my dream custom
- This topic has 295 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 8 months ago by David.
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August 8, 2016 at 15:29 #41751TorchieParticipant
Great job on the dash.
The wrap around style can make things interesting when it comes to fitting.
I agree with you on the Oldsmobile dash boards as they had some really neat looking ones.
Can’t wait to see more…..
TorchieAugust 9, 2016 at 12:31 #41752Bert GustafssonParticipantGreat thread, thanks for sharing.
August 12, 2016 at 00:09 #41780Dave (a.k.a. rodncustomdreams)ParticipantThat dash looks right at home now.. All your thinking, planning and fitting paid off in spades!
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
August 13, 2016 at 03:21 #41793mike suttonParticipantthanks guys i appreciate the positive comments. one other thing about the dash swap, there is twice as much room under there as there was with the stock dash. i will probably hide an ac unit under there at some point.i don’t seem to take the heat as well as i used to and i plan on driving the wheels off this thing.
August 13, 2016 at 03:33 #41794mike suttonParticipantdecided to clean up the rear a little by shaving the trunk lid and sinking the license plate into it. this will also help to clean up the rear bumper (which will also be swapped.) started by taking off all the old trim and mount.
after welding up some unneeded holes i cut the opening for the recessed box.
set the box in place and marked and cut how deep it needed to be.
kind of a pet peeve i have is people using boxes with square corners when the license plate does not have square corners!?!? maybe it’s just me but if the whole body is rounded why add a square? and maybe i’m just over thinking it.August 13, 2016 at 03:43 #41795mike suttonParticipantthen fit in and weld it up.
then spray some temporary primer on it to protect it for awhile
one of the easier and quicker changes i’ve made but definitely cleans up the trunk.August 15, 2016 at 00:02 #41860mike suttonParticipantnext up, every good custom needs custom taillights! one of the very first customs to have an influence on me was ray soffs “connecticut yankee”. a chopped ’50 ford convertible with ’54 packard taillights. that was actually the first time i ever saw these taillights and i thought they were so cool!
so after finding some taillights, i found some rough quarters off a junkyard car. figured i could use the quarters as a rough guide and make the rest of it.August 15, 2016 at 00:14 #41861mike suttonParticipantsince the packard taillight lens and housing have a peak on them, i decided to use the whole top edge of the quarter panel so the peak extended the whole way down the ford quarter. this also got rid of the shoebox lead bead that i didn’t want anyway.
August 15, 2016 at 00:23 #41862mike suttonParticipanti ended up cutting out a section and making a patch. since it’s a reverse curve it was a pain to make. it curves one way top to bottom and the other way side to side.
and after plenty of swearing i got it fit and welded.August 15, 2016 at 00:28 #41863mike suttonParticipantdid the same on the other side then some rust repair on the bottoms. still had work to do on the outside quarters, i’ll show that next time.
August 15, 2016 at 02:23 #41864TorchieParticipantGreat job on the plate recess and the rear quarter graft.
Looks like the swearing helped.:)
TorchieAugust 15, 2016 at 02:23 #41865Larry PointerParticipantI’m living it! Thanks again for all the photos of steps along the way. Inspiration to all!
August 15, 2016 at 02:27 #41866mike suttonParticipantthanks guys, and your right torchie, swearing fixes everything!
August 30, 2016 at 02:01 #42410mike suttonParticipantonce the taillight sections were done i started to figure a plan for the outer quarters. i started by cutting out the wind split areas of the stock quarters, then wound up cutting off the badly rusted lower quarters which revealed the badly rusted inner rockers, wheelwell and body mounts! funny how quick plans can change. anyway, since the original shoebox quarter is a lot rounder and the packard quarter is a lot flatter, the first thing i did was make a pair of contour gauges using my shrinker/stretcher.
these i could use to ensure a smooth transition front to back and to make sure both sides match.August 30, 2016 at 02:08 #42411mike suttonParticipantbefore i could go any further on the outside i had to rebuilt the front of the wheel well.
build a new inner rocker
and make new body mounts -
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