'62 Chevrolet Chevy II Project

[mccannj2921]

looking forward to seeing more pictures!

[Mr.409]

I forgot that I had posted pics of this project in here. Well, here are a couple of more photos....

Next job was to do the actual conversion from a Four Door Sedan to Two Door Sedan. I know they sell original door skins for two door models, but because they are fairly expensive, I decided to make my own using the 4D doors.

Luckily a friend has done the same modification to his '66 Olds Cutlass, so he gave me some very valuable advice on how should I cut and slice the doors. So first I took driver's side front door and cut the rear section of the inner door structures apart from the door skin. This is the part that would be moved backwards later (because two door models have longer doors than 4D models).




Then I had to cut the outer door skin apart from rest of the rear door. This wasn't easy, because angle grinder didn't fit everywhere and I had to saw some parts of the door manually.




Now I had to start fitting the rear door skin and front door together. The fitment was OK so I welded them together, which created a real long door.




Then I visited at my friend's garage, he has a '63 Nova SS Convertible. I took measurements from his doors and made a cardboard template from the shape of the rear end of the door. Then using those as a guide, I cut mine:



I had to stretch the window frame too, and to be able to do that I needed to buy another door where I could take a piece of that window frame. Luckily another friend of mine had several rear doors, so I bought the cheapest one from him. It was very rusty, but that didn't matter as I needed only the window frame part from it. And the door cost me $20, so that wasn't bad.



At this point also the rear end of the inner door structures was welded back on.




And then I welded some metal from the inner door structures of rear doors to front.





...At this point there was a small break as we took a flight to Los Angeles. Our main thing on that trip was Pomona Swap Meet, but of course we visited in other cool places and events as well, for example NMCA Finals at Fontana Drag Strip, NHRA Museum, Cruise Nights, Mooneyes Speed Shop, Las Vegas, Route 66 etc.

From Pomona Swap Meet I found a cheap oil pan, headlight bezels and used tail lights and some other smaller items. The big score though was that 1962 hood ornament. Those are not common, and mine was very cheap. Those SBC heads were rebuilt Fuelie heads from the late '60s. They will probably be installed on the 383 SBC that will go in this thing.



In this picture you can see some of those previous parts, but I also bought new seals for tail lights and tail light lenses from Classic Industries. And Moon Half Sweep Tachometer was bought from Mooneyes of course.



....To Be Continued....

[fordrodnkustom]

Good slice and dice there Niko and with your swap meet scores looks like you're well on your way!

[jffj]

Wow 409! Just saw this and enjoyed cruising through your posts. Love your first two door version- with the really looong door 😄😎👍👍

Very interesting about this being not too uncommon in Finland, converting the 4 doors to two.

Nice WIP pictures and work, welding, etc. Long before digital cameras and computers, some local dude did a frame up rebuild of a 67-69(?) Nova, and took it to the car cruise-ins when done. He had a photo album showing the WIP pictures. The previous owner, or someone else, patched a hole in the rear inner fender with an opened up and flattened Coors 16 ounce beer can pop riveted in there. 😄

Keep up the great work.

John

[Mr.409]

Thanks Ron and John!

Mar 13, 2018 20:44:42 GMT -5 jffj said:

Very interesting about this being not too uncommon in Finland, converting the 4 doors to two.

Nice WIP pictures and work, welding, etc. Long before digital cameras and computers, some local dude did a frame up rebuild of a 67-69(?) Nova, and took it to the car cruise-ins when done. He had a photo album showing the WIP pictures. The previous owner, or someone else, patched a hole in the rear inner fender with an opened up and flattened Coors 16 ounce beer can pop riveted in there. 😄

Yep, before the late '80s it was tricky to import old cars to Finland. Or more specifically, you had to pay a lot of taxes and other "extra-charges" from the car. But in the late '80s the rules changed and then importing over 25 year-old cars became much cheaper. Before that rule change, Hot Rodders had to work with whatever they could find. And since most of the US cars that were imported here as new were 4D Sedans, lots of them were modified in 2D Sedans. Some of them were done well, some weren't. Then there was also a possibility to import a car body only as a "spare part" and install that body on an existing chassis. So that way you can see for example a 2D HT Impala on the road, but it might have a 4D Biscayne frame under it.

Nowadays as lots of old American Cars have been shipped in here, and shipping them from the States is a lot easier and cheaper, most people just buy exactly what they need. But I decided to do this "old school" 2D conversion as this Chevy II was offered to me by a friend of mine and it was very cheap.

