tiny...aka 1958 lloyd

[69.5CUDA]

doc i love the idea..but...the idea in my head of a shape really needs to be carved out and played with...to even see if its going to work..tho what i may do is carve it all out then lay the mesh over it and then lay glass on that..cause i am NOT a fan of F-glass at all!!!!.....ive played with hand sculpting the dash from metal bits several times and turned out as just scrap every time....i think i just have too odd of a shape in my head to be able to hand sculpti it from metal...kinda like a designer with a huge lump of clay....but i am REALLY digging the idea of steel mesh inside the glass then its not "just glass"..course cutting out for things like guages is NOT going to be fun but atleast i know it wont splinter out when it gets cut.......i coulda swore that they made that same "type" of foam in boards...in fact i know they did atleast at one point..they were 2inches thick and dense as hell

and i do NOT plan to use the foam as a mold..well not in the normal sense..it will just be the initial shape then the overlay ontop of that will be the real shape..im not one to do the job twice...unless theres a huge issue with the first one

 

[69.5CUDA]

well after a bit of foam work i ran into some HUGE issues that were not so obvious till i started laying the foam in....the pedal box needs to go down and forward and the column needs to go up and forward...now mind you this is a HUGE problem as the collumn is just under the peddle box right now..ive gotta split the box and make new peddles and relocate the clutch master..minor pain worse so considering ive allready got it plumbed


anyway off the foam and back to the body

i got bored and attacked the hood started stitching it all up and leveling it out and removing the seam and cleaned up the corners..did some fender stitching...

today tho i ATTACKED the face ..ill let the pics speak for themselves..i did move the bumper pan/valance(cant really call it a bumper its not in any way designed to be one) forward 1 inch to open up the wheel wells to even it front to rear of the front tires as well as give me a more deep face and line up a bit better with the hood
ive descided the hood will be a tilt forward thus not needing the safty catch and giving me a bit more room to work with not to mention MUCH MUCH easier hinges to make/find...in fact ive got an extra set from a 58 ford ill likely use

next up i need to hunt the wreckers and see what i cant find for a suitable rad...a nice aluminum one will go in at a later date..i just need something for now to work around

 

[restoman]

Coming along nicely.
Is that galvanized conduit you're using for the grill opening?

 

[69.5CUDA]

yup sure is..it was the exact same size roll thats around the bottom of the body not to mention that curve is PERFECT and it was fairly easy to tweak the shape to the curve of the hood....grill opening..5$ lol

was a shame to cut up an almost perfect 58 ford grill..actualy it only had a few warps to it and its aluminum i straightened it out and made it perfect before i cut it up......1 year only grill but ive got 4-5 of them and the only mangled one(someone kicked a hole into it or something actualy broke the aluminum in a few spots) is on my 58 ford....

 

[restoman]

The first shot of the grill made me think of a bamboo under-dash parcel tray from an early VW.

 

[69.5CUDA]

it seems to really suddenly be taking shape even with just little things.....added a pan area to the grill filled in the rounds and sliced the hood and rolled edge to a more "proper" line to the car instead of the goofy line the hood had did some major stitching work late lastnight too and got alot of the diver door and quarter done..realy weird how light and dark changes the agression on the face as well as the subtle fold in the center of the grill...flat it looked plane bent it looks mean

 

[restoman]

Looking good. I like the grill.
Are you going to solid weld everything?

Looks like my work area.

 

[69.5CUDA]

its looking like im solid welding everything only out of simplicity at this point...its either that or i have to make seperate inner fender attatchements front and rear among other things and then theres the extra bolts cluttering things seal points ....im thinking the roof will be the only part that might stay as a "unboltable" part that would normaly be welded...actualy the driver fender IS full welded on allready atleast with an innerfender section to the framerails...i now FULLY understand why leadsled have EVERYTHING that can be welded and smoothed done that way..cause there comes a point where its just too damned hard to do it any other way..in this case tho theres also the weight factor...

shame tho i wanted to be able to unbolt everything..thats quickly gone out the window.....just means i make sure everything is stout and or accesable easily...mind you im also building it so taht i can work on it EASILY..not none of that remove x amount of parts before you can get to said part

 

[69.5CUDA]

if you havnt noticed yet..those time stamps on the pics are acurate..ive been doing alot of midnight welding..great way to relax away the day before bed with a bit of welding....out of wire and smoked out of the shop..nothing special really but i do love the smoke trails up the hood...but i refuse to do anything "graphical" on this car aside from hopefully my "yard rat" image on the rear quart glass

 

[restoman]

*cough cough*
Smokey is right.

Everything is looking balanced - I can't wait to see some filler and primer on this car, that'll even it all out so everyone can see what I do
Nice job!
That's what hot rodding is all about, not the buy-it-and-bolt-it-on that everybody else seems to do these days.
Is that your planning/sketch area on the wall behind the car?

