56 Safari Wagon Project

[56Safari]

I posted an introduction a while back but I haven't had time to start a more official project build/progress thread so here it is again starting from the top.

I have made a little progress since my last post, but I was out of town most of January so things have been moving pretty slow. As a disclaimer, this project thread will get derailed frequently and move unexpectedly slow. This is also my first attempt at a project of this magnitude, so I will be learning and taking my time as I go along.


The day I hauled the pontiac home, May 2016.
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I dropped it off the trailer and started mocking up the wheels I have from a corvette I'm parting out. It sat outside under a tarp for the next 5 months while I parted out the corvette in my garage.

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November came and finally the hood is off!! Someone cut the top of the radiator support instead of unbolting it for some reason.
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Interior is now mostly stripped, I still need to remove the steering column, pedals, and everything in the dash

One of the first projects will be installing a new one piece floor pan. No one re-pops the Pontiac floor pan so I am going with a Chevy nomad/sedan floor. I will also be installing a C4 corvette front and rear suspension. The pontiac frame is 48" wide, in order to use the corvette suspension without narrowing the frame a lot I will be swapping over to a chevy sedan frame. This should also help with the floor pan install. All of the Chevy floor pan body mounts fit perfectly on the frame, so I'll just need to redo the front cab/firewall mounts to the Chevy frame.

Here's the frame and floor pan I picked up over the holidays. I also purchased outer rockers as well (sitting on front frame rails).
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There are a couple of areas I will need to wrap my head around before swapping in the new floor.
- The doors need to be aligned.
- The drivers side rear quarter panel is separated from the outer and inner rocker.
- The inner LH quarter panel is also separated from the floor / inner rockers

I will cross brace the body thoroughly inside the car before separating the body from the frame. Does anyone see any need to further address the outer rocker / inner quarter area before lifting the body off?

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Interior is now mostly stripped, I still need toremove the steering column, pedals, and everything in the dash

One of the first projects will be installing anew one piece floor pan. No one re-pops the Pontiac floor pan so I am goingwith a Chevy nomad/sedan floor I will also be installing a C4 corvette frontand rear suspension. The Pontiac frame is 48" wide, in order to use thecorvette suspension without narrowing the frame a lot I will be swapping overto a Chevy sedan frame This should also help with the floor pan install. All ofthe Chevy floor pan body mounts fit perfectly on the frame, so I'll just needto redo the front cab/firewall mounts to the Chevy frame.

Here's the frame and floor pan I picked up overthe holidays. I also purchased outer rockers as well (sitting on front framerails).

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There are a couple of areas I will need to wrapmy head around before swapping in the new floor.
- The doors need to be aligned.
- The drivers side rear quarter panel isseparated from the outer and inner rocker.
- The inner LH quarter panel is also separatedfrom the floor / inner rockers

I will cross brace the body thoroughly inside thecar before separating the body from the frame. Does anyone see any need tofurther address the outer rocker / inner quarter area before lifting the bodyoff?
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I got distracted from the Pontiac for a couple days because I purchased a new TIG welder. I've never TIG welded before, so I decided to learn by building a new welding cart to hold my old MIG and my new TIG together. It's not finished yet, but starting to look good. I still need to add filler rod tubes, finish the torch holders, and devise a foot pedal holder. In the last pic you can see where I had to redo one of the braces so the door would open on the MIG welder. My last welding cart blocked the door from opening and it drove me nuts. I also added additional bracing underneath for the perch the TIG sits on. Don't laugh, I'm aware theres a couple ugly TIG welds on there.

I really like this Lincoln TIG 200, for the price I'm not sure you can't beat it. My only complaint is that the fan is on all the time. If the Miller diversion 180 was closer in price I would have went that route.
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Back to the Pontiac

Before I do the floorpan, I'm going to install the C4 IRS kit I got from Laszlo. I finally got some time last week and started prepping the rear section of the frame. I picked up a 110lb pressure blaster from HF and 250lbs of aluminum oxide from Tractor Supply. I was very impressed with the sandblaster it took the paint off quickly, the body filler went much slower.

When I purchased the frame it was sitting on cinder blocks outside. I took a measuring tape, checked it for squareness and loaded it onto the trailer. I didn't realize the previous owner had filled the seam on the bottom side of the frame with body filler to make it look like a seamless frame. It took roughly 2.5 hours to sandblast out all the filler from JUST the two humps on the frame rails. Anyone have any tips for chemically removing body filler?
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The rear frame rails are ready for IRS install kit. I also removed the leaf spring brackets as well but forgot to take pictures. I have the Energy Suspension Hyper-Flex System (3.18122) kit on order. I'm hoping it arrives before I fly back home this weekend. I would love to get the bushings installed so I can start the install. That's it for now, any feedback / advice is more than welcome. (sorry for the long post, I never get time to update progress at home. Once I'm out of town for work with nothing to do in a hotel room I finally get time to do this part of it)

[WagonCrazy]

Wow! You've been busy. Exciting to see progress of this magnatude. Congrats on a great project. You have your hands full, but its the journey that is the most fulfilling.

[busterwivell]

This will be a fun project to watch! Keep up the good work.

[chevynut]

Wes, the sandblaster should remove the filler pretty easily. What media are you using? I've found that aircraft stripper will remove it too. Looks like a cool project.

[56Safari]

Wes, the sandblaster should remove the filler pretty easily. What media are you using? I've found that aircraft stripper will remove it too. Looks like a cool project.

I'm using 60-80 grit Black Diamond aluminum oxide abrasive from Tractor Supply (the grit is a blend). It's only 7.99 a 50 pound bag, so the price is right. The problem is the body filler is probably 3/16" or more. Its not only built up to fill the lower inside rail but it covers the higher outside rail as well. It blasts fairly quickly off the outside rail where its thinner, but the thick area takes a significant amount of time to get through.

I got a lead on a seamless frame about an hour away from me, I'm mulling over switching to the seamless frame if it's still there when I get back home.. Question, are there any issues with the kit if I decided to swap? It's just a thicker wall on the dogbone tubes correct?

[chevynut]

Question, are there any issues with the kit if I decided to swap? It's just a thicker wall on the dogbone tubes correct?

The dogbone tubes for the seamless frame are longer, since they're wider in that area. Email me if you want to get another set.

