Resurrection!

Digging around in the garage.....





Buried in there is my 68 Chevy



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Hooked up a strap and pulled it out....





And tossed in a battery and got it running...,

https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v230/Vanner68/?action=view&current=VID_20120527_182742.mp4

It's been in there since about 1999...

Is that a WRIF banner on the wall??

yup

I was going to go and dig through MY garage to see if there was something as cool as that in there, but then it dawned on me that I would to have put something as cool as that in there at some point in the past...damn....

KEEP THE VAN IN FRONT . PUT THE OTHER STUFF IN THE BACK, AND LEAVE IT THERE TILL THE PROJECT IN FRONT GETS FINISHED.

That there be the general plan.

It was put in the back until I acquired all the necessay tools and parts.

Hope you had a garage sale while all that stuff was out so you didn't have to put it all back in.

Damn, I knew I was forgetting something!

ohhhhh yeah......

'68 Firebird tail lights?

Close. 76 Pontiac Astre

AAHHH...I knew it looked Poncho... Cool van, vanner68.

Yup, had it since I was 18.

Now I know how to do it right.

I also like that sobriety tester you have in your avitar.. Joel

yessir, that's what I always used it for!

That's awesome. A barn find in your own garage!

Well, I gotta start somewhere, so I might as well tackle the dash. Replacing the gutted dash with a complete unit will help stabilize the front end when I start cutting away the roof.

I have this dash I got from Duane in Eastpointe about 10 yrs ago when he replaced the front clip of his 70 GMC after a crash. It's bent in a couple places, and the radio was cut out for a 1/2 DIN head unit, but it's better than the gaping hole I have now.






I only need the face portion, so I will remove the end caps and cut the top portion off at the slots.

I start by chiseling the spot welds....









Then I cut between the slots (gotta love air tools!)



You can see how the dash is bent in this pic



Much like Ash in Army Darkness had his boomstick, I have a bangtable. Everyone should have a bangtable, it's great for sheetmetal work



I got into pounding out the dents and didn't get 'during' shots, but it's hard to do this and hold the camera anyway.

It's mostly just pushing and bending and pounding things back in place.

After the 'massage'



A little inspiration, hope to be seeing this soon from the driver seat!

More dash......



Started cutting the dash out of the 68. Did I mention air tools rule?

Whenever you are doing something like this, precise measurements are essential.

So- that said, I winged it...



Here's the carnage. What the heck was I thinking? Time to right thr wrong.



A quick test fit....



Lines up pretty good...



And on to smoothing out some of the wrinkles in the reclaimed dash.



Some dents near the ashtray...



I had to weld up a hole here from a toggle switch. I also had to hand form the bodyline back into the dash corner, it was flattened.



Another test fit....



Nice view!



Tomorrow- some more hammer and dolly work and hopefully I'll be tacking it in place!

is the orange one a 350F?

cl350rr wrote:is the orange one a 350F?

64 Ducati 250 Mark 3

vanner68 wrote:

cl350rr wrote:is the orange one a 350F?

64 Ducati 250 Mark 3

sweet! I have room for it in my shed if you need it out of your way

Finished up tin knocking and tacked the dash in place.

For those who don't have and don't think they can afford a decent MIG welder- here's mine, purchased at a pawn shop for $200.



It's a Dayton 160 amp MIG welder, made by Century for Grainger. It's a decent, if older, unit and it came with a box full of tips and some spare components.

The CO2/Argon tank was purchased from a seller on craigslist for $85. So for under $300 I have an industrial quality welder.

Deals are out there, you just have to be patient and jump when they pop up.


Well, the dash is in, the tacks aren't pretty but they don't need to be. Once it's welded up fully it will all be ground smooth.



I may fill the seams on each end for a smooth look, as I'm going to need to use some filler to smooth over some hammer marks.



This is going rather well, I should be able to crank out some progress this weekend!

That looks good. Way better then the other one. Great looking welder also, and a great deal on it for sure.

Tomorrow is my last day at work, taking a few days off for Father's Day- so I'm saving the heavy lifting for then. I need to pull the early outside and pressure wash the cab area. Then I can finish weld the dash without fear of the grunge catching fire. (I had to beat out a few small flames with my body hammer.)


So, today I worked on straightening out some grille sections I got from a VCVC member quite some time back. (I've forgotten who it was, I apologize for that- if anyone recognizes these and remembers sending them to me drop me a line)

Did not get a lot of pictures, it's tough to snap pics and ding out sheetmetal at the same time. Here is one side, all nice and twisted and dinged up...



Basically, I use a few different body hammers and dollies, plus my 'bangtable' and vise, wood blocks, punches- whatever I can to reverse the damage.

Most of the time is spent looking at the part and trying to determine the direction of the damage, so I can beat it back out in the opposite direction. The grille is fairly heavy guage steel so I can wail away at it pretty hard.

So, after a couple hours just goofing off I got the majority of the damage out. I'm going to sandblast the sections and see if maybe I can get the chromed- if not, they will get welded in and painted.



The other side was similar, but I got so into dinging away, I forgot to take pics. D'oh!

grinding and welding.....





I am welding up the seams at each end. I've always hated that seam.



I pulled out my roof section I'm using to repair my roof. It's in worse shape than I remember.



Oh. well- lemonade anyone?

Filled in the antenna hole at 1 AM

Cut a piece of sheetmetal and tacked it in place



some grinding



See the faint pink dot below the repair?



Old bondo. Gotta go.






Finished sanding it down this morning


Annd on to the roof...
















Now to replace the crusty bit with a somewhat less crusty bit....



I'm really doing this.......... !