 

[69.5CUDA]

yeah my bigass whiteboard..ive done some scetches back there on it but 90% goes from brain to hands..the only things i scetch out are the ones that im afraid ill forget or are to tricky to chew on in my head..like the gated shifter thats chain reduction boxed to make the ratio EXACTLY what i want it to be crazy enuf to probably never see the light of day

well i dont know how much filler ill get laid BUT...the show is june 11-12-13....and im determined to have a fresh coat of primer laid regardless of how much filler work i get done..but ive also gotta attack the wireing so it runs right this time

yeah resto i hate the "bolt one part" world....its just not custom if its off the shelf ...theres certainly something to be said about owning a one of NONE car

 

[restoman]

Sad to say, but nowadays you're kind of thought as as being a little strange if you actually create something instead of just buying pre-engineered off the shelf stuff or paying someone else to do it.

 

[69.5CUDA]

i hate the guys who "bought the car that way" or "payed to have it done"..its like steeling unless your blaitantly saying who did all the work up front..imo about as bad as re-bodying a prized vin tag..with 1 small exception..the guys who pay to have it done but have more time into its re-design than the body guy performing the work of art itself..and thats a rare bread of visionary

 

[Not A Duster]

Well - personally, I think everybody who participates in the restoration, hot-rodding or enjoyment of cars regardless of how they choose to do it adds value to the hobby.

This is true whether they have someone else build their car, build it themselves to factory specs or bolt together a pile of aftermarket parts or scratch build it by hand.

Only together do we have strength. Saying we hate someone because they choose to enjoy the hobby in a way that's different from what we do only serves to enable those who would shut us all down and destroy the hobby altogether.

Evil is winning - best we don't try so hard to lose the battle.

 

[Jester]

Well - personally, I think everybody who participates in the restoration, hot-rodding or enjoyment of cars regardless of how they choose to do it adds value to the hobby.

This is true whether they have someone else build their car, build it themselves to factory specs or bolt together a pile of aftermarket parts or scratch build it by hand.

Only together do we have strength. Saying we hate someone because they choose to enjoy the hobby in a way that's different from what we do only serves to enable those who would shut us all down and destroy the hobby altogether.

Evil is winning - best we don't try so hard to lose the battle.

Holy shit! I like this non-doom&gloom version of Nodda. Well said, Mr! Some of us don't have the time or skill to do the things you're doing 69.5, excellent work.

*starts surfing for bolt-on parts*

 

[restoman]

Well - personally, I think everybody who participates in the restoration, hot-rodding or enjoyment of cars regardless of how they choose to do it adds value to the hobby.

This is true whether they have someone else build their car, build it themselves to factory specs or bolt together a pile of aftermarket parts or scratch build it by hand.

Only together do we have strength. Saying we hate someone because they choose to enjoy the hobby in a way that's different from what we do only serves to enable those who would shut us all down and destroy the hobby altogether.

Evil is winning - best we don't try so hard to lose the battle.

I gotta agree. I try to do everything myself, but there are a lot of cars out there that I would buy and love in a heartbeat, already built by someone else. Money permitting of course.
As a bodyman, I love the guys who pay someone else to do the work. They keep the bread on my table.
But I've got a ton of respect for someone like 69.5 who sees something in his mind and goes out to try and create it. To me, that's the real spirit of hot rodding.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Looking great 69!

Wise words again Bruce, it's not so much how you participate it's that that you participate at all.

 

[69.5CUDA]

well i figured out some more of the nose stuff like where hinges should go clearances and exactly how the stuff needs to be filled in ..the first patch i did filling in the front end i found didnt look right it felt to ..industrial..where the second one seems more fit and finished..i finished tieing in some rail peices ..tommarow i should have the hood hinged and latching

 

[69.5CUDA]

well i did some filler pan and brace work on the front of the hood full welded in the passenger fender inner fender peices except the one ive not made yet..as well as the loower driver unit..then i got back to the hood..mind you to some..this is just a no brainer thing..but quite frankly it took ALOT of thinking..alot of head scratching and ALOT of searching...but the hood is now tilt forward hinged..sitting on well..the only hinges that seemd right and didnt fight with me..upper dodge truck door hinges...i need to build in more adjustment in it but not bad at all and its smooooooth

 

[69.5CUDA]

well the original hinge mounting points i made were sub-par and lacked adjustmnt in man many ways and simply pissed me off...so out came the grinder and i cut some areas out and made drastic changes...and now ive got more adjustment than ill ever need and a hood thats getting stronger by the day..i even managed to slice and remove a nice warp that was in the hood and started boxing it around the edges and attack the cowl...now i need to figure out if i want to go hyd push/stop rod or something like a sliding trapped bar or a truck tailgate style locking bar for holding the hood open...id actualy been fighting with how to make a uniform curve to the back of the hood for quite a while and it just kinda hit me...crop the corners stretch a sheet across them weld em tight then drop a couple spacers at the center point of the hood and fill the gaps..nice smooth flowing line that doesnt deviate