Projects '23 Ford Roadster build aka The Incredible Hulk

Thanks for the detail pics on body work + strengthening.
Profile looks good.
Marcus...

 

What type of wood mallet are you using? Are you using a woodworking mallet or something like a shellfish mallet?

I was taught that a wood dolly goes a long way with shrinking but the one I made myself was too soft so I didn't get very far with it and haven't revisited the high spot on my cowl in a long time.

 

Niether, in fact it was a cheap leather crafting mallet

I was looking for a heavier one but found this one first.

I checked the local thrift store for a wooden baseball bat to make my own but all they had were aluminum.. old hickey sticks probably have too much grain anyway.
The hardware stores had plastic hammers but no wood, I wanted to strike while the iron was still hot so..
headed for a kitchen supply store but pulled into a craft store and found this one first.

 

Gocha, thanks! I may try a crab mallet out. I use hickory hammer handles where I can but they really only work against a pronounced curve. I was taught to use those forming pieces against static dollies and forming heads; they worked great for that but are tough to make much headway against body panels sitting on a car, at least for me so far.

 

Spent a couple days working on the floor.
Made a cardboard pattern for the kick,
transfered that to some 18 gauge steel,
rolled some beads in it,
drilled it for plug welding and body to frame bolt access,
and welded it in.

 

Put a few more pieces of floor bracing in to frame the master cylinder and battery access holes,
made some more cardboard patterns,
douched the rocker areas with Ospho,
let that dry over night and painted the areas with some rust preventive paint,
transfered the patterns to steel and followed the roll, drill, weld routine.
Ground the welds flush and hit it with the DA.
That brings us up to date.

 

Back corners in and tunnel started..

 

Great craftsmanship!

 

Thanks man

 

An inspiration to all !

 

Those rear inside corners are killer!

 

Wasn't going to work on the car today..
Couldn't quite stay away,
the fit of the tunnel bugged me
so I bent up another and welded it in.

 

I have a T with turtle deck queued up and while mine will never be as well built as yours, I appreciate you setting such a great example. Love the stance and details!

 

You can do anything you set your mind to.
Believe it.

 

Great work! That thing is going to be stout! Can you explain a little bit on how you crafted the tunnel?

 

Thanks man, yeah like a real car only smaller.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the process.

I made a profile template of the shape using a strip of scrap steel
Cut a piece of sheet a little over sized,
about an inch longer and wider than needed
Clamped a length of 2" pipe to the steel table using some scrap sheet metal a little thicker than the tunnel metal as shims at each end of the pipe to create a gap between the pipe and table to feed the sheet through.
Gradually bending the tunnel metal by hand until the bend radius matched the profile template.
Bent both edges on the sheet metal break
Rough cut the rear of the tunnel to approximately the right angle.
Held the tunnel in place and scribed a more accurate cut line.
Trimmed the angle cut, scribed a line parallel to the cut the width of desired flange.
Bent the flange with a pair of pliers working slowly along the line.
Smoothed the bend using hammer on metal table edge.
Used the shrinker and stretcher to correct the angle flange.
Smoothed the edge with hammer and table edge again.
Drilled 3/16" holes along flanges every two inches give or take.
And welded it in.
First one took about an hour, second one was much faster.

 

Thanks @Paul! And thank you for taking the time to share all the tech info that has gone into this build.

 

2nd thread binge, 2nd time I'm convinced I need to sell all my shop tools and find another hobby. This is such a great build, keep it up and post more!

 

Made some cardboard templates of the transmission hump and toe board,
transfered that to some 18 gauge steel,
rolled beads in the toe board piece,
bent the transmission hump same way I bent the tunnel,
drilled and spot welded the hump to the toe board,
cut the hole for the E brake.
Still need to make the patch for the pedal area and drill and tap to screw it all in place.
The hump and toe board will be removable as one for access and ease of body removal.

 

Every new post provides a new reason to love this build. So clean and well executed.

 

Very CLEAN looking floor parts.

 

Cut and rolled some tin to cover the holes at steering/pedals, master cylinder and battery
The battery lid will get a hinge and latch, the master will get pins and a screw and the steering/pedal patch will get screws.

 

Paul, your craftmanship is always a treat to see!

 

thanks man

I'm OK with the patch around the steering column and pedals
but the master cylinder access cover got out of square while rolling one end
and the bead layout in the battery access cover bugs me..

I will attempt to redo them today.

 

To bad you will be covering up all of that beautiful metal work. I am glad you shared the process of making the floor and supporting structures with us though. It's a great foundation for a high quality Hot Rod!

 

Rerolled the out of square end of master cover
And built and installed a new battery cover
this time smooth with no beads.

 

Tunnel, toe board, master and pedal covers screwed to floor framework.

 

That looks way too nice to cover it up!

 

Well then, I guess whatever covers it
better look better than that..