Happy New Year

The rocker panel installation took longer than I estimated (as does everything in a project car) as the back up supports and the bottom of all the door pillers were rusted through in several places and needed repair. The replacement rockers did not fit and had to be bent and reshaped by use of 2 2x4's in the vise and a hammer. In trying to keep the original door openings the same I left as much of the old rocker in place at each door post. Then cut the new rocker to fit. The front of the rear wheel opening where it meets the rocker also had to be rebuilt on both sides.

As the door post, rocker and floor pan had extensive work the doors needed to be refit. The rear door's required new shims and some oversize mounting bolt hole on the suicide hinges, the front doors required the stock hinges to be bent to adjust the rear of the door down as I couldnt use shims on the top hinge as it would push the door to far back and hit the center post. This re-fit took 4 days.


All 4 doors had a variety of dents some minor and some major. In some cases I could not reach both sides to use the hammer and dolly (my arms are too short) so I had to drilll holes in the inner door and use a punch and prybar to get the dent pushed out. Then I wedged a dolly inside the door with a block of wood and work the outside of the door with a body manner moving and resupporting the dolly as necessary. Obviously, this took a long time but I was able to get the dents smooth enough to use the shrinking disc to restore the area. There was some old damage that was repaired with lead. In some cases I melted the lead out and fix the dents or hole in a couple of the large areas I left the lead repair in place and used a body file and sanding block to make it smooth.



The fire wall was next and was straightened in a bout 4 hours using a hammer & dolly. In areas I could not reach I sat on the dash and cowel in the windshield opeing and used a 3 lb sledge hammer as the back up dolly with a handle.


I ordered a replacement rear gravel pan and a front inner fender from Fred Walker (Walkers Auto Pride Inc.)in Peyton CO. and a metal forming head from Eastwood Company. As soon as they arrive I will try and form the new panels under the tail lights that are rusted out.

We had a very nice Christmas and new Year. Hope all of you did also.