Rear panel

The last piece to making my jigsaw body was the lower rear panel. Not much else to describe about it, cut, weld, sand fill. Which seems to have happened alot around here. I didn't take too many pics of this one, just wanted to get it out of the way.

Left rear

I finished the metalwork on the left rear quarter and started on body filler, I plan on wrapping up this entire side of the car by Friday and the other by the end of the weekend. I added the lower bead and axle arch support made of strap steel and hammered out the bottom corner radius.

Fabrication and finishing

This weekend I had a chance to get a great deal done with the time I gained from removing the body from the frame a day early. I started by completing the firewall welding and patching Then the lower cowl patch Next up was creating the rear panel over the axle Then in primer getting ready for finishing bodywork Since the body was off, I also took this opportunity to change the trans pan, filter and oil filter then painted the rest of the frame.

Back to the beginning

Sort of back to the beginning, the body is off the frame - and a day early. I had scheduled a few friends to come by on Saturday to help lift the body of the frame so i could finish the body work and other odds and ends. When I found myself at a standstill Friday night Matt and I decided that it needs to happen right now. Matt made the bucks to sit the body on while a call was made to another friend who lives a block away - who happened to have a few guys over at the time. Moments later Chad and his crew arrived and the separation was done.

Woodworking

I have been helping a buddy of mine with a 70's Datsun truck restoration who is a long time woodworker so I have enlisted his help (or entire effort) in creating the roof wood. I sketched out the plan then gave him free reign to build it.

The wood is old oak flooring from another friends house that he needed to get rid of so we sandwiched some pieces together and got started.

Cowl filler trim

Cowl filler
I started on the cowl filler trim which is normally a separate piece but with the removeable cowl setup I am building it made more sense to integrate the entire thing into the cowl. I plasma cut out the rough shape and started fitting it in.

Push-Pull turn signal

I purchased an aftermarket turn signal stalk that is supposed to be clamped up near the steering wheel but when I put it on it just didn't fit well. I decided I needed to move it further down the column and go with a push-pull type setup.

The lever is a 1/4" rod that runs down the steering column and attaches to the turn signal box. The rod pushes in for right and pulls out for the left side - off is still in the middle. The handle is a spoon gas pedal from a '30s truck.

I also mounted the brake light switch to the housing that hits the brake pedal and the entire assembly slides on the column then attaches with a bolt & lock nut.