Technical Yeah, Its got a Hemi/41 shop truck

Billy, I cheated and bought Westcott fenders for mine, but I'm no kind of a body man.

 

Wescott make nice fenders.

 

Before this is done I may regret not grabbing a pair. I have a lot of time into that right front already and it is still in bare metal!

 

Maybe this applies here too...maybe not...in aviation when there's a crack in aluminum there is a procedure to drill a hole where the crack visually ends, it need not be a big hole maybe 3/32 ish for hairline...it just stops the migration of the crack and you would just fill this in when welding it up. I think it would be difficult depending on thickness to not fully weld thru if doing both sides...I think steel has similarities with stress and this may be applicable even to metals thick as the frame and more...

Happy New Year Hambers...Cheers Billy...Cheers to Y'all

 

Oh Stogy, with my welding skills I am glad my truck doesn't fly.
Happy New Year! All of that "lets hope it's a good one" is crap...we will make a good one! Starting now!

 

The cracks are caused from the metal being brittle from age/flexing. If you weld it expect it to crack again right next to the weld. The best option is to repair the area just as if it were rust by cutting out the area of the crack go about 2-3 inches or beyond the crack and weld in a new patch panel.

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Well after a day of meltin and grinding I did a combination of the advice above. I had to address the fender roll bead so I mad a patch but I decided not to roll up the fender as @Pist-n-Broke suggested above .
You can see there isn't much lip left

I made a quick patch and welded it in both at the lip and at the fender roll.
Thisa muchmo betta



Let's hope is stronger as well.
I also finished the left rear fender. Spent a little time finishing the inside of the patch panel. It is very tight.

Fender lip is nice as well. No 1" bondo this time.
Also installed the right side rear tail light support.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2021!

 

You're getting quite a bit done! Making us look bad! Keep up the good work!

 

( Think this server is on the Crown of late. Reload, reload, reload .. "Jalopy Journal not working" .. then scrambled code & lacking photos/miniature blue jpeg files. )

I liked it anyway. This is my "be back later" note.

 

You might remember from a bunch of pages back that a PO of the front fenders tore four nasty holes in them to access some stuck grille bolts, today I am glad to report they are no more.


Those are clean enough that some high build may be enough to finish them.
I also had to re-build several ripped out fender mounting holes and flanges, plus a myriad of cracks and fender lip issues. I have to admit they turned out pretty good for a hack.

At the end of the weekend I believe I am ready to take all 4 fenders to the blaster for a fast clean up. After that I think I will bring them home, spray the tops with black epoxy primer to protect them and then off to the rhino liner dude who wants the bottoms freshly blasted. Then it is back to the cab.

 

waiting for a couple of dry days (LOL, in WA?) to get the fenders blasted so I return to work on the cab. The center section in the dash as you will recall has a ford emblem that I hinged to conceal some items I'd rather not lay eyes on unless necessary.
This is what I came up with. I tried concealed hinges but they have a protuberance and this door is not very thick. I used a continuous hinge cut to size and made a second plate so that the thickness of the hinge wouldn't effect the doors tight fit to the dash. You can barely see a bit of the hinge below the panel but once installed and you are viewing the dash from ride height in the seat or looking in the window, I do not think it will be visible at all. Plus it will be painted black in this area.

Behind the opening I built a box to hold the switches and whatnot. I don't have a sheet metal brake and this stuff is rather heavy so I did my metal working cheat, that being make a cut with the cutoff wheel about half way through the steel, bend it and weld the seem shut. A little grinding and you get a razor sharp corner.
Including a hole for the switch wiring to pass through. No the whole thing is not held together with Gorilla tape. It was used to temporarily mount the screen for the photo op.

Here is another welding trick I came up with last night. I needed to weld in the switch panel I made but there is no access from the back (too tight in there). So I marked out where the panel would fall on the cabinet and cut 2 slots through the steel. Forgive the free hand plasma cuts but they were going to get welded shut anyway.

Lay the switch panel in

Put on your thick welding gloves as this must be hand held, and weld it up from the back. Grind it up a bit and you have some invisible welds from the front. I don't have mad skills like a lot of guys on here, I just cheat well.

The switch runs the cowl vent. I have installed the AC and I couldn't make room for the vent handle and I wanted to retain the functionality so you do what you have to. The other item is only known to the member's of Annie's Secret Circle.
You can see the double thickness of the panel and i welded in studs so the door can be unbolted quite easily.
A rare earth magnet in the corner (set slightly below the door surface so they don't make direct contact) secures the door quite well. The semi circular cutouts are to clear the emblem mounting hardware on he door. Like I said, it fits tight!

