Brennan

Another Shot of the rear spare wheel well. came together quite nicely. Cut the bottom and inner supports off a spare RH guard I had. And welded them onto my slightly better, but rusty on lower parts, RH guard. To go with the new Dakota Digital Bearclaws. I spun these new pins up on the lathe. (no hex bolt head on them compared to the Dakota Digital ones) And my brother, Matt welded them to some countersunk plates. Which fit like this to the factory adjustable mounting plates/ And work great with the bear claws installed in the doors. Today I managed to partially fill two more holes that still exist between the chevy and lexus. Front of the sills, and a new Guard mounting point on the RH side, as it had also rusted away. From beneath you can still see the hole left to be filled between this new patch and the sills plate.

Finally Cut the horrid mess of a rear guard. That's the Lexus inner guard you can see poking out. Also welded the modified panel from the spare wheel compartment back on. 200-300mm further forward than it was on the Lexus. 15inch wheel still fits no worries. Few more filler panels needed in here, for the last few holes. New panel rolled and swaged made up to go above the ems panel. Both sides all tacked in, and ready for final welding. The boot is going to need a lot of massaging, cutting, and additions, as she's a bit of a mess too.

Over the past month or so, I have removed almost everything from beneath the floor. Painted lots and brought heaps. Dropped the engine and gearbox out too, a lot of stuff is rusted and unusable. Including the power steering lines, which are rusted through. Matt, folded up some 2.5mm plate for me to fill in the gap between the the lexus and chevys pinch welds. And welded it in. Today after the PN hot rod club shed raid had been through, I trimmed off the rear quarters and tail pan. And fitted up the new EMS tail pain that just arrived from America. and the EMs rear quarters, I've had for a few years. Not sure where the bumper filler panel came from, but its pretty mint. Ordered a flush pop up fuel cap from a motorbike shop in California too. Same as Matts on his pickup. Matt put his skills to good use and welded on all the extras I made for it. Including a water/spilled fuel drain hose tail, a bolt to act as a lock from in the boot, and the filler tube and vent tube, ready for hose clamps.

Made some floor flatten'rs for the alloy fuel tank to sit on.

Spent the last few Weekends making a new front lower cross member and Radiator support bracketry. Radiator is a 1954 Chevrolet style aluminium one. It is 2-3 inches further forward now, and now the bonnet doesn't quite close. Should be easy enough to fix with some light trimming. Fitting a transmission cooler and a large enough battery is going to be fun.

Yea, potentially, i have got a nice new replacement EMS panel to weld on in that position, and not so keen on modifying that or the body lines too much. I have wheel spats too, which would hide the whole wheel. Still Confident i can move the whole subframe back with solid offset bushings, or new mounts. Or just move the wheel backwards with arm adjustments.

Bit slow on progress lately. Removed the factory springs on one side, to see how much suspension travel the factory struts have. Looking at buying some boss airbags to weld onto them. Its motivating to see it so low again. And the rear wheel being too far forward, doesn't look tooo bad this low.

Have also made a start on modelling the new fuel tank. Created a 3d scan of the trunk, with 100 photos and Autodesk Recap. Super easy, and accurate, when scaled. Only 60 litres now, instead of the factory 85litre that no longer quite fit (and very, very rusty)

While trying to sort out the seatbelts I test fitted the rear seat. it still fits, but the chevy rear window, and parcel tray is lower than the lexus. So the Seat sat up in the glass. Pulled all the leather and foam off. Bent the frame to new shape using some homemade tools. Re-trimmed, and should be sufficient. Still look too big and plush for an old chevy. But the comfort should be an ok compromise on looks. Front seat Fitted too. This is raised all the way up. Goes much much much lower. Our Certification man came around to have a look at all the projects. From what i hear, he was stoked and shocked at how well this was all working out. And is happy with progress and future plans

Filled in the tops of the sills, few smaller holes and a larger gap in the front footwells to fill. Cut the front cross member/radiator support off the ls400. As i have ordered a aluminium 1954 Chevrolet radiator to fit in. and took some time to start fitting the fenders and bonnet. Picked up some mazda 3 wheels. 15x6 50p with 195/65 tyres. Old man has some 54 belair caps that fit them, or i will get some moon discs. Front wheels are still not tucked under as much as i would like. But with the guards pumped out a bit, some adjustable upper and lower control arms, and potentially changing the offset of the front wheels ~10mm. It should be fine.

