MACKAZs 22 Buick model 45 Rat

Yup.That part of me is fine, but a "mass" has been discovered in my right knee, its pretty common, so waiting on surgery on that. Gawd falling apart at the seams.....

Foters man!!!!

Yeah, pics as promised. Forgot to take a pic of the seat complete, I had already removed the back off the base so I could put the seat up in the rafters for safekeeping.
This is the base complete

The offending end

The suitable end I am trying to replicate

Removed the end by lancing the original welds with a zip disk

Cut it along the bend, squared it up, measured the mount spacing, drilled some holes and welded the nuts to the back of the panel

Ive lost a picture somewhere, the one of it welded up, never mind, the end result.

Gave it a quick burn over with a polishing wheel to get rid of the loose rust

Dose of red oxide etch primer to protect it


A couple of the loop bracing. These welds are only heavy tacks, dont want it to fall off and lose them. They are all to be ground down and rewelded by my brother whose welding is a zillion times nicer than mine. I was also nearly out of ArgoShield too, which dont help their appearance!
Left side

Right side


Next mission is the floor! Milestone number 2.....

Had a play around yesterday. Dad scored some sheet steel off an industrial electrical switchboard cabinet from the yard. Its clean save for a few drilled holes that I will weld up later. Made a template out of cardboard and traced it out. Cut it out with a zipdisk and dressed it up so its a nice easy fit..
Im heading around there shortly so if I remember the camera Ill take a picture..

The seat pan cleaned up nicely. Nice to see all the progress on your project.

Yeah pretty rapt with it. Im going around on Wednesday night after work with the camera in tow. Hopefully the better half will let me get a bit more done on it over the weekend and days up to the 8th August. She gets shelved for a couple of weeks while I recover from my knee surgery, which happens on the 8th. Pre op nerves already kicking in

Lookin good man. Hope the surgery goes well and you have a speedy recovery.

Thanks man!!! Its gonna be a relief when its done. its just a pain in the a$$.
Anyways a quick photo update.

The floor template

The floor made out of the 2mm industrial sheet steel.

Tunnel to come soon.

After a bit of brainstorming decided front seat is next to work out. Reasoning about this is if I get the front seat in the right place, the rear seat base may be actually end up being the incorporated into rear floor just in front of the diff. Don't know yet, still need to complete what Ive started here.

The seat runners Dad found in the scrap at work. They are off a Mazda of some description because they still got the manfacturers sticker on them!!

Made some adaptors from 25x50x3mm box section steel, bolted to the original mounting points in this picture (blue bits)

Cut off the original mounts and cleaned up where they were for welding

Side view

The new 6mm mounts welded directly to the runners

Still another piece of flatbar to go under the 6mm pieces, they are the mounts that bolt the seat to the floor. Theres doubler plates and other reinforcing that needs to go under the floor. Damn regulations....

Continued on making a little progress on Monday night. Finished off the bottom of the seat runners with a slab of flat bar.

Welded up, measured, aligned parallel and bolted the runners to the seat base.

Thats about all I can do with the seat, contemplating giving it the chop and widening the base and back, and lowering the back. Its a little high for my liking. It may also need a guide welding to the bottom of the seat for the cable that works the seat runner locks. Wont know whether it needs it until later down the track.
Figured it was about time to get the cowl back on and get it at its final position, so with a zipdisk slowly bought it down to where its final height will be.

Put the upholstery on the seat. Chucked it in and put it in about where I like it. Credit to Dad, his ability to work out the order we build stuff so we don't need to modify it a second time is awesome! Put the steering wheel on. Pedal and steering wheel positions are bang on here we planned them to be. Feels really good to sit in.

A front view, see what I mean about the seat back? Thoughts anyone?


On another note, my knee surgery went well today. Doctors put me off work for 3 weeks. Chances of me doing much in the immediate future are slim.....

Yes, steering wheel placement looks good. And yes, the seat would look much better with the back cut down and a covering that isn't modern.

Good that the knee surgery went well. You need to find some bench work to keep the project moving, eh?

bob w said:

Good that the knee surgery went well. You need to find some bench work to keep the project moving, eh?

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That would be wishful thinking bob! Next to no sleep. Knee pain is bearable, but not when I bend it. All hell breaks loose. I'm also not supposed to drive on the pills I have neither. Feel quite out of it.

Hasnt been a week and Im bored out of my skull/missing my build

Sometimes those little breaks develop the biggest ideas. Glad the surgery went well too.

Has actually! Ive decided on widening the seat base and widening and lowering the seat back. Been looking at the pictures and it just don't look right....

Went around today, not for work, but because my Grandmother passed away. Anyway the finer half was with me. Dad was tooling around with his racecar so the shed doors were open. SHE APPROVES!!!!! Its the first time she has seen it in the flesh, she even plonked her sexy backside in it with a big smile on her face. CHOICE

MACKAZ said:

Went around today, not for work, but because my Grandmother passed away. Anyway the finer half was with me. Dad was tooling around with his racecar so the shed doors were open. SHE APPROVES!!!!! Its the first time she has seen it in the flesh, she even plonked her sexy backside in it with a big smile on her face. CHOICE

Click to expand...

Alright man, you are golden! Can't beat having an approving "Rat Chick" to cruise with! Hope you get back to work on it soon.

Sorry to hear about your Grandmother.

Thanks SF. Well its all over and done with and now the dust has started to settle a bit I might be able to get back into this. Getting withdrawls....

Well I havent touched it in weeks, but things are happening. I got GIVEN 5-1/2 sheets of nice surface rusted raw panelsteel by one of my panqelbeater clients. Stoked.
My late grandmother has left me a sizeable inheritance so Im going to buy some proper whitewalls for it, pull the engine down and freshen it up with as big a cam the auto will take, Ill get a roof made for it. Im going to replace all the balljoints, tie rods and all new brake componentry. Its going to make the build so much easier. Just the waiting for the lawyers is driving me nuts.
Ive also got to clear my shed out so she can be put in there. My parents are buying another house and it isnt allowed to go there (strict instructions from Mum!!!!) which will suit me fine as I am over the trip across town to work on it.

Well its a stat holiday tomorrow here in New Zealand. On Saturday one of my car club mates came around and helped me clean my shed out. So guess what????? Buick and associated parts are being moved across town to my house. Progress shall improve dramatically as of tomorrow. Photographic evidence tomorrow of this momentus occasion. Sooooo excited

Well hey now, that's some good news from down under if I do say so myself! Can't beat having a project in your own garage so you can make use of every spare minute you get.

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Finally some decent side profile pics.











Now to swap MIG to ArgoShield and into it.......once funds clear...