I thought about using a pushlatchmagneticthingy but they require the door to set ajar too far and it didn't look cool enough so this idea was my remedy and I had some magnets lying around from another project.
I need access to these electronics but I don't want to stare at them. Problem solved, dash will be super sanitary (no mask required).
I trust no one takes offence to the 3" screen, but I just can't go anywhere without my Donkey Kong game. Does my secret door project belong on the HAMB? I say yes. A lot of our cars have AC, air bags, electric cutouts, window switches, etc. I just don't wat to see all that crap in my cars, so I say hide it!
Remember that bit on the Da Vinci Code about Scotoma? "The eye sees what it wants to see". When you see my truck at a show you will see only what I want to you to see and nothing to remind you otherwise. What's more traditional than mind control?
Ok, enough of the deep shit and back to the shallow end of the pool, more dash welding.

 

Function and beauty alive and well in this build..Cool!

 

Nothing wrong with hiding all that modern stuff we become accustomed to.

 

Merry Christmas from Julianos! I had an aunt that made my give her a nickel for a pocket knife she wanted me to have when I was a lad, she said it was bad luck to give someone a knife. Well great...after a year like 2020 all I needed is more bad luck.

But it was mighty nice of them and I think I will toss it in the glove box of the 34.

 

I got a little work done on the radiator shroud today. I made some aluminum brackets bent them to match the shroud and drilled them out. I used cage nuts off some random f body that got tore apart in the garage once upon a time. It will be easy now to drop the shroud over the water pump when the radiator needs servicing.

I don't weld aluminum, so I have to farm this kind of stuff out but I marked the radiator where I want the brackets
welded on the tank. That shroud will get crinkle semi flat black powder coat. The radiator, semi gloss black hardened enamel.

I came up with a nice idea to make the brackets that will hold the AC evaporator. I will make those brackets tomorrow and be ready to weld this up. They will also attach to the tank and unbolt for service. I am not a fan of the "zip tie through the radiator fins" mounting method..

 

I cut out the dash brace as it interfered with the defroster vents outlets in the Air Vintique unit. I found a U channel that was half the thickness of the original, it will be perfect! Before welding it in I drilled and mounted the cowl door motor I bought from Julianos. I mounted that unit as far forward as possible to allow room for the Newport wipers.

I ran it open and closed off the battery before making it permanent and it works very well. The switch is hidden behind the center dash emblem so this is an "out of sight, out of mind" item.

I welded the mounting screws to the motor bracket to make removal/assembly a helluva lot easier. I also cut the bracket on the motor down to fit inside the new, narrower channel.
There isn't a lot going under the dash. The AC, this cowl vent assembly, the Newport wipers are about it. Everything else is under the seat.

I also took out the clock from my glove box door and mailed it to Classic Instruments yesterday. I am buying one of their direct fit gauge panels and I hired them to make my 41 Merc clock match the new cluster complete with quartz movement (wind-up now) and matching lighting. I think the dash will be truckish but uber classy. We will see.

 

Is it traditional to polish your exhaust system? I certainly hope so. If not...look away now.

I cant take credit, my buddy Chrome Troy at Pacific Plating handled the shiny this time around. The mufflers are SS porters. I polished the V bands, for what its worth.

SS 2.250" pipes and porters. SS v-band clamps (always use a soft blow hammer when installing them to make sure they get to their happy place), all welded with SS MIG wire to assure a nice finish.

I cut the holes in the crossmember bracings I fabbed earlier to make sure the exhaust would fit. I will add the tail pipes later, they are a shin injury waiting to happen installed. It even looks loud, right?!

 

I’ll say what some moron on a Model A hotrod site said to me, “in my opinion it’s WAY too early in the build to think about the exhaust...”.


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Wow!
I’m throwin’ in the towel.
I had BSE do mine in stainless, but that’s a giant improvement.
I figured a Scotchbrite cleanup occasionally.

p.s.: Nice job on the V-bands, btw.

 

Shiny is my favorite color! The tail pipes are beautiful. I bought a pair of belled tips in SS that were about 10" long and welded them on. The welds were ground smooth and polished and if you didn't know where to look you would never find the seam. Hang on to your towel!

