Thread: Where do I start...

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About a year ago I bought a rolling chassis as a start to a '32 3W highboy project. At the time I promised my wife that since I had spent most of the previous year's free time building the '59 Apache (shown in my avatar), I'd concentrate on finishing a few projects around the house before tackling the '32.
I kept my promise, accomplished a lot in the last year, so now, I just took delivery of my Downs 3W coupe body, and am ready to get serious.
I want to be sure that I do things in the most efficient order as possible, so I'm spending some time just thinking and making lists.
When I built the '59, it was my first street rod project, and might not have always done things in the best order, but for the most part, it was: take things apart, modify as necessary, and then put it back together. Never attempted anything like the coupe before, so I'm looking for any advice I can get.
My simplified plan is:
1. Remove the body from the frame, strip the frame and powder coat it.
2. dis-assemble the front suspension and polish, powdercoat, plate or paint the componants as needed, then reassemble the front end.
3. Same thing with the rear axle.
Based on my work schedule and my free time, this will take a few months, after that's done, then start concentrating on the body.
At that time I'm sure I'll have many more questions.
Does this "simplified" plan make sense? Am I forgetting something?
A few questions I have...
How do you mount seats in a fiberglass car? Do you just drill holes through the floor and use big washers, or should I fabricate some brackets that'll be welded to the frame that the seats bolt to?
I'm thinking that I might want to work out my steering column connection/alignment before I finish the frame in case I need to add support bearings depending on how many u-joints I need?
I'm going to have outside the frame headers, and currently have one of the "shorty" steering columns by Ididit, in order to have more foot room, but now I'm wondering if I come out of the firewall higher, might that interfere with my headers...anyone have any ideas on that?
FYI, the plan is 350/350 combo with a floor shifter, anyone have any reactions to the "Gennie" shifters?
How about a radiator, what recomendations (I'm planning on having AC).
I'm sorry if I'm kind of jumping around here, but I'm just typing questions as I think of them.
Thanks in advance for any answers or advice.
Randy

Sitting in the Garage....just waiting:

Front end:

Front suspension:

Before you do the paint and powder coating, run all the brake lines, fuel lines, electrical wiring, etc. Install the engine, transmission and build the exhaust system. Actually best to "build" the entire car first, then take it apart and paint it. Don't forget the little things.....seat belt anchors, e-brake handle mount and cables, fuel tank mount, radiator mounts, drive shaft and safety hoops, master cylinder and pedals, throttle and cable, and on and on. Dang shame to have to be welding and drilling on a frame AFTER it's all painted.

And for some of the same reasons as Dave mentioned you'll want to fit the body, fuel tank, grille/rad, and hood if you're using one to get all the gaps good on doors and decklid as well as nose. Also possible you'll have to do some clearancing or such on the underside. Very likely you'll need to do some body work. Granted it was almost 15 years ago, but the last Downs body I was involved with took a lot of body work to get nice. Even if you don't need a lot of body work, you'll still want to take 80 grit abrasive (after liberal use of wax and grease remover) to all the gellcoat and put some heat to it (while bolted to the chassis) to let it completely off gas. I prefer to set it out in the sun for a few days, but where you are that's not likely to work this time of year. The main point here is you want to get all that "heavy" work done before putting final finish on the chassis.

As for the seat, I like welding up a flat tubing grid that fastens at the outer body mounts and spans across the whole floor. For added benefit I use panel bonding adhesive to join it to the floor (sometimes called Corvette panel adhesive).

Gennie shifter changed hands last year, so past experience may or may not be meaningful unless it's through the current owners.

I appreciate the fast replies, already brought up some issues I hadn't thought of.
FYI, I'm very impressed with the Downs body, they had my frame when they built the body, so it was built for my frame, consequently all the door clearances and decklid as well is all set.
Also, they offer a heat baking service where they put it in their paint baking ovens at bake it for a period of time at a relatively high temp, so I think that the "out-gassing" issue is taken care of.
If you can think of any other things I need to address, feel free to add to the list.
As far as fitting the engine, I have a friend who has one of the resin engine blanks with a th350 trans, so I'll be using that for the mock up.
At this point, I'm not planning on a hood (have a nice tri-power setup that's just to pretty to cover up...my wife can't understand why it's in a display case in our family room ).
Anyway, if you think of anything else, let me know.

Originally posted by Bob Parmenter
As for the seat, I like welding up a flat tubing grid that fastens at the outer body mounts and spans across the whole floor. For added benefit I use panel bonding adhesive to join it to the floor (sometimes called Corvette panel adhesive).

Any chance of a picture of this?

Resin addict....you are building my dream car.....nice.....all i can say is nice......keep us posted on the progress...and dont worry about the mantle peice.....I have managed to place my nice parts all throught the house....wife doent mind though....she's become a car nut herself now......nice work on the truck.....can only image what the 32 will look like ......good work.

very nice start resin addict, looks like it will be a fun build. I would back Dave and Bob in getting the chasis done first and the body before painting anything with anything besides primmer. you won't regret it. Have fun and keep us informed.

Originally posted by resin addict
Any chance of a picture of this?

Looked through my photo stash and don't have anything. But if you make yourself familiar with some of the material options out there you should be able to figure it out. You're just making a steel structure on the surface of the floor (could do it on the underside for that matter if you don't find it visually offensive) that gives you something more substantial than the glass floor and spreads the load. An additional thing to do is bond a layer of a fiberglass related material called coremat to the surface of the floor. It's commonly used to reinforce fiberglass panels. Perhaps you can see it on the underside of your roof (if Downs uses it), it is typically a white/cream colored layer with perforations in it. This is especially helpful if your floor does any oil-canning now.

Looking at your first pic again, the pink material may be coremat.

Like others have said build the entire car 1st.

I am building tha same car and even though I have built a few Vettes and started building a '53 Pickup this build has been the most fun and sometime the most difficult. There is no such thing as a so called kit car as far as I am concerned.
Everything you need you buy as a universal fit so that means cut, grind and weld or you cant find what you want and you have to make it from scratch.
Something as simple as the hood sounds easy enough......well it took me 18 hours and a pile of scrap to get it to fit so I was happy.
The only thing I did not due befor paint was the wiring. Here is a link to most of my pics that might help...... I have plenty more to post so keep checking back or email me if I can help.
The frame is at powder coat now.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v281/i...20rod/?start=0

Thanks again everybody, Iceburgh; thanks for the lik to your photos. I like you wheel/tire size proportions, what are the actual tire sizes you're using?

195/50/15 in the front
255/55/17 in the rear
Got them from Newstalgia wheel.

I just finished my '32 last July--only needs the interior finished at this point. If you have any quesitons, don't hesitate asking.