four into two '68

[dodgydan]

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hi all. i got some time and thought i would finally get a round to a build thread. its a 1968 510 my son and i picked up for a father son build. his first and his choice of car. the story is it was once Byrons car and then sold to Ian Small, then to Mark Toth. who then decided it would look better as a 2 door. so he called Byron and picked up a couple doors and 2dr B pillers. and stripped the car to a shell and cut out the 4dr B piller and installed the longer doors. then positioned the 2dr sedan B pillers and welded them inplace. then he skinned the rear 4dr doors and used the pieces to finish of the 1/4's. welded up the door handle holes, and braced the back with 1" sqr tubing. he also did this to the doors couse the '68 had no side impact bars.

[dodgydan]

we started this project in june of this year and over the next few days, ill try and catch up to the current build state. however the website? or my computer seems really slow tonight so ill try again later.

[dodgydan]

the door pillers removed.

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the 2dr posts positioned and welded in.

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and the doors installed and then placed the rear door skin inplace.

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[dodgydan]

welded up the doorhandle indent.

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and finished welding the rest of the panel, formed a piece for the top of the panel to meet the side 1/4 window. and then repeated the process on the other side.

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at this point. Marks life got busy with home reno's and other projects so he decided to sell. my son saw the craigslist add and we whent out to see it and made a deal. this is it on its way to our garage on the other side of town. along with 2 more trips with a van to get all the '68 parts. including a SR20DET redtop and 5spd.

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[two_68_510s]

Man, I love this! More '68 2 doors!!

[dodgydan]

at home. the next job was to mount it on a rotisserie and repair the small rust areas in the outer rocker etc.

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here is a shot of the inside of the rear 1/4 area. with side brace to stiffen the panel.

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placed a bolt in rollbar to mark areas to reinforce the floor and wheel tubes for mounting plates.

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[dodgydan]

welded a plate in with captured nuts for rollbar.

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rolled it over and stripped of the old paint and undercoat. only two small rust areas to deal with here. this car is in really good shape for a north west ride. the son and i are quite happy.

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we finished the welding and primed and sealed the inner 1/4 area and trimmed it ready for an interior panel. TYSON picked up a parts car and i went out to grab a few bits.

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[dodgydan]

this was TYSONS parts car. is it me or does this picture look like a plastic model? i drilled out the spotwelds and removed the inner metal from the rear sides. i had to remove all the interior first. it was black and in nice shap under the years of scum. i grabbed the door and rear inner panels and a complet rubber floor mat with no holes, including a perfect trunk mat. the seats ended up in "BUTTERS" the really nice yellow 4dr here in mapleridge. man tyson does nice work. fortunatly for me. this one was to far gone for even tyson to want to save.

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here is the new panel installed, just some bodywork and one would never know it was a 4 door

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wouldent you know it, on the day we aranged a good friend of mine to tow it across town to another good friends bodyshop it would start pooring with rain. great for bare metal. but we tarped it up and off it went.

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[Byron510]

Dan,
I’m so glad this car ended up in your hands.
The funny story about this car is that I acquired it locally – it is a Maple Ridge car as well. It was a solid car, all metal and no signs of any big hits during its life. I parted a 2dr that a club member lost an argument with a telephone pole with. That car donated the doors and the B pillars. Then it sat. In the mean time I acquired the car which became the Bronze from another Dan I’ve known for years. So I decided to let this 68 go, and the doors and B pillar got stored in the shed. Fwd four years later, this car was listed on GL again, and went to Mark. The PO gave Mark my contact number, and Mark say – “I want to turn this car into a 2 dr, is it possible?”!!!
After I stopped laughing, I told Mark of how this was my original plan, and that the parts for the job have been sitting in the back of my shop for 4 years. Mark was over the next day, and he got going on the project. I lost touch with Mark. Fwd 2 more years Dan, and you acquire the car, and thank god it was finished!  I’m a happy guy, and so glad it got done. I’ve always wanted a 68 dr, some day it may happen. But for now, you’ve got a cool ride and I look forward to seeing it at local shows.

Good work Dan.

Byron

[dodgydan]

thanks byron. we are having fun with this one. first time i used a rotisserie and i will never go back to jackstands and welding on my back. (I hope)

[dodgydan]

the car is now out at a friends shop. he does movie cars and was kind enough to let us work on the 510 at his shop will he went for a holiday. we started by stripping the paint etc.

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doing the bodywork on the 1/4's. Im a transport mechanic buy trade but i have been playing with bodywork and paint for a while. mainly because of the cost of the pro jobs. but its nice to have my son helping on this one.

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shot some primer on to see how we are doing.

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[dodgydan]

starting the work on the roof. at one point, someone welded and rivited a roof rack on this poor car. and used it for a work truck so we had lots of highs and lowes to fix.

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a little more primer and setting up doors and fenders to line up.

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pulled the metal fenders of my other 510 because the are in better shape and collin, my son wants NO marker lights on the sides.

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[dodgydan]

body work is roughed in and its time to spray on a few good coats of primer to start working on those bodylines

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heres the boy working with the board straightening the body lines on the 1/4.

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its looking better. time to block and prime, block and prime.we used tape and sprayed on a trace coat to help use see the imperfections easier.

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[dodgydan]

working on the rear 1/4 window area. tough to get the curves right.

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one last block of bodyline and then its time to prep for paint.

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got the doors and hood off to get ready for painting doorjams, enginebay,interior and underside. the more masking now, the less overspray to sand off later

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[dodgydan]

the son wants black and orange bre style paint. it seems the more we work on it, the more he is going retro with the looks. its the fun stage now. shinny new paint on the underside and engine bay.

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and on the inside aswell

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moved it out in the sun to bake for awhile, also undercoated a few spots. i have a hard time spraying flat textured crap over nice shinny paint, but it will help it last longer.

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