51 Hornet Project. With pictures.

triman62

Making a little more progress, hope to get more painting done when the weather gets better.

triman62

Still working on project, kind of held up by the weather, too cold to paint. I will be finishing up the rear frame rails and start on rockers next.

triman62

Got some good weather this week, been busy painting the rear frame and some small parts for the rockers. My goal is to repair and install all the parts on my work bench so I can start on the drivetrain, that will be a welcome change. I have the rear differential out so I could paint inside the rear fender wells. Need to put project down on its wheels, install rear fenders and rockers. I hope this will square up the body so I can weld the coupe top on, that should take the flex out of the frame. will have about 2000 hours on frame and body repairs, I planned for a budget of 2500 hours and 2,500.00 dollars, I got about 1,000.00 dollars in it so far, so I should be able to make my budget goal.

triman62

Working on rockers and clearing off work bench.

triman62

made some small parts for mounting rockers and fender skirts, my rockers are for a pacemaker so I will have to extend the front for my Hornet. I am using some four door rockers for patch pieces.

SuperDave

What tail lights are you going to use? I noticed that there are no mounting holes for the 51 Hornet lights, but there are Wasp/Hornet 1952 cutouts. The rear bumper is lower on the 52 and up. I think it looks much better than the 48-51 version.  Kookin' GREAT!

triman62

SuperDave said:

What tail lights are you going to use? I noticed that there are no mounting holes for the 51 Hornet lights, but there are Wasp/Hornet 1952 cutouts. The rear bumper is lower on the 52 and up. I think it looks much better than the 48-51 version.  Kookin' GREAT!

I will be cutting holes for 51 taillights, I thought about Frenching them in a little, but that will possibly be at a later date. The entire frame, firewall, and rear portion of the rear fenders are 52 Hornet 4 door sedan that I am converting to 51 Hornet 2 door coupe. I also like the lower bumper on the 52 frame, I have been trying to figure out how the factory lowered the bumper in 52, I guess I will take another look at the rear frame section of the 51 frame.

triman62

Fitting 51 bumper, rockers and skirts on. I will getting this thing outside soon. Its always fun to trailer it down to the car wash, people ask what is it.

triman62

Here is a some pictures of the recent progress.

triman62

Back on its wheels again.

KustomKreeps

supper impressed man.

hmm you know what years rear bumpers will fir on a 49 Super? Kinda like your 51 bumper with its space for the number plate.

SuperDave

48 through 53 fits. 54 ends are different. here is my 49 with a 52-54 center and horse collar.

KustomKreeps

SuperDave said:

48 through 53 fits. 54 ends are different. here is my 49 with a 52-54 center and horse collar.

Thanks Dave.
Are all the 48-53 r.bumpers same height?
Im after one that will fit the same other than hanging slightly lower if poss.

SuperDave

The difference is in the body relief. The bumpers are the same dimension. The panel below the trunk lid is narrow through 1951, then it got wider. The 48-51 step downs had a rubber "flap" that covered the view of the fuel tank. The 52 and up had a wide stainless trim on that panel. In my opinion, a much better appearance that made the car look lower.

KustomKreeps

will go see if i can find a pic of the 52+ rear to take a look at what you mean.
Thanks Again

triman62

Alex, I replaced my 51 frame and body with a 52 body, it has the lower bumper position SuperDave mentioned in his post, you can see the panel between the trunk and the top of the bumper is a lot wider on my car than on Dave's car.

KustomKreeps

ahh right.
I like that look. getting a few ideas from watching your work.

KustomKreeps

just posted your car as one of my fav "Field Finds" cars on HAMB
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/field-cars-not-barn-finds.1050564/page-5

triman62

Got a little more painting done, finding lots of parts to clean and assemble onto car now.

triman62

I don't like the way the emblems bolted to the fender, I think I can drill some new holes and fix the problem.

triman62

Working on rockers and putting trim on to make sure everything is ready before paint. Relocated emblems on front fenders so they weren't sticking down into the wheel opening. also bolted on the trim for the trunk lid.

airbrushguy

Maybe I missed this in an earlier post, but why are you brush painting that blue paint on?

triman62

airbrushguy, I originally planned on learning how to run lead and build a custom car, but I have over 2000 man hours in frame and body repairs with rudimentary tools. To finish the body to a level where it could be sprayed would probably take another 2000 hours, I don't think the car would ever recoup my investment in man hours, so I just plan on painting over the numerous welds and pitting in the sheet metal, thanks for your question, here is some pics of my crude repairs.

airbrushguy

No, actually I think your work is admirable. Seems like a good basis for a custom with just some finished bodywork....you've already done the hard part!

triman62

airbrushguy said:

No, actually I think your work is admirable. Seems like a good basis for a custom with just some finished bodywork....you've already done the hard part!

Thanks for the comment, I have been rethinking the body work all week. I will be coming back and reworking some areas on the body, and doing a better paint job. The paint I have on now should help in preserving the body until then.

triman62

Still working on the project, finally making a little progress again. Got rockers on now and will be finishing the coupe top next.

Kdancy

Hate to disagree, but I would say that getting the body surface flat and ready for paint is the hard part!  Your work is looking good, don't get anxious and shortcut the body work!

triman62

Kdancy said:

Hate to disagree, but I would say that getting the body surface flat and ready for paint is the hard part!  Your work is looking good, don't get anxious and shortcut the body work!

Kerry, that sounds like some good advice, I have been feeling anxious about the car.  I seem to be settling down a little now that I am working on the project again. I had to take a couple months off to remodel the house for the missus. I needed to recharge the batteries some anyway, so its all good to go again.

triman62

Well, here we go again, I have been putting off welding the top on for some time. I think I am ready to tackle it now. Looks like first thing Monday morning I will give it my best effort.

triman62

Starting to make a little progress.