Adding some sparkle

Yesterday and today we cracked on getting this magnificent 1967 Chevelle SS buttoned up by adding the last piece of sheet metal then added some sparkle by installing the trim.

The first photo shows the car with most of the side trim in place … but something is still missing.

The second and third photos shows Chris working on on the hood, the last piece of sheet metal to go on the car. Once the hood was installed and aligned, we moved on to the bumpers.

The fourth photo shows the rear bumper installed, along with all the rear trim. If you overlook the protective layer of dust, the car is beginning to look quite sharp.

In the fifth photo Chase (under car) and Chris install the front bumper. The finished front end is looking very tidy indeed in the sixth photo.

In the seventh photo is a good example of the High Performance Finish. That’s not a picture of the sign that hangs on the wall in the shop … that a picture of the sign that hangs on the wall in the shop reflected in the roof of the Chevelle. I think the owner will be well pleased with the finish.

The last photo, number eight, shows the inner fenders and the battery tray, the last few items in need of attention, in the booth getting their coat of paint. After they are dry these pieces will be bolted into the car.

This Chevelle has been a real pleasure to work on. Being this is a nice straight original car, all the body panels fit as they should and that make our job a lot easier. But we are near the end of this project and I expect to turn the car over to the owner one day next week.

If you would like to see this car in person plan on attending the 11^th Annual Shriners Drag Racing and Hot Rod Expo February 1^st and 2^nd, 2013 at the Greensboro Coliseum. JMC AutoworX will be displaying a selection of cars we worked on this year, and this lovely Chevelle will be one of them.

Bed-side manner

Remember the Ford Ranger with the crunched up side? It is back in the shop after a visit to the frame machine to make the structure of the truck straight and square. Now that the truck’s bones are good, we can get on with the cosmetic repairs.

The first photo shows the truck with the two replacement doors in place. The rear door is a used item that we will respray which is why part of the door is gold.

The second photo shows that the bed is still on the work bench. We will have to strip the damaged side and replace it with the new side … and that involves a lot of drilling and welding.

Pictures three and four show me working on drilling out the spot welds used to hold the bed together. I have a special bit in my drill that is made for cutting out just the spot weld. It is time consuming work, but it is the only way to remove the outter panel without damaging the inner panel.

In the fifth photo I am using an air chisel to carefully open up the seam after the welds have been broken.

The sixth photo show what all the drilling and chiseling was about … the removal of the bed side.

The missing bed side leaves the bed portion of the truck rather unsightly so a new panel is fitted into place. I am pushing and pulling on the new panel in the seventh photo to make sure it is properly aligned before welding begins. It wouldn’t do to have to remove the panel again because I didn’t get it properly aligned before fixing it in place.

Once I was happy with the panel alignment I began welding the new panel into place. You can see the process in the eighth photo. Welding of body panels is a time consuming task because you have to weld a spot and then let it cool. Applying too much heat will cause the panel to warp, which means additional time and effort to repair. To get around the wait you weld on one end of the panel, then while that cools you move on to another section.

The last three photos, numbers 9-11, show the new bed side welded into place. Ford uses a fancy robot with a spot welder to grip both sides of the metal with welding electrodes, making a weld between them. We aren’t that high-tech here at JMC AutoworX so we do our welds the old fashioned way … with skill. But as you can see in these three photo the end result is the same. The bed side is firmly attached to the inner bed panel and is ready for paint.

Next week will once again supplant Ford’s fancy robots with old-world craftsmanship when we repaint this Ranger with a nice coat of bright red paint.