Buinicorn my 1964 wagon

while the glue is drying on my hate to the next generation
I'm working on the hate from the last generation.... why, GM, did you seam seal these points? oh yeah, because you knew you'd be reading about it about now....

cut a new piece

then fit - but first now that has to dry (the dykem)

I thought I had a bunch of holes to fill... nope, just bad spot welding so when I do the body work, a touch of spot fill and it's fixed (yay me)

and back to the other corner with some CAD work

 

cool idea, but I need to build a tank - this will have dual fuel pumps to feed the V6.... for reference, this V6 is the less extreme version of what's coming


to catch you up... there are these Australians who come here with their Aussie Barra motors - we have a better motor and I aim to plant a flag... paradox is I have Aussie and NZ help in accomplishing my task

 

and more on that vein.... it's my 2 year plan (which means 3 years)... get it running this year with the LS then turbo LS. Next year, fabricate a bolt-in cage good to 8s.... but the entire point of this car is sleeper. The cage will be temporary even if I have to weld it in for drag week then cut it out to maintain the image of some old guy in a V6 power Buick wagon....

 

Love this thread. So much fabricating.

What about a GMC cyclone engine?

 

I'm not a fan of the 4.3 - too much vibration.... that and I owned a Typhoon back in the day... I should have bought the GNX...
carrying on

match and weld

outside of a bit more grinding, and one more weld on the window edge, this side is done with metal work

of course, there's a bunch left on this side

 

I didn't do much (or I did a lot depending on how you look at it).

what I did was this



to do that required wiring this

and that was done after helping my electrician friend fall a tree at his cousin's house.... he would have wired without the help, but I would have missed them trying to squish the cousin's kid... or maybe I should say, the kid would have gotten squished

the full backstory. My shop has 1 phase power, my brake, my lathe, and now my shear are all 3 phase and run off a VFD converter... took some wiring to make that happen.

 

oh look, a piece I built but am not going to use....

grind

this corner is a pain, I think the right thing to do is get the brackets on my new bumper, line it up then do this corner... between the hit and rust it's anyone's guess where 'correct' is


more fitting before I realize what I should be doing


more rust repair, this time with lead removal

on the other side, I avoided having to mess with the lead.... not this side

that is a substantial amount of lead


now onto the channel

shrinkage

irony is I knew I was going to have to completely refab this fender... had I the shear I have now, I would have made it from scratch


and fitting the channel

Derek at Vice grip Garage (if you haven't watched it, you should) has a wagon in S. Dakota that I could have bought to get this quarter.... I couldn't bring myself to haul it back and cut it up - especially since I'll have about the same hours (and far less money - no gas/lodging) as driving there... but even if it was next door.... I couldn't cut it up. That said, if anyone has the wagon affliction, I can point you to the guy who is liquidating his yard

 

test fit

primier

tomorrow I weld.... got a late start then had to comfort Buick because of thunder and vacuum.... it was terrible

 

more.... wait for it.... rust repair.... woohooo....

and it's some tasty stuff


cleaned

fit new

and more

closer

now it's just a matter of weld and cool so it doesn't warp

there... how to fix a window channel in 2 weeks and 200 easy steps

oops 201
needed to weld some spot welds in place

 

look ma, no fender

hmm, battery tray? but this is a grandpa car batteries go in front



now to put a bit of a bow in the fender

looking close

and even breathing holes


I could have welded it on tonight, but I think I'm going to tow it outside and check the lines... where it is right now that is hard to do

 

today was primer day for plastic fantastic tew, so this went outside
gives me an opportunity to stand back and look at that body line

I still think it's not straight to the ones on the door - maybe borrow a level laser...

now it's swapped spots with the Corvette so I can focus on finishing this (and the Corvette)

 

time to attach it forever



like my new clamp?


that is close to heck enough

 

a bit more

 

time to make the lower corner

paper template to wood buck

to forming



fitting


easier to make this in two pieces


upper piece

lower piece

pretty much, there it is


a bit more welding tomorrow
and for those wondering, the other car I'm building simultaneous to this one

 

did more welding


all that's left is blending


I need to brace behind the panel - I overlapped the pieces for strength and to maintain strength - now to make it prettier

 

I think the Corvette stunned everyone to silence..

beside a couple small holes, rust repair is done... simple, no?

fill the hole above

I think I need a different offset unless I want to tear up tires and all the work I just did

 

its shopmate is off to be made black, so back to this.... hopefully I've painted this before the Corvette comes back...
first strip the doors

in the appropriate attire


stripped... though I think that's latex on the upper right corner

also time to fix the tailgate

this is better, not done, but 50% better

and some grinding

so I'm going to cut space, but this is too much (and also not the same distance as the driver's side)

push it out a bit

remember the panel doesn't have the right curve? this is how I'm fixing that.... I cut the rust out, but not to a but joint because I knew I'd have to push it out some....


more tomorrow.

 

Keep it up!

 

This chapter is entitled
Chasing Dents

not Arthur Dent
the issue - no one makes a quarter panel for a 64 Buick Special wagon (I know, right?!) so I'm using a poorly crafted (which is better then no crafted?) 2 door ht repop.
The issue with that is wagons bend where sedans are straight and straight where wagons bend.... oh and I don't have an english wheel or planishing hammer

round 1

round 2

tailgate removal... it was ugly


I'm not sure why they drilled holes to pull the dents - remove the inner panel, open the window and you have easy access to the dent.... ah well, I suppose I am meeting my past self, the one like me who wants to see some bitch and moan car-tv show with one of my earlier attempts... ah well, this was actually pretty easy to get it to reasonable shape

and for those counting, there is no chance I'm putting that spring back (which helps close the tailgate)

 

apparently latex is paint

smoothing stuff out

tailgate is, as I suggested, off

nothing a little seam sealer won't cover up.... that said, there are good reason why I didn't butt weld this

look at the side and wave

now we're serious, no more waves

and a comparison of where it was


and ran out of time before I got back to this