1956 Pontiac Chieftain, saving another one from the brink

[VTJUNK]

Here's one of the tires I picked up. I wasn't sure about the 3" whites, but I'll try them on chrome steel wheels and see how they look when the time comes.

[VTJUNK]

Waiting for my steel rails to be made I decided to get going on stripping the body, I was curious what was going on in the quarter panel.

[VTJUNK]

Here's why I need new doors. The outer skins are a mess, full of plastic filler and allmetal where the molding held dirt and water and pitted the skin behind it. The bottom inside is bad too, opened up from one corner to the other.

[VTJUNK]

The rails were ready and I picked them up, just what I wanted, this was going to work out great. I got the center portion of the X cut out and my plasma cutter broke down, so now I'm waiting on parts for it to continue cutting the corner pieces out.

In the meantime I'll move on to the body again.

[milner351]

bummer on the plasma - I got a $300 ebay cheapie because my old 110 miller kept quitting on me, couldn't justify the cost of a new brand name machine, we'll see how long this one lasts.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you stitch together the new X.

[ford141]

Cool thread, the car looks cool and I commend you for saving one instead of cutting it up. Your photo of the door got me curious. You mentioned the door is pitting from rust under the trim. How do you go about fixing pitting in sheet metal if you want to save it and the metal isn't rusted through?

[VTJUNK]

Cool thread, the car looks cool and I commend you for saving one instead of cutting it up. Your photo of the door got me curious. You mentioned the door is pitting from rust under the trim. How do you go about fixing pitting in sheet metal if you want to save it and the metal isn't rusted through?

Best way is remove as much of the rust as possible by either grinding or lightly sandblasting the effected area. Then prime it, and use a lightweight body filler for deep pits or if they're shallow, you can get away with icing like USC 26006, which is actually for filling heavy sanding scratches, pits, and pinholes in filler. Some primers and body fillers can be applied directly to metal before the other, read the directions on both to make sure they're compatible.

Allmetal is another product out there for use in places where you need some strength, but I've seen plenty of that stuff have adhesion issues year later. It doesn't sand like body filler either. I won't use the stuff.

[ford141]

Thanks for the advice. My '79 Ford truck has a beautiful body (for being a Pa truck), but there are a few spots of surface rust under the chrome trim. I need to attack it before it gets worse.

[VTJUNK]

With a borrowed plasma cutter I cut the rest of the X member out, was kind of tricky in the drivers front corner, the brake pivot point and other stuff is all in that small area like brake and fuel lines, speedo cable, ebrake cable, and a large coolant line that goes to a cooler mounted under the transmission tailshaft.

The trans cooler has just two short lines going from the trans case to it, then a radiator coolant line on one side going to the radiator and the other side going back to the back of the block on the passenger side. I think I'll bypass this whole operation and put a conventional trans cooler in it, blocking off the coolant lines.

Also cut the rest of the trans tunnel out, following along a seam at the firewall all the way across from one side of the cowl to the other. Now, with just a few old welds to grind off and some prep to the rails I can start making my frame.

[Shelty]

damn you are braver than me, id have just dropped the body on a caprice frame.

cant wait to see the end result

[STINEY]

damn you are braver than me, id have just dropped the body on a caprice frame.

cant wait to see the end result

I always hear of this option, but have never seen it documented. Can't be as simple as it sounds.....

[VTJUNK]

Still working on it, just have to get pics up. It's getting stupid now lol.

Long term, I wanted air ride in the car. But with the floors removed and with driveshaft clearance an issue on these cars with more than 3" of drop, I decided to go ahead and take that step now. The rear frame is going to have to be notched and the driveshaft tunnel completely removed. I've been mocking up the rear axle and taking measurements to make the notch myself since nobody makes one for the car.

[Deaf Bob]

I always hear of this option, but have never seen it documented. Can't be as simple as it sounds.....

It ain't! Solidly bounce a rear corner of a bodyless Caprice frame and watch it FLEX! . 76 and older are not bad at all.. But anything 80 up..... I'd do a complete rewelding of the factory welds.. Plus under rear doors where the humps meet the straight section and under the feet of front passengers where that same straight piece meets the front section tend to have a few missing welds..

[VTJUNK]

It ain't! Solidly bounce a rear corner of a bodyless Caprice frame and watch it FLEX! . 76 and older are not bad at all.. But anything 80 up..... I'd do a complete rewelding of the factory welds.. Plus under rear doors where the humps meet the straight section and under the feet of front passengers where that same straight piece meets the front section tend to have a few missing welds..

Not that I wouldn't try it, but the issue I have is I wanted the Pontiac engine and trans, and I'd still have to do all the work I'm doing to make the body whole again, and still modify the frame to make the air ride work. So the only thing I'd be gaining is disc brakes and power steering. I can do those two anyway.

[Shelty]

did not know that. I figured they were more rigid.