Originally Posted by cornerstone

I hereby proclaim Vic the Michelangelo of Metal.....wait.....the Sultan of Steel. As opposed to me with my old low budget high school rides, I was the Picasso of Putty.

Hey, Brian, I hung out at Bondo Bob's Body Boutique in high school too. Aluminum screen wire and plastic filler were my tools of choice back in the day.

I've been prepping stainless trim in advance of having it restored. Kathy and I will probably head up to WI the middle of the month to drop it off at Vintage Vehicles. They did the trim restoration for my 57 Ford and it looked better than new when they finished. My experience with reproduction stainless is that it rarely fits like OEM. I have a few pieces that may be borderline, but we'll see what Paul and Bruce think.

The easiest way to get the front stainless spear off the fender was to just go ahead and remove the fender completely. Needed to do it anyway, so now was as good a time as any. In the process of taking it apart, I ran into a couple of funny things under the heading of "automotive archaeology". Long ago, someone had used bailing wire to fasten a spare key under the air scoop. I checked and sure enough, it works in the ignition.

There were also two wrenches that fell out as I was lifting off the fender. They're obviously homemade, but I'm not sure of the purpose for the 1/2". At least the 14mm could work as a distributor wrench. Regardless, someone lost both of them down in the depths of the fender well. I can relate to dropping something like that and having it completely vanish into thin air. Then finding it days or weeks later 20 or 30 feet away from where it dropped - under and/or behind a piece of equipment.

[Vic1947]

Finished removing the remaining pieces of the front clip. The bolt on the lower right front fender behind the wheel well refused to come out, so I had to drill in from the outside with a hole saw to access the nut. It was packed with about an inch of bondo which explained a lot. I'm planning to use the fender, so a patch will be needed as well as the rear support brace.

I rented a small storage space around the corner from the house and started loading it up with the clip parts and interior/door pieces I've removed. With the new chassis sitting in the spare shop bay, I'm rapidly running out of room to work.

I found a pair of BelAir wagon / Nomad top fin crown mouldings on eBay. They're the correct 41.5" versions. My quarter panels only have holes for the three clips that are stock on the 150's and 210's. So I removed the retainer pieces from the stainless trim and used them to locate where the new holes need to be cut into the tops of the quarters. The holes are rectangular, so it will be a PITA to put them in there, but it will be worth it in the end.

On a personal note, I may not be able to post regularly for awhile. My best gal, Kathy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, so we're gearing up for her treatment. She goes under the knife next Tuesday to remove the tumor, followed by 4-6 weeks of recovery and then another 4-6 weeks of radiation. We won't know until after her surgery whether chemo will be needed as well, but we're hoping that won't be the case. Even though the tumor is the most aggressive grade, she was extremely lucky they caught it very early on. So the doctors are highly optimistic she will recover fully. So for the next few months we'll be schlepping back and forth to doctor appointments and/or daily visits to the big zapper.

[mongocanfly]

That cancer crap sucks Vic...hope all goes well...

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

That cancer crap sucks Vic...hope all goes well...

Thanks, Greg, I feel sure it will. We have a good team of doctors.

[Ol Blue K20]

Tell her to stay positive. From my experience that's hard to do sometimes. But my girlfriend, kids and friends are good support and help me maintain positive attitude and mood. So, moral of this rant. Make sure she leans on the people around her. Best of luck and good thoughts for you guys.

[swamp rat]

Sending my prayers and best thoughts for a full recovery, I have a friend going through radiation treatment right now and we just lost a coworker to liver cancer as well.

Keep plugging away when your mindset is into the task. Take care and let her know I’m praying for her!

[sduckworth13]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and Kathy. Sad to hear that Kathy has to deal with this.

[rustytruck50]

So sorry to hear about Kathy...sounds like there is a good plan in place and she has a great support group! Our prayers go out to you

[knomadd]

I'll keep you both in my prayers. I hope everything goes well and she gets a clean bill of health soon. I've lost a cousin to breast cancer, and a few other family members in my wife's family to other types of cancer. Dale is right, make sure she leans on those around her that are there to support her. They can help her share the burden so it's a little easier.