Post #4 (delayed!!) - Bodies Start Coming Together

Opps... It is now November , 2018 and I opened up my blog to make a new entry. Discovered that I had failed to press the "publish post" button and this post has sat dormant for the last year.
This now explains the queries from my thousands of followers, (3 to be truthful) asking "when are you going to add to your blog?" - well better late that never - so here it is!      Now onto Post #5.

There was a 4" strip between sections

Lifted top with old camper jacks

Removed the top of the 4 dr. by drilling out the spot welds and  cutting the "A" and "B" pillars.

Cut out the 4 inch joiner strip between body sections.

 

Shortened bodies put on 2 dr. frame.

Body sections tack welded

Positioned the two body sections on the rebuilt 2 dr. frame.

Bolted them to the frame and tack welded them together.




                                                                                                                                                                             

Cut off top and quarters and lifted off

 Removed the top of the 2 dr. complete with the rear quarter panels still attached.

Got remains of the 2 dr. body onto my boat trailer and  rolled it out of the garage.

Rolling chassis under top

Top in position for closer cutting

What a treat.. had whole garage again! Now got the 2 dr top and quarters on body for final cutting and fitting.
Took it on and off a few times to get it how I wanted it.
Put fender on for check of fit and saw that my body is 1/4" too long!
Not a problem - only tacked together.
Taking it apart one final time for cleaning in prep for welding and will shorten it at that time.

Separating for final time

Should be no gap!

Took sections apart for what I hope  is the final time. I need to clean joints for welding.

Will cut off 1/4" from mid-section also at the same time.

Windshield spline

Maneuvering to get splines inserted.

Fabricated some splines for the windshield pillars to add strength and make it easier to weld.

These splines were needed but made the final install of top quite difficult.

Managed to spread the quarters very wide and force them over the wheel wells to get all the right angles so splines would go into windshield pillars.

Now in final position and awaiting welding in place.
Taking a break for a nice Hawaiian vacation and for the busy Christmas Holiday Season.
If you visit my photo album link at the top of the page there are  more pictures that will help you make sense of all this.

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday Season

Drop over for a beer anytime and see what is really happening!

As many of you know already the joy of retirement is that every day is a holiday!!
Have a good one..... Ron Cann Sr.

Posting #3 Finally back at it!

I have had a long break from working on my project for a number of reasons. I am now anxious to move on to the next steps. During this delay, I have still been in the process of working out how to best approach my project. A friend of mine, Dave Sanderson, that I met at one of the Auto Restoration Courses at BCIT, came over one day and after an hour or so of analysis, he helped me to come up with an easier way to go about getting my body fixed up.

The 4-door body and the 2-door body it turns out are almost identical. The 4-door is just 4 inches longer than the 2-door. The way they stretched the body was to use a "4 inch joiner strip" welded between the front and rear sections of the body. There are a couple of minor differences in the rear wheel-wells but that is about it.

Therefore, we decided that I could basically:
- remove the roof and B-pillars from the 4-door
- cut out the 4 inch joiner strip
- remove the B-pillars
- re-join the front and rear body sections together
- remove the roof (with the rear quarter sections still attached) from the 2-door
- fit the roof and quarters from the 2-door onto the shortened 4-door platform
- fit the front doors properly before doing the final welding
- patch a couple of small areas of rust that will remain
- rework the inner rear wheel-wells to match curve of 2-door rear fenders to keep water out of car.

AND PRESTO!! I SHOULD HAVE A SOLID 2-DOOR BODY FOR MY "DAYTONA SS"

Sounds doable for a beginner like me, doesn't it?? Let's see, how do I turn on this welder again??

I have added a bunch of pictures and notes to the photo album that you can access by copying and pasting the following URL to your browser:  https://goo.gl/photos/iNzK2PGqN9k4PWHa8

Any feedback re this site (and the photos) would be appreciated.    Updates to follow as work progresses.

Ron Cann