I picked up this Beaumont last year, now I'm finally starting the rebuild. This will be a weekend type driver with maybe an occasional trip to the track once a year.
When I picked it up, I knew the body was in bad condition. it did have a newer floor and the frame was restored from Georgia, and was in perfect shape. No rust anywhere. Engine was a mystery( number on block was unfamiliar) other than being a sbc. First thing I did was strip it down to the shell, engine turned out to be a 267 which went straight to the scrapyard. That's when I started to see just how bad the body really was. Trunk was virtually non existant, doors are shot as were the wheel wells. The newer floor was two halves that were riveted and brazed in -no welding, the firewall was beat up and hacked, along with the floor for a manual trans. Original plan was to get all the sheetmetal work done this year including quarters, trunk floor, rockers, and doors. It's now changed to putting in a new one piece floor, outer rockers, trunk floor, firewall, with quarters etc next year. I already built a 496 shortblock for it, but since I don't need it right away, I'm might try and sell it and build something bigger like a 598. I'll post pictures as I go, may be slow at times but It'll get done.
The first thing to get done is to change both outer rockers along with any rust repairs associated with that, then install the new floor.
It's always sad when you find surprises. Glad to hear you are not abandoning the project and doing proper repairs. I also embedded your photos. When you upload them simply click on the "insert" next to the photo filename to place them full size in your posting.
The plan was to change out the floor under the rear seatas it was shot, change 1 inner rocker paneland fix the huge shifter hole in the floor. After closer inspection, the floor was replaced, but brazed and riveted in, the crossmemberswere rusted out already and both inners and outer rockers were gone. So now I'm going to replace floor with a 1 piece with inners attached, and replace the outer rockers. Also, the front body mountsare gone, and the firewall has been hacked up at steering wheel opening, not to mention the hammer fit they did for an HEI distributer. I've decided to just change the firewall also.
I started by cutting the floor from the outer rocker and removed the rocker itself. Actually 2 outer rockers on each side, I was able to rip the replacement off by hand on the drivers side, and cut out the original spot welds for the original rocker that was half there. The cowl area where the rocker attaches is pretty rusted out so I'll have to patch that up.
The new drivers rocker panelfit really well. After I checked it with the door on, I spot welded it in place. Exact same with passenger side, I now have both in with the old floor still in place, just not attached to rockers. Car is on the frame the whole time. The first picture shows the body lifted off the frame. Second picture is of the drivers body mount and the rust that goes with it. Actually all the mounting areas on the body are shot. I'm going to change the firewall first and use those 2 mounts as reference for the floor and then the trunk floor. Third picture is drivers rocker(s) 4th shows new rocker in place and area I had to cut out that was rusted through.
After the outer rockers were installed, I cut out the rest of the floor, along with the firewall. Lower side cowl areas have big holes in them that I'll need to repair before the new firewall goes in.
I patched up the lower cowl areas on both sides with some thick sheetmetal, and coated everything in POR15. Firewall was pretty straight forward, welded it in then clamped on the new body mounts. The firewall came with 2 drivers side mounts. I had previously bought 2 mounts because I thought I was just changing those and not the firewall. I'll use those, they have caged nuts on them anyway, while the others don't have any. Before welding them on, I lowered body onto frame to make sure all the other mounts ( what's left of them) lined up to the frame. Also, I think the cutout for the wiper motor is backwards, the right bolt hole is covered while the left side seems to go farther than needed. I'll just drill out the covered hole, and seal any gaps around the cutout.
Next up was a 1 piece floor with inner rockers attached. It couldn't have fit any better, perfect all the way around. With the body lifted, I slipped it into place and loosely bolted it to the frame. Then lowered the body onto it, and aligned the other body mounts. I left the rear seam unattached as I'm changing the trunk floor later and it fits between the floor and the rear seat back brace. After welding, the exposed areas were primed and seam sealed. Next I patched the hole I cut out at drivers door hinge area.
My frame was already restored at some point and still looked great, with the body up, I painted it with POR15 and I reinforced the rear lower control arm mounting points. I just welded a piece across the top and added a gusset in the front. Next, I epoxy primed the underside of the floor and painted it with Eastwood Chassis black. Pictures not that good, but it turned out really well. I painted all the way back to the rear seat area, after I change the trunk floor, I'll lift up the back of the body and get the rear half the same way. I don't have a rotisserie, and didn't want to make one I'd only use once. The engine hoist works great, I just don't go underneath, I was able to get it high enough I could reach everything from the outside.
As you can see, the area at the windshield to dash area has some holes. I was going to patch them, but realized these were also fixed before with brazed in sheetmetal, and the dash is now fully brazed across the top. I got a new piece to replace this area, but it's meant for a '70-72 chevelle. On the '68-'69 you have to modify it a bit to work, there's nothing available for the older ones. I cut out the driver's quarter panel which will be replaced with a new full panel. Found out I actually have 2 quarters here. Panel was repalced before, they never took the old one off, just put the new one over top. You guessed it, brazed in as well, no spot welds. Should be fun around rear window channel as there's just gobs of brazing to grind out. Looks like the wheel wells are also 2 layers thick.
