Smoothing Channels

Without a doubt, we knew there was going to be a ton of welding, cutting, and grinding before this car even saw the beginnings of primer. The previous owner (or previous, previous owner) decided to weld the rear fenders (or quarter panels, whatever) onto the car. Only problem, is it looks like they did it with a stick welder, turned down low, slobbery, and um...horrible. It was ugly. Very ugly. Not that I'm a perfect judge of welding, but nonetheless, Sara needed to grind the living daylights out of the channel where the fender meets the rear body. I ended up having to weld more spots in the channel between the two and even add some nails into the section to use as filler metal, just to smooth over the transition between both body panels. I could have used lead in this case and most old schoolers will, but I opted to just fill in what we had. When the grinding here is all done, I think skin coat of body filler will go in, and the seam should look pretty good. -TH



There's like 4 photo's of me throughout this whole thing, and 3 of them are of me grinding. That's my job: grinding, grinding, grinding until I'm done. Then grinding some more when Tim finds more stuff for me to grind. -SB



This day was a dud on my end. While Sara was grinding the channels above, I discovered that the rust under the rocker panel and front part of the rear wheel housing was just too much to ignore. What's worse, is that the car was coated with old school undercoating, which according to Jim's dad, was a dealer option back then. The stuff has the viscosity of tar, but after 58 years, it does one of two things - either flake off, or become fossilized, rock-solid tar, to which a chisel won't remove it, and a grinder makes a mushy mess - like grinding asphalt. I managed to get the cancer cut out and fabbed up an inner rocker panel bottom, which I tacked on. Here I am, showering myself with sparks. After this, the lower back-half of the rocker and wheel housing needed to be replace, the front lower half of the fender, and then it would be on to the front of the rocker panel. Oh, and then the other side. Work, work, work... -TH



Yeah, I'm not peeking in at the fender. Turns out, while welding the lower part of the rocker in, a weld got too close to a rubber drain hose located in the area. I happened to notice smoke rolling out of the fender when FIRE, 2.0 erupted! I quickly ran to grab the fire extinguisher we used on FIRE, 1.0 and......it was empty! Evidently, fire extinguishers are one-use only these days. I quickly ran up to the house, and knowing I couldn't get the hose all the way down there, filled up a bucket, and my mouth with as much water as I could. I stuck my head in the fender, where I could barely see the flames and let the water rip like I was doing an asthma test! Luckily, it went out and FIRE, 2.0 was extinguished. With the lower rocker edge welded into place, this day was full of duds...and smoke. -TH

Even though we promised Jim we wouldn't start any fires while he was gone, we did Tim did. I was busy working away when I noticed a hint of burning vehicle, but didn't know if it was a real fire or just the smoke from all the welding and gringing. So, I stopped to look up and ask and saw Tim in a hurried panic trying to find something wet to put the flames out. It was pretty amusing watching him be a human fire extinguisher. Once the fire was out and the smoke cleared, we worked for about an hour or so before cleaning up. Tim double checked to see that the flames were out, and we were done for the night...or so I thought. Tim was a bit worried that there might be something smoldering so we drove back out to Jim's just to triple check on the car (and Jim's pole barn). -SB





I was still curious on the condition of the STR8, and even though I made the decision to rebuild the car and body first, and then the engine, I decided to pop the valve cover off and take a peek. I expected to find a ton of sludge, as older engines normally do not carry much oil pressure (if any) up to the valves. I specifically remember filling a coffee can full of sludge from a Chrysler 318 one time when all I was doing was valve cover gaskets. I was amazed to see that there wasn't any sludge or garbage at all. In fact, it looked really good! Big relief, especially considering the motor turned over as easy as it did. -TH

welding nails in holes..

Now that we're hogging Jim's garage with Betty right smack-dab in the middle, we've figured we should work our little buns off as fast as we can to get the body work done so she can be primed and wheeled outside again. So, day 1 marks the "weld nails into holes" day, which is just as it sounds. Removing the trim pieces left big ol holes to fill, so Tim welded those shut and I ground them smooth. That was fun, but left my hands numb and ears foggy. I know, I know... ear plugs. -SB

The 16 penny nails were the perfect size to fit backwards into the trim holes, tacked into place, and then welded around. Sara then ground each one flat. Towards the bottom of the above picture, you can see part of the area were the old-school body repair was done. Once we blasted all the body filler away, it left the small holes that were drilled to pull the panel straight. The back quarter panel here is a disaster as well, slathered in body filler where there should have been metal. -TH









Everything was going really well... until one of the welds on the door panel caught the door on fire. Disaster was quickly adverted with me yelling "Uh, Tim.. we've got a fire!" and Jim bolting to the rescue with the fire extinguisher and water. Just keeping you on your toes, Jim! We're nothing if not entertaining! -SB





Turns out 58-year-old door insulation does not like hot hot heat.
We pretty much knocked day 1 out of the park, which gives me hope that the rest of this rebuild won't take too long. -SB

So at this point, we're not too much into the money. Around 200.00 for the sandblasting and gas to get the car there. Next up, fabbing up some rocker panel replacements, lower front quarter panels, and replacing the huge gaping hole in the trunk. -TH

hey mr. sandblaster!