 

While I am waiting (semi) patiently for the fenders to be blasted and rhino'd I turn my attention to other projects that I am working on. In this case, a new column drop.
I used a billet piece from Flaming River for mock up to get the angles right but I don't want to look at it if I don't have to...and I don't.
I had a couple aluminum H beam connecting rods left over from whatever so...

The angle to the dangle is correct as well as the drop at 2". It even has a neat battle scar I left behind, I figure it earned it, It should keep it. It could use a bit more time on the wheel but I like doing that before final assembly and that way I don't scuff it all up while it is on the shelf.

The biggest issue with the BBC rods is the journal size. A small journal SBC rod would be better but this is what we had in stock so this is how we will roll. My column is 2" diameter, this is like 2.200". A rod bearing would only eat less than half of that so I found a length of 2" ID gas filler hose lying around and chopped off a 1" piece. That was a bit too thick (that's what she said) so I made a mess "turning it down" with a grinder. These hoses have rubber then fiber, then rubber and so on and it just so happens when you sand through to the first layer of fiber it makes for a tight fit (and a smell in the garage that makes you wish still smoked). It will be slid over the column before install rather than being cut in half.

That's a piece of the 2" column from my roadster when I shortened it, I don't throw much stuff away. Now you can see the rubber "bushing" turned down and the test fit in the cab. SS button heads secure it to the dash as there is no room for hex heads and a wrench. I also figure the rubber will help insulate and isolate the column.

That last picture is a bit "batman" but the cab is still mounted on it's firewall so deal!
Next up for the column is to make a bracket that will run from the under-dash drop mount to the firewall to better brace the dash and make that column a bit more rigid. Since I have my MC mounted to the firewall so I will utilize the bolts holding the drop pedal to secure the new bracket I will fab. and I purchased long enough mounting hardware for the drop to bolt in the bracket there.
Doesn't that beat a billet hinged drop?

Oh by the way, I have a hinged, Flaming River 2" billet, polished column drop for sale. Perfect for that new project!

 

Or like this!

 

I did say "projects" that I am working on, one of them being the radiator. I am not a fan of zip ties through the core besides the untidiness it isn't good for the radiator so I added some aluminum tabs and now now they are welded in place. The 45 degree flush mounts are for the AC condenser and the angle tabs hold the fan shroud (which is off to the powder coater along with the inner fenders).

On the left side I made some extensions as the condenser is narrower than the radiator. SS button heads are the again the hardware of choice. i may add a rubber isolator between the mounts, ya think? There is a nice air gap between the condenser and the radiator so it isn't really necessary and may make future repairs a pain in the ass.

On the right side the inlet and outlet peak around the side of the radiator, there isn't much room over here once the fenders are on so this was worked out during mock up. Also the height of the condenser on the radiator was predetermined. I raised my radiator to center the fan in the core, the condenser didn't need to be that high so I dropped it down to be less visible and to better align those connections.

That top line required some alteration of the bracket to fit but it worked fine the bottom was easy. As you can see they are tight to the radiator, and yes, that is a dropped axle and wishbones...kinda. It is Friday, maybe i should add that to the art show. Nah!

That is how we do it downtown, well downtown Battle Ground anyway. I have a few fins to comb out, no matter how careful you are there is always a couple that get folded over. I bought a radiator comb once, now to find it!
I like that stamped top tank, I may have to dress a few welds just to tidy them up a bit before paint.
The radiator will get some semi flat black when it is bit warmer out, as will the condenser. Right and tight! It's the only way to roll.

Oh BTW, those are fake disc brakes, I have drums hiding inside them. I just did that to please the street rod guys. Happy Friday!

BB

 

That's upside down! What? You are from down under after all...45th parallel anyway.

 

Billy this is a great build. Your attention to detail is spot on.

 

It's comments like yours that keep me going out to the garage after work. Thanks!

 

Hope that “dropped axle” isn’t from the Hoffman Group! Yours may be stronger, though.
You’re getting close. Too bad I can’t send alcohol through the mail.

 

I bet he'd take a gift card from Crown Royal!

 

You're killing it! The rubber pad in the column drop is how Diamond T did it, my '48 had a sleeve of very dried out rubber in it, I just used a hung of radiator hose. Perfect.

 

Bubble wrap it and insure it. USPS always asks if there is batteries or hazardous waste in the package, never booze. Although it has been proven on the HAMB to be rather hazardous to build quality at times.