1959 Peerless Restoration

[HealeyBN7]

I got past the first step in a 12 step process - admit you have a project. Then we stripped the interior, engine and wiring out of the Peerless. At some point it will be heading north to Dave Wellwood for steps four, five and six...

[HealeyBN7]

Removed the body last night. What is not rusted is a small grid of square tubing. They called it a birdcage, but it looks more like leftover fencing. I'll be heading to Industrial metal later today to build a table and start frame repairs... This qualifies as a project.

[Larry Kluss]

Wow, you made lots of progress yesterday.

[Steve Simmons]

Cool! Looking forward to watching this project.

[HealeyBN7]

Since the body was freed, I decided to tackle the chassis work. Replacement of the main outer frame rails was my first priority. On the passenger side I'll be replacing the vertical rails as well as a outrigger.

The driver's side is close, so I moved to the passenger side, which I almost finished, but my HF welding helmet gave up. I didn't even know they could brake...

Once the frame rails are secured, the 2" x 2" box rail that runs under the dash on the floor will be next.

Dean

[Steve Simmons]

Wow, standard square tubing. What luck in regards to ease of repair!

[HealeyBN7]

Had a chance to put a few more hours into the chassis.

With both side rails welded in place, I decided to tackle the the center horizontal rail. This transition piece ties the flat floor to the slightly upturned floor in the engine compartment. The rise in the floor creates caster. Without the rise, no caster and no way to keep it centered.

First a picture of the offending rail. Easy to see why I want to remove it. The 1/2" square tubing is tacked in for temporary support.

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Here is what is left of it after a little grinder action.

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And after welding in the new piece. Doesn't this look better?

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The next project was to see if I can replace one of the main front suspension rails. You can see in this photo that Peerless used two rails on each side. They are about 1.5" apart. Unfortunately the rusty rail is the one that is hard to remove.

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Here it is in pieces. Had to go to HF and buy a new tool just to get this one out. Oh well.

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And now a new rail is in it's place.

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Reattached the cross braces and it almost looks like a chassis again.

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Another shot from the outside right.

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And one last shot of the repair.

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Lucky me, I get to do the same thing to the other side and fix the firewall surround. Once that is finished, I have a few easier pieces to replace then it is off to the sand blaster. Hopefully nothing else will open up.

[Steve Simmons]

Man, did that car spend its life in Mississippi or something?

Just out of curiosity, do you get your steel locally and if so, where?

[Martin Keller]

Hi Dean,

Very nice job of replacing the HOLY frame sections.

Have you considered making a drawing of the frame with dimensions before you get to hanging parts on the chassis. Something to think about as it sure would be cool to have a detailed drawing that shows the frame plus I would bet there are others that would want a copy of it.

[HealeyBN7]

Man, did that car spend its life in Mississippi or something?

Just out of curiosity, do you get your steel locally and if so, where?

20+ years in Hawaii is probably about as bad as Mississippi. I spoke with the former-former owner last weekend (paid for a record name search). The paperwork with the car shows Hawaii registration dating back to '74 and he believes it was shipped to California in or around '94. The previous Hawaii owner said that it was in Hawaii when he found it. It was a stalled project at a body shop. He did say that it got it running. Perhaps it was a service transport. It could have been in Hawaii from new. It still has the Hawaii safety and registration tags on the rear which I think are '74.

Unfortunatly there isn't a Heritage Certificate equivalent. I spoke with the Peerless register in the UK when I was there picking up the panels and have what is known, so no additional data will be easy to come by.

For the steel, I just go to Industrial Metal at 8300 San Fernando Road, Sun Valley, CA 91352.

I wish there was something a little closer to Thousand Oaks, with the same mix of retail and warehouse sales, but I haven't found it.

Hi Dean,

Very nice job of replacing the HOLY frame sections.

Have you considered making a drawing of the frame with dimensions before you get to hanging parts on the chassis. Something to think about as it sure would be cool to have a detailed drawing that shows the frame plus I would bet there are others that would want a copy of it.

