Thread: 57 Chevy Cruizer

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Nice floor work, Dig gassers

Great progress Dave!!!!!!!!!

i have used clear silicon or self prime windshield urethane works very good better then panel ahesive floor can flex and not loose bond if you can deal with white or tan color 3M 5200 will hold it to there and will never come apart

I usually use 3M, sometimes Fusor. Never have had a bit of problems with either!!!

I was going to take some pictures yesterday, but everything was such a mess in the garage.... Going to do some cleaning today, go get some steel to finish hangin' it on the rotissierie. Must be getting old and lazy, sure is a lot easier working on the car when it can be rotated around instead of crawling around all the frame rails and floor supports!!!

a long run like a floor on a full size car with abit of alum floor i would never use panel ahesive but that just me . you really need some thing that will move abit and is more for acoustical damping alum is hard to get a good bond to were steel to steel bond the panel ahesive may work very good for that and smaller floors . the 5200 will do the job as well or windshield glue and maybe cheaper but is not my money

Today I did some work on the front of the frame where the previous owner had cut off the OEM front and installed the rails and straight axle...

Well, the rails he put on were 2" X 4" tubing, 1/4" wall--they went in the junk pile to be replaced with some 11 ga. tubing and 10 ga. gussets. The "new" rails had been stuffed inside the factory frame then a bit of stick welding done. The spring hangers for the front axle were a piece of channel iron, welded to a piece of angle iron, welded to the frame--more scrap pile additions.

The frame itself where it was cut off needs some work, but it isn't anything too serious. Added a couple pics of what was on there, and the other rail with the junk cut off.

Also, a picture of the inner panel on the drivers side in the back seat area. I cut the OEM panel out leaving 1 1/2" of the original panel to glue and rivet the new aluminum panel to. Did the same on the inner wheel well, welded in a piece of 20 ga. to the original opening to glue the new inner wheel wells to. The quarter panels have a bit of rust on the inside but not really too bad for a 54 year old car! No concern, both quarter panels will be replaced anyway.

The other shot is the passengers side door sill area. Used a bit of 20 ga. to add some strength to the area. The rest of the floor will be aluminum.

Hope you guys aren't fed up with my lousy photography and slow rate of getting things done!!!

I wonder why they used 1/4 thick ??? Oh well at least its going to get done properly now, keep the pics coming Dave, watching with interest

[QUOTE=roadster32;421399]I wonder why they used 1/4 thick ???

The extra weight helped keep the front end down on hard launches.

Dave, no fear about your "lousy" pictures, they are actually very good and we await each update.

Don

[QUOTE=Itoldyouso;421401]

Originally Posted by roadster32

I wonder why they used 1/4 thick ???

The extra weight helped keep the front end down on hard launches.

Don

With the brackets and other stuff on them, 25 pounds each, plus the crossmember in the front was 1/4" too.....hmmmm. mid 60's launch control??

All the cars in the 50's and 60's are tanks by todays standards!:lol:

From talking with guys who have or had a '57 Chevy and some research I've done on the 'net, the car was around 3300 pounds when built. Just from eliminating some of the sheet metal and restructuring a few things, the net loss so far is over 300 pounds. I'm working to eliminate another 500 pounds to get the dry weight for the car at 2500 without sacrificing any of the structural integrity of the car. Takes some planning and fabricating, but lowering the weight is worth it! Really getting to be a fun project, too!

Good thing you're slim and trim, Dave. That will help your ET's.

Don

Dave, if you can get a 57 Chevy down to 2500 lbs, that's a heck of a feat all in it's own! This is really cool, keep it comin.

Originally Posted by falconvan

Dave, if you can get a 57 Chevy down to 2500 lbs, that's a heck of a feat all in it's own! This is really cool, keep it comin.

I'm working at it!!!! Not sure I'll get there, but I'm going to give it one heck of a try! Lighter is faster!

Got both quarters cut off the car and began modifying the tail fins. Always thought the 57's had too small of tailights, and where the base of the tailfins widen out to accomodate the lights it always remided me of a girl with a really great body, then fat hips!!!! Here's some pics of my solution.

Very neat work dave, I'm really looking forward seeing the final outcome on the rear quarter and tail light.