Posting #5 - Making things fit properly

This posting should bring you up to date with some of the fun I have had with my project. There have been a couple of trips to Hawaii and a trip to Italy and Greece that have taken me away from the garage for quite a bit of the time. I have also been active with the Studebaker Club and went to the International Meet that was held in Tacoma this year. Ahhh...retirement is great!  Rusty Ronnie

My camper jacks were handy again.

Jacks made it easy to make adjustments

Now tried fitting doors. They weren't as good as I hoped. Washers for temp spacers. Will make proper ones after final fit is achieved.

Cut out some rusty sections.

Formed new pieces and welded in.

Here is an example of rusted areas being replaced with some new metal.
Many little sections like this were done and them primed.

The holes are for spot welding.

This filled space as needed.

 Fenders had large gaps when trial mounted so I cut off and replaced some of the metal. After fillers fitted the fenders fit much better

Adapted to fit 4 dr. wheel well.

Now welded to floor.

 Rear quarter door panels eventually fit pretty well and were then welded in place. Rebuilt rusty bottoms of quarter panels.

 After a lot of playing around, most of the body seems to fit as it should.
I have been using the old fenders for trial fit but in the end they will be replaced with the NOS fenders that I got with the car.

I still have lots more to improve on when I get back to it in the spring.

Remember you can click on these pictures to make them larger.

My intentions after I get these little things done to my satisfaction are to replace the interior bracing similar to what I had previously and then get the car body onto a rotisserie that is anxiously waiting to be used. Then I will properly clean and sandblast the entire body in preparation for some primer.

I still will have to fit new rocker panels and replace a few rusty sections in the trunk and the cab floor.

I will be interrupting this work now for a couple of months because I have decided to do some work on my new Wagonaire before next spring. Haven't told you about the Wagonaire yet but you will be told all about in my next post which should hit the press in the next week or so.

There are also new photos posted to the Project Album. Click on the sentence at the top of page.