[56Safari]

I finally got a little more time this week to work on the Safari. After much back and forth I decided against going with a seamless frame. I figured I would rather spend my money upgrading to a Dana 44 Rear end that I would use than spend it on a frame I would rarely ever look at. Before I started I decided to take everything apart and clean it up before hand to avoid any weld contamination during the install (it was filthy). It isn't super clean yet, but good enough to move forward with the install. Eventually I will clean it up, finish grinding off the forging marks, and polish it out.
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The bushings in the dogbones were toast so I pressed out the old ones and started grinding the forging marks off the dogbones.
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After quite a bit of measuring, re measuring, leveling, re measuring again I finally decided to start cutting into the frame where the upper dogbone tubes will be. ( dogbone pictured in the photo below is actually the one for the bottom, but it has the new bushings pressed in for mock up. Not lubing them up until final assembly)
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After I was satisfied with everything I tack welded the tubes in place.
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I decided to pause on the install until I pick up a Dana 44 center section and batwing. Mine is a D36, I found one pretty close to me but I'm waiting on the guy to pull it out. He's telling me he can have it for me next week and he's waiting to free up a lift in the shop before he starts dismantling the car. If his price wasn't pretty fair I would have moved on to find another one by now. Since I was stuck there I decided to finish taking apart the front end. I got the steering column removed, brakes, heater core, A/C assembly etc. removed from the car. Took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it's done!
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As you might have noticed by the ornament on top of the firewall, its beer time. I will resume tomorrow and finish dismantling everything under the dash, as well as removing the rear bumpers, gas tank, etc. Hopefully I will have time to bolt the front sheetmetal back on, align the doors, and start prepping for the floor pan install.

[Custer55]

Really cool project!! Looks like you have a good start on it. Pretty good progress for only being able to work on weekends. I like your welder cart set up to put both welders on the same cart as that will be a good space saver. Gives me an idea for a cart for my welder and plasma cutter.
Keep the post coming
Brian :cool:

[56Safari]

Thanks, I'm getting there. Hopefully I should have a fair amount of time this spring to get stuff done. Ideally I will get the floors in and have the entire body media blasted inside and out then covered in epoxy primer before I take off at the end of May (not including all body repairs, I plan to do metal repair one area at a time after I coat it in epoxy. Strip it back as needed, complete repair then epoxy back over).

I'm flirting with the idea of getting a dustless media blaster from sunbelt, I can get a rental for free through a friend. Then its just time, media, and the chemical to prevent flash rusting. Anyone here used one of these? thoughts? I figure it can save me some $$$ that I can put into the drivetrain.

Anyhow, got the dash fully stripped today. Also got the tail lights and liftgate out. The rear bumpers and tailgate were rusted on there really good, I hit it with PB blaster and I'll tackle it again tomorrow.... I'm out of cutoff wheels at the moment anyhow. I can't wait for the day where rust and mud dobber nests dont rain down whileworking on this thing!
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[rustay56]

56 Safari your making good progress. I use a Clean and Strip Disc for removing body filler, not sure if you guys call it that in the U.S. It looks like a disc made of dried seaweed and attaches to your grinder, makes short work of filler,(where a mask) also great for removing paint, remember to keep it moving when you go through to steel as it heats up the panel real quick. I agree with you on getting epoxy on to steel straight away after blasting as the rusting process begins (depending on where you live) within an hour of starting. When I do a chassis I blast where I'm going to weld then when I'm happy with the repairs I spray some rattle can Zinc Gal onto the weld then move on to the next repair. when the chassis is finished and I'm happy I blast the whole chassis then epoxy and go straight to paint,(wet on wet, no sanding) usually satin black as it is easy to touch up stone chips and gives a softer looking uniform finish than gloss does. Just my opinion and not trying to tell you what to do. Anyway keep up the good work I enjoyed reading about your project and look forward to following your progress.


Regards Andrew.

[567chevys]

Hello Andrew ,


Is this the item you where saying to use ?
I have used them for years , They work great !!!

Use for cleaning and finishing on all metals for removal of light rust, oxides and coatings.

Scotch-Brite™ Roloc™ Surface Conditioning Disc, 2 inch, Coarse

[56Safari]

Thanks, I'll order a couple and give them a shot..

Got the front sheetmetal back on today, I'm having a bit of difficulty getting the door gaps to line up. I'm following the Danchuk article here https://www.danchuk.com/images/Downloads/News%20Letters/News_11.2_body_adjustments.pdf . I torqued the body mounts down, however there is a large amount of cancerous rust in the floor pan so I don't know how much it helped. The passenger side of the floor braces connect to the inner and outer rockers, but the drivers side inner to outer rocker is mostly separated and not . I'm wondering if maybe this might also be working against me in getting things lined up.

Both doors have a gap at the top toward the cowl and push out.
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The bottom side is relatively close on both, they look similar to this.
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I'm struggling to get the top side to push in at all. I've loosened up the hinges per the article and tried moving things around. I can get them to budge a little bit but by the time I get the door back open to snug them down everything is pretty close to where I started. When re-assembling the front sheet metal the drivers side fender took some coercing to get everything mounted back up. At some point it had a minor accident on that side and is shifted down a little. I wouldn't think this would affect the doors as much as what I'm seeing, the fenders seem to line up relatively close to where they should be on the top of the cowl next to the windshield.
Any suggestions on getting the doors to line up? Should I remove and inspect the doors and hinges and try starting from scratch?

[chevynut]

Should I remove and inspect the doors and hinges and try starting from scratch?

That's what I'd do. Make sure the nut plates in the door jamb are free to move. Make sure the hinges are good. The fender looks too close to the cowl to me, but the doors look too far out. I fought this and ended up getting the door where it needed to be relative to the rocker and quarter, then matched the fender to the door. I had to slice the cowl and move it outboard. My car was never wrecked.

