AutoBody101.com

Help?
Sure! I will be right over!

Willys very cooooooool
Wish I had one.

I have been making progress on my 70 firebird project I should redo what I have done to the left quarter panel but at this point whats done is done, I am not spending any more money on new panels for this one its close enough for a thin layer of fiberglass filler so I can get it into paint and down the road. I will do better on my 71 it needs the exact same repairs.

I have learned so much since I started this rust bucket, my welding skills on thin sheet metal have improved tenfold since I started it Practice, practice, practice!
I didn't even have a Tig welder when I started it now I have two of them lol only to go back to using my Mig on anything other than skin its just convenient & fast.

Lots happening with the "lockdown' and all! Luckily, my shop is in the backyard! OK, stripping off the old primer, I found 2 poor repairs on the upper parts of the quarters, where the 55-6 Olds tend to rust out. Also some very severe collision damage on both quarters. Cut them all out and put in new metal. Wound up cutting out a lot of the interior sheet metal to get access to the outer, for hammer and dolly work. Besides, the hardtop interior panels are different from a wagon's. Had to repair rust in the wheel wells, so I moved the pinchweld on them, to line up with the straighter wagon glass channels. making new inner panels, just cause I can! Don't need access for quarter windows, but made some to get to the side trim clips.

Inner sheet metal work.

Looks good!

Ya the Lock down has me getting a lot of work done too, I finally called the firebirds metal work done and moved on to Filler and body work.

Lets see that Hand held Plannishing hammer you made?

Its been years since I had my Wrist fusion and I still cant Hammer and dolly metal for very long b4 it starts hurting. No fun any more i used to enjoy it.
I hold hammer very loosely almost falling out of my hand with very light blows repetitively very fast helps. anything I have to hit hard puts me down for the day usually looking for the Ibuprofen soon afterwards.

Knees, back, elbows, neck..... My last auto accident they took 27 X rays. Tech....came back to me laughing and said... "You sir are riddled with arthritis from your head to your toes." I quoted back to her the words made famous by Micky Mantle... "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."
So for the level of work you guys do with hammers with what moveable body parts you have left..... I salute you! Great stuff in this thread.....

Dennis, the air hammer still takes quite a bit of strength and grip to use. If I were you, I'd try using someone's before going through the trouble to buy or make one. It might help, might not. The extra vibration still made my hand hurt after using it.
I had a Mittler pedestal planisher. I used it to make the hand held. Took the air unit (which BTW, is just an air driven needle scaler) and the nicely made aluminum clamp, and used it. Bought some 1 1/4" tubing, .120 wall, filled with sand and bent to shape. made a plate to attach the clamp, welded it to the frame. Cut off the lower part of the frame, inserted a rod, and used a hitch pin to reattach. Now I can remove it to place the hammer in position on the car. The one I made is pretty heavy, and long, so I could get to the center of the roof where I welded it. I may make another smaller version.

I have seen a few over the years your frame looks very similar to other ones I have seen.
That one looks pretty good size, I bet it gets kinda heavy especially after working the metal for a Bit. You could suspend it with Bungy cords? might help?

You don't see them up for sale very often.
I could make my own too but I don't have a Tube bender yet, AND a Bead roller with Dies comes before a Tube bender.

So Hows the Project coming any updates?

Everything going very slowly (working with the handicap). Willys is done except to put in a headliner. I don't do upholstery work, but the owner bought a kit, and I'd prefer it not to go to an upholstery shop to get chipped or scratched. My Olds-Mad, got the whole back half bodywork done, trying a new primer, Tamco's epoxy. Hoping it performs as well as the HOK EP-2, that's gone up to almost 500 for a 2 gallon kit.
Finished up the collision work on my good friend, Ted's 50 Chevy. Decided I made enuff on it to fix some other issues for him. Exhaust leak, doors not latching well, clutch linkage problem, install new lake pipes, rebuild and install a 63 Caddy tilt column. He's ready to go, too. Got nothing planned to come in for a while, so I can do more on the Olds, get the body ready to come off the frame, and hopefully (if the owner is done rebuilding the chassis) get going on painting that Barris custom 40 Ford, Les PoPo.

Wow you work fast, You got little leprechauns in there helping you?
Love the Willys turned out great so is that Cheby, always wanted to do a Gasser out of a 54.
There just Tuff lookin

Oh please more info on the 40!!!! Love 40 coupes.

By the way you ever play with custom Torsion bar suspensions? I have some ideas I wanna play with soon.