So, I'm also a member of Classic Chevy and Trifive and have posted on those forums, however, I am just getting going on the build of my 1954 Pontiac Sedan Delivery and thought I would make my way this way to post my progress during the build. Now I haven't seen anyplace on this site yet for actual builds so I'm figuring they probably get posted to this area. If I am wrong I apologize ahead of time and hope that somebody will eventually point me in the right direction.
Here's pics of the '54 before I hauled it away and backed it into my garage to start the tear down.
Overall the car is in pretty great condition. Most of the floor pans are solid, the wood floor in the back is sound and pretty much everything except the old flat head six is able to be rebuilt. The engine itself is an anchor but I do have a 1967 283 pulled out of a 1956 Chev 2 door sedan sitting on a stand under a bench in the shop that would work great in this. It has an aluminum head, chrome valve covers and a great old Holly 4 barrel. On the body there's an area rusting out on the front of the right rear wheel well (easy fix) and the entire rear portion of the left rear quarter panel is toast. It appears that the car got into an accident at one time and the person who tried to fix it did not know anything about body work and essentially destroyed the whole thing. No matter because I've got most of the rear quarter panel including the tail-light section from a 1953 Chev 4 door sedan that will work nicely to rebuild this area. The quarter panels are not identical but the area around the tail-light is the important area and I can adapt the rest to make it work.
The plan is to do a Rat Rod type of vehicle without going totally overboard on the Rat Rod look. I want to do a restoration with minor modifications and stay true to the original look and feel of the car but give it an edge to make it look a little meaner. Now I don't want to upset the diehard purists out there but my goal is not to do anything that cannot be undone so that further down the road if I or somebody else in the future want to do a total restoration they will not have far to go.
Now it's going to take me a while to get the hang of posting and attaching pictures but once I have it all figured out I'll continue to post the progress with pictures. I have over 5 weeks of banked time saved up from work and also 6 weeks of vacation time saved up. The goal is to have the car done by the end of the year...a daunting task for most, but I'm living and working up on the Alaska Highway, I have no family locally and have lots of time to work on it in my shop/garage. Evenings and weekends I hang out in my man cave (the shop) and with the pile of paid time off I have saved up I'm thinking I may just be able to pull it off by next Christmas.
As the work progresses I'm hoping to make valuable contacts here and find the help I'm sure to need to do the job.
Anyways, hello to all and I'm looking forward to the comments and suggestions.
Here's the '54 in my shop...it's a double wide, insulated garage with gas heat plus 110 and 220 power. Lots of room to work and stays nice and warm when it's -30 to -35 Celsius outside.
Spent the day today cleaning out all the junk piled into the back and vacuuming up all the rat poop and nesting material. Fortunately the rats in this part of the country are pack rats and not the long tailed variety common down south...still kinda gross though...
Tomorrow I'll start the tear down...pull the hood off first but will have to make some type of spring tool to remove the hood springs. Have an idea for one that I saw on Chevy Talk but will have to adapt it for this car.
Can't wait to get into it...what a great way to spend a quiet Sunday hanging out in the man cave...
.......very cool Gary...great project, glad you're putin' back together and as Brian says
that automatic is R A R E.......keep us posted ......WE LOVE PICTURES
54sedandelivery said
Feb 14, 2016
It is indeed an automatic and I'm going to keep it an automatic, but it's a rare bird anyways because Pontiac only produced 1407 sedan deliveries in 1954 and they were all sold in Canada.
norontcan said
Feb 14, 2016
Looking forward to your upcoming progress reports and pics.
54sedandelivery said
Feb 14, 2016
Got up early this morning and began the deconstruction by taking the Hood off. First had to build a tool to get the spring off.
When the hood is fully open the spring is compressed and when the hood closes the spring is stretched so I measured the distance from the bottom spring hook to the top hook for both conditions and cut a piece of steel rod to a length in between these two conditions...turned out to be 15.5 inches. On the end that would sit against the bottom spring hook I cut out a notch and on the end that the upper spring would sit against I drilled a hole/channel that the end of the spring could fit into and not allow the spring to slip in any direction.
