'57 Buick Roadmaster build

[HrToy]

Removed starter, tranny linkage, exhaust, fan motor and tubing, salvaged two front clip frame mounts from donor. [After comparison of cars, the keeper is missing 4 body mounts.] Made sure the motor was completely free from the body. Have to wait on filming, but I am ready to keep going.

 I forgot how much fun a cutting torch is...

 About two and a half hours today.

[ClintM]

What motor, trans, ect  are you going to use?

[hudsonhawk]

Last I heard they had aquired a Full drive train from a new Corvette.

[TwoBoxDesigns]

Looking forward to following the progress on this build.

[crawldawg]

if you can
link the pics so they show on your post

[ClintM]

BOTH of you need to.

[HrToy]

We will be using an LS3 Corvette drive train. Sorry I haven't beeen able to update but it is an hour drive back and forth. By the time I get home I am pretty wiped out. I'll give you a brief update before I run out of the door...

We are stripping the donor car frame to use and scrapping the Roadmaster frame. The RM has been hit before and the frame is all out of whack. We are also stripping the cab of both cars. Yesterday we finished clearing the RM firewall, inside and out, took out the rear windows and removed all wiring. Cleaned both fenders from donor car. Getting donor frame ready for sandblasting.

I have managed to stay one step ahead of Carl, for the most part. He has other cars that need to be taken care of so he pops in and out. He actually helped with the windows and chrome strips while I did most of the other stuff. The heater ducts were welded in and he showed me the trick to getting them out without destroying the firewall. That was fun. Lots of cutting and grinding. Man, I love power tools... Working on cramming the the AC system under the dash. He has a mock unit and we played with positioning it to fit.

We did some more filming last Tuesday.

[TwoBoxDesigns]

Can't wait to see it progressing.

[HrToy]

New bushings were at the house Friday when I got home. So excited! Saturday Pete, Carl and I were at the shop all day. Put the new bushings in and dropped the body down-what a great fit! The frame is true and the body relaxed even more to where the doors and hood and trunk all are well spaced. We have very little tweaking to do now.

The body has some serious rust issues that we will fix this week. Lots of sheet metal work coming up. Carl said this week will be really tough.

Gotta eat, I'll add more to this after dinner.

[HrToy]

Last week we started building the firewall back up. We are going to install flat panels to smooth it out and get rid of the factory look.

I was taught to use a Beverly cutter to shape sheet metal. Short term entertainment. Later I had the joy of using the plasma cutter and welding 101 with Carl. Grinding the welds down was time consuming. Getting the metal completely smooth is tough. Brad showed me a couple of helpfull household hints for testing for a smooth, flat surface. Something we don't have to worry about in the wheeling world is that finishing detail.

Roger came by to take a look at the body for sandblasting. We dropped off the frame in his driveway the day before. The sheet metal body is considerably thin and flexible so parts of it he will not be able to blast. We are going to try to scrape off as much of the coating as we can. It appears someone used a product like Durabak on the interior but did a real crappy job. It looks like lava flow. On a side note, Roger has a 1969 3/4ton jeep pick up in his back yard. It has the Gladiator grill on it, which I love. He said he wants $1k for it. Tranny, t-case, steering, brakes are shot. I didn't get agood look at the body. Engine was good last time it ran. I'll wait til were done with this project before I make a much lower offer.

We pulled out all of the stainless steel and sorted through it. We have to send them out for straightening and polishing. A very expensive endeavor. We have to pick the best pieces possible. They filmed a little on this as well as the firewall work Brad has done.

Good Guys Car Show was this weekend and we filmed there also. Steve is still trying to make up his mind on wheels, color, and other such details so we spent some time looking at the other rides and talking to the vendors.

More work next week.



 

[HrToy]

We got the frame back Thursday and I started painting it today. The POR15 was delivered after lunch so I didn't get as much painted as I would have liked.

A '68 Star Chief is in the bay next to us and she's getting Vintage Air like we are putting in our ride. Carl has let me help a little here and there with it. The dash is very shallow so fitting aftermarket air conditioning is not easy. Carl has been busting his butt on that car. Someone else rebuilt it and he is having to go back in and fix a ton of things.

Betsy, the owner, is a little spitfire. We have a lot of fun when she comes in. She's been telling me great stories. She has had the car since '84 and drives it all over the country. All these years with no AC!

Saturday will be a day to work on Leroy. Steve wants to check out the car show. Saturday night we have tickets to Ron White. Sunday we will film a segment and drive back up to Carrier, OK to the Buick graveyard. Wednesday we will be heading out to Pittsburg, so I have Monday annd Tuesday to get the frame painted and trunk lid and torsion bars removed.

[HrToy]

I finished painting the frame before leaving on Monday. The frame crossmember at the rear bumper is bent in both cars so while we were in Carrier, Ok we picked up another one. I ground off the straight one Tuesday, but my hand and arm were too tired to grind off the bent one. I'll get it when we get back from the trip.

I rebuilt three of the four AC vents while Steve and Carl were throwing ideas around. I had been snorting POR 15 fumes all day and was not keen on conversation so I sat out in the shop while the boys hit the internet. Two of the vents we picked up in Carrier and were frozen shut and coated in clay. We purchased two other vents from Sarasota, Fl and they were working but dirty. They need to be painted as well and chrome polished.

We found a lot of small items in Carrier. Windshield clips, small chrome accents, AC dashboard (very rare), vents, bumper shields, fender wells, Roadmaster 75 script (very rare).

 

[HrToy]

Back in town and back in the shop. Second coat of POR15 for the frame and the firewall is finally completed. We took the body, doors, dashboard, fenders, skirts, hood and trunk lid to get them blasted and/or stripped. We should be getting most of it back by Monday.

Miguel (Carl's employee) found a great deal on the engine and drivetrain. They will be ordering it on Monday. The wiring harness is on back order. All out of California.

We found serious damage on the trunk lid. Another huge section filled in by bondo. Looks like somone hit the trunk with a baseball bat. Pissed me off because I spent the morning getting all of the insulation out of the trunk lid only to find out it is a useless piece of metal. Maybe it will be a good sled for some kid next winter. Gotta call Ken in Carrier and see what he's got. He'll be in Africa until mid-month so we have to wait.

Air hammers are fun. Not like plasma cutter fun, though. I had the task of removing the rear frame rail on our car because ours was badly bent. The donor car's was also bent so we made sure to pick one up when we went to Ken's last time. I had to clean that one up and get it ready for blasting. Grinding the pins flush and then hammering them out. My arm was so tired from grinding that I could barely swing the sledge so Carl said it was air hammer time. Gotta get one of those. Not at the top of the list though. 

[HrToy]

Frame is done. We ended up putting on 4 coats. For some reason it wasn't drying evenly so we ended up spraying it on instead of brushing.

Waiting for the body and parts to come back from blasting. I have been sandblasting everthing that is small enough to fit in the cabinet. Sorting through things we may or may not use. Cleaning small stuff and painting.

Hit some snags with the engine/tranny. Should be coming in next week.

Have some ideas for design of door panels and interior. The guys liked them. I need to sketch them up.

[HrToy]

The engine and tranny came in yesterday. They look so small.

We had a chance to preview the edited show. We had fun pointing out the inconsistancies(sp?) but thought Brian did a pretty good job. Hope he goes back and fixes them.

Have not recieved body/doors/et al yet.