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[56Safari]

Thanks, for the closeups that was helpful/motivating to head back into the shop to take a further look. I took both hinges out and inspected them. The bushings have a little play so I think I will go ahead and order a set of replacement bushings for the hinges. The area below the lower hinge was filled with debris.
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And after extensive vacuuming
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I'm pretty sure that buildup helped fuel the rotting of my floors. The lower hinge nut plate also has one stripped hole, so I'll need to get that replaced. I was able to get the door gap a lot closer, it still isn't perfect but I'll wait until I get the new nut plate to tweak that side any further. Also, I think you're right about the fender gap its a little close. Because I'm seeing the gap on both sides I believe the front might be sagging or pushed down a bit and exaggerating that gap at the doors. I'll look into that tomorrow.
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[rustay56]

The 2 inch Roloc disc is great on your 90 deg die grinder for small areas but we need to think bigger.3M make a 4in & 5in one for your grinder. Norton make a 7 inch one as well. Get the purple one with the back support. Dont lean on it hard just let the disc do its job and be careful when you come into contact with the panel as it will remove metal. I would remove most of the the paint and filler before I set all my gaps, That front fender might have had a hit sometime in the past and the profile might not be correct so it makes your door look worse. Good Luck.

Regards Andrew.

[56Safari]

I would remove most of the the paint and filler before I set all my gaps, That front fender might have had a hit sometime in the past and the profile might not be correct so it makes your door look worse. Good Luck.

Regards Andrew.

Thanks, I'm mainly just trying to get my door gaps set before I do my 1 piece floor pan and outer rocker install. I think I will follow Cnuts advice and line the doors up with the rear quarters first. It looks like I'm going to be waiting at least 1 more week before this shop has the Dana 44 ready for me, so if I can get everything lined up I may go ahead and move the frame over to start on the floor pan and open that can of worms.

[56Safari]

Finally got the body off the frame today, I'd planned to get it done last weekend but I wasn't feeling all that well.

welded up some mounts for the rear using leftover 3/16 square tube for the top and 3/16 flat bar for the bottom.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/968/41763565491_37dc5e8428_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26CvbZZ)

I also used 2" 3/16 square tube scraps to make the cowl mounts. The came together pretty quickly and worked quite well.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/825/26895299987_49b8250cfc_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GYDrEK)


I decided to use half of my rotisserie to lift the rear portion because I only have one engine hoist. When I built the rotisserie I made some caster legs to slide into each half so I could roll the rotisserie around easily when not in use. To keep it from tipping over when lifting the body I put both caster legs on it. I welded an additional 3/4" nut on the backside to tighten the supporting leg down. It worked quite well, the hydraulic ram on the rotisserie made for smooth lifting up and down.

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/977/27894488158_c28c49fbc4_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JuWxv1)

[56Safari]

And if anyone needs a Pontiac frame and is in the TN area, I'll let it go real cheap. theres some minor damage on the bottom of the drivers side frame hump, shouldn't be too tough to straighten out.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/970/41764096431_2671b88298_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26CxUQ8)


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/832/41722753612_8a854c0004_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26yU23U)

[56Safari]

I rough cut the floor out today with my plasma cutter. Now I'm going around and carefully removing the remaining spot welds on the adjoining panels, I'll finish up the rest tomorrow. I also found a big mouse nest in the passenger side rocker panel. I still need to dial in a better system for removing the spot welds, I'm currently just using a right angle die grander with a cutoff wheel.. It works but its going pretty slow.

I placed a few orders today as well. I went ahead and purchased a 55/56 chevy toe panel to help tie in the floor pan to the firewall. I was trying to make the Pontiac toe panel work for the interim, but after some closer measurements the floor was coming up too short and also they seam in different places. I also called SPI and ordered a gallon of black epoxy primer and activator to prime all the panel mating surfaces before they get welded together.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/980/41770994682_f08485f79e_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26Dagru)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/870/40005646220_a8fa654663_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/23XaoR3)


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/907/41770995462_2f7ceab964_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/26DagEW)IMG_9315 (https://flic.kr/p/26DagEW) by james montgomery (https://www.flickr.com/photos/147652920@N05/), on Flickr

[56Safari]

Is there any way to fix/re-link the photos from my older posts on this thread? My first few posts have photos hosted by photobucket, and I can't figure out how to edit my older posts, I can only edit the newer posts from this year.

[NickP]

To my knowledge, once you pass the allotted time limit to edit, that's all that can be done. Your other issue is "PHOTOBUCKET". See if you can find those images and I'll try to see what Sid will allow to be done.

[56Safari]

Thanks Nick, I have the photos on my computer, so re-uploading them and re-linking them will not be an issue.... I was using photobucket before I knew they were going to hold the internet forum world hostage.... I've tried using my amazon prime and google accounts but I can't seem to get them to work properly. I'm currently using Flickr (but they were just bought out my SmugMug), so I'm not sure if that will keep working either.... I'm just trying to keep the thread updated so people can see the progress of the build and follow along.

[LEE T]

You might want to check with photobucket again. At some point after I paid what they wanted, I got an email saying the fee has been dropped to $99 per year. Its not for ebay listing and such, just personal and forum use, and from what I understand the photos would reappear, but I'm not for sure about that part.
http://photobucket.com/p500/?utm_source=ga&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:11199589&utm_campaign=2018-01-23%2012264%20150K%20Active%20Free%20Users

[NickP]

Thanks Nick, I have the photos on my computer, so re-uploading them and re-linking them will not be an issue.... I was using photobucket before I knew they were going to hold the internet forum world hostage.... I've tried using my amazon prime and google accounts but I can't seem to get them to work properly. I'm currently using Flickr (but they were just bought out my SmugMug), so I'm not sure if that will keep working either.... I'm just trying to keep the thread updated so people can see the progress of the build and follow along.

I use SmugMug and Flicker with no real issues so far. If you have time, PM me and we can set up a plan to edit your images.

[chevynut]

If the images are on your computer, why do you even need a hosting site? I upload pretty much all of my pics straight from my hard drive. I have pics on Facebook (free) that I can just cut and paste here.

[WagonCrazy]

I upload pretty much all of my pics straight from my hard drive.
Yep...me too.

Really enjoying watching this Safari come back to life. Stay with it man...you're building a special kind of wagon that will be a people magnet at car shows, etc.

[NickP]

If the images are on your computer, why do you even need a hosting site? I upload pretty much all of my pics straight from my hard drive. I have pics on Facebook (free) that I can just cut and paste here.

I would guess that he doesn't want to regenerate that whole thread but replace images.

[56Safari]

If the images are on your computer, why do you even need a hosting site?

