1956 Nomad gasser build

[x33rs]

Love the Nomad build. Wouldn't have expected to see this on a website like this.
We've had our 56 Nomad since 1977. Back then I did some minor floor repairs, then daily drove it up through the 80's, until about 89 when one of the rear frame spring perches broke. Parked it since. This past year been working on it off and on, then this thread popped up. What are the chances?

I fixed the frame. Still runs and drives with the same 327/4-speed and 4.56's. It needs rockers on both sides along with a couple frame braces but nothing horrible. Rest of the car is very solid. It was my hotrod since the 70's and will remain that way. Plan to leave it in primer, put all the trim back on and just enjoy daily driving it again.

Excellent work, can't wait to see it finished

[Too Many Projects]

Yeah, not much happening on here for restorations/builds since Nor-Cam finished his car. A few people seem to have, or be, interested in the tri fives, so I figured I'd share what I was doing at work.

[firstgenaddict]

Nice looking Nomad there Dave.

Regarding the tri fives and this Nomad... I have begun to take a liking to the 56's and I especially like the Copper with the cream 2 tone.
My dad raced a D gas -55 2dr post in the mid 60's- he talked about helping a friend turn a 56 wagon into a gasser-speaking of the insulation he said - they rolled it onto the roof and sprayed it down with kero and set it on fire to burn all of the insulation and undercoating off the car.
I think he said it was run in B gas with a W motor 348 or 409 & 4 spd.'

The two of us have been talking about building a tri five or a straight axle vette to run in the SEG South Eastern Gassers sanctioned races - they run A-F Gas on a 1967 NHRA rule book.
No electronics, clutch shifted 3 or 4 speed, only period correct wheels etc and they allow a slight weight advantage(IIRC 100lbs) if you run a period correct mechanical fuel injection set up.

Quain Stott started the series a decade or just over ago and told me he thought maybe they would run some exhibitions for a year or two and that would be it, that was 7 years ago and at that time he was amazed at it's growth.

Quain still has the remains of this drag car built and raced in Kansas City and then brought to upstate SC & traded by Jim Little with the blue plexi hood scoop and cage as a drag car to Stott Chevrolet in 1969-1970 - it's a 67 camaro conv SS 396 4 spd.
I have been trying to get him to drag it out and lets figure out where it was sold new and more history for 15 years at least.

[Too Many Projects]

This week, I kept finding "things" I needed to do before welding the floor in. The inner wall patch I was making needed the strap piece shaped to follow the inner wheel house. So I used the stretcher to put the shape in it.





Then I went to weld it to the side wall patch. I thought it would be a good idea to hold the pieces together with a large magnet. Then I couldn't get the mig gun to weld worth a dang. It kept sputtering like I didn't have the gas turned on and seemed to run out of wire. I kept turning up the pressure on the gas and feed rate on the wire until it looked decent, but then the puddle would run away. After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what happened to the welder, I realized the magnet was interfering with the process and moved the weld further away from it. I never considered the magnetic force on this would have such a drastic effect. Live and learn.





It followed the curvature nicely, but still didn't follow the wall offset, so back in the shrinker to pull the sides in.





OK, got that done, now I have to final weld the A pillar braces to the rocker, so got that done.



THEN I got to final prep of the pan. Punched 136 holes in the rocker flanges and tunnel seam, cleaned off the EDP where I need to weld and clamped it in.









We have a special vice grip with a U shape that holds the panels tight to weld thru, but the flanges were too short, so I had to move a pair of standard vise grips down the line and clamped every one on both sides for a tight fit.







Look Mom, no clamps. It's part of the body now.

[firstgenaddict]

I too could not believe the first time I had a magnet interfere with the welding arc. I kept trying to figure it out.
Until I removed the magnet I had no clue that was the issue.

[Too Many Projects]

Monday, I prepped the outer and inner rockers for spot welding them on the bottom.





I love the factory appearance of these welds. No further grinding or dressing needed. I got both sides done and went to take a pic and the battery in the camera went dead...figures.



I then cut out the left inner wheel house and drilled out the remaining spot welds of the rear inner wall and cargo floor. It was then that the sides got REALLY floppy !!



First thing this morning, I got the floor and walls back centered and built this bracing to hold it in position.








With things stabilized again, I cut out the right inner wheel house and drilled out the remaining welds on that side too.






This brace is part of the cargo floor and welded to the rear crossmember. The flange and welds are on the inside and I can't get at them, so I had to cut the flange off to be removed later.



Drilled out all but 4 of the welds across the back and the time bell rang. I didn't want to get any deeper into it today anyway, as once I pull this out, the body may need more bracing. That will be tomorrows task.

[Chuck_Burg]

JAG I support you SEGA ideas!!! I love watching these guys on YouTube. I want to go down there and check it out....

[Damien]

Don't know how I missed this thread!
Great work Mitch. I look forward to following along.

[Too Many Projects]

I drilled out the last 4 "visible" spot welds and my intuition that the floor wasn't going to just fall out came true. The floor is spot welded to the rear crossmember BEFORE installation under the rear gate pillars and there was 1 spot weld on each side hidden that I couldn't drill out. Not a biggie, I rolled the car up on it's side and proceeded to "convince" the spot weld to let go with the Steck knife.






I made another big hole.





This one will take a little longer to fill, as there is an other step to this. Imagineering a method of fitting wide wheel tubs in here...





I started that process by making a line 3" from the weld flange and cutting it out.





Clamped the wheel house in position and the cut out against it.





THIS is going to work out WAY better than trying to bend a weld flange on the pan later.





There is one teensy weensy problem. The tubs claimed they are 2 5/8" wider than stock, but I only gained 1.5" ??? Measuring the frame width and the floor, that will leave 1" of space per side for a tire on the table. Owner says' "not enough", so Monday I will cut a strip 2" wide to extend the tub further into the floor pan. Not a problem, we knew this was going to be a learning process as the guy at Real Deal Steel said this can't be done on a wagon/Nomad. I LOVE it when someone tells me that. My response is..... watch me...

[Too Many Projects]

I cut a strip and went to clamp it in the flange and The wheel house isn't straight. Lots of shrinking and stretching and even a little grinding to get it to follow the curvature.








I attached it with drill screws and clamped it back on the body.



I cut out the curvature in the remaining interior panel for clearance and this fits quite well.








This gained another inch of tire room.



I got started on the same process for the left side.