well hey all,finally the weather has turned and its light until 9:00 pm so 've been spending a few more hours out in the garage tinkering away on the 54.But as always when you do body work you always find more than you thought was there.I am just ordering a new set of rear wheelwell housings as the last few inches of mine have rotted away.I was going to hand make them but since I actually found a pair I think I may bite the 500.00 bullet and just get them.I really only need the last two inches.Anyways I got the roof stripped to bare metal and other than a few bondo'd dents nothing to suprising.Took all the frone end apart and started stripping the front fenders.There is actually four layers of paint and primer on her and I actually found the sunsand beige original roof color under the grey primer.Lots to do still and I am sure more surprises along the way,a shoddy patch on the driver side lower paner,some bondo around the head light opening which has me searching for more patch panels.Soon it will be time for the doors to come off and get stripped as well.I am almost contemplating taking the body off the frame as I have to replace the rear trunk support and one floor brace and it may just be easier to do.Of course that means out comes the motor and trans,wiring ,steering column or lord what have I got into.And of course I still have the 49 to reassemble.I think they may switch places for a bit and the 49 may come home for reassembly and the 54 to work for the body work.Oh one final other thing,the front fender spears.First of all they weigh like 5 pounds each,but mine have a few broken studs on the rear.Not a biggie as I can just maybe tack weld new ones on,but all the ones I see on ebay don't seem to have the rear studs.Did someone jimmyrig mine in the past or do they actualy come with studs?
Hey Brian, do you think one could replace inner quarters with the outers still in place? I was looking at my car and if I fixed the inners the outers maybe okay .Doesn't look like inner fender wells are eaten up either.
yes I believe it can be done if you are talking about the inners from the rear of the wheelhouse back to the rear of the car.It is one single panel that you can buy,i have mine already.Now the issue is if your trunk extensions are bad(the 6 ich wide panel that run out from the trunk floor to the inner panel)nobody makes them for the 54 chevies.I've looked and looked everywhere but have never found them,truck floors yes,extensions no.They make them for my 49 but not a 54.Same with the wheelhouses,can but them for my 49 but not for a 54 chevy,which makes nosense to me as there should be way more demand for 54 parts i'd think.
that is the rear crossbrace that runs under the rear trunk at the rear trunk seam.The body actually bolts through each end of it.They are very commonly rusted out on the ends as is mine on the 54,so yes I have one of those.The panel i'm talking about runs from the trunk floor out to the inner lower rocker panel.You can see in my pics on my 54 chevy body where someone custom made them as no one I know of reproduces them yet
I have ordered the majority of my parts from ecklers early chevy or national chevy association.Except for the carpet that I got from nos reproductions.Eckler is pretty good,they have most everything you'll need but their shipping can be pricey.If you order online thay automatically send it fedex to Canada.Good because you have your parts in 3 days but its expensive.Not sure if you phone ordered if they would offer a cheaper way.National is good also but if you are from Canada you cannot order online,you have to phone them and order that way.
As for the 54 body,well its something I picked up this winter and I am kind of regretting it now.The plan was to switch out the dash to my Pontiac one and then use the chevy body to replace mine original Pontiac body as it needs major tlc.The fellow I bought it from swore it was a great body but now after closer examination it has been really hacked together.After I ground through the 1/2 inch of bondo down to bare steel I saw the total hack job on the rear quarters.They just overlapped the repair panels and filled the gaps with copious amounts of bondo.I could and still may fix it but I found another 54 Pontiac that I have dibs on the body shell once hes done parting it out.Hopeing it may be a better candidate for the body swap
I see your issue with your rear quarters, but from the work you have shown on here that you do, not a big deal right?
I to have a surprise waiting for me on the rear quarters as well, they were the reason I was going to walk away from this purchase but he lowered the price to were I thought this would be a great winter project and I liked the wheels! I should have walked away after going thru the cars other issues, but hey what's life without these challenges!!! Your skills are way better than what I have to work with so stay positive.
It is a great pass time both working on the cars and hanging out with the people here on the forum...all good. It would be nice if parts were easier to come by but that to is part of the experience.
Keep posting your progress it helps me stay motivated.
-- Edited by cdnwillyg on Sunday 23rd of July 2017 09:27:29 AM