Those rust repairs are another thing that you can do well or then not so well... I installed new quarter panels for our '60 Impala 2D HT a couple of years ago. The previous owner in Texas (car was bought from him in 1988) had done a horrible rust "repair" with a wrong shaped piece of metal just pop riveted in place. And there was a loooot of Bondo covering that whole mess up. I redid the whole area properly, now it should stay in good condition.

[Mr.409]

After the door was at that point, it was time to start moving the B-pillar backwards. Afterwards I can say that this is probably the trickiest step in the whole 4D to 2D modification, as it's very critical that the pillar is on the correct spot and angle so that the door opens and closes just like it should. It took pretty much fine tuning and fitting before everything fit properly on place.

But first, I cut part of the rocker panel away. This is how much the B-pillar needs to go backwards.



Then the next thing was to remove the B-pillar itself. Cutting it from the bottom wasn't a problem, but in the upper end it was between the roof structures which made it a bit tricky to take apart. Also there were some factory made brass joints here which required some extra work. Finally I got it out, though.




The next job was to modify the B-pillar. Looks like I forgot to take pics of this process, but I try to explain clearly. The difference with the B-pillar between 4D Sedan and 2D Sedan is that on a four door model, the B-pillar is visible between the front and rear door window frames. And on two door model the front and rear window frames are right next to each other, so that the pillar isn't visible in between. So after some cutting the pillar was ready to be welded on its' new position, after some careful fitting and fine tuning of course.



And it was a success, the door opens and closes perfectly.



Next I took the front end of rear window frame and cut it apart from the rest of the window frame. I welded that on place to the B-pillar, which makes it a lot stronger as well.



And here is the rest of the window frame test fitted on place. At this point it wasn't possible to install it on place yet though, so it's just a mock up. The inner door structures will be installed in there as well, just to make the whole construction stronger.



Now when everything was on correct spot, I completely welded the B-pillar on place.



I also welded the piece of rocker panel on place that I cut away in the first picture of this post. So basically what I did was just cutting this rocker panel piece and B-pillar away, and welding them back on to each others' places.



Next time, installing the former rear door skin, now part of the car body, on place.

[jffj]

This is so interesting Niko, and you show and tell it all so well! 👍👍

All this work, just to look cool... 😄 When you get old you don't care 😂.

Sounds like you, and anyone else who has done this conversion, looks for that visible pillar, (that shouldn't be seen) on any two door 62 Nova you might see 😉

Looking at all the pictures, and your great welds, I started thinking this is all the easy work. The glass, both in the door, and the rear window, has got to be a lot more involved- yes?

Thanks for posting all this. Too cool 😎😎

John

[Mr.409]

Thanks John! I appreciate it!

Mar 18, 2018 22:27:53 GMT -5 jffj said:

Sounds like you, and anyone else who has done this conversion, looks for that visible pillar, (that shouldn't be seen) on any two door 62 Nova you might see 😉

Looking at all the pictures, and your great welds, I started thinking this is all the easy work. The glass, both in the door, and the rear window, has got to be a lot more involved- yes?

Yeah, I've seen a few '62-'65 Chevy IIs or Novas where someone did the conversion wrong and there is still the original 4D B-pillar visible between the window frames. That's a clear sign that it's a home made two door model for sure.

The glass being the hardest part. Well, yes and no. The windows itself are pretty straightforward to cut, as they are not curvy. Just a cardboard template and plexiglass cut to correct shape will do the trick. The window mechanisms and everything would be tricky, but I'm not going to install those on my build. The side windows on doors will be similar as in Two Lane Blacktop '55 Chevy, where you have two piece plexiglass windows so that the rear section can be slided forward and then you have a semi-opening window. Since this will be a Street & Race car I think that's enough. And it's light as well. But the tricky part will be figuring out weatherstrips for them and that kind of detail stuff.

[jffj]

Thought you might use Plexiglas Niko. Love the idea of the the sliding window like that 55 in Two Lane Blacktop. Just watched it the other night. I have it on VHS. Lousy acting, but great cars and action.

John

[Mr.409]

Yep, the reason why I want the sliding side windows is the ease of assembly, as finding original two door window mechanisms here in Finland is a long shot. That would mean that I had to fabricate them from four door parts, so it would get tricky. Of course some head scratching will be in order either way, but..... And I also think they're pretty cool!

Two Lane Blacktop is a neat movie, even though, as you said, the acting isn't the best. The cars are very cool though! I have that also on VHS, my dad recorded it himself somewhere in the 1990s when it was shown in Finnish TV.