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Old 10-10-2021, 07:39 PM   #1
dsraven
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Re: 1958 Saab story

just noticing the gap at the bottom of the front fender is larger than at the top. is it bolted down? do you anticipate the need to do some adjustments at the rad support end to get the gap right so the hood closes properly?
here are a few pics of my 57. sorry, I can't seem to figure out why they can't be rotated and I am not on the desktop computer right now so not downloaded. maybe Rickysnickers can spin them? if so, thanks Ricky. not done yet by a long shot but obviously laid out differently than yours if you check the wheel centering in the fender opening. also, my tires seem to be closer to the inside of the fender lip. stock wheel, 235/60r17 tire (28" tall). since my truck is AWD I need to keep all 4 tires the same outside diameter.
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Old 10-11-2021, 07:38 PM   #2
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Re: 1958 Saab story

I got my front tires in today. It's exactly what I was hoping for. No bulge on the sidewalls and plenty of clearance without having to mess with the suspension height.

-, Josh
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Old 10-11-2021, 07:40 PM   #3
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Re: 1958 Saab story

And the clearance on the front of the tire when turning is great too. Here the 30 inch tire in front of the 26 inch tire.

-Josh
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Old 10-13-2021, 07:20 AM   #4
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Re: 1958 Saab story

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Originally Posted by dsraven View Post
just noticing the gap at the bottom of the front fender is larger than at the top. is it bolted down? do you anticipate the need to do some adjustments at the rad support end to get the gap right so the hood closes properly?
Sorry I missed this. I built the radiator core support before I secured the back off the body with the 1 inch square tube. I lifted the back about 2 inches, and since it pivots at the base of the windshield, it opened the gap at the bottom of the fender. So I'll have to cut the mounting ears off the core support and lower them to pinch the gap shut. As of right now, there's a bolt at the front of the fender at the core support and at the top of the fender just holding them in place as a reference. I haven't messed with the hood mounting yet, but it's near the top of the list


-Josh
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Old 10-13-2021, 10:17 AM   #5
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Re: 1958 Saab story

Figured you would get to it after you got the wheels done so you had a good reference on the wheel opening. Just thought I would mention it due to importance of getting it right before going forward with other stuff and then finding out the hood wont fit proper. It would be good to figure out a way to fab the front mount so you could shim it as required if you need to later.
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Old 10-13-2021, 11:47 AM   #6
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Re: 1958 Saab story

I have found that locating and marking the body line with tape, at the front and rear of each panel, can really help you line up the body parts. then I use magnets attached one at the front by the headlight and one at the rear with a string between them at the body line. this really helps me get the panels lined up. mark the tape with a pencil at the body line so it is easy to see if the string is on the mark or not. sometimes the body line can be hard to pick out otherwise because it is not really a sharp line. I usually space the string off the body by a little so it doesn't sag due to friction on the body parts. I just usually tape an office eraser to the body under the string at each end because thats what I have handy.
you have gotten a lot of progress in a short time, keep plugging away and posting. you got me off the couch and finding time to start looking at my old project again.
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Old 10-12-2021, 07:26 AM   #7
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Re: 1958 Saab story

oh yeah, you should be golden. at least more than good enough to keep building and find out how they are on the street daily for a while.

seeing this makes me wonder why i was so hell-bent to use a 30" tire :facepalm:
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Old 10-12-2021, 09:46 AM   #8
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Re: 1958 Saab story

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seeing this makes me wonder why i was so hell-bent to use a 30" tire :facepalm:
Sometimes we have preconceived ideas of what "has to be" and we build around it instead of adjusting our point of view.

My dad is hell bent on running wide tires in the back of his 1959 Chevy pickup. He's running 15x10s with 295/50r15s. The issue is in order to clear, he has to adjust the air suspension higher than he likes. Says it looks redneck, but he won't concede to using a narrower tire that fits in the fender well. And he won't tub the inner bed sides to add clearance. I'm tired of explaining how it doesn't fit and he needs to budge on either the width of the tire or adding clearance to make what he wants fit without rubbing off the sidewalls.

His face was less than enthused seeing the lower profile tires on the panel truck. It's not his style. But for now, I can move forward with the build and make whatever necessary adjustments I need later if I decide to change the wheel and tire dimensions.