I've been trying to keep the pics all in one central place on the web, it makes it easy to show family members, and the many people I only see once or twice a year on the road... I'll try doing both and upload pics for the thread directly

I made a little more progress yesteraday, I was getting slowed down just trying to locate the spot welds on the rear brace. Once I picked up a stripping disc like 567chevys recommended it started making it easier to find them under the rust without scratching the surface metal.
Then I ran into a heaping gob of seam sealer, so I used a heat gun and putty knife...

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The putty knife also helped me separate the spot welds (occasionally surrounding rust was still holding the panel tight) and also helped me quickly see where they were getting hung when they were just barely clinging on.... I found another mouse nest under the brace between the cargo floor and the rear of the floor pan.

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I'm going to have some minor repairs on the brace, but I think it should be salvageable.. If not, its in good enough shape to bend up a new replacement. My golden star toe panel came in, and oddly enough it was shipped in weld through primer and not the black edp coating. Hopefully my SPI stuff comes in this afternoon. I need to start thinking about/draw up plans for what I'm going to do for the rear cargo floor. I would like to go with a flat cargo floor, and include some sort of access panel to the top of the gas tank if possible, I also need to think about where I'm going to mount the battery because I don't want it sitting under the hood.

[chevynut]

I've been trying to keep the pics all in one central place on the web, it makes it easy to show family members, and the many people I only see once or twice a year on the road..

Just use Facebook...it's free.

[chevynut]

I need to start thinking about/draw up plans for what I'm going to do for the rear cargo floor. I would like to go with a flat cargo floor, and include some sort of access panel to the top of the gas tank if possible

Here's what I did....

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I also need to think about where I'm going to mount the battery because I don't want it sitting under the hood.

Mine is behind the passenger tire.

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[56Safari]

Thanks, Laszlo that'll give me a good idea where to start... I still need to check the fitment of the rear wheels and tires to make sure there's plenty of room as well.


[QUOTE=chevynut;45815]Here's what I did....

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Are the S curve braces coming from the rear body mounts factory on the nomad? Mine doesn't have them... but the rear frame rails after the humps are a lot different on the pontiac frame, the stay up high and have a rapid decent towards the end.

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[chevynut]

Yes those braces that I connected the cargo area braces too are factory on a Nomad. I don't think they're necessary though, I connected them because they were there.

[NickP]

You should be set, let me know if I missed one.


NickP

[56Safari]

You should be set, let me know if I missed one.


NickP

Everything looks perfect, thanks for the help Nick!

[56Safari]

No major updates here, but I cleaned up and re-organized the shop today... Everything has been in such chaos the last 6 months since I started re-building that I decided it was time to clean it up and re-organize a bit. Still have a long way to go, but it's starting to get organized.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/975/27248237487_33dca4a871_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/HvQkG4)



Also, does anyone here have any experience with a complete re-pop door for any model? I'm just curious about quality, fit, etc... My passenger side door is so rusted out I'm debating buying a re-pop instead of fixing it.. I'm going to order a complete tailgate next week and I would like to order as much as I can/need at once... The guy I'm getting my re-pop sheetmetal from is about 3 hours away (really good prices and worth the drive or I'd just have it shipped).

[chevynut]

I've never personally seen any of the repop doors or tailgates but have read that the tailgates are nice. So I would expect that the doors are nice too. I wouldn't be surprised if they took some work to make the gaps better, but it all depends on how picky you are. Maybe Madmook can reply with his opinions since he sells them.

[NickP]

I have one. seems ok so far - RealDealSteel unit.

[Rick_L]

Door or tailgate? I don't think I've ever seen Nomad doors repro'd. They are a cross between a hardtop door and a sedan door. Seems like you could make one from a sedan door but it may be a lot of trouble.

[56Safari]

I have one. seems ok so far - RealDealSteel unit.

Thanks, I'm thinking time and money wise it makes sense to just go for the whole door. Most of the bottom structure of the door is gone, and a little near the top where it touches the B pillar, as well as on the skin... I don't have the skills to make the entire bottom door piece, so I'd be paying for a patch there already and still have multiple other areas to address.

[56Safari]

Door or tailgate? I don't think I've ever seen Nomad doors repro'd. They are a cross between a hardtop door and a sedan door. Seems like you could make one from a sedan door but it may be a lot of trouble.


Goldenstar is re-popping them according to their site, though I haven't spoken with my guy yet to make sure he can get them.

http://goldenstarauto.com/Productdetails.aspx?id=DO13-555L&c=11&sc=347&pi=0


I'm going to crack into the other door this weekend and take a closer look... If I need to order the lower door frame patch panel, I'm just going to bite the bullet and get both doors and a tailgate.

[Rick_L]

Good stuff, no reason to think the fit/finish would be any different from their other repro doors which apparently are pretty good.

[NickP]

Door or tailgate? I don't think I've ever seen Nomad doors repro'd. They are a cross between a hardtop door and a sedan door. Seems like you could make one from a sedan door but it may be a lot of trouble.

I'll check, but the OP's question seemed to indicate quality in general or I miss read it "
complete re-pop door for any model", hence my reply.

[56Safari]

I'll check, but the OP's question seemed to indicate quality in general or I miss read it "
complete re-pop door for any model", hence my reply.


Yes, quality/ first hand feedback is what I'm curious about.. I don't mind doing some work to make it fit nicely.. I was having trouble finding feedback from people who purchased the whole door.. Maybe my search criteria wasn't good enough

[NickP]

Fit and finish is good however, holes for trim are not present, to include interior trim holes. Relative to all other fitment holes for cranks and window items seems spot on.

[56Safari]

Fit and finish is good however, holes for trim are not present, to include interior trim holes. Relative to all other fitment holes for cranks and window items seems spot on.


Awesome, thanks Nick... Trim holes on the doors don't bother me, I may switch to 55' Pontiac rear quarters and trim if I can find a good donor car for the quarters.. I like the clean lines on the 55.. If I don't, I'm not sure I'll keep all the 56 trim anyhow

55 rear quarters
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56 rear quarters
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[56Safari]

Got a better look at the other door today, looks like I'll just go ahead and purchase both drivers and passenger door. There's just enough wrong with it that time/money ratio seems worth it. Here's the better of the two doors

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I'm currently working on the patch panels for the inner quarters... It appears the body settled down a little bit from the deterioration, because i made a duplicate copy of the channel (shown below) that attaches to the inner rocker at the floor pan and the angle is too sharp.

