Auto Rod Tech's metal shaping and fabrication thread

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Almost time to start making body lines!!!

[trevor572]

Almost time to start making body lines!!!

Hi Chad, the big girl is shaping up very nicely. I can't wait to see her when she is all finished. Guaranteed to look a treat. Cheers. Trevor 😊

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Thanks Trevor,, I can't wait to see it finished as well!! This will be one for all of us working on it to remember.

[trevor572]

Thanks Trevor,, I can't wait to see it finished as well!! This will be one for all of us working on it to remember.

Hi Chad, How's everything going over there mate? Any updates on the 57 or other projects in the shop? Cheers Trevor.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Hi Chad, How's everything going over there mate? Any updates on the 57 or other projects in the shop? Cheers Trevor.

Updates shortly.. Making some progress on the 57' which should be welded together by the end of the day, and also making progress on my 37', and hopefully wrapping up the 47ford/Dakota project next week. All of the remaining parts should be in this week.. Crossing fingers.

[trevor572]

Hi Chad. You have been keeping busy by the sounds of things mate. Looking forward to seeing the results of all that labour. Cheers Trevor.
P.S. My mate finished painting my car today, it's in the project update section under "the little girl" if you'd like to have a look.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

I'll check out the project right after this.. Here's a little update on the 57' I would do a whole project thread on it but it's really not pro-touring at all so I don't want to take up a whole thread on something not Pro-Touring related. However putting it here is still a good way to show some of our work.. The process we are going through right now is no different than what we would do on any car so it still fits in some aspects.

Here's some pics of the 57' the quarters are welded on and body lines are set, this was no easy task, it was a fight getting the body lines as nice as they are with very little cutting, the back end by the trunk was a royal. P.i.t.A. we still need to do some fine tuning work but we get everything as close as we can without panel modifications. Or as little as possible in this case. then we go back over the whole car to make adjustments to the sheet metal to get everything how we want. Very time consuming process.

[trevor572]

Hi Chad. Looking good mate. I have only just come to realize the amount of emphasis and work a really good body guy puts into lines and gaps etc. I guess a nice straight body and shiny paint pull people in, but it's the countless hours that go into the gaps and lines that show the real quality of a job. As usual old mate I never tire of seeing the calibre of your workmanship. Cheers Trevor.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Hi Chad. Looking good mate. I have only just come to realize the amount of emphasis and work a really good body guy puts into lines and gaps etc. I guess a nice straight body and shiny paint pull people in, but it's the countless hours that go into the gaps and lines that show the real quality of a job. As usual old mate I never tire of seeing the calibre of your workmanship. Cheers Trevor.

At this point the first thing I look at on a car is the lines, and how straight the car is, then the finish.. There is way more work into getting good lines than most people realize..
I'll have some posts coming through on my truck soon, but I want to wrap up the task at hand before I put any pics up.. Hoping by the end of the weekend.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

A little patch work and metal finishing on the 57' fender

[trevor572]

A little patch work and metal finishing on the 57' fender

OK Chad, I have to assume that repair is in the the lower rear corner somewhere, given that's the area you've taken a photo of. I can't see it. You're bloody good mate.��

[jlcustomz]

A good metal patch is like a good hair transplant job, you won't know it's there. Doing metal work, I kinda see it actually looking for it, but then I don't. I have a HD desktop monitor screen. Also read about it on another forum.

The biggest difference between this tri-5 & thousands of others down the road would be in 10 to 30 plus years from now when a future buyer decides to strip & redo the body. They should have an opposite of the usual surprise of what's under the paint.
Between all the attention to detail on rust protection prep & having something like SPI epoxy primer sprayed where the sun won't shine, who knows how long a vehicle like this could last with only part time use & proper care.

Are the factory trunk emblems & lock going back on? To me the 57's with a shaved trunk lid just look a whole lot cleaner.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

OK Chad, I have to assume that repair is in the the lower rear corner somewhere, given that's the area you've taken a photo of. I can't see it. You're bloody good mate.��

About 10-12 inches of the lower fender was replaced, bought a patch from carsinc and welded it in, patch was ok, but it surely wasn't perfect.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

A good metal patch is like a good hair transplant job, you won't know it's there. Doing metal work, I kinda see it actually looking for it, but then I don't. I have a HD desktop monitor screen. Also read about it on another forum.

The biggest difference between this tri-5 & thousands of others down the road would be in 10 to 30 plus years from now when a future buyer decides to strip & redo the body. They should have an opposite of the usual surprise of what's under the paint.
Between all the attention to detail on rust protection prep & having something like SPI epoxy primer sprayed where the sun won't shine, who knows how long a vehicle like this could last with only part time use & proper care.

Are the factory trunk emblems & lock going back on? To me the 57's with a shaved trunk lid just look a whole lot cleaner.

Man, I sure hope you are right, I'm sure anybody crazy enough to strip the car down would be surprised however the thought of anybody actually doing that or the thought of this car having a accident or anything of that nature just scares the crap out of me, after working on a car for so many years you hate to see anything happen to them.

To be honest we have striped quite a few cars now and I can't think of any of them that surprised me from being solid, I typically find things like roofing tar with flashing or aluminum foil stuffed in rust holes, and possibly some chicken wire to help hold things together. It's so frustrating when you look at a car that you think may be half decent only to find out every panel needs the works.. I prefer doing this metal work over any part of the job but sometimes it makes me feel bad for the customers.

This car is actually going to be all stock, however I do believe he is adding the continental kit.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

I love the smell of progress!!!

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Added a bunch of photo's to the website, a few new projects and also a link to the paint store.
If you can spare a few minutes please check it out..

http://www.autorodtechnologies.com/

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Making some good progress on the 57' chevy in the shop.
We have been working hard on these door lines.

Here's a few before pics









I think you get the idea.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Here's some pics after a lot of hours of repair work.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

And here is a picture of how this car started.

We have re-bodied a few Camaro's, Impala, Lemans and a few others but this is the first one we had to take down this far to get to good metal, or in this case, almost no metal.
Re-bodying these older cars is one of my favorite things to do, it's nice to take a car from nothing and turn it into something.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

A few Christmas presents and a few extras I framed up.