Since there was so much rust and stuff missing, I decided to track down a donor car. I've always wanted a two door wagon so I found a coupe donor car and got to work.
the projects overseer and namesake: HEADQUARTERS!!
Then I cut off everything from the firewall forward.
Then I drilled out all the spotwelds leaving the support structure for the from sheet metal which I then ground down in prep.
Also drilled all the spotwelds going down the firewall.
Then I had to pull the engine/trans and front sheet metal off of the donor car.
More spotwelds.
Then line it up with the engine hoist for support.
Then weld it all in.
Using the engine hoist to lift the front nice and high to gusset the frame.
moved on to supporting the car on 4 jackstands in prep to pull pillars.
Cut out the pillar.
Then I fit the door from the coupe.
Here you can see that the rear edge of the door slopes down a hair.
I initially wanted to use the entire quarter panel and seam it right along the top ridge, but the shape of the two is really different.
Then I thought that I'd just follow the rear door edge straight down to the wheel well, but that made it too thick at the wheel lip.
So, I eventually wound up just following the old door opening.
I should only need minimal filler.
Here you can see that the coupe quarter tails inward as it goes back at the crown. I had to slot the top and pull out on it to get the quarter sections to line up.
I cut the top off of the original rear doors and then had to shorten the top to get it to line up with the section of coupe quarter.
Here you can see a weird little notch where the coupe quarter panel comes back and meets the window. My plan is to put the chrome trim off of the coupe that runs along the top crest of the door and quarter back on, then create my own trim to continue along the lower ledge of the rear window. It should all work out OK.
Then the bodywork started. My least favorite job to do. I grew up doing bodywork. My dad owned a small two person bodyshop from before I was born till just about five years ago when he retired.
The boy really wants to go home. LOL.
I don't have any great pics, but my plan for the mid window is to continue the pinch weld all the way around the opening. Add some bulb seal. Use the front section of the coupe window trim and the full length bottom and by braising on the remainder of the window surround have a pop out mid window for venting.
Now onto primer.
Then I took the wheels off of my bosses R33 Skyline to test fit width and to see if 18" wheels would work for my needs.
I also took out the shocks and springs to see what full low was.