Bit of a change in plans too. here is some hints. On the Hunt for some of these wheels off a Honda CRV ~2002 Or other 15x6 5x114.3 wheels with a positive offset between 50 and 60 (the lexus Track width is a bit wide, oops) Also after another 1994-1997 ls400/Celsior, for suspension arms, cross members, rear subframe, and transmission. if anybody knows of a low km one that isn't rusty. And 1989-1991 Ls400/Celsior Calipers (front and Back), please

The trunk is coming together great, The Chevy supports come down beautifully onto the pinch weld around the Lexus rear wheel wells. I need to purchase the tail pan replacement panel from EMS. Plug Welded in place. The 85 litre Petrol tank doesn't quite fit. due to the trunk hinges. But like most of the Lexus, is full of rust. So smaller aluminium tank will likely be made to fit between the strut towers. And seam welded the parcel trays together. Couple of filler panels to be made around the strut tops. Back seat still fits. It just sticks up into the rear window a little, but should be easy to reshape the top, to look correct and fit.

Then made 10 brackets, 5 per side to live in the sills, and join the two cars together, The Two cars were then welded together, Couple more brackets up front, and to hold the front of the door hinges. And today, the first filler panel on the firewall. Rebuilding the 2x rear Bonnet hinge mounting points.

spent well over 200 hours on this recently. Have had the body on and off countless times. Trying to get it down low enough. The sills are now as low or lower than the Lexus floor. Just the exhaust hangs lower. But that will all be tucked up. Started Filling holes left in the Lexus, Plated over, then cut open again to create clearance for Chevy hinges. The LH sill on the Chevy had been repaired quite well in the past, The RH sill however had not, so i cut all the rust out, and wire brushed it back to nice metal, Folded up a new panel welded it in.

@64valiant Ohh interesting, Did you upholster one recently? I have no door card stuff at all. But it is a long way off yet. Haven't even decided if this is going to be two door or 4 yet. That said, if they are no good to you, id be definitely interested.

Same, i would have done similar in a uzz30, best car i have ever owned (while still being a piece of shit with 300,000kms on the clock, and constantly something wrong with it) The cruise control up and down hills at 104kmh was a beautiful thing with the 1uz. I think so too, hopefully do this old rusty heap, of a Chevy some justice, despite all the blasphemy.

Yup, Would be uzz30 soarer seats of similar age to the lexus. Yup, mk4 might be an option, but the back seat should be great in the lexus, and i would prefer the heavier , electric, luxury lexus/soarer front seats. Have just uploaded some concept photoshops to show what i expect it to look like.

Bit of spare time, spent in photoshop and came up with something to aim for. Just do not look too closely.

That had not crossed my mind, i have got a couple of replacement panels, and looking at getting a couple more if the us dollar ever improves. It will be left in oxide red primer for quite some time. I expect it to be fairly rough and mongrel in appearance. Somewhat along the lines of my brothers pickup, but rougher. While still keeping it looking like you would expect a slammed kustom 54 chevy to look like. And impossible to tell its on a lexus from the outside. Still on the fence about two dooring it too. Would make it so much stiffer, welding up the rear doors. But i would need to find some soarer/sc400 doors to allow access to the back seat.

Not much chevy left. 50mm to drop further, few more little bits to cut out. Looks weird as hell. but seems to be working so far.

Thought i would include a couple of photos of just how wonderful the body is of this old chevy. I do however have a couple of replacement panels for the rear quarter panels and the tailpan. Todays progress, was to remove the chevrolet floor and bring the two halves a little closer to see what else will need the chop.

I guess i was expecting a steel tube, a bit like the side extrusion bars in the doors. There should be more than enough strength in the chevy body, to make up for what i have removed. Will be adding RHS in too, as weight will not be a worry.

Thanks Kyteler. Yes, That was what started the thought process. I will be taking a bit longer than 3 months, and spending a bit more on it. I am also being a lot more careful about how much i cut out. The biggest worries i have from his, is the diff/subframe needing to move back 2 or so inches. And the track width being soo wide. The Renault Espace on the ls400 floorplan helped convince me to give it a go too http://build-threads.com/build-threads/renault-espace-lexus-ls400/

Once, in the shed, the parts removal begun. Quite surprised at how little steel there is inside the sills. Next up will be to drag the chevy out from behind the hoist, get it on the hoist above the lexus, and cut the floor of it out.

Car has sat for the last 8 years. The Beams 3sge Corolla took over, was fun, and is gone. The house has a renovated ensuite, bathroom and laundry. Been thinking about getting stuck back into this Chevy for a year or so. The time is now, and we have Big Changes to the plans. Browsing the Facebook market place i came across this in wellington. 1994, UCF20 Ls400, only 150,000kms. But has a dodgy trans and sat in long grass for 10 years from 2008. Plan is to Cut off the body, and weld the chevy body to the floorplan. Normally i wouldn't be into such a plan. But due to: The Absolutely terrible condition of my chevy. The extreme lack of 54 chevrolet parts in new zealand. My growing dislike and unsatisfaction of the HQ chassis and v6 The abundance of ls400 close to being parted out. The idea of cruising in a 54 chevolet, with a v8, electric leather seats, cruise control and handling of a fairly modern sedan. This should mean i can get it done fairly quick. Although it is even more likely to have to be registered as a scratch built.