I did consider making drawings of the frame. I'll do that before I finish. Not sure how many other "others" there are?

Dean

[Larry Kluss]

Dean, you made quick work of that difficult forward frame rail. On Saturday, it looked to me that it was going to take you more than a day to get that done. Nice job.

[HealeyBN7]

Thanks. Yes it is amazing how fast things can happen when you finally get down to work. I spend more time looking at the project vs doing. The left side should go quicker now that I know how the suspension and rail comes apart.

At some point, I will have surpassed the time it would have taken to build the frame from scratch. And if I factor in the extra cost for sand blasting and cutting disks, I will probably have spend more money as well...

Also I finally got the rubber windshield surround fitted on the Lotus for QE. Next I have to figure out what is going on with the front end. Seems like too much feedback at high speeds. Need to check for loosenesssssssss.

[Jimmy]

Dean, Industrial Metals deliver for free - or at least they used to - unless you like going to Sun Valley.

[Steve Simmons]

I go there as well, and also to Burbank Metal right down the street. I don't think they will deliver small quantities for free, especially to Thousand Oaks. Not sure though...

[whitebuffalo]

The car project is fantastic, however, I am having garage envy

[RodH]

Brilliant!! (to quote the Guiness folk)

[HealeyBN7]

Thanks guys for the kind words. I made a little more progress on the chassis. Now the left and right sides almost have all their under chassis frame rails replaced. The next step is to tackle a few upper supports, then add a subsection in to better support the sheet metal firewall.

Bad left side sections removed (lightened)...

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Left side replaced...

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Front cross member replaced. And to think I originally thought that the rusty frame bits were isolated to the front rail... Guess I didn't look too closely:)

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Dean

[VWNate1]

Nice work ! .

Thanx for the detailed photos .

Your welding skills are impressive , no spatter , no smutchy welding , looks like good heat & penetration .

[HealeyBN7]

Finished up most of the chassis replacements. The front is done and is only lacking the sheet metal around the firewall.

Tackled the rear rail today. The rear axle is still in place as it is needed to locate the shock mounts.

[HealeyBN7]

I am continuing to chop away at the frame. This is the last of the rusty sheet metal.

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With the exception of the rear axle tube everything that had been bolted to, or rusted to, the chassis has been removed. It is pretty light. The book says is weighs 123 pounds. It was lightly sandblasted (in the backyard). I should have done this earlier as it helps identify weak spots and just makes for a cleaner working environment.

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I started reinstalling the firewall. I bought a little hand brake to bend up the sheet metal. The hardest part was remaking the brake/clutch mounting plate. You can see the before and after side by side in this shot.

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Here is the chassis with several, but not all the firewall pieces installed. I ran out of sheet metal due to poor planning and will have to load up with another few sheets this weekend to finish the driver's side floor and sides.

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These parts went off to be blasted and powder coated. I decided to treat myself and avoid the cleaning/painting task.

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And this lump went off to Malcolm for a refresh. Glad I didn't break the tailgate off the truck. The owner wouldn't have understood.

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[spitfire]

I love watching the progress of this project. It really gets me in the frame of mind to get going on my MG, which doesn't need nearly as much work. Just that it's almost two hours away from me in Riverside. I really need a garage.

[Steve Simmons]

I really need a garage.

I'll sell ya mine.

I agree, Dean's work is really inspiring. This is going to be a beautiful car when it's done.

[Larry Kluss]

I decided to treat myself and avoid the cleaning/painting task.

Hey, no treating yourself, Dean. Back to work!

Seriously, you're making great progress.

[VWNate1]

Dean would have a crack at the floor boards in my Metropolitan FHC , they're not bad , just need fabricating & installing , WAY out of my ability .

[tannyo]

I love watching the progress of this project. It really gets me in the frame of mind to get going on my MG, which doesn't need nearly as much work. Just that it's almost two hours away from me in Riverside. I really need a garage.

Well, if you want to frame it that way.