I had added a bunch of sub floor structure to the car the last time I posted. After getting it all situated I realized the car was going to have to come off the platform and frame to get all the welding done. My brother and I lifted the car straight up and positioned some steel tubing under the body on saw horses. We then carefully maneuvered the body off to the drivers side of the chassis. I'm still scratching my head on how Chopperman and you others that chimed in about removing your bodies by yourselves were able to manage . We had double the manpower here and it was still a chore. Anyway we got the car out where it could be worked on and I welded up the subfloor structure. Here are some pic's:
nice score I wanted to get one for a long time. There is a hot rod shop out by Denver and the did a fordor gold color. I scored on a 29' Phaeton (family rod).
I have been spending most of my time making and fitting sheetmetal pieces for the interior of the car. Along the way I decided it would be smart to repair my lower cowl with some patch panels. This seemed like the ideal time because with the car missing it's interior I had lots of access for hammer and dolly work. It took a couple of tries but I finally got the correct patch panels from Mike's A Fordable. Here are some photo's of the work: The cowl before repair: The install of the replacements: There is still some sanding and filing to be done, but you get the idea. I need to get back to my floor install .
I made a tubular steel structure to mount the steering and pedal assembly back in post #126. At the front, the tubes nearest the firewall, the floor toe panels intersect these tubes at an angle. In the process of fabbing and fitting the floor toe panels I needed some way to locate the position where the tubes intersected the floor. I guess the easiest thing to do would have been to make a big "u" notch and filler piece. I chose to try making the hole in the precise location needed. With the cage in place I made some marks on the subframe where the tubular structure legs sat. I then removed the cage and positioned the floor toe panels in place. I then fabbed this "sliding sharpie extender tool" to mark the location of where the tube should penetrate the toe panel. Here is a couple pic's of the "sliding sharpie extender": The way it is used is I position the metal tube at the alignment mark on the subframe. I then use the bolt to slide the delrin rod vertically up until the sharpie bumps into the toe panel. This places a mark on the toe panel at the center point of where the tube intersects the panel. I then trace and cut out the correct ellipse to allow the tube to pass through the panel. Here is what it looked like after cutting out the toe panels: If anyone else has faced a similar problem, I would be interested to here how you solved it.
Great thinking on the floor boards! I wouldn't have thought of that---I'd have cut a big slot and fitted patch pieces around them------------- Perley
I made some brackets for my car and used my latest acquisition, a dimple die set, to pretty them up. I bought the dimple die set on Ebay and couldn't be happier with the results. Here is a couple pics of the brackets: HAMB traditionalists close your eyes and don't go any further. Here are the brackets assembled to the air ride valves: I have some round stock standoffs to weld to the side of the frame. I will get a pic once I have everything mounted.
Got a few more pieces to the puzzle last week. Here is the driveline: Bought the flywheel for the Nailhead from Bendsten's: I also took the Nailhead to the machine shop last week for rebuild. Just got word that it's rebuildable. Paul is working up a quote to rebuild it. I got to get back to work so I have somewhere to put all this stuff .
Your project has inspired me greatly. I wasn't sure what to do with a fordor, now I have some great ideas thanks to members such as yourself
I finally have the majority of my floor built. It has taken a while but I am very satisfied with the outcome. One thing I did do was put two access panels at the sides of the rear kickup. I made a removable panel on each side to access rear suspension components when the car is mounted to the body. The pictures tell the rest of the story so here you go: The only remaining piece to be fabricated is from the rear kickup to the rear of the car. I need to work out the gas tank and air tank at the rear of the car so I can finalize this piece of sheetmetal.
Great job. How did you do the welds on the floor? Did you just burn right through the sheet metal into the sub-floor? Or did you bore holes to weld through, rosette style? Thanks. Perley
So how will you address the throttle pedal placement? Looks tricky! Hope you have small feet. I had to make a huge indentation in my channeled tunnel to find a place for my foot to comfortably be and actuate the pedal. I had to move my pedal assemblies as close to the cowl as possible, also. Everything barely clears! Some nice floor work!
Perley- I started by puching 3/16" holes with the Whitney punch. I chose this size because the clecos I have use a 3/16" hole. Later I decided that I didn't need that large of a hole so I downsized to 1/8". Everything was TIG welded rosette style. With the TIG you can weld the edge of the hole to the subframe below and then just add filler to cover the rest of the hole. The holes are spaced 1.5" apart. In the field where I couldn't punch holes I used a drill. I think that covers the whole process.
Here is an update on what I've been working on lately. I decided I would need a gas tank. I've seen some people mount their tanks on the rear kick-up in the passenger compartment. My goal was to avoid this. I also hoped to keep the air tank out of sight. Here is the idea I came up with: All that was left to do was to fabricate the brackets and tank. The gas tank is 18 gauge stainless steel. It carries just over 13 gallons. It didn't turn out quite as perfectly as I was hoping. The tank warped in a couple of spots as I welded it up. If anybody has any tips on gas tank fabrication I would gladly accept them. I may try to build another one at some point. But for now this is what I have:
My previous post came out funny The pic's and the text are all mixed together. I tried to fix it but didn't have any luck.
Hit the return/enter key one or twice after each picture and that should fix ya' right up. Car's lookin' good!
It's a bit premature but I sent the motor out for rebuild. I didn't want to finish the chassis and find out the motor wasn't salvagable. So here is the future motor for the sedan, a freshly rebuilt 401 buick nailhead:
Man, I've been out of the loop-your sedan is looking GREAT! I bet you are excited to get the chassis into paint, it really came out nice. I like what you did with the gas & air tanks too. Keep up the great work, you are getting close! Dan
Thanks Dan. You've been a huge inspiration and help throughout this project! It was a tight squeeze, but I was really committed to keeping either of the tanks out of the passenger compartment of the car. </p>
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