My trusty town car sits in the shade waiting to take me to lunch. I drive this car everywhere. It runs nice, makes boost, and I get a lot of thumbs up from the guys standing on the corner looking for work.
I have met new people at the Friday night and Sunday morning get togethers and what an nice bunch they are. All have vintage or unique cars that stand out in their own ways.
Most do their own building or tinkering but feel that I'm a little nuts to tackle the projects that I do.
All feel that the blown Chevy six is a hoot in a lot full of wild small blocks. Hang on guys, I'm coming!!
In the original "A" coupe, the trunk drip rails discharged fluid through a larger cavity in the rear of the body. Actually just dumped in the rear of the body to the ground. This doesn't work well at all with a full floor. Water always runs downhill, right?
At the time we rolled the floor, we bent
this shape in a 48" 16 gauge strip. I thought this represented what the two piece rear section might have looked like.
I did not have the original rear angle but it had to end up like this when bolted together.
A lot of trimming and fitting since it needed to drain from the center to the sides (notch) and bow to the rear to match the rear panel (same notch). The trunk rubber bumpers mount on this and the trunk latch also is attached.
Next were the drip rail extensions and then the tube through the floor.
With end caps on the cross rail, arched to the rear and sloped down from the center to the outside the cute little drip rail extensions dump the water into the trough. My Bud Light test all ended up in the trough (very minimal test, good bud light).
I will use 5/8" od tubing connectors through the trough and floor on each side and 5/8" hose between them. A little seam sealer will finish this part.
I don't do body work, at least I didn't think I did. Is this body work?
This is a great project and I am having a great time since I did not bid this.
All the body mounts are in and tight and the trunk would not close. About 1/4" out of square. This was like this when I purchased it but I assumed it would straighten up on a new flat frame.....wrong!
I met a retired collision guy who came by and looked at it. No big deal to him, just place a porta power in the passenger side rear corner up to the drivers side trunk opening and jack it over. WHAT PORTA POWER ??
I was afraid to do that since the "A" cab is bolted together in 3 pieces back there. I built a cab window support and bolted an additional crossmember above the floor crossmember. I pulled the cab left to right with a comealong and the whole think straightened up. Installing the diagonal and two vertical supports, it stayed in place perfectly. The doors fit, the trunk lid fits, is this body work??
I think I'm a happy camper. Is there going to be a pop quiz on this on Friday??
I thought I had put all the dents and crap on craigslist but evidently not.
I had to do a minor mock-up in order to locate the steering column/shaft so why not confirm the vision?? It involved about 20 minutes to see if this is similar to "the vision".
What do ya' think? If you remove your glasses and squint a little it looks a lot like the "vision".
The firewall setback is only 2 1/2" and is a function of the distributor clearance.
Miles to go but I'm good with this so far.
The rear floor is rosette and seam welded in place and fit better than I had hoped. No problems with the installation.
Four crossmembers and the front and rear originals make this a strong installation.
I purchased replacement fenderwell panels but am unimpressed with them. The panels are 22 ga. and are not as strong as the original A units. I feel that the fenderwells are an integral portion of the rear quarters and these cannot replace them well.
Haven't decided which way to go yet.
I was able to final fit the firewall (more trimming), and with a calm day I managed to mig it in place. The rear of the assembly was gas welded with an 00 tip. One blow through with the mig on the rear and I would have had hours of repair.
The mig leaves a lot more metal to grind but even less heat than a tig. NO blow through with 2" stitch welds. After grinding and a little sander work it is suitable for the media blaster. The front floor and tunnel with a flange is in and ready for the 1/4-20 square nuts to be welded in place. The entire front floor is removable with eleven 1/4" screws.
I am glad I didn't bid this job, would have been working for peanuts!
The rear floor has been frustrating due to the fact that I was unable to get it rolled at a sheet metal shop. They simply did not want to do the job. They took my precut/drilled sheet and then lost the template and a second sheet that needed to be broken up for the rear inner drip rail. Do I know how to pick'em???
My neighbor is a retired sheet metal man and offered to take me to a shop that he knew where we could use a roll.
The shop was very well equipped, clean, and the power roll was very new. It took 20 minutes to double roll my scribed sheet. Very nice..
I had a scribed strip for the rear drip rail and we broke that up at the same time. In and out in 45 minutes and the floor fit the subrails nicely. I also got a quick lesson on " true lines" which I understand completely now.
The floor is mounted with six screws for mock-up and will be welded in place after the body is bolted back on the frame. I have about 16' of randomly applied stitch welds and maybe 60 or so rosette welds ahead. I'm going to be beat after rolling around in this car while alternately stiching the floor in place from side to side.
This is the "as sheared" 16 ga. front floor and a prefab tunnel from Howell sheet metal in Texas. The tunnel has a slight twist in it as stamped (easily removed) and is very nice.
The floor must now be trimmed and fitted to the firewall that is clamped in position.
Now trimmed around the edges and fitted to the firewall it looks pretty good.
The transmission relief required several final adjustments even with a cardboard template. The hole on the driver side is an access to the master cylinder lid. I turned a 1" edge to the rear on the firewall that accepts the front of the floor.
Using the section of floor that was removed from the center, I scribed the angle on the tunnel and carefully cut it for the firewall. In this installation, the full length of the tunnel ( 17" ) was required.
I am pleased with the mockup, it looks clean and smooth. The original concept was to weld the floor in place but I think with the addition of a flange on the front of the tunnel, I can make the whole floor removeable. This is going to be nice.
The middle of the rear subrail is now tacked in place. This area is made up of a 4"x1" 12 gauge angle that is match arched to the frame rail. On top of that is a 3/4" .083 wall match arched square tube that extends forward inside the original subframe and extends to the rear of the body. With the addition of 3 tube cross members, the subframe and floor are then capped with the 16 ga. floor and all is plug and seam welded into place.
The 4x10 sheet was sheared to my drawings and came out perfect. I then found a sheet metal shop that would brake the pieces after I trimmed them and layed out the neccessary actions on the sheet.
The firewall was cut for the setback and
high enough for the distributor. I knew that the template and the new hump would only be close. Rescribe the opening and cut to fit. Hours later, it finally slid in and I was able to scribe the inner firewall face for its cut.
Back in for final trimming/filing and then this limp noodle gets tacked together. Can I get it back in the cowl?
Now that we have a partial box, things are a little different than two flexible noodles. More trimming tomorrow, the joints must be as tight as possible prior to welding.
The passenger side bottom needs to be relieved about 3/32" moving the firewall insert to the passsenger side.
After this final trim (???) the extended lip will be scribed for cutting.
I need to fit the front floor to this firewall prior to cutting and welding the firewall in place.
At the time we rolled the floor, we bent
I met a retired collision guy who came by and looked at it. No big deal to him, just place a porta power in the passenger side rear corner up to the drivers side trunk opening and jack it over. WHAT PORTA POWER ??
I am pleased with the mockup, it looks clean and smooth. The original concept was to weld the floor in place but I think with the addition of a flange on the front of the tunnel, I can make the whole floor removeable. This is going to be nice.
The middle of the rear subrail is now tacked in place. This area is made up of a 4"x1" 12 gauge angle that is match arched to the frame rail. On top of that is a 3/4" .083 wall match arched square tube that extends forward inside the original subframe and extends to the rear of the body. With the addition of 3 tube cross members, the subframe and floor are then capped with the 16 ga. floor and all is plug and seam welded into place.
The firewall was cut for the setback and 
