My suburban's Twisted Little Sister

[65sub]

Had a few days off but we're back now. We spent some time with the hammer and dolly on the weld. Then we fit the wheel opening panel

[Advanced Design]

Nice work on the seam. That takes a lot of time.

[hotrod66]

Looking good .What's the plan on the front end leaving stock or lengthen it?

[65sub]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work on the seam. That takes a lot of time.

Thanks A.D.

Originally Posted by hotrod66

Looking good .What's the plan on the front end leaving stock or lengthen it?

Thanks hotrod. On the front I had considered moving the engine back into the firewall but I didn't want to hide it. The only other way to fit the V12 in was to move the front wheels ahead about 9". I still haven't got all the sheet metal on the front figured out yet but that can wait until we get farther along.


We got started on the spot welding. We also did some more hammer and dolly work on the rear of the driver side.

[65sub]

Here's a couple of shots of the passenger side wheel opening panel all welded. And a couple more of the drivers side fit in and the tacks started.

[65sub]

We finished the welding on the drivers side except for the hole left by the gas door. So we made a patch and tack it in place.

[65sub]

We also got the wheel tubs painted with POR15

[Advanced Design]

Nice work 65sub!

[65sub]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work 65sub!

Thanks A.D.

I got a little busy this week but we did manage to get some work done. First we tacked the inner fenders in place then finish welded the top section

[65sub]

We also got the frame painted with POR 15

[rusty76]

The work here just blows my mind.

[65sub]

Originally Posted by rusty76

The work here just blows my mind.

Thanks rusty I'm glad you're enjoying it.


On friday we decided it would be easier to weld the bottom of the inner fenders with the truck flipped on its end. So we cut the top of the door frame since it will have to cut soon anyway. Mother Nature had already separated the rocker panels and the floor. Then we lifted off the firewall and windshield and set the back section on its end

[65sub]

Once we got the back section on its end we started making pieces to connect the inner fender. We also pushed the old frame out to the junk pile that will go for scrap.

[65sub]

I have a bunch of pictures to upload so this will take a few posts. First are some shots of the top of the windshield frame in the corners. Also a picture of flipping the frame up to paint the bottom.

[65sub]

This post shows the body going on the frame and then being levelled

[65sub]

After a bit of fine tuning on the body we started welding the body to the frame.

[pimpston65]

my daily crack!!! keep it coming...

[65sub]

Originally Posted by pimpston65

my daily crack!!! keep it coming...

First time's free! Lots more coming


Well we got so tired of moving the huge roof around that we decided to skip ahead and chop the top so we can put the roof back on. We started by carefully measuring 4" on all the pillars. Then after careful study we decided it wasn't enough and marked them again at 5". Then there's nothing left but the cutting.

[65sub]

I also included pictures of the inside structure of the A, B and C pillars.

[jonzcustomshop]

looking cool!
when I chopped the top on my 61 I removed the inner trim panel so that I could access the center part of the pillar to weld that up

[jonzcustomshop]

.. and when I put a new cowl on my 64 sub I did it like this:

[65sub]

Thanks for the pictures Jon. I will be cutting access holes on all 6 pillars to allow welding of the inner structure. After the pillars get welded all of the cross bracing will have to be extended. Then comes cutting the roof to fit. We sure are using up a pile of cutting and sanding disks.

[65sub]

Today we started fitting the top half of the pillars. the last two pictures show the alignment issues with the C pillar

[65sub]

We took a break from the project today to change the valve seals on the 409 in my daily driver plus a couple of other small repairs.

[65sub]

We took another short break to repair a leaking lower rad hose on my suburban today. Then we started tacking the tops on the pillars. First the outside of the B pillar then on the inside we removed the top of the inner panel for access. The rear pillar needs so much modification that there are only a few places to tack. Aligning the window frame required a small relief cut before we could start tacking.