Look what I brought home tonight!

[Donny]

An E Body convertible! 70 'Cuda 383 car. Very rusty, I'm going to media blast it this coming week. (Me think I should put this in my GTX thread so you can see the progress I am making; just not on my car(s))!

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[jaak]

Awesome! Is it yours, or a customers?

Jason

 

[5.7 hemi]

Sum bitch, some guys just have all the luck!!!

 

[Donny]

...I assumed it was known it wasn't my car...it's a customers car from www.paintshop101.com which sub contracted it out to me to Media Blast.

 

[Revhendo]

Cool car, nice house, what's with the ugly truck?

 

[69clone]

Very nice, hope it doesn't give you too much trouble!

 

[Donny]

Haha, this Avalanche has been the BEST vehicle I've ever owned, put all of 162K miles on myself. If Dodge made a truck like this, styled cool like this is, then for sure I'd buy one. But, Dodge tried and marketed the Ram Box very poorly, and no one is buying it...dealers don't have 'em, plus, if I can't see it, I can't buy it! Shame on Dodge for this poor launch. I love the Ram Box feature, it's Avalanche done right.

Yeah, that's our house in the background, thanks for the compliment on the house!

I've been studying bracing methods for this car as it's going on my Rotisserie, and with the extensive rust on it, I certainly would have a crappy day if it folded up on me! Some genius fiberglassed the floors over the rust. Also, the wheelhouses are a work of art; sheet metal screwed in atop rot...gonna be fun tearing into this car! Shall I post pics of this car under my care? I am cognizant of this is a B Body place, this is an E Body, don't really want to 'join' another forum, but, I may just do that to get my foot into the E Body scene as I would LOVE to score one myself someday!

 

[MarPar]

I for one, would not have a problem with it. I love seeing you PROFESSIONALLY tearing into a car.

IMHO it's a good learning experience for those of us who are...learning! :icon_cheers:

it's not a B-body, but at least it's still from Ma MoPar!!!

Now that truck on the other hand...

Let 'er fly Donny!!!

 

[Donny]

Now that truck on the other hand...

Haha, it's all good, even though I drive the Bowtie daily! :sideways tongue:

 

[Donny]

I won't make this too big, but, with my job being taking our loved cars and prepping them for restoration -- it precludes me from doing my own stuff But, at least these cars are coming back from the grave and back on the street some 40 yrs after being built.

This one is bad, pretty bad! Here's a few more pics I took today, won't get it on the Rotisserie till late in the week, and blasting on it next week (Got an El Camino to do this week).

Plus, the owner of the Chevelle has no problem with me only getting about 10 hrs a week on his car with the metal surgery and all. So, the balancing act continues!

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[Chargermoneypit]

Good luck with that one. Nice to see a come back from the grave. Looking forward to following this one.

 

[iraqivet01]

Gee big surprise, you having to blast a car that being held together by what's lift by the factory paint. Are they pulling theses car out of the gulf of Mexico? Ha ha looks like it's going to be cool car when it gets done.

 

[Donny]

This one will be braced up pretty heavily before I put it on the rotisserie. I think this car had to come from up north where they salt the roads, I think the municipalities should be sued for allowing so much salt to be used; killing our cars and who knows what the salt does to the environment!?

 

[Cranky]

Wow...but I've seen much worse! Welding in an X brace into the inside area of the door jambs is the first thing that needs to be done to it. Rag tops are pretty flexible and seems like the E bodies are more so but you probably are well aware of that. Had a Challenger rag top that seemed to be more flexible than other models lol. One of the several that got away.

 

[PDFROGMAN]

I second the X bracing
I have a whirly gig and bought it because they made an attachment to stabilize the rotisserie when you put a convert on it
this is a pic from their website
http://whirlyjig.com/

food for thought maybe you can adapt a brace your jig

 

[Donny]

Interesting pic PD, however, on their website it has no indication what that overhead bar does, and where/how it's attached and to what? I can see fabricating at faux roof for a convertible, to strengthen the entire car. I'm going to X Brace it, in the doors, and on the floor welded on the drive shaft hump, and keep it on the rotisserie for no longer than I need to; about 3 days.

 

[PDFROGMAN]

I'll take some pics of my rotisserie tomorrow for you
it's a 2" pipe spanning the the car there is a 2" square tube with a 2.5" pipe welded to the post that slides into the brace on rotisserie
theory is (and we have mounted an e body convert on this fixture)bolt up rotisserie to vehicle using an angle gauge on the end of each post you span the car with 2" pipe plumb the fixtures and lock the pipe using the threaded bosses on 2.5 pipe attached to the up right
that will keep the end pieces from flexing keeping car square too
hope I made it clear

 

[Donny]

Finally got that X Brand outta there! haha, still got the other X brand in there for metal surgery (which is ongoing).

Now, onward 'Cuda convertible!

Got a V type brace mounted in door openings. How I did this was; Use 2" angle iron, cut 6 pieces in about a 3 and 4 inch lengths. The 3" lengths went on the door hinge mount areas, the 4 inch went on the door jam bolt hole. Then, after mounting these pieces tightly to their respective positions, I measured and cut 4 1" sq tube bracing, welded them onto the angle iron pieces. I did it this way b/c I didn't want to put any torque on the mounting areas after welding the bars in place; I 'could' have torqued it a few mm's if I did it any other way.

I am confident this is adequate bracing. I will take and post pics tomorrow of the bracing, gotta get this car done Tues, Wed, and deliver on Fri, Thu is school day.

 

[Redpolara]

It definately has that Cars in Barns look about it. Has the current owner had it for some time or is it a more recent project purchase???

 

[Meep-Meep]

Interesting pic PD, however, on their website it has no indication what that overhead bar does, and where/how it's attached and to what? I can see fabricating at faux roof for a convertible, to strengthen the entire car. I'm going to X Brace it, in the doors, and on the floor welded on the drive shaft hump, and keep it on the rotisserie for no longer than I need to; about 3 days.

From that pic it looks as if the horizontal top brace is rigidly attached to the piece that bolts to the bumper brackets. In other words it's like adding a roof to the convertible, except the force on this arrangement goes right to the support structure then back to the sub frame and not through the A pillars and other sheet metal. With this setup you must use all the bumper bolts and have that part act as an extension of the sub frame to make it effective. I would think it should have some way to preload the structure too.