Opened the hood all the way, inserted the rod, made sure the notch was sitting against the bottom end of the hook, and closed the hood to a point where the top of the rod was just able to slide under the end of the spring hook, then opened the hood all the way causing the spring to remain stretched on the tool and it popped off of the hinge arm.
When I put the spring back on the process will be reversed.
Next used my c-clip removal tool to pop off the window cranks and door handles on the inside of the doors. Popped the clips off of the door panels and lifted them off. Removed the upper door hinge cover plate, put stands under the bottom edge of the doors, undid the bolts and lifted the doors off. Also removed the back door and the spare tire well. Then shifted to removing the seat. Removed the side shells first to have easier access to the floor bolts and pulled out the seat.
I spent the rest of the day removing the hood latch and taking all the chrome off of the hood and doors. True to form this took a little longer than I would have liked because of frozen screws and nuts but eventually if heat and WD40 didn't loosen them off then a combination of drilling and chiseling solved the problem.
Feel like I accomplished a lot today but it feels even better to finally have the project underway.
G.
-- Edited by 54sedandelivery on Sunday 14th of February 2016 11:20:02 PM
great ride looks like never been painted and welcome from a 53 2drht owner WOW auto and a flat 6 can ya show us some engine shots before you blow it apart!
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 15, 2016
Welcome to CP, cool and rare project. Keep posting your progress and great idea for the springs!
50sedandelivery said
Feb 15, 2016
A big welcome from another SD owner!
I think I posted on a thread you had on AACA forums a while back. Show us the VIN tag.
That may be a US production model if it says 2571. Canadian would be 2271.
54sedandelivery said
Feb 15, 2016
Timbuk...If you look at the picture showing the inside of the back you'll see the head sitting on floor...when I cleared everything out of the back I noticed it had a huge crack in it, no idea how it cracked but it was toast so I put it in the metal recycle bin at the landfill here.
Originally I was going to pull the engine and see if it was worth rebuilding but after seeing the cracked head in the back of the truck and the massive amount of rust on and in the block I didn't have much hope in salvaging the engine. I soaked the piston's in kerosene for about two months but was unsuccessful in getting anything freed up. Here's a pic of the engine before I moved the car...
If you know anybody who wants what's left of the block, carburetor, manifolds, transmission, starter or generator (the latter two look rebuildable) they are welcome to them.
I hate throwing anything usable out so they can have them for the price of shipping. It won't be cheap shipping them from up here in the Great White North though...
50sedandelivery...It's a Canadian tag and I'll take a pic of it this evening and post it in the next couple of days.
-- Edited by 54sedandelivery on Monday 15th of February 2016 09:40:42 PM
Indeed! (eh!)
If you scrape off the front right edge of the top of the block you should see an engine number stamp. Should match the tag if it's the OEM mill.
Fitz said
Feb 16, 2016
Nice find and rare project. Please keep us posted on your progress.
Fitz.
Pontiacanada said
Feb 17, 2016
54sedandelivery wrote:
If you know anybody who wants what's left of the block, carburetor, manifolds, transmission, starter or generator (the latter two look rebuildable) they are welcome to them.
I hate throwing anything usable out so they can have them for the price of shipping. It won't be cheap shipping them from up here in the Great White North though...
Some good stuff there.
50sedandelivery said
Feb 17, 2016
Hey Gary;
I'm wondering if that bench seat was original to the Delivery. Reason being that the earlier ones always had wimpy bucket seats. I'm emailing back and forth with a guy here in the US that has a '54 Chevy bench and I'm wondering if it will bolt in to my '50. Could you measure the width of yours and send me a PM, and check the mounting system to see if it looks OEM? A picture would be great too. I'm considering putting up my hand for that carb if it's a Carter WA-1. Are you in B.C. or that other US province?
Murray
54sedandelivery said
Feb 17, 2016
Hey Murray...I'm on the Alaska highway in northern BC and that bench seat is the original seat...all the mounting brackets fit perfectly and when
I removed it from the car it seemed obvious it had never been removed before. In addition, I was looking online at another 54 that was identical to mine
in color and interior material and it had the identical seat split bench. I'll have a chance tomorrow night to do the seat
measurements and take a couple of pictures for you. I'm looking for a front split bench for my '57 Chev and a buddy told me that the brackets are the
same and I should just use the one from the SD but I'd rather keep the original seat with the SD so that suggests to me that the one in California should
work for you.
