1956 Pontiac Chieftain, saving another one from the brink

[VTJUNK]

So I've been working off and on in the shop on the Pontiac, with a Honda cafe project and two engines being assembled as parts come in. Just haven't had the time to properly update this thread.

I cut the floors and a couple mounts out so I could get to everything and start making the templates for the floor pans I'll be making.

Anyone see anything wrong in this pic?

[VTJUNK]

This is the center of the X member. The bottom of the rails are gone. I picked away at it to see how far I'd have to go to get to good solid steel and found that the complete X is so thin and rusted in so many places that it will need to come out. The rest of the frame is fine.

[VTJUNK]

View from underneath. Looking at each end where this joins the frame, it's rusted there also. So my options are,

Quit right where I am and part the car out.

Swap the body onto another frame, in which case do I use frame from the parts car if it's good, or use a late model frame, ie 80s Caprice.

Fix the frame by fabricating a new X member from scratch.

Guess which one I'm doing lol

[VTJUNK]

An upside to this project is that I get to use one of my favorite tools, this old plasma cutter.

[VTJUNK]

A local fab shop is bending two custom C channels out of 10ga, 4 3/4" tall, 2" wide and 96" long. That will give me enough material to make the X member, a couple of supports and gussets. I have it all planned out and measured, just need to start removing the old one and prepping the outer frame rails.

[Beagle]

brave soul... that's a bit o work!

[milner351]

Wow Andy - I think I'd have gone the 80's - 90's caprice route at this point, but - I don't have your metal fab skills!

[VTJUNK]

I think when you see how it comes it together you'll be surprised at how simple it. Still a fair bit of work, but it isn't as bad as it sounds. Most important is to take measurements and have a plan. I had considered making the rails myself by I don't have direct access to a brake that will do 10ga. I only need 4 pieces 38" long but they charge you for each bend, so I'm getting extra material.

[milner351]

sounds great - are you securing this thing in several places (like a chassis shop would on a surface plate) and / or tacking on some pieces to hold the shape as you cut out and re-do?

Looking forward to seeing this come together!

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

question, if you boxed the outer rails would you even need the bulky x member.. and just add maybe a crossmember or 2

[VTJUNK]

The car has jack stands under it at the rear axle and front control arms so it sits naturally for the purpose of panel alignment, and more stands under the frame side rails to support it. all of the body mounts except the 4 in the center are still intact, and the body is braced front to rear and crosswise with 1" square tubing. It's not going anywhere.

If I had a build table, I'd be tempted to body drop the car, and I don't want to get that far into it. We did that with the 50 Ford I had posted a little while back in the shop pics thread. With the suspension aired out, the rocker panels still sat 3/4" off the ground. We wanted it on the ground so we cut the floor and body mounts all out, from the firewall to the tail pan, set the body down on the table, and made all new floors and mounts at that height. That car is sick, with the chop the roof sits barely above my waist. Need to get back on that one too. It belongs to my friend Eddie who also owns the 60 Olds 88 that you see in my shop. The flathead is out of machine shop jail, so that's going together.

[VTJUNK]

question, if you boxed the outer rails would you even need the bulky x member.. and just add maybe a crossmember or 2

I thought of that, but the problem is that the frame will twist even if it's boxed. Guys that build street rods and have driven cars with out the X in place, maybe just some straight crossmembers, say the frames need that cross support. So I'm not going to "experiment" with it lol.

[antmnte]

Neat car Andy,good for you for keeping it together.Im really diggin that 60 Olds though.

[VTJUNK]

I will update this with pics later, but I've started sanding the body down to bare steel while I was waiting on the machine shop to make the X member rails I need. They called yesterday to say they're done, so I'm picking them up today. Picked up some tires, not sure they're exactly what I want, but for the price, I couldn't pass them up. 4 Firestone 3" wide whites for $100.

Also, my Craigslist wanted ads paid off with a good set of hardtop doors, so i'll be picking those up soon. Hoping to get into the frame this weekend.

[milner351]

Fantastic! You're moving fast on this thing!