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I made a second piece and it seems to fit a lot better, I was also able to get a much more crisp bend the second time... (just realized I don't have a photo)

Right now I'm trying to figure out the best way to duplicate the curved U channel at the bottom of the inner door jamb, let me know if you guys have any better ideas. I can't figure out how to make it from 1 piece, so my current idea is to make it from 2 pieces, and weld it together. This is a sample test piece I made for demonstration, and isn't the exact radius or dimension. I took a piece of 18 gauage, bent it 90 in the metal brake, stretched it until the radius is achieved. Next I bent another strip of flat 18 gauge to the correct radius, then I will weld them together.

Here's the radius channel I'm attempting to duplicate. (sorry, I've flipped this picture and re-uploaded it and it still displays upside down)

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Here's what I have so far.

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[55chevysedanX4]

I bought a set of these and they are great for patching the area in question Keep in mind I am working on a 2 door sedan but think there is a good chance they would be the same. They can be found on e-bay inner quarter to floor patch for 1955 chevy. area and are a good price. May be easier than trying to fabricate. Hope this helps.

https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/MBYAAOSwA35Zd7cp/s-l225.jpg
(https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-1957-Chevy-Sedan-Inner-Quarter-to-Floor-Panel-Left/132611357404?hash=item1ee040badc:g:MBYAAOSwA35Zd7c p)

[56Safari]

I bought a set of these and they are great for patching the area in question Keep in mind I am working on a 2 door sedan but think there is a good chance they would be the same. They can be found on e-bay inner quarter to floor patch for 1955 chevy. area and are a good price. May be easier than trying to fabricate. Hope this helps.





Awesome thanks... I'm trying to increase my metalworking skills, so I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a powered bead roller so I can just tip the second flange up and weld it to the other patch. There will be plenty more patches I'll need to make, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of use from the machine... I will definitely need to patch the channel up a little higher than that patch goes anyway... Now I just have to decide which machine to get.

[55chevysedanX4]

It is hard to tell from the picture I provided but it comes up 4 inches from the bottom. I appreciate the fact that you want to improve your fabrication skills. I wish I had the money to buy some tools but I am having a hard enough time just with the thousands of parts i need LOL

[56Safari]

It is hard to tell from the picture I provided but it comes up 4 inches from the bottom. I appreciate the fact that you want to improve your fabrication skills. I wish I had the money to buy some tools but I am having a hard enough time just with the thousands of parts i need LOL


Haha.... It's hard to drop that much $$$ on a tool, but I went ahead and bought the 24" mittler with the VS motor and some tipping and step dies this morning... I tried going the cheap route 2 years ago with a bead roller I found on Craigslist for $200 that was modified to be a power roller with a drill... It will bead light stuff, but it bogs down on 18gauge.. aftermarket sheet metal is adding up fast, maybe this will help me save a few bucks in the long haul.

[LEE T]

I have used Chevy 2dr 150/210 wagon quarters on a nomad, and the lower part of wagon quarters on a Chevy passenger car, so I would bet Pont would be the same. The top had to be reshaped to fit the nomad.

[Rick_L]

Something I hadn't noticed previously - the photos of the blue and white Safari that 56 Safari posted show a belt line dip that a Nomad (or Chevy wagon) does not have.

[LEE T]

That would be something to check on, it looks like the dip is the same as Chevy sedan, and the Pontiac 2 dr sedan also.

[567chevys]

Just Talked with Dick Olsen Hotrodder on this site

He has Both OEM Doors off 56 Nomad
He says they Have been blasted and No Rust out & barely even Pits under where the weather strip was
He wants $750 EA

Here is his web site

http://www.classicchevyshop.com/contact-us

[56Safari]

Just Talked with Dick Olsen Hotrodder on this site

He has Both OEM Doors off 56 Nomad
He says they Have been blasted and No Rust out & barely even Pits under where the weather strip was
He wants $750 EA

Here is his web site

http://www.classicchevyshop.com/contact-us


Thanks 567, Haha I already placed my order for the doors and tailgate this morning.... I really appreciate it, if my guy has any issue getting the doors for me I will reach out to him.

[LEE T]

Original doors are likely to be way better than reproduction, and if they haven't shipped yet, they will probably let you cancel

[56Safari]

I called him this morning and he's already got the order processing, I'm not gonna worry about it unless something comes up. I got the doors for about $100 cheaper and I don't have any shipping costs (I'm guessing WA to TN freight would be at least a couple hundred)... He was also about $200 cheaper on the tailgate than anyone else I've seen, and a good guy to do business with... I forsee giving this man a lot of my money as things go on, he's also a painless and dakota digital dealer.

[56Safari]

Well, I've been waiting on my MB bead roller to come in before going further with the inner quarter patch panels, but it still hasn't shipped yet.. So in the interim I found some paint stripper I had laying around and started stripping the inner quarters and A pillar and cowl areas just to get an idea of what everything else looked like.... There is some decent metal under it all, not a lot, but some. I was also surprised when I sanded a few areas of rust on the roof that paint/primer showed up underneath after the rust sanded off. Not sure if the paint rusted? or if rusty parts were layed on top at some point? After all that I went ahead and added the drivers side A-pillar with cowl panel to my order. The passenger side looked pretty good, I may need the outer most piece of the A pillar for that side, but I'm going to hold off for now. But I just hit the road for the next month an a half, so no more updates until July.

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[chevynut]

That's looking pretty good 56Safari. It's always nice when you get down to bare metal and cut away the bad stuff so you can see what you really have to work with. Too bad dipping a whole body isn't more cost effective and easier to access for most guys.

[56Safari]

I may try to take the front clip somewhere to have it dipped if its reasonable. Once I get back I'm going to try taking the whole car all the way down to bare metal before I go any further.. I'm trying to avoid sandblasting, but I think I'll need to in the pinch welds at the windows and the adjoining areas of the toe panel.

[chevynut]

I'm trying to avoid sandblasting, but I think I'll need to in the pinch welds at the windows and the adjoining areas of the toe panel.

Sandblasting is fine as long as it's in high crown areas or areas with lots of detail like door jambs, tailgate area, etc. That's how I did mine. I even blasted the beads in the roof because it's hard to clean them any other way. I blasted pretty much all of the interior as long as it wasn't the backside of exterior sheetmetal. Use fine sand and as low pressure as possible while still cutting the rust.