I'll also take a look at the carb and figure out what it is...pretty sure it's the stock carb but I'm
not familiar with these old flat head 6's...seen lots but never worked on 'em. Cheapest shipping out of town is usually by Greyhound...
forespeed said
Feb 18, 2016
I will be watching your progress because I'm just finishing my 51 Chevy styleline Deluxe Gasser. Waiting in the wings, I have a 50 Pontiac 2dr hardtop project that will be powered by my 500 ci Cadillac V-8 and matching turbo 400 trans. One of the big issues for me was do I use the original frame or consider an aftermarket frame. The frame in the gasser was in excellent condition and I wanted to stay with as many original parts as possible. The 51 had been a gasser project back in 1969 and most of my work has been to restore to the original gasser build but with all safety upgrades that were needed.
The 50 hardtop has been a project in my mind for about 5 yrs. I found the drivetrain from a 75 sedan deville with 63k miles a couple years ago and a local shop got the motor running last year in order to confirm it would be usable. The 50 came from Kansas and it is in very good condition in terms of rust. The last owner cut the frame off at the firewall and fabbed on a Pontiac Trans Am subframe from the mid 70's. This subframe will hold the big 500 caddy with little modification. Most of the work will be to mount the front clip over the new subframe.
I have done lots of research on the 49-54 frames and if you plan to run a V-8 that X frame will need mods for strength.
54sedandelivery said
Feb 18, 2016
Murray...here's some pics of mounting brackets for the bench seat. The front brackets are affixed to the floor with another u-shaped bracket that goes over the front bracket "legs" and bolts into the holes.
The rear bracket is bolted directly to the floor. Measurements are:
Max. width at base of seat approx. = 20.5"; Max length at base of seat approx. = 54"; Max. width between front and rear brackets approx. = 16"; Max. length between front brackets
approx. = 50 1/4"; Max length between back brackets approx. = 53"; Distance between floor bolt holes center to center for both the front and rear brackets = 3 1/8"
Forgot to check out the carburetor but it is a single barrel and stock so it's probably the WA-1...I'll check it out tomorrow evening.
So, I'm also a member of Classic Chevy and Trifive and have posted on those forums, however, I am just getting going on the build of my 1954 Pontiac Sedan Delivery and thought I would make my way this way to post my progress during the build. Now I haven't seen anyplace on this site yet for actual builds so I'm figuring they probably get posted to this area. If I am wrong I apologize ahead of time and hope that somebody will eventually point me in the right direction.
Here's pics of the '54 before I hauled it away and backed it into my garage to start the tear down.
Overall the car is in pretty great condition. Most of the floor pans are solid, the wood floor in the back is sound and pretty much everything except the old flat head six is able to be rebuilt. The engine itself is an anchor but I do have a 1967 283 pulled out of a 1956 Chev 2 door sedan sitting on a stand under a bench in the shop that would work great in this. It has an aluminum head, chrome valve covers and a great old Holly 4 barrel. On the body there's an area rusting out on the front of the right rear wheel well (easy fix) and the entire rear portion of the left rear quarter panel is toast. It appears that the car got into an accident at one time and the person who tried to fix it did not know anything about body work and essentially destroyed the whole thing. No matter because I've got most of the rear quarter panel including the tail-light section from a 1953 Chev 4 door sedan that will work nicely to rebuild this area. The quarter panels are not identical but the area around the tail-light is the important area and I can adapt the rest to make it work.
The plan is to do a Rat Rod type of vehicle without going totally overboard on the Rat Rod look. I want to do a restoration with minor modifications and stay true to the original look and feel of the car but give it an edge to make it look a little meaner. Now I don't want to upset the diehard purists out there but my goal is not to do anything that cannot be undone so that further down the road if I or somebody else in the future want to do a total restoration they will not have far to go.
