How I Built a Body in 1800 Easy Steps !!

[hotrod preacher]

Thanks Rustbucket, I'm very flattered that you think that, but I'm not doing anything that anyone couldn't learn to do. I respectfully prefer to leave the God titles to the one who gave me the tallent in the first place.

I did use a hammer and dolly to fix up some minor heat distortion on this panel. I'm going to do a post in your thread on body work to detail this more clearly on how I control heat and distortion and what I do to correct when needed.

hey i KNEW you had some serious talent, but this is truly AMAZING thanks for the posts and thanks for acknowledging the source of your talent

 

[rustbucket49]

Thanks Rustbucket, I'm very flattered that you think that, but I'm not doing anything that anyone couldn't learn to do. I respectfully prefer to leave the God titles to the one who gave me the tallent in the first place.

I did use a hammer and dolly to fix up some minor heat distortion on this panel. I'm going to do a post in your thread on body work to detail this more clearly on how I control heat and distortion and what I do to correct when needed.

Agreed on the title !! It's truly amazing the talents and skills God blesses each of us with !! But I think I must have missed the line for metal working and welding when He was handing out those talents.

 

[roddguy1]

Got another little update for you guys today. Once the body was in place it was time to intall the only wood that I had reproduced for this build. It's the joint between the cowel and the footwell. It's easily seen when the hood is up and also offers a tacking strip for the hood cowel seal. So even though I've made a steel body replacing all the original wood I still want it to look original to all but the most knowledgable to these cars. A passing observer won't know the difference.

 

[roddguy1]

Next it was on to fitting the fenders for the first time. These fenders came from England and are hand made over a buck. Over all I was pretty happy with them but as always when dealing with all hand made parts there are going to be fitment issues. The front fenders went on really well, but...... there's always a but. The rear fenders are another story.

 

[roddguy1]

Yes, these rear fenders had some more, shall I say interesting problem. The first issue was finding center over the axel and having the rear of the fenders appear even when veiwed from the rear. Then I discovered that when I measured along the top of the fenders from tip to tip the left fender was a full inch longer than the right. But the biggest problem is the inner profile where the fender meets the rear of the 1/4 panels. the radious is no where near close. I've figured out a fix which I started on yesterday, and I'm going in today to finish up. I will detail what I did to fix them soon.

 

[Gastrick]

Somply awesome Rodguy. Ouch! on the rear fender fitment. Are you going to reshape the fender or reshape the rear of the body?

 

[craftyken]

NICE

WOW I cant believe that I just found this thread, I found this sight about six months ago, and some how never saw your talent till now, oops I take that back I remember seeing the the truck bed you fabricated, with the taillights and gate and loving it. Rely appreciate the the time you take to do such a detailed post. Love your comment about anyone learning to do it, and giveing credit were credit is do... I was wondering what your prosses for finishing your welds was . I hope your answer is a detailed as your post.

Thanks craftyken

 

[roddguy1]

Thanks for the very nice comments guys, it's really alot of fun for me to share this build with you. Now on that note I have a big up date for you. Things have moved along quite nicely on this build and I'm happy to say that it's almost done. I'm hoping to deliver this car on Friday. So for now I'll bring you up to speed and add the finished pics very soon.

 

[roddguy1]

When I last posted I was dealing with the fitment of the rear fenders. Here is how I dealt with that.

First I trimed the back half of the fender almost completely off from the rest of the fender, and then rotated the rear section up to meet the body.
(pic 1)

It was then taked back together, removed from the body and finish welded.
(pics 2 and 3)

The same was done on the left fender. (pic 4)

The last pic shows the fender back on the body and mostly finished and dressed.

 

[roddguy1]

The next part of the project was to make all new floor boards.......literally. LOL. I used marine plywood for these.

 

[roddguy1]

Next up was to fit and rebuild the running boards. Both sides and the same issues of rust and while I was at it I made them fit much better than factory.

 

[roddguy1]

The fenders needed a skim coat of filler and then primer.

 

[roddguy1]

And off to the paint booth.

 

[roddguy1]

The beginnings of final assembly....... at long last. (pics 1 and 2)

I added some Rattle Trap sound deadiner to the wheel wells and doors to give it that new car feel. LOL. This stuff has an aluminum heat reflector on it as well and seems to work quite well. (pics 3 and 4)

 

[roddguy1]

It's early June and this is it's first time rolled out in the sun.

 

[Barber]

You sir are a metal working master...

 

[22dodge]

Awesome......

Truely awesome work, very informative....
Thanks for taking the time to share your craft with us... '22

 

[roddguy1]

Well guys at long last this project is finished. Thanks to everyone who has followed along and the very flattering comments. I have truely enjoyed this build and sharing with you guys. Here are some final pics for you to check out.

 

[roddguy1]

The first pic in this bunch is of me and the fellow that did the interior. (I'm the tall one) Sarkis does a fantastic job with interiors. All the seams and pleats line up perfectly and everything is symetrical, just awesome!

The last thing I had to do on this project was to make a set of stantions for the tomb stone windows that he wanted in place of the usual regular window and frame. I was still waiting for them to come back from chroming when I took the final pics.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this build. It sure gave me a brain workout having to engineer ever little aspect of this body. However, I still content that anyone could do this for themselves. Given some time, and thought you could build something truely different and fun.

Stay tuned for the next project. I'm building a race car body (google Shrike race car) which will cover everything from building the buck, laying up a mould and pulling a body.

 

[roddguy1]

Opps, here are the pics. Doh!