66 A-100 in AZ

Some more progress to show.
Got the driver side wheelwell tacked in. Still needs filler parts the compensate for the rise.

Have the passenger side tacked in now too.

One filler chunk is fabbed and in place, it just needs a bit of work on the lip curve before I finish weld it.
The 9.75 is the distance from the seam to the edge of the wheelwell at the bottom.

BTW, the reason I need those filler parts on the wheelwells is because I raised them.
Stock, the front wheelwell has about an inch of flat above it. The rear has about 4.25" above it. This is very common on the older cars; the front wheelwell is taller to allow for the wheel to turn and the rear is drooped over the tire more. It is one of the visual things why most cars look good with a rake to them. If both tires are covered at the top evenly, it means the front is lower than the rear. The top of the wheelwells are both the same height from the ground. Here is an example, although the raked one is still a bit high in the front.

STOCK

RAKE

Notice also that on the raked car, the roof is level too. Another touch that really makes the car look 'right' when raked.
What I did was to raise the rear wheelwells about an inch and an eighth to thin this rear area. I hope it will look better in a way that most people won't even notice. I plan on having the van pretty low and at a rake.

nice work...............................

on the rotisserie

looks like you have some thing to do this winter... that is a very solid van there Rod...

So you lowered the front and raised the back wheel wells?

nice work rod.............

VanninBlaino wrote:So you lowered the front and raised the back wheel wells?

No, I just raised the Rears when I added the wheelwell.
The Front is stock.
I'll fab up a wheel for each corner that fits in the bumper brackets, so it can be rolled around and loaded on the trailer. It's too high and tippy on the rotisserie for towing.
I have a few more things to finish up (finish weld the rear wheelwells, shock mount LF, more straightening) before I bring it home to blast. Then a full scrub down, and prime.
I hope to get there in 2 months, when the painter should be ready to start the body work. There are 4 patches to weld in, and lots of smoothing and blocking to do. I left the patches out to access the areas behind.

Got a picture of it setting lower on the rotisserie.
Wheelwells are mostly done on the outside, a bit more grinding on the inside and a little hammer work.
BEFORE

AFTER

Cool project. How far can you turn the van on the rotisserie?

I have not rotated it yet. If you look at the nose and tail shots out in the parking lot, you can see that the bottom isn't even quite as wide as the body. It would tip if I tried as-is. I do have a plan for that and hope to try it tomorrow. I will try to remember to bring the camera and show that. I do not plan on spinning it upside down, just 90 degrees in each direction. That should be plenty to blast and paint!

Yeah, it didn't look like it could tip very far. I thought you may just have it on there to keep it mobile. Are you thinking some type of out-rigger? I'll look forward to your pictures.

Okay, so I grabbed some other parts and set it up to rotate.
There are 2 "L" sections and a short chunk that slips into the ends. These provided a footprint that was longer than the van sideways.


I also removed the wheels front and rear.


We then lifted the pivot points and locked the van higher and presto! It's sideways!~


This makes it a lot easier to work on the roof and other sections for my buddy, the painter.

I also was able to start getting all the dirt out of the underside. That is a big problem on an older southwestern car...

Rod, the nooks and crannies in my van are full of that desert powder when i start in on the body work I'm got a lot of blasting/vacuming to do to get it all out.

And I'll tell ya, that rootbeer/gold flame job on that helmet is doing it for me... I could work with those colors and do the inside in burnt orange

Well I'm not going with those colors so you are welcome to use them!
I'd rather deal with dirt than a ton of rust! Bet those east coast guys would like the bottom to look like this!

Found another picture of the Purple I plan on.
Original Plum Crazy/In Violet on the left (repaint, a bit too Silver) and the new Plum Crazy that I intend to use on the right...
Deeper and more intense!

We in Wisconsin truly enjoy the dust in AZ frame rails....

Thats cool ya got it flipped up ,, I'm kinda anxious to get mine to that point now.

No new pics of the 66, but work is progressing.
Fixed the dent from flipping it a bit too low, and have cut away the front pan area to replace. It was just too beat in and thin.
Anyway, here's some of the herd back at home...

Still not much progress lately, but did cut the nose section out to replace. It was just too messed up after trying to pull the dents out. Better to remove, clean behind and replace.

Here is the old part laying on the front floor. Easier to trim it below the spot welds then just work with removing the strip that was spotted on the lip behind the grille.

Bump to the top, getting back to this one.
It's been scuffed inside and I have an appointment for next week to get it blasted.

update

body




doors

Shaping up really Nice, Rod! Cool setup you've got there! Please keep the pics coming!

Not my setup, had a shop do the blasting...