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Project Franken-Riviera -1964 Buick Riviera-

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  • On to fixing the floor!
    Been working on fixing the floors around the front seats in my '64 and installing some 97-99 Acura CL buckets. They're mixed together since I don't want to repair the floors only to cut things out or restore complicated features that aren't used anymore.
    Here's how bad it was when I started with it:

    IMG_0153.thumb.JPG.512fd30e4eaaf2ece62e6a90cb4ea4ff.JPGIMG_0156.thumb.JPG.59d329288a533f6c51384d9d6520a537.JPGIMG_0161.thumb.JPG.15fb7e897f4ae070550177770d3ca825.JPGIMG_0165.thumb.JPG.7f5c2eaa65d50f984380a707d3373a1b.JPGIMG_20180413_073837065.thumb.jpg.1c1db7335bbacb5a7d1e077e6107ea31.jpg
    First thing I did was get a spot weld cutter and start drilling out the spot welds on the passengers side between the under floor braces and the floor itself. Other than some large concentrations of welds near the seat mounts that went pretty smoothly as long as I didn't get too aggressive too quickly with the cutter and have it skip out of the center punch on the weld. Got both bad sections of the floor out in about 2hrs of work with other guys standing around talking about stupid stuff we've done in cars as part of a guys group that meets in my garage on Thursdays.
    IMG_20180413_070652064.thumb.jpg.c53980c93f705faa79888d4bd81a8b90.jpgIMG_20180413_073759340_LL.thumb.jpg.f095fd7bed5099bc75b4b997b7aadd44.jpg
    Interesting that the seat mount on the front is mostly intact but the underfloor brace is completely rusted out on the end while the rear seat brace is basically gone but the brace is pitted but otherwise fine. We suspect the reason the braces rot out is the drain hole is not the low spot and water collected in the end even worse than the debris getting trapped would have.
    Central TEXAS Sleeper
    USAF Physicist

    ROA# 9790

    Comment


    • My first attempt at mounting the seat using the front of the kickup in the floor as a seat mount for those 45º mounts with a bent bracket in the rear ended up too far forward and too high. I was mostly comfortable but only with the seat all the way back and down. No room to adjust beyond that.

      IMG_20180410_185910115.thumb.jpg.54973ee1ad96ba8ac32c4544e2f28967.jpg



      After a major screw up where I drilled a full set of mounting holes 1.25in too over and ended up off center from the steering wheel I regrouped and came up with a new mount plan that gets me seated pretty much exactly where I want. I've got maybe 0.75in of rearward travel from comfortable for me and even at full up on the seat my head doesn't hit the headliner unless I put the seat back full upright. Quite happy. I've since bought some 0.3125in plate to give the mount strength but the basic design is intact and even uses the original mounting points for the front. The rear I'll have to make a new version of that bent metal bracket but it should be more than strong enough.

      IMG_20180415_072410042.thumb.jpg.302fea3e5113bb8962c0660710aa86e9.jpgIMG_20180415_073328544.thumb.jpg.2cf1ef7f08a0729ce569bfb298596edb.jpgIMG_20180415_073336282.thumb.jpg.d0ae2bdd91563842d59bb5c4062c8b9c.jpg


      Central TEXAS Sleeper
      USAF Physicist

      ROA# 9790

      Comment


      • Continued working on the floor of the car, mainly on the passengers side. Since I paid a fair bit of money for it and there are no good repos, I've very carefully taken apart the passengers side donor section of floor by drilling out the spot welds and the like. This has left me with a lot of good donor sheet metal but it's been time consuming. I finally got the replacement section of inner rocker in the car and spliced in the new section of under floor bracing but when I was cleaning up the welds under the car I managed to get a metal grinder spark/frag in my eye past my safety goggles. I've been recovering from that for almost a week now and it was not fun having them dig a splinter out of my eye with a hypodermic needle!

        IMG_20180501_063846173.jpg.c8c094d8614842eb697f8977eee0dcdd.jpgIMG_20180501_063858328.jpg.6ce6e85c7598d77b45236f16ab78c2b3.jpg

        Passengers side under floor structure is 80% done. Need to redo the last spot welds on the underside of the bracing and patch a small section of the second brace that rusted out. I was poking at the inner rocker and had the screwdriver go through so I'll probably end up cutting the end of the support off so I can patch that section with donor material, weld the end up and then weld the support back into the car. Then it's weld the seat mount plate on and then the floor over it. I'm guessing I've got another 4-5hrs left on the passengers side depending on how long it take to stitch weld the floor back in to keep it from warping. Then it's seat mounts and final paint to wrap the passengers side up.

        The drivers side will be easier since I know what I'm doing better and have already taken the donor apart, but harder since I have no drivers donor so I'll be fabbing the floor out of sections of the passenger side and flat sheet. Have to get done by the end of the month so I can take the car on the last day of school to see my students from the auto maintenance class I taught .
        Central TEXAS Sleeper
        USAF Physicist

        ROA# 9790

        Comment


        • I've been there on the eye debris - NO FUN! And you never get used to it! I've had a few of those events.

          Dan

          Comment


          • Well things have been well and truly stalled since Memorial day when I hit my thumb with a hammer trying to chisel out the rusty drivers side inner rocker and broke it. What didn't help is that right when it was healing up enough to work with again I was out of town for 3 weeks on a business trip so nothing's been happening.

            Tonight I cleaned up the spot weld locations from the existing under floor bits and put the new seat mount in. I also got a bit of Eastwood rust encapsulator painted inside of the channels to stop the rust from continuing.
            Central TEXAS Sleeper
            USAF Physicist

            ROA# 9790

            Comment


            • Keep after it, you will; get there! I really enjoy this project!

              Comment


              • It was quite nice to get back to work last night. I might be able to get some stuff done tonight but we'll see.
                Central TEXAS Sleeper
                USAF Physicist

                ROA# 9790

                Comment


                • great attention to detail, one step at a time. Celebrate the small victories, in the end they add up to DONE
                  There's always something new to learn.

                  Comment


                  • Realized I'm actually a bit behind showing the passengers side all patched up:
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ID:	1210877 Now beginning what I've been upto this week:

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                    Attached Files
                    Central TEXAS Sleeper
                    USAF Physicist

                    ROA# 9790

                    Comment


                    • Got that hole patched up in the inner rocker. Will need to clean it up and inspect for thin spots in the welds next weekend as I'm once again on travel this week.
                      Central TEXAS Sleeper
                      USAF Physicist

                      ROA# 9790

                      Comment


                      • Still working on this... I'm a year behind schedule on it but that happens with work travel, injury, and just plain life. Good news is the floors are very close to finished. Would finish them up tonight but my grinding wheel started throwing bits yesterday and I didn't have a chance to go get more today.
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                        Attached Files
                        Central TEXAS Sleeper
                        USAF Physicist

                        ROA# 9790

                        Comment


                        • Always enjoy seeing updates to this project! Hope you get on the road soon and enjoy some great cruise adventures. I am impressed.

                          Comment


                          • I drove along the 580 a couple weeks ago toward San Mateo, was thinking about this project out there nearby in a garage somewhere...
                            ...

                            Comment


                            • Good progress. And you won't look as silly making car noises and turning the wheel back and forth with bbc seats in it .
                              Previously HoosierL98GTA

                              Comment


                              • Got fresh grinding wheels and have the blankets up against sparks and noise. Tonight I aim to finish the floor proper and move on to the seat brackets if I have time before the wife comes home from Bible study.
                                Central TEXAS Sleeper
                                USAF Physicist

                                ROA# 9790

                                Comment

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