Tim tricked me with this, because I had no idea this was going to be an a-l-l-l-l day affair. He did say I would get dirty, and get dirty we did. After breakfast at 9 o'clock, we arrived at the sandblaster and quickly unloaded the car. I got to "drive" it off the hauler, which was fun, but quite hot. It was a little like sitting in a rolling tomb with windows, a funky smell, and seats that aren't quite bolted down... oh, and no brakes whatsoever. So it was me with Momentum as my back-seat driver, who I'm pretty sure was heard laughing the whole time. We masked the chrome and windows, put the car on barrels, and had the fellas suit up by 10 a.m. -SB









The sandblasting place is Consolidated Stripping and Derusting, which is in Plainwell, MI. Their link is here.....

http://www.consolidatedstripping.com/

I'd like to start by saying that Don, one of the owners, is one of the most helpful guys you'll find. You'd think that for 35.00 an hour to rent the blast room, with full gear and media that you probably wouldn't get that great of service from the guy - think again. Don will give you advice on how to blast, taylor the equpiment to suit what you're doing, show you how to use it, and...he even offered to lift the car up with the forklift and put it on barrels just to get the underside. Anything you need...he's there to help. If you ever need anything sandblasted, they have small booths, the room...everything you need. Total cost to blast the car was less than 200.00!! -TH







I look like I'm ready for the HAZMAT radiation team! The respirator is sweet, because the room gets up to about 90 degrees with all the lights...the respirator pumps in cool air (the helmet is airtight) so your head stays cool and the dust stays out. -TH





They were rollin' by 10:30 a.m. and after a few glitches and a couple of breather breaks, they were done around 4:00 p.m. -SB



I sandblasted a few of the miscellaneous parts, mostly to kill time & so I wouldn't have to wait longer for the boys to do it once they were done with the car. The reload onto the car hauler went quick as can be, seeing as how we're old pro's at it by now. At the end of all this, Betty may just load herself on. -SB





Surprisingly, we didn't find a lot of body damage. There's some rust on the rear quarters, in the wheel housing, the rocker panels...oh, and sometime in the car's life, someone looked like they swiped a guardrail...or a mailbox...or a cow...or something. The repair on it was done with old-school tools, drilling, slide-hammering, and working a dolly all over it. It will need to be skin-coated again. -TH



Next up...filling in every single trim-hole and grinding, grinding, grinding... -TH

with a little help from our friend

Day 2 of prepping for the sandblaster meant Jim helped with the little things we forgot, like removing the portholes on the hood, a few trim clips we "accidentally" left on the car, a few other odd and ends, and helped load her on the car hauler for the umpteenth time. -SB







Right around here, it started pouring rain. What fun. -TH

degrease, de-glitz, de-glamour

May rolled into June and we had a date with the sandblaster. Armed with flat-headed prying tools, a gassed up pressure washer, and gloves so as not to touch anything icky, Tim and I got to work prepping Betty for her big date. We stripped her of all her glitz, pulled what seemed like a million random parts out of the floor-less trunk, hosed the gal down and sent her on her way. -SB



All that crap in the tote came out of the trunk. Interior parts, exhaust manifolds for other cars, fuel pumps, bolts, the gas tank, emblems, and a big ole' piece of sheet metal covering the gaping hole in the trunk. -TH

engine.

At the end of May, we figured Betty had enough time to catch her breath, so Tim and Steve headed over to Jim's house to get elbow deep in 30 year old grease, grime and anything else that was stuck on that car. I wasn't there to witness this monumental event, but I sent Tim with camera in tow and strict orders to take pictures. -SB





Well, there it is, the grand poobah of them all. I'm not sure what the STR8 and the dynaflow weigh together. It's alot. Splitting the motor and tranny was a pain. Old school torque converters are two-piece, so essentially the front plate of the converter comes off, and until you get it off, they stay together. Inside was brown nasty tranny fluid that interestingly enough has no smell. Pretty much all trans fluid these days stinks even when right out of the bottle. Not this stuff. My bet is it's Dextron I....that's old stuff. The motor went on an engine stand to await rebuilding after the body, brakes, and suspension are done. We had to support the whole front of the engine with a wooden brace just to keep it from ripping the engine stand in half.

The 248 STR8 in stock form is a real dog. 115 HP and about 200LBS of torque, you make everything off of low-end grunt considering the red-line is around 4000 RPM. There were 3 STR8's that Buick made, the 248, 263, and 325. The 263 is the ideal motor, and it's still a mystery why Buick suddenly dropped the STR8 and especially the 263 in 1952 for the new Nailhead motor. Not that nailheads aren't cool as all hell, but still... Stock compression on the 248 is a measly 6.0:1. My intentions are to wait on the engine build until after the body, paint, suspension, and brakes are done. Through different pistons from Egge Machine, and shaving the daylights out of the head and/or block, my hopes are to get the compression into the 8.5:1 to 9.0:1 range. I'm going to probably stick with stock cam since there is nothing out there other than sending your cam out to re-grind. I'll be fabbing up an aluminum intake and a "3-5" header for the exhaust, which essentially makes dual exhaust using one header with 3 exhaust runners, and the other with 5. Why the hell you ask? Because it sounds freakin awesome. At least, that's what everyone tells me. Until then, the engine will wait. -TH

...on the up and up, moving along...

It wasn't until May that the weather here in lovely Holland, Michigan warmed up enough for us to even think about venturing outside. So, once the mercury rose above the freezing point, we called our buddy Jim and asked to borrow his brute strength... and his car hauler... and his pole barn... and... -SB





Some how, some way, Steve also got talked into helping, and since there were now three strong men on the moving force, I could pretty much sit back and watch document. Moving went much quicker this time thanks to the warmer weather and extra hands, and Betty got to rest a bit in the sun. -SB

I'd like to add here that Steve and Jim are two of the awesomist (is that a word?) guys you'll meet. Jim gave up half his pole-barn for Betty, but I'm sure I'll pay him back with work when I can. -TH