Now it's going to take me a while to get the hang of posting and attaching pictures but once I have it all figured out I'll continue to post the progress with pictures. I have over 5 weeks of banked time saved up from work and also 6 weeks of vacation time saved up. The goal is to have the car done by the end of the year...a daunting task for most, but I'm living and working up on the Alaska Highway, I have no family locally and have lots of time to work on it in my shop/garage. Evenings and weekends I hang out in my man cave (the shop) and with the pile of paid time off I have saved up I'm thinking I may just be able to pull it off by next Christmas.
As the work progresses I'm hoping to make valuable contacts here and find the help I'm sure to need to do the job.
Anyways, hello to all and I'm looking forward to the comments and suggestions.
Gary,
Here's the '54 in my shop...it's a double wide, insulated garage with gas heat plus 110 and 220 power. Lots of room to work and stays nice and warm when it's -30 to -35 Celsius outside.
Spent the day today cleaning out all the junk piled into the back and vacuuming up all the rat poop and nesting material. Fortunately the rats in this part of the country are pack rats and not the long tailed variety common down south...still kinda gross though...
Tomorrow I'll start the tear down...pull the hood off first but will have to make some type of spring tool to remove the hood springs. Have an idea for one that I saw on Chevy Talk but will have to adapt it for this car.
Can't wait to get into it...what a great way to spend a quiet Sunday hanging out in the man cave...
G.
for the build?
Brian
Nice SD Gary! I have a thing for them!
-- Edited by Pontiacanada on Sunday 14th of February 2016 02:02:06 PM
.......very cool Gary...great project, glad you're putin' back together and as Brian says
that automatic is R A R E.......keep us posted ......WE LOVE PICTURES
It is indeed an automatic and I'm going to keep it an automatic, but it's a rare bird anyways because Pontiac only produced 1407 sedan deliveries in 1954 and they were all sold in Canada.
Got up early this morning and began the deconstruction by taking the Hood off. First had to build a tool to get the spring off.
When the hood is fully open the spring is compressed and when the hood closes the spring is stretched so I measured the distance from the bottom spring hook to the top hook for both conditions and cut a piece of steel rod to a length in between these two conditions...turned out to be 15.5 inches. On the end that would sit against the bottom spring hook I cut out a notch and on the end that the upper spring would sit against I drilled a hole/channel that the end of the spring could fit into and not allow the spring to slip in any direction.
Opened the hood all the way, inserted the rod, made sure the notch was sitting against the bottom end of the hook, and closed the hood to a point where the top of the rod was just able to slide under the end of the spring hook, then opened the hood all the way causing the spring to remain stretched on the tool and it popped off of the hinge arm.
When I put the spring back on the process will be reversed.
Next used my c-clip removal tool to pop off the window cranks and door handles on the inside of the doors. Popped the clips off of the door panels and lifted them off. Removed the upper door hinge cover plate, put stands under the bottom edge of the doors, undid the bolts and lifted the doors off. Also removed the back door and the spare tire well. Then shifted to removing the seat. Removed the side shells first to have easier access to the floor bolts and pulled out the seat.
I spent the rest of the day removing the hood latch and taking all the chrome off of the hood and doors. True to form this took a little longer than I would have liked because of frozen screws and nuts but eventually if heat and WD40 didn't loosen them off then a combination of drilling and chiseling solved the problem.
Feel like I accomplished a lot today but it feels even better to finally have the project underway.
G.
-- Edited by 54sedandelivery on Sunday 14th of February 2016 11:20:02 PM
I tried reducing the picture size with photo editor...let's see what happens...
...well that seemed to work...from now on I guess I'm editing the pics before uploading.
G.
-- Edited by 54sedandelivery on Sunday 14th of February 2016 11:34:16 PM
-- Edited by 54sedandelivery on Sunday 14th of February 2016 11:35:03 PM
I think I posted on a thread you had on AACA forums a while back. Show us the VIN tag.
That may be a US production model if it says 2571. Canadian would be 2271.
Timbuk...If you look at the picture showing the inside of the back you'll see the head sitting on floor...when I cleared everything out of the back I noticed it had a huge crack in it, no idea how it cracked but it was toast so I put it in the metal recycle bin at the landfill here.