[LEE T]

Medium crushed glass would be a better choice for blasting media IMO. Fine crushed glass is like powder.

[chevynut]

Medium crushed glass would be a better choice for blasting media IMO. Fine crushed glass is like powder.

I guess when I said "fine" I meant not coarse like play sand. I use 80 grit silica sand that I get at Lowes. It's white and pretty fine compared to play sand and it's cheap compared to the glass beads (crushed glass) I get at Tractor Supply. And yes I use a respirator and try to work upwind. ;)

[LEE T]

Personally, I think sand is a bit too hard for sheet metal, but we can all agree that it works very well on frames and other thick steel parts, when using the proper protection.
Cnut, you have done a lot of blasting, but it sounds like you have stuck with sand because of its low price, but maybe you will consider some of these points.
Steel is 4.5 - 5 on the MOHS hardness scale, glass beads have the same MOV rating (hardness) as crushed glass which is 5.5, but crushed glass cleans a lot better that glass beads because of the sharp edges it has. Crushed glass is also the softest media you can use that will clean steel, so there is less chance of damage. Black Diamond is 6>
Silica Sand is 7 Crushed glass is also white and its clean. I clean the metal before blasting, then just wipe it off after blasting and spray epoxy.
Glass media has a lot of other benefits also.

https://www.reade.com/reade-resources/reference-educational/reade-reference-chart-particle-property-briefings/32-mohs-hardness-of-abrasives

New Age blasting media has distributors all across the country, but it may be a hardware store or something like that as the distributor, if you contact them they will tell you if there is one close to you. I haven't bought any in a few years so the price may have gone up, but I use to buy it for about $8 per 50# bag for the New Age packaged product. Just checking on line I noticed this place close to you if you are interested in trying it. 2040 or 15/35 works good for frames, and 40/70 is good for sheet metal.
http://www.unitedwesterndenver.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=category&virtuemart_category_id=12

[56Safari]

Thanks Lee, I was planning on giving the crushed glass media a try ... I saw some at Northern Tool for about $10 per 50# bag... Does it work well for a few uses? I was reclaiming my aluminum oxide ( or about 50-60% of it) by spraying on a tarp with minimal wind, helped keep the costs down a bit.

[LEE T]

What do you mean by a few uses? This web site has some info that may help
http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/finishing-guides/abrasive-blasting-guide.htm

[LEE T]

As for recycling the glass media you have to keep in mind that glass will only be good for one recycle, its just not as hard as sand. It will also depend on the distance and pressure you use.

[Rick_L]

I just don't see any problem with sand - or recycling it - where sandblasting is warranted. Such as on the places already mentioned. Typical glass bead media is fine for a cabinet but not suitable for general use as I use it.

I buy "sandblasting sand" from my local hardware store in 100# bags. Comes from a local plant that's primarily in the cement biz but they sell everything to the concrete mixer guys. It's "fine" by the same definitions that Cnut posted.

[BamaNomad]

Back in the 80's when I was doing more restoration work (and was lots younger), I had a dilute HCL solution in a poly garbage can for stripping rust, and also obtained a large vat (from a shut down refrigerator plant) which I mixed a Sodium Hydroxide solution for stripping paint; it was large enough to fit doors and fenders and deck lids and hoods. This gave me almost a production method re speed in stripping paint and rust from parts. I have always used sandblasting for rust and bad paint removal from bodies/frames/etc, and stripper for removing heavier coats of paint from large parts (ie. bodies)... A day or so in the vat removes all the paint and followed by a rinse and etch prepares the paint for primer... The ideas for both those vats came from an old article by Wayne Oakley in the Nomad News magazine.

[56Safari]

Its been a long 2 days, but I just got to Michigan .. I had to stop by my house on the way to Michigan to pick up some gear for work, so I couldn't help but open the box that came in from Mittler Bros. and take a peak..... it's an excellent looking piece of machinery

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I was slightly annoyed they put the foot controller on top of the aluminum during shipping without any protective padding underneath... its slightly scuffed along the side from the pedal moving around during shipping.. ohh well, I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough.

[chevynut]

I have that same MB bead roller but I didn't get it with the more powerful motor and I wish I would have. TO upgrade now is a lot more expensive than if I'd ordered it with the stronger motor to begin with. :/

[56Safari]

I have that same MB bead roller but I didn't get it with the more powerful motor and I wish I would have. TO upgrade now is a lot more expensive than if I'd ordered it with the stronger motor to begin with. :/

I had the same debate, but once I realized that I might be making a few things w/ 16 gauge I went for it... learned my lesson with my cheapo $200 bead roller

[56Safari]

Finally back home for a couple of weeks, still getting acclimated to life off of the road..

I finished up mounting the Safari to the rotisserie, got the COG set pretty well for now.. I'm still not 100% happy with the front mounts so I'll probably re-make them at some point. They're sturdy, but the angle is a couple degrees off, and not perfectly parallel to the rotisserie... I'm going to start glass bead blasting it this week (hoping to start later tonight if it cools down a bit).

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Found a little bad news when removing the trim on the rear windows.. The drivers side rear window drip rail will need to be re-fabricated as well as some patching to the roof... I'm going to keep plugging forward and block this area out of my mind for now. I knew the drip rails around the door / a-pillar would need work, but I was hoping I could get away with the rear windows... Other side appears to be okay.

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[56Safari]

Side note, anyone else buy steel lately? I paid $101 for a 20' stick of 2" square tube with a 3/16" wall.. It was almost half that last October, my jaw dropped when he rang me up.

[chevynut]

Side note, anyone else buy steel lately? I paid $101 for a 20' stick of 2" square tube with a 3/16" wall.. It was almost half that last October, my jaw dropped when he rang me up.

Yeah steel has soared in price lately. Here's the problem. They put a tariff on foreign steel so the US steel makers can be competitive.....then the US steel makers raise their prices, screwing us, and they're still not competitive. Thank the extortionist unions for that,

[BamaNomad]

That's a great looking rotisserie ... gonna be a great help to you as you clean/prep/prepare your body! Keep us informed with photos as you get the rust stripped off your car and begin replacing with new metal!

