My Half A$$ Studebaker Rebuild

[Topper2011]

This little part took three days to get to this point. Whew! The left side is a smaller piece, but that's tomorrow's problem. Time to watch Stage 10 of the TDF.

[Daan]

You’re doing such good work, I’m considering just sending my Hawk to your house Great job, man!

[Topper2011]

You’re doing such good work, I’m considering just sending my Hawk to your house Great job, man!

Don't look to closely.

[bensherb]

Looks good to me.

[Topper2011]

Time for the left side. Hopefully, I have that needed "experience" now that I need it for this side. But then again, it's a mirror image, so it's still new to me.

[Topper2011]

Wednesday, the weird "Mars" sky is not getting any brighter. It's like night time here.

This was taken at 1:30pm, but the picture doesn't do the darkness justice. It looks more like 5:30pm. Too much smoke and it's like working at night in the garage, calling it a day. Temps drop from upper 90's on Sunday to 63 today. I feel like a dinosaur that just saw a meteor hit the Earth.

[Topper2011]

I fitted the piece from yesterday.





Looks like I'm having a yard sale, what a mess.





For some reason, I'm running through my mig gas a lot faster with this bottle. Done for today.

[Cruzzar]

Glad to see the orange chunks showing up and being put to good use. Your mig welding is improving.

[bensherb]

Your mig welding is improving.

I agree! The left looks even better than the right. It may just be the pic, but the deck lid gap appears tapered at the back on the right, not bad, but I think you're welding well enough you could easily add to the edge of the deck to remove the taper (just a thought). Looks great either way, certainly better than the factory fit of my car.

[Daan]

I’m kind of jealous of the progress you’re making... I barely have time to touch my car though.

[Topper2011]

Glad to see the orange chunks showing up and being put to good use. Your mig welding is improving.

I am so glad I picked these parts up. I cannot imagine trying to make these complicated compound curved parts.

I agree! The left looks even better than the right. It may just be the pic, but the deck lid gap appears tapered at the back on the right, not bad, but I think you're welding well enough you could easily add to the edge of the deck to remove the taper (just a thought). Looks great either way, certainly better than the factory fit of my car.

I could probably tighten up the right side by adjusting the left hinge forward, but that would widen the gap on the left side back edge of the lid. Goes to show, I didn't quite place the right side weather channel in the right place. At this point, I'm hoping the weatherstrip will keep most of the water out of the trunk.

I’m kind of jealous of the progress you’re making... I barely have time to touch my car though.

No hurry, these projects will wait for you, plus I've had this car for a couple years already. There's another thread someone had just gotten the car and has the chassis stripped and powder coated already, wow!

[bensherb]

You've only had it a couple years; you're making fast work of it.
I started this December of '98 when my daughter was born. This pic is probably 10 years later, shes probably 10 here and my son 4. She's almost 22 now, he's 16. The car looks the same today, with a bit less paint and a bit more rust. Shy keeping it driveable, I don't think I've done anything to it since many years before this pic. Still has 66 year old upholstery on the seats, no headliner, bare plywood door panels and no weather stripping.

[Topper2011]

Been spending days trying to finish up the taillamp mounts and coated.



Primered



Seam sealed and coated with Eastwood's undercoating in a spray can. This stuff is way better than the Rustoleum undercoating. Of the products from Eastwood, I'm pretty impressed with the undercoating and the panel splitters.



Previous owner had these homemade mud flaps installed, so I would assume he towed a trailer that he didn't want pounded by gravel and what-not. This one was torn, so I wanted to give it a try and see how it looked. What do you think? Also, anyone have pictures of the fuel filler neck bracket that bolts to the fender? I seem to have misplaced it somewhere in my mess.

[bensherb]

On my '62 it's just a simple strap that fits around the tube and bolts to a small second piece that then bolts to the tab inside the gas door. Our '53 is totally different than this.

[Topper2011]

On my '62 it's just a simple strap that fits around the tube and bolts to a small second piece that then bolts to the tab inside the gas door. Our '53 is totally different than this.

Thanks Rick. That's what I have, but the fender opening has two holes so I'm assuming it has a reinforcement bracket as well?