1934 Chevy Coupe Build - See The USA In Our Chevrolet: Part I

The Doug's Headers R&D shop fabbed up a beautiful set of mandrel-bent pipes for us, including their tri-Y headers and a pair of cool electric exhaust cutouts that open with the push of a button!

Boyd and crew had altered the tilt of the '34's grille shell for a smoother look, so Marc DeLey at Marcel's Custom Metal Shaping tailor-made a new aluminum three-piece hood with beads to follow the stock bodylines.

When you're looking for a Boyd-quality fit, there's bodywork to do, even on a new body. Raphael and Jose Garcia spent many days prepping our body parts to make every gap even and ensure that all mating panels were flush.

Some filler and glazing putty is required to make body panels fit without welting and to make the gaps tiny and perfectly even. This gas tank panel will almost look like a permanent part of the body after everything is painted.

When all the bodywork was super-smooth, the car was masked, dusted off, tack-ragged, and then moved into the paint booth for a coat of PPG Chromatic black primer-surfacer.

Painter Greg Morrell applies the bronze Lion's Mane basecoat (PPG #908325). With metallic basecoats, it's best to line up all the parts in order, so mating edges all get the same dosage.

After the chassis comes back from powdercoating with a silver finish, it's like Christmas with all the stuff to be unwrapped and assembled to the chassis for the last time!

Stainless steel hard lines were used for all our plumbing (brake and fuel) with Teflon-lined braided hoses for the flex lines. Our rigid brake lines were clamped to the framerails every foot or two.

Thanks to a hardworking crew, our rolling chassis was finished just in time, and looking good with the drivetrain in and our wheels/tires installed for good. Next month we'll cover the final assembly, wiring, and upholstery.