[56Safari]

Thanks Bama... I had already cut and tack welded the A-pillars together when I found MP&C's rotisserie plans posted online... The plans I sketched up had similar dimensions so I altered course and followed his plans for the rest of it but added hydraulic rams. I avoided using pneumatic casters because I didn't want to be pumping them up all the time. Now I'm wishing I had them because its a pain to get it out the garage door and it bottoms out on the transition to the driveway. I'm thinking about building some removable legs with pneumatic casters that slide into the each side of the main frames and lock in place for rolling it outside. hoping to get some blasting done soon, TSC was out of glass media yesterday, so I'm going to try another today.

[56Safari]

Well, they only had 1 bucket of glass bead in stock so I didn't get too far. Going to see if I can find some more in stock further away, or buy in bulk somewhere... TSC has the best priceI could find at $36 per 50lbs.
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[chevynut]

I used silica sand at around $10 per 100 pounds on my Nomad. Glass is going to cost a small fortune to blast that, imo. Problem is, Lowes no longer carries the silica sand I used, and neither does anyone else around here. We have a silica mine locally, so I don't know where it's going. My son speculated that the frackers are using it all up.

Are you re-cycling it? I had pretty good luck re-cycling my silica sand.

[56Safari]

Are you re-cycling it? I had pretty good luck re-cycling my silica sand.

Trying to, I only retained about 20% on that round but there was a slight wind blowing...I'm going to use a bigger tarp next round.. I can buy Garnet abrasive for $25/50lb. Other than that its aluminum oxide which is $8/50 lbs but I'm worried about causing warping... I was blasting with the glass around 40psi and it was coming clean really fast.

[BamaNomad]

If you have a Northern Tools somewhere close, they have glass and black ?? for less than $10/50 lb bag; also if you can't find fine grit sand anywhere else, then check and see if there's a tombstone/granite engraving company around (sometimes they are situated near large cemeteries). They buy it in bulk and generally will sell you a few 100 lb bags if you beg... :)

[56Safari]

If you have a Northern Tools somewhere close, they have glass and black ?? for less than $10/50 lb bag; also if you can't find fine grit sand anywhere else, then check and see if there's a tombstone/granite engraving company around (sometimes they are situated near large cemeteries). They buy it in bulk and generally will sell you a few 100 lb bags if you beg... :)


I have a northern tool nearby, but it looks like they only sell ALC media now and its $40 for a #25 bucket.. It looks like they used to sell Clean Bite glass media by the bag, but its discontinued and I can't seem to find anyone else who sells it.. Now my gears are turning, because we don't recycle glass in TN unless you go out of your way to do it (which most people, restaurants and bars do not).... I know I could get 10 times more than I could ever want or store for free..... hmm, I'm going to add making glass abrasive to my rabbit hole list of google research.

I'm also not going to blast any panels that I'm replacing except for the edges where they're spot welded, so the firewall, doors, tailgate, rear quarters and cargo floor won't need to be blasted... so that will help cut my costs quite a bit.

[56Safari]

I'm finally off the road for a couple of weeks, so I'm going to try to knock a few things out on the wagon.... I finished removing the inner rocker panels today that were left behind from when I cut the floor out.. then I cut out the toe panel up to the edges of the A-pillar/cowl panel... I still might need to cut out more of the toe panel... I'm going to wait and see how much further I need to go until I test fit the floor/toe panel.



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The edges of the cowl panel where it attaches to the toe panel are a bit different between the pontiac / chevy... I took a few measurements and compared it against my replaceent A-pillar/cowl panel I purchased for the drivers side... It looks like I can hammer the 90 degree flange flat on the passenger side and spot weld the toe panel to the straightened lower a/pillar/cowl panel

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Here's a pic of the replacement a pillar/cowl that I bought for the drivers side.

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Hoping to get a few more warm days before winter, I would like to epoxy prime the inner/outer rockers and any seam areas where the floor will be welded in.. I haven't finished insulating my shop yet, might have to get moving on that :)

[BamaNomad]

The Huntsville, AL Northern Tools store has (had a few days ago) clean brite glass and black diamond for $7 to $7.50 per 50 lb bag. If you're not too far way (aren't you in TN?).... then that would be an alternative, OR check with your local Northern Tools and see if they will *obtain* some from a store which has it..?

[56Safari]

Thanks Bama, I actually ordered about 250lbs of Black Bull glass bead that I have sitting in the shop right now. I found it from Home depot with free shipping for around $20 per 50lb... I'll ask the next time I'm up at Northern Tool to see if they can get me some.

[56Safari]

I finally got a few things done... The weather was calling for 75 degrees today and tomorrow, so I started prepping to spray some SPI epoxy primer on the inner and outer rockers, as well as a couple of patch panels.. I also decided to re-spray an old craftsman toolbox I had laying around.

Initially I planned to fabricate my own inner quarter panel to floor pan patches, but after losing so much time on the road I went a head and followed 55chevysedanX4's recommendation and bought the patch panels from a guy on ebay. Thanks for sharing the link, with the exception of the bead roll they're perfect ( he told me he could have made me a set without the bead roll after I had already received them, I should have asked him first).

I started off with some hammers and dollies to straighten them out... They straightened out pretty easy


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After being fairly successful straightening the patch panels out, I decided to tackle a couple of dents on the inner wheel wells.


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There's still a couple of fine ridges/creases left in the quarters, I decided to stop there until I can figure out how to lift those creases... I ordered a hammer with a better pick end than what I currently have, I'm thinking maybe that will help.... any ideas / recommendations / or links to videos would be appreciated.


Next I decided to test fit the floor pan to see how everything is going to line up before I start working on patching the inner panels... I was surprised that there is a bit of difference between the chevy and pontiac floor pans. The Chevy floor pan is shorter in the back than the pontiac, shouldn't be a big deal.. I'll just have to trim the existing inner quarters a bit.


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Next I started stripping the EDP paint from the outer rockers. I tried using paint stripper but it didn't really do that well.. So I put them in the blasting cabinet and bead blasted them. I wasn't feeling confident that the bead blasted surface would be agressive enough for the epoxy primer to bite on, so I scuffed them up inside and out with 80 grit paper doing the best I could to mimic what a DA sander would do. Any better ideas for how to prep difficult to reach panels with multiple compound curves? It took about an hour just to do both rockers inside and out.


