[sammons]

Cocobolo- I never thought about that. But I'll bet your heat bill is cheaper. Dad bought the shop when I was 9 or 10 and I've always been down there. It was just home so to speak.

62131-thanks, it was quite a learning experience trying to deal with all that rotten wood. I couldn't do it. Just tore it out and replaced it with metal tubing. At least this go around I have a good idea what to do. Boy I wish I would have found you guys two yrs ago. That thing hurt my brain.

Ghost28- thanks also and you're spot on there. Trying to slow down was hard to do. I use to try pushing through the pain, found out bad idea. If I go just 10-15 min after my body says no, I can easily put myself out of comission for several days. Know when to say no! LOL.

I  can already tell you are a great group of guys, and I have never seen such a good looking bunch of old chevys all in one place. Truly amazing and thank you!

[cocobolo]

Well, you're right.  My heat bill is cheaper.  It's free. Sadly, that means there is no heat in the garage and this has been one of the longest and coldest winters on record here.  Well, all over this province actually.  Freezing again tonight!

[sammons]

Yep, it's been cold enough down this way this winter too. I don't venture out when it's cold anymore. My freind had been working on his gooseneck trailer this winter, so there were a few sunny  30's. I would ask him if he was sure he would be there all day cause I wanted to work on my frame and I would be willing to turn on Bertha ( my overhead heater).  Man you could hear the gas meter sing!
Of coarse that also meant I would be needing a hand.

I forgot to ask if your are running the original 64 vette trailing arms, transverse spring or are you changing to a coil over set up. Didn't know how complete a set up you bought.

Edit: brain fade, what front set up? I would assume m ll.

[cocobolo]

Yep, it's been cold enough down this way this winter too. I don't venture out when it's cold anymore. My freind had been working on his gooseneck trailer this winter, so there were a few sunny  30's. I would ask him if he was sure he would be there all day cause I wanted to work on my frame and I would be willing to turn on Bertha ( my overhead heater).  Man you could hear the gas meter sing!
Of coarse that also meant I would be needing a hand.

I forgot to ask if your are running the original 64 vette trailing arms, transverse spring or are you changing to a coil over set up. Didn't know how complete a set up you bought.

Edit: brain fade, what front set up? I would assume m ll.

No transverse spring on this one, I'm going with coil overs.  The original trailing arms were already gone from this setup on the previous car that this one was under.  An acquaintance of mine put it under a '31 Chevy sedan with a blown 350 SBC.  One of the arms suffered some damage so he replaced the rear end with a 12 bolt.
I recently acquired an excellent book written by the late Alan Staniforth entitled "Competition Car Suspension".  I've never seen so much first class information in one book before...this fellow really knew his stuff, and most of it came from his first hand experiences.
So what that boils down to is that I expect to take a shot at building my own front suspension.  While I grant you that there are thousands of M2 suspensions around, it is after all, 40 year old technology.  If you replace just the coil spring and the shock with a coil over, that in itself is a substantial improvement.
Your 'Vette front end is considerably better than a stock type M2.

[sammons]

I got a little done the past 4 days. With some help from my good freind Lonnie (adopted Pa). He came down friday and did a lot, he drilled many holes, and got the rivets bucked tight between the fiberglass/metal floor pan. Now the floorpan is done except for the fiberglass work to finish. Got it pushed outside and media blasted all the seam areas.

So then I spent saturday bending up the main hoop (rollbar). I really didn't remember how heavy that damn tubing bender was. Had to take it apart and carry it piece by piece to get it where I wanted to bend at. Then I went home and took a nap! Came back made a conduit pattern and started bending. (7 points) Had to do it in one shot, short on pipe.

Today I got it in the car and welded to the floor. I'd like to see it, but limited space. It will just all be hidden behind the upholstery.  At least I know its there.

[sammons]

Got a little more done, very little. My friend Lonnie came down again today. Got the rear down tubes bent, base plates made, more holes drilled, fitted up and welded. I had the doors tacked in place when I tacked the floorpan in. Then I cut them loose to weld up the rest of the pan. Of coarse now the doors don't line up right. Something pulled, or me moving around on it welding moved it. Anyway lonnie and I spent the afternoon with the port-a-power putting it square again. Then we focused on the rear jambs and got two 1/8" plates welded on each side to the rollbar. Now nothingsgoing to move anymore.

I told Ed I would post some pics of the sretched areas, so I'll post them up first.
Vette floorpan added 10" to rear.
Had to replace cowl, but added 7" to width to go over the now wider frame.
Used '34 master dash added to with standard dash in upper center.

[sammons]

Here are my rear down tubes.

Lonnie brought down his baby today. Even though it's a '32 Ford. This thing was destroyed in the Greensburg tornado in 2007. Ins. Totaled of coarse, his wife called me up in a panic and I told her how to buy it back. He didn't know it, took a lot to get up again. All that was salvageable was the drivetrain, chassis and grill shell. I dropped the top 2"  with doner cab. Anyway he ran out of money before we got to frt. Fenders and paint.

[sammons]

Update: with my screw up corrected on the firewall, I finally got the cage/structure done today.  I'll save cleaning up the welds till later (just the ones that will show).  With some help from my buddy I also got my rear body extension bent and tacked in place. I did this on my '34 5w and liked it so I'll do her again.

I bowed a 1 1/2 x 3/4 rectangular tube to tie into the cage and to support the lower windshield area. The rear tubes are 1 1/2" dom, the A pillars and over the doors are 1", and the front down tubes are 1 1/4", center T bar is 3" x 1" .

[sammons]

Here is what I did to the '34, and the start of my '35.

[ghost28]

You are really gettin er done. That's alot of work. Keep us posted on any progress...John

[TFoch]

Sammons,
Very nice work.  That roll bar looks solid.  Looking forward to watching the progress on your car.  This is a very interesting build.
Tom

[62131]

Sammons
Nice work, your moving along quickly

[sammons]

Thanks guys, seems super slow going to me though. 5 yrs ago this build would have taken me 2 months to do.  I guess life is funny that way.

Another good day, I wanted to have the back tail panel finished today. Fell short, but came close.  Couldn't hang on to the hammer any longer.  I have to finish stretching the tin around the lower bar and then hammer the lower bead in. Then I can tack and weld it up. Haven't figured out exactly how I'm tying in the end lower corners to the wheel well just yet, hopefully  tomorrow.

Here is some pics from today

[sammons]

Few more

[cocobolo]

That's really nice Sammons...I only hope my metal skills are that good when I start on the '35.  It's been a few years since I beat on some tin.

Are you hoping to have it on the road this year?  Or are you on the never-never plan like me?