-Josh
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Old 10-12-2021, 09:55 AM   #9
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Re: 1958 Saab story

oh yeah, i have no issues cutting more metal to make them fit though
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Old 10-12-2021, 02:19 PM   #10
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Re: 1958 Saab story

I will likely end up doing something like this guy did, shave the wheel arch and add some width. see post 106ish. looks do-able.
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...=766016&page=5
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Old 10-12-2021, 04:27 PM   #11
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Re: 1958 Saab story

Those late model rims look great. I like the look.

Marc
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Old 10-12-2021, 10:07 PM   #12
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Re: 1958 Saab story

No updates. I just rolled it outside to take a picture of the stance with the new front tires.

-Josh
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Old 10-12-2021, 10:58 PM   #13
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Re: 1958 Saab story

Look great, prolly feals pretty good too, eh? (From Canada, lol)
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Old 10-13-2021, 11:34 AM   #14
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Re: 1958 Saab story

just curious, will the old truck's general fore to aft level be the same as the saab floor pan? like a level placed on the roof drip rail would read about the same as one placed on the driver's door opening floor? like you said, gotta get the body where you want it before finalizing the rad support height.
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Old 10-13-2021, 11:36 AM   #15
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Re: 1958 Saab story

great idea to park it outside where you can stand back and get a good full side pic. sometimes that saves your bacon because you don't usually get a good full sided perspective when in the shop. your shop, though, seems like you could land a plane in there.
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Old 10-13-2021, 11:49 AM   #16
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Re: 1958 Saab story

stance looks great. the rake angle suits the body I think. what is it, about 2-3 degrees fore to aft?
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Old 10-13-2021, 08:30 PM   #17
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Re: 1958 Saab story

So, I put the battery in it and fired it up to see if the rear air suspension works inflate. Well, I forgot that I removed the radiator and broke the trans cooler lines. Well it made quite a mess.

Then I cut the wiper cowl off, used the cut off piece to mark on cardboard to make a template. Then I stuck the template on the truck too mark the height of the firewall to the cowl.

-Josh
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Old 10-13-2021, 08:36 PM   #18
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Re: 1958 Saab story

I took the cardboard template and transferred the shape to metal. With the metal in place, I used the old piece of the firewall that I had cut out to locate where the hood hinges go. I center punched and drilled the hinge bracket mount holes. Then I found 2 3/16" brackets and bought some nut-serts from summit racing. Your can see how much thicker my brackets are than the stock brackets.

-Josh
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Old 10-13-2021, 08:37 PM   #19
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Re: 1958 Saab story

And here's the hood hinge mount brackets in place on the new firewall panel.

-Josh
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Old 10-13-2021, 09:02 PM   #20
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Re: 1958 Saab story

man that sucks about the trans fluid everywhere.
making good progress though. it must suck having to work around that hoist.....I wish I had that problem.
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Old 10-13-2021, 09:28 PM   #21
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Re: 1958 Saab story

Yeah the 2 post lift definitely makes things easier. I'm very fortunate to have the shop and the equipment at my disposal to play around and try things I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

-Josh
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Old 10-14-2021, 07:05 AM   #22
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Re: 1958 Saab story

i was wondering what you were going to do for hinges, and that worked out Perfect!
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Old 10-14-2021, 07:09 AM   #23
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Re: 1958 Saab story

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i was wondering what you were going to do for hinges, and that worked out Perfect!
Yeah, I'm very lucky that things landed where they did. I was already thinking about get a 90s Buick LeSabre hood hinge kit out of the junkyard and trying to make that work, but this is much easier and straight forward.

-Josh
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Old 10-14-2021, 07:47 AM   #24
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Re: 1958 Saab story

Awesome work, and fantastic details & pics. I can't believe how fast you are progressing. Watching you and the other members problem solve your way through this build is a blast!
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Old 10-14-2021, 12:42 PM   #25
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Re: 1958 Saab story

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Awesome work, and fantastic details & pics. I can't believe how fast you are progressing. Watching you and the other members problem solve your way through this build is a blast!
I learned a lot from the Jeep/TrailBlazer project I did. On that one, I drilled out all the spot welds and systematically removed one panel at a time because I wasn't sure what I would need to put back or get rid of. On this project, I went straight to the sawzall and cutting wheels. That alone saved me weeks of tedious work. It definitely has its own challenges, and I really do appreciate the input from other members, whether it be a different perspective or from their own experience. Admittedly, I've cherry picked ideas from other builds on the forum, and I think that's the greatest asset here : information.

-Josh
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