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Next I dropped the floor pan and stripped the inner rockers and front and back seam areas. This time I used a nylon stripping wheel that worked very well. It was gentle enough (far more gentle than a stripping wheel), but it stripped the paint quick enough for me to not get impatient and give up.

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After that I sprayed everything with 2 coats of black SPI epoxy, and have it all curing inside my detached garage.

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Also, wanted to say thanks bama.. I went to NT and picked up 400lbs of crushed glass media @ 7.50 per 50lb bag!.

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[bigblock]

Nice work 56 safari, kept the pictures coming, and is that a BUD LIGHT can?:D

[56Safari]

Where?? better not be, its definitely not my flavor... If you're talking about the blue spot on that crate of quartz I'm too lazy to move thats my paint gun.... Devilbliss FLG4

[LEE T]

Any better ideas for how to prep difficult to reach panels with multiple compound curves? It took about an hour just to do both rockers inside and out.

I'm a little late here but here is something that I was very skeptical about, but after talking to the owner of Tamco Paint Co. he offered to send me a qt of his (Direct to anything epoxy primer) to test. THAT IS DIRECT TO ANYTHING WITHOUT SANDING

So I had some parts stripped using the electrolysis method, which leaves the parts smooth, if that is what they were under the paint. That is it doesn't etch the metal like acid dipping does, so it was a good surface to test the epoxy on and it held on tight through my test almost as good as SPI does with an 80 grit DA scratch, and that's pretty good. I let it cure for 7 days, and made sure the part was cleaned the way described in the instructions.

I still do the 80 grit DA scratch when I can, but for those hard to reach areas, I don't hesitate to use Tamco's Direct To Anything Epoxy. Its about the same price as SPI, and comes in 3 colors.

[56Safari]

Awesome, thanks for the heads up.. I'll keep it in mind, I may pick some up for those hard to reach areas...... as a "test" I actually sprayed SPI on an old 27" craftsman toolbox after I bead blasted it inside and out(no DA scratches after that). My plan is to use it without any drawer liners for a while and see how it holds up, that'll at least give me a reference for how well it sticks on a freshly blasted surface...

I actually just finished assembling it, came out pretty good after I rhino lined the exterior. (one drawer fell over, so I've scuffed it up and I'll spray it again once its warm enough).

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[LEE T]

They say 7 days for cure, but it keeps curing for several weeks, but after 7 days its not likely to be chemically open enough to accept paint without sanding it. The 7 day open window for top coat is based on the items being stored inside at 70 degrees, temperature and sun will change that. How long after spraying the epoxy before you sprayed the rhino liner?

[56Safari]

The epoxy cured for just over a week indoors... Then I sanded it with 80 grit before applying the bedliner.. it was actually Raptor liner now that I think about it, very pleased with it.. I only sprayed the faces of the drawers with liner, I left the insides just in SPI.

[LEE T]

Good job, looks great.

[56Safari]

I'm finally off the road until February!! I've picked up a lot of extra work this year so I haven't had much time to work on the Safari... In addition to the extra workload theres a possibility that I might be moving to Colorado in the late spring if a prospective job opportunity pans out I've been spending any extra time between gigs finishing up projects around the house.... I doubt I'll get much done this winter, my goal is to get the floor pan welded in and have the body mounted on the frame before I move (if it happens).

I had a couple of free hours to spend in the shop tonight so I started mounting the floor pan onto the frame with the polyurethane body mount kit... I just wanted to make sure everything fits well before its time to weld it all together... I thought this would be a quick and easy project, but I ended up spending about 2 hours chasing my tail before I figured it all out... lesson learned

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I placed all of the upper poly mounts in first, then put the floorpan on the frame... I worked my way from the back of the frame to the front sliding in the washers and bolting in the lower poly mounts...i I figured if I left everything loose it would give me plenty of wiggle room to shift the floor around and center it up.....It turns out the nut on the passenger side rear body mount was welded about 1/4" further back than it should have been. stubborned me figured it out the hard way.


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[56Safari]

Bought myself a Christmas present this week. I've been looking for a good drill press for a few years now to replace my cheap-o drill press, I just didn't want to spend $800-$1000 on one. Found this Powermatic 1150 VS on craigslist for $450... It was advertised in good shape with no runout... I drove an hour to pick it up, and that's when he told me it vibrates a lot when its running... The quill operated smoothly with no runout at the chuck so I took a chance on it. I put a new belt on it and figured out the vibration was a result of the set screw on the rear sheave being completely loose. Runs smooth now, just needs a good cleanup.

9420

[LEE T]

Impressive looking drill press.

[WagonCrazy]

What a great score!

[55chevysedanX4]

Hey good score on the drill press. Are you still coming to Colorado? What part ? If anywhere close to Denver I am in Golden and would be glad to trade some help on projects.

[55chevysedanX4]

Hey how do you like your pot blaster and what size of compressor do you have?

[chevynut]

55chevysedanX4 I was just in Golden last weekend for an event for my wife's business. We stayed at the Table Mountain Inn downtown.

When looking at compressors, don't worry too much about the tank size. Look at the CFM rating....that's what really matters.

[56Safari]

Hey how do you like your pot blaster and what size of compressor do you have?

The pot blaster works great with the crushed glass and glass bead when you need to blast outside... I had some clogging issues using aluminum oxide, mostly because it didn't want to fall the to bottom inside the pot so I had to constantly shake it while blasting which became annoying. The brass valves and fittings on the media supply hoses are super cheap and wore out quickly, so plan on having some spare parts around for the hose/gun assembly.

I use a 15CFM @ 125 PSI compressor, 80 gallons and it keeps up with both the pressure pot blaster and my cabinet blaster but does run the compressor constantly while blasting.

I am planning to head out that way later this year, hopefully by the summer. My new job still isn't "official" yet, but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks. I'd definitely be down to help out as I will be right in that area. I'll be working in Denver when I'm not traveling but I'm looking to buy a place in Conifer. Every house I find in my price range sells almost immediately, so I'm probably going to be stuck renting an apartment for 6 months while I'm house hunting. I'll keep you posted

[55chevysedanX4]

common problem with denvr area now. Houses are overpriced and sell fast. Definitely keep me posted as I have a basement apartment at my moms house and am converting my basement to an apartment as well.