1937 Chevy Coupe

[Bamamav]

I went to the school of hard knocks, and am still there. Went to work pt time in the 11th grade, been working ever since. Taught myself everything I know, worked as a carpenter for a while, heavy equipment operator a while, ran a woodyard, eventually got into trucking, been doing that 33 years, 22 as a owner/operator. Also taught myself mechanics. All this by reading and hands on experience. Still working, still learning, still broke, but mostly happy....

 

[kenny c]

Not a school person at all. I learn best by doing and watching. Most of what I know I learned because I couldn't afford to pay to have it done. I also learn a long time ago that the guy I paid to do it didn't do it very well and I had to do it over. I also learned that you should have smarter people you around you. They are free education. Don't be to proud to say you don't know and someone will generally help teach you.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

We're back from a long hiatus...

Picking up where we left off... when we cut the passenger side floor out, we found rot in the inner rocker. We cut that out and found signs of rot in the outer rocker. (Looking from the inside out.)

So, I took an aggressive wire wheel to the outer rocker, peeled the paint and primer off (not a stitch of plastic filler to be found) and exposed a long row of pinholes. [S

The paint and primer, I figure, were made from some nuclear grade compounds, specially formulated to survive the holocaust and/or rear attack from the legendary "Rustholio"... anyhow, it's clear Rustholio was working to breach the barrier from the inside.

We removed healthy portions of the inner and outer rocker panels as seen here...

At this point (three weeks ago) we thought it wise to replace the outer rocker (a complex, formed and stamped multi-faceted piece) and B-Tard ordered one from EMS. A few days later, the piece arrived and we were bitterly disappointed. It doesn't match the original profile in any way, shape or form. It would work with a full-blown floor replacement, but doesn't jive at all with the original sheet metal.

That expensive lesson learned, we'll repair the outer rocker.


Moving along, we fabricated and replaced the (simple) inner rocker and continued with the floor panels...

Similar, but different from the driver side, we're making some long overdue progress.

Next, we'll fabricate the "tunnel". It'll be nearly flat, shallow and narrow as we can figure. Foot space is an ongoing concern and we'll do our retarded best...

.

 

[Old Iron]

Good progress [cl
I ordered a rear roll pan for my 40 Pontiac 25 series (same as a Chevy) from EMS and had some of the same disappoints. I got it to work with some massaging but not great.

[[[
[P[P[P

 

[Burgerman]

Floors look sharp Doc.
[P

 

[DozerII]

Great progress, looks like you got the bead roller figured.[P[P

 

[smallfoot]

I figure ya'll have talent enough to skip those aftermarket parts...
Nice progress!

 

[Torchie]

Looks good DR.
I've never found after Market sheet metal to fit all that well. The exception was stuff that I bought from Northern trucks here in Michigan. But the are closed now.
Good to see you back on it.
Torchie

 

[kenny c]

Lookin good.[P

 

[forbigpicture]

Making it look easy Doc.... nice looking floor pans...

[P[P

 

[bob w]

A professional job if you ask me.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

I ordered a rear roll pan for my 40 Pontiac 25 series (same as a Chevy) from EMS and had some of the same disappoints. I got it to work with some massaging but not great.

I hear you loud and clear, OI. B-tard has an EMS roll/tail pan on the shelf and given the rocker experience, we expect it to fit poorly and become a project in itself. (You already know, nobody else makes "replacement" parts for these cars.) We're not coach builders by any stretch of the imagination, so we'll have to work with the EMS piece and make it work. [S

Great progress, looks like you got the bead roller figured.

Thanks, Dozer. We're pleased with the bead roller and it's doing what we ask of it... assuming, of course, we orient the dies correctly. Upside down and backwards doesn't work at all!

I figure ya'll have talent enough to skip those aftermarket parts...

I'm not easily defeated, small, but fabricating the rocker is beyond my skill set. It's tapered, rolled and formed in ways I can't begin to replicate. We'll piece it back together and hopefully, it'll look like nothing ever happened...

Looks good DR.
I've never found after Market sheet metal to fit all that well. The exception was stuff that I bought from Northern trucks here in Michigan. But the are closed now.
Good to see you back on it.
Torchie

I hear you too, Torchie. I've had "opportunity" to fit aftermarket panels of poor quality and (expectedly) had poor results.



.

 

[dutch]

hey Doc, seeing at that piece, I would advise you to look at it with a cut through the middle on top. The two halfes are not too difficult to shape. That panel can be done with a beadroller and hammer&dolly. Reproducing the rocker in two halfes ,you can make the corrections needed to make it fit and then weld it back together. I would use the repro panel as a guide to make a new one.

 

[kenny c]

You could also use pieces of the aftermarket one and re roll it a little to get it to the shape you need.

 

[animal]

Doc, the floor looks great! I'm sure whatever you decide to do on the rockers will turn out just as well.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your advice and suggestions, but in hindsight, we really don't need a full rocker and the extra work. We'll make a couple simple sections and repair what we have. (The golden replacement panel is going to the "swap meet".)


Back to the floor and tunnel in a minute, but first, a step back. I wanted another chassis bar up front but held off with the tunnel in mind...

With the body and floor halves positioned, we found it necessary to build a tiny mega bridge...

15 relief cuts...

45 welds...

Ground smooth...

Tiny oh mega bridge. Ω Its arch is 9"wide and 4.5" tall. Total span width, 14''.

.

 

[Old Iron]

That came out real good

 

[Torchie]

[cl [cl [ [
[P[P
Torchie

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

We made the little bridge as short and narrow as possible, because we want the smallest tunnel possible. (That foot space deal again.)

Floor pans back in place (everything is temporary, removable and "tacked" together with screws at this point) we made another pan for the tunnel area...

Ran a step bead, chewed a nasty big hole, bent the remains and set it in place...

B-tard hopped in the saddle and started flip-flapping his big feet... hmmm... I thought we could get away with a simple, bent, shallow box, but nooo, no, no, Mister Sasquatch needs every available square inch...

So, we decided to taper the box on two planes, which turned into a five angle, five piece, five hour, fit, fuss and curse session.

Small slippery pieces, big non-magnetic fingers and simple square-headed mistakes, three of my favorite things...

Mistake corrected, fully welded, ground and screw tacked...

One last shot. (That's my fat hand to put things in perspective.) It's 1.75" tall, 7" wide and about 20" long. There isn't another 1/2 inch to take in any direction, so this is as small as it can be!

All those perimeter holes will eventually be plug welded. We haven't removed the panel/tunnel together to see the underside... probably needs a little trimming around the square hole and a stitch weld or 12, we'll see next weekend...


.

 

[dutch]

LOL... came out just fine