Wheel Tubs

Arghh..sometimes I hate my internet( I had this post done photos and all and just getting ready to actually post it to the blog when my net quit me. :/ At any rate I tacked in the stretched fender flares then I bought a sheet of 20ga. steel to fabricate the wheel tubs, marked out the sidewall cutouts using the same template I had used for marking out the well cutouts @ a 36" circumfrence, then marking out the the tops at 20" width and 57" linear length. Taran was at work this day, so I had to weld them up myself. Surprisingly enough they turned out pretty good. All of the seems including the attachment point for the tubs to the inner and outer quarter panels will be sealed with body seam sealer and undercoated to prevent any rust AND any smoke entrance from any "accidental" burnouts that may or may not occur :D

"Recap"

Just a couple photos of the floor/susp/diff unit that I dropped out.

"On to the wheel wells"

Now that I have removed a large part of the stable flooring and support from the rear of the car, I had to replace the jackstands and add another set to stabilized the now pretty wobbly rear end, but dont worry..nothing is gonna break here...but just in case..lol! Its just alot to ask the rear pillar and roof to hold up for long periods of time.

Now I have already made a 36" 1/2 round template from poster paper to simulate the size of the wheel tubs that are going in and then I traced the lines onto the inner fender panel to get ready for cutting as you can see the marker lines here. Now that those are out, I need to open up the out wheel well about 6" for the Goodyear Eagles to fit. I was able to do this by tracing a line all the way around the upper edge of the fender flare about 3/4 on an inch from the curve of the flare in fact, then use a pair of metal shears to cut them out. Once that part was cut out, then i cut the flare in half and placed them on either side of the tire once i slide it back into place under the car. That part is actually going quite well. So as you can see..they fit in there just fine now. and I just have to tack in the flares now and fabricate the center part of the flare then do a little tacking and mudding..and were good to go. I'm actually hurrying through this step on this side cuz Im way behind here, but I'll photograph and be more detailed with this step on the other side of the car.

"Tear'n it Up!"

Once the interior was cleaned out,it was time time to rip out the floor behind the seats to clear back past the rear suspension and differential areas to make room for the new frame rails and give me room to start cutting for tubs and the fatties that are going under this baby. Now being a uni body car, it wasn't easy to find where to cut into the rear existing framework, but a little patience and a few mythodical cuts revealed where I needed to be. Once that was figured out...the rest went easy and the entire rear floor/suspension/differential unit dropped out as one completed blob.

"Getting to work!"

Ok, now that we have the car in the garage...the next thing we did was to position it in the small bay that we have to work in, so that we can get all around it after it is incapacitated. We got the car off the ground and onto jackstands. After that we had to spray insecticide in and under the car to eliminate any creepy crawleys that may still be lurking about from sitting in the field.
Then we pulled out the seats, carpet, and most of the interior trim to get to the workable metal underneath and check for soundness of the body. Honestly...I hated to cut into this thing because it was soooo perfect! :/

The Find!

Having talked long and hard about what our project should be and reminiscing about all the cars I have owned since I was 15 years old, and trying to decide upon 65 Mustangs, 70 Cudas, 69 Camaros etc. my thoughts seemed to settle on a 71 chevy vega I had when I was 18, one that my friend Alvin had talked me out of or rather traded me fro a 68 Chev Impalla with a Chrysler 440 chained into it (thx a ton Al). I told myself if I ever had the chance to find another one, that I would do it. This seemed to intrigue my son and So...We hit KSL.com, a version of Craigs list etc. in our area. Taran came to me and said he thinks he found a good prospect a clean '72 Chevy Vega...it was, I made a call, Talked to Bronson (the owner) struck a deal for $600, got the day off work, rented a U-Haul car hauler, packed a lunch and off we went. Bronson is seen (lower left) standing next to the car once on the trailer, he told me he had the car for the last 10 years, got the engine out of it and was going to convert it to a V8, then never did. This was a prime example of a nice rustless, dentless California car that he babied for 10 years making sure it didnt rust. Told me it needed a good home, I reassured him it was getting one and that I would keep him updated on the progress, so this is for you buddy. (Thanks Bronson)

"The start" as it were...lol!

I've only tried to start this Blog only about 25 times now, and I keep forgetting to save my changes..lol, so hopefully this one finds me successful. My name is Mark, I live in Syracuse, Utah with my family including my 21 year old son Taran atm. We are both heavy automotive gearheads that really get into the classic and racing scene. We have talked long and hard for years about building something together finally and it looks like we found our mission. My friends now knowing about our little project here and having seen the raw material we are working with...somehow convinced me to Blog this Story and the build. Knowing more about how to program the space shuttle than to blog, I had to recruit my daughter-in-law to help me start the blog...Thanks Caitlyn. My son Taran (who is single btw ladies)..is an awesome addition to the project ie. good welding skills and an awesome imagination! (did I mention he was single?) !!! As a Safety Message !!! Use some common sense if you plan to duplicate anything I have done here! By building it you are accepting personal responsibility for your own safety. If somehow you get injured don’t blame me. I am not some big corporation with deep pockets. Isn’t it a shame I have to include this statement.