1961 Impala 2 Door Sedan - Let's Get Started...

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Well here’s my rendition of “cowl induction”, except for the fender wells... What really, really sucks is this is the only rust on the car. Booo!!!2B758F9C-A56C-4386-9AC3-E0407ED2656F.jpegF3038F7F-73D4-4AE7-B84F-5E808213832C.jpeg

And to add insult to injury, while grinding a few bolt heads off, a piece of hot slag bounced onto my reading glasses lens and burnt a nice pencil lead size dot on them. Guess it’s time to clean the garage and turn off the lights....
 
Last edited:

oleblu72

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Well here’s my rendition of “cowl induction”, except for the fender wells... What really, really sucks is this is the only rust on the car. Booo!!!View attachment 65627View attachment 65628

And to add insult to injury, while grinding a few bolt heads off, a piece of hot slag bounced onto my reading glasses lens and burnt a nice pencil lead size dot on them. Guess it’s time to clean the garage and turn off the lights....


I'll go you one on messing your glass's up Doug. I bought one of those Miller welding masks that looks like a ski mask and I took it off and laid it down beside me and tried one of those close your eyes tack welds and when I went to lay the gun down after the weld I laid the gun right down on top of my weld mask and stuck the hot wire right through the lens of the mask, I wasn't to happy about that.

Mark
 

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
I know Jim. The closing the eyes while grinding probably isn’t smart. Oh, and grinding toward my crotch without a guard on the grinder is probably a stupid move as well. Jeez, my OSHA cert has most definitely been violated ;)
 
Last edited:

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
NASCAR pit crews may be good at record times in changing tires. I just set a record for removing a fender. 20 minutes. Ripleys should be calling at any time....E304C746-675C-41C6-A559-C8B09E13178D.jpeg
Found a solid original inner headlight bucket for $50. New ones are $120, but they don’t have the cool layer of surface rust that’s so popular these days.B1A09A99-C0EB-4FC4-A8B8-48E7B6F6E70A.jpeg
And sadly, I destroyed a perfectly good mouse home in the firewall water galley. Looked quite comfy. 6FF26454-6B2C-404B-AFB6-3FB71BA1487B.jpeg
Still impressed with how solid this ol’ girl is. The inner rockers and the water drainage channels still retain factory paint.

So, the fender is now off and hopefully going to a repair shop. I’m fully prepared for the cost of custom rolling sheetmetal. But these darn fenders are impossible to find. Ask me, I’ve been looking a solid month!
 
Last edited:

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Ironically, I was contacted by a very old and reputable rod shop here in KC about the fender. Ballpark for metal work, filler, and rough primer will be $575. Considering an entire solid fender for a ‘61 is 500 to 800, I think it’s reasonable. Reasonable, but not palatable....
 

oleblu72

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Oh yeah, this isn’t going to be cheap...View attachment 65696


Hey Doug I'll trade you a rusted out 59 Belair more doors with a rich history for your 61.:D Then I can introduce you to what Ohio rust looks like and if that doesn't float your boat I can show you what Open Hearth/Steel Slag will do to the body on your car.:D I have three vehicles I had to park early because of the slag a 1st year 79 Toyota 4X4 with not quite 30K on it a 85 Chevy 4X4 89K and last but not least my 03 Chevy Express van 45K that I just parked last year because they were no longer safe to drive down the road. Its no wonder these fenders rusted out where they did, could you imagine how many more good original fenders would be floating around for sale if GM had a wheelwell that was worth a $hit! And they figured out how to make it rust out without the aid of a computer, the big three has rust down to a science now look at all the front fenders & over the rear wheels of pickup trucks rust protection should be getting better not worse after all the years they've been making vehicles.

Mark
 

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Oh Mark, believe me, I got lucky with this one. I have buddies in Ohio that never see anything 8 years or older that doesn’t have rust somewhere. My little daily Scion has rust starting, and it’s 9 years old. I have to take an extra antidepressant when I see the salt truck circling before a snow.

You mentioned slag. I an an engineer at a manufacturing plant. Years ago, I used to park as far away from it as I could because of the iron dust. It wasn’t as bad as slag fallout, but I had to polish my pickup every month to save the paint. Thank goodness we run a much cleaner shop now. But I concur, metal fallout and salted roads have killed a many nice vehicles!!
 

oleblu72

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Oh Mark, believe me, I got lucky with this one. I have buddies in Ohio that never see anything 8 years or older that doesn’t have rust somewhere. My little daily Scion has rust starting, and it’s 9 years old. I have to take an extra antidepressant when I see the salt truck circling before a snow.

You mentioned slag. I an an engineer at a manufacturing plant. Years ago, I used to park as far away from it as I could because of the iron dust. It wasn’t as bad as slag fallout, but I had to polish my pickup every month to save the paint. Thank goodness we run a much cleaner shop now. But I concur, metal fallout and salted roads have killed a many nice vehicles!!


My understanding of it Doug is that Steel/Open Hearth slag contains Acid and that's what does the damage. Long time ago Lafarge which is a Canadian global business is what the slag company is called use to put warnings on the back of the slag ticket about the acid and also not to breathe the dust but they no longer do. If you ask Lafarge about the slag now they'll tell you the acid has been washed out which is BS. I removed all the slag from the driveway but it didn't do much good my cars still would rust I think what has happened is the acid has washed itself down into the dirt so just like a hazmat spill you would have to remove some of the dirt to make it safe. This slag makes big deep pits in the metal and its quite destructive.

Mark
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
What do you think it might cost if you were to locate a suitable "cap" made of metal from another '61 ?
 

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
What do you think it might cost if you were to locate a suitable "cap" made of metal from another '61 ?

That's the problem Tom, finding a solid cap/fender is next to impossible. I have ran down 5 separate leads just in the last week of "solid" fenders, only to find they are weak in the headlight bulge area. It would probably be a better alternative I agree, but every stone I turn over leads to dead end. I'd like to get all the body work completed by the end of the year so I can then focus on suspension and engine transplants.

If I ever buy another '61 (a bubbletop is my dream car) I will inspect the fenders with a fine tooth comb. I wouldn't want to go through all this searching again.
 

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Thanks for the link, Skydog. I forwarded it to a buddy whose looking for a radiator support and inner fenders. I told him we could go halves a then sell what we don’t use. Whether it actually happens, is a mystery ;)
 

tcb-1

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Amassing parts. This pic was not staged. This is what happens when a surgical registered nurse builds an old car. I know. I’m sick. 10B94DDC-AA8C-4AA7-A51A-EFD229CD049B.jpeg
I have my drivers side fender out for repair now. This weekend I’ll gather all the small parts I need media blasted and get them to a blaster. Side note, if I have the time and money next year, I have to buy a blasting cabinet for the small items. It’s a waste of money taking them somewhere only to wait several weeks and pay too much for the service. Oh well, I need to start playing the lottery.
 
Top