Originally I was going to pull the engine and see if it was worth rebuilding but after seeing the cracked head in the back of the truck and the massive amount of rust on and in the block I didn't have much hope in salvaging the engine. I soaked the piston's in kerosene for about two months but was unsuccessful in getting anything freed up. Here's a pic of the engine before I moved the car...
If you know anybody who wants what's left of the block, carburetor, manifolds, transmission, starter or generator (the latter two look rebuildable) they are welcome to them.
I hate throwing anything usable out so they can have them for the price of shipping. It won't be cheap shipping them from up here in the Great White North though...
50sedandelivery...It's a Canadian tag and I'll take a pic of it this evening and post it in the next couple of days.
-- Edited by 54sedandelivery on Monday 15th of February 2016 09:40:42 PM
Vin Plate...
If you scrape off the front right edge of the top of the block you should see an engine number stamp. Should match the tag if it's the OEM mill.
Nice find and rare project. Please keep us posted on your progress.
Fitz.
Some good stuff there.
Hey Gary;
I'm wondering if that bench seat was original to the Delivery. Reason being that the earlier ones always had wimpy bucket seats. I'm emailing back and forth with a guy here in the US that has a '54 Chevy bench and I'm wondering if it will bolt in to my '50. Could you measure the width of yours and send me a PM, and check the mounting system to see if it looks OEM? A picture would be great too. I'm considering putting up my hand for that carb if it's a Carter WA-1. Are you in B.C. or that other US province?
Murray
Hey Murray...I'm on the Alaska highway in northern BC and that bench seat is the original seat...all the mounting brackets fit perfectly and when
I removed it from the car it seemed obvious it had never been removed before. In addition, I was looking online at another 54 that was identical to mine
in color and interior material and it had the identical seat split bench. I'll have a chance tomorrow night to do the seat
measurements and take a couple of pictures for you. I'm looking for a front split bench for my '57 Chev and a buddy told me that the brackets are the
same and I should just use the one from the SD but I'd rather keep the original seat with the SD so that suggests to me that the one in California should
work for you.
I'll also take a look at the carb and figure out what it is...pretty sure it's the stock carb but I'm
not familiar with these old flat head 6's...seen lots but never worked on 'em. Cheapest shipping out of town is usually by Greyhound...
I will be watching your progress because I'm just finishing my 51 Chevy styleline Deluxe Gasser. Waiting in the wings, I have a 50 Pontiac 2dr hardtop project that will be powered by my 500 ci Cadillac V-8 and matching turbo 400 trans. One of the big issues for me was do I use the original frame or consider an aftermarket frame. The frame in the gasser was in excellent condition and I wanted to stay with as many original parts as possible. The 51 had been a gasser project back in 1969 and most of my work has been to restore to the original gasser build but with all safety upgrades that were needed.
The 50 hardtop has been a project in my mind for about 5 yrs. I found the drivetrain from a 75 sedan deville with 63k miles a couple years ago and a local shop got the motor running last year in order to confirm it would be usable. The 50 came from Kansas and it is in very good condition in terms of rust. The last owner cut the frame off at the firewall and fabbed on a Pontiac Trans Am subframe from the mid 70's. This subframe will hold the big 500 caddy with little modification. Most of the work will be to mount the front clip over the new subframe.
I have done lots of research on the 49-54 frames and if you plan to run a V-8 that X frame will need mods for strength.
Murray...here's some pics of mounting brackets for the bench seat. The front brackets are affixed to the floor with another u-shaped bracket that goes over the front bracket "legs" and bolts into the holes.
The rear bracket is bolted directly to the floor. Measurements are:
Max. width at base of seat approx. = 20.5"; Max length at base of seat approx. = 54"; Max. width between front and rear brackets approx. = 16"; Max. length between front brackets
approx. = 50 1/4"; Max length between back brackets approx. = 53"; Distance between floor bolt holes center to center for both the front and rear brackets = 3 1/8"
Forgot to check out the carburetor but it is a single barrel and stock so it's probably the WA-1...I'll check it out tomorrow evening.