I'm starting to weld in new patch panels for my 31 coupe. Does anyone remake the area to the front of the cowl were the bead runs vertical? I have a HF bead roller but the 1/8 die is just a little to big. I do have some round stock that looks like the right shape, I thought about either welding that in there or using the round stock as a die but earlier attempts dont seem to make a clean bead. heres a pic of what I'm talking about. any ideas or advice thanks
If your die is too big by just a little bigget, make the whole thing from top to bottom. If its a bigger than just a little, roll your bead on a back up piece of sheet, then roll the patch piece and the backup piece at the same time. That should make it smaller by effectively reducing the die size by the thickness of the back up piece. That will be a bit tricky to run thru but its do-able. Could also make the correct size groove in a piece of hardwood. Mount your round stock to a another and mate the pair into a hammer form die. The key is to not allow any movement or mis alignment. Drilling 1/8 holes and using pins, nails, drill bits or Allen wrenches works well. Ford barn for pieces of a 31 cowl
Tomorrow I was gonna start trying to make a die that I could put in a press made out of some thick plate and the round stock. Is this a common area that rusts? Makes me wonder because I dont see any patches for it I also had to remake my lower B pillars but other than that the car doesnt have much rust. The bead is to wide not to deep so the backup piece wont work. The bead is slimer than my 1/8 bead roller die but at the same time about half way deeper. Replacing the whole bead would also work but I need to make sure that wont mess up anything else down the road.
i wondered the same. I only have about 6-8" above the lower patch, so I found an old gas tank that I'm going to use to donate a patch. I think the center area w/ little or no arch will work, even if it needs a little massaging.
Yep looks like you have the same rust on yours. So nobody makes a patch for this? I didnt think about using a gas tank thats seems like a no brainer there.
I looked at the gas tank bead last night and its not the same bead its actually alot deeper and a different shape. I had some success last night with a die I made and after I fine tune it I'll put up some pictures of the results.
I just did this repair as well. I made a hammer form out of some 1/4" flat stock. Ball-milled a 1/4" groove, made the male portion out of some 1/8" flat stock and welded a hammer pad and handle to it. Turned the forward edge down to match the cowl shape, and shaped the slight curve into it over my knee. Worked fantastic!
If the bead is not perfect you can always run the stainless trim and that will cover it all together. Just an alternative. http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/3105 This also finishes off the cowl nice.
Brookville has the 30-31 open car full cowl panel @ 285.00 a pair. I don't know the difference in the lower cowl open vs closed but I doubt the difference is at the front. More than likely the hinge locations but again I don't know. Id wager its worth a shot to call them and see if they have a second, blend, scratch n dent, or otherwise unsaleable piece that to can cut up for patches and get it cheap.
Brookville and other cowls do have different hinge locations, as well as the body line differences. I kept the body line part on mine and grafted the rest on. I'm running suicide hinges, so the hinge location wasn't an issue.
scootermcrad thats a good looking die, I really like how you made the male portion, I dont have a mill but I made a die similar to yours out of wood and just used round stock as the male portion.
Thanks a ton guys, This is what I ended up with. Since I dont have a mill I ended up clamping two pieces of metal together and drilling a hole. once the two pieces were seperated I had a female section. The male portion is just slightly smaller than 1/8 round stock, I found some random round metal in my scrap pile that worked perfect and welded it to a T I welded up. Not as purdy as scooters but it worked I cut the female die down so I could hammer a longer bead. I ended up welding two strips of bead together. The bottom portion got a little distorted so I need to redo it but for now it is fine. Its funny that I bought a bead roller just for this project and the tool I made did a better job and it was free!
SOB, you are right. That bead is entirely absent on the gas tank. I'm not sure what I was thinking b/c I actually made a trip to used Model A parts guy and hand picked a gas tank skin solely for this reason. I looked at tonight, and sonofabitch. guess my head was else where. But the project has been stalled since. Although I think I'll use it for patches still and put the bead into it, in which case you and Scooter's methods will prove helpful. I'm still surprised that no one sells it as a patch in the aftermarket.
i've used rock maple and a router to make "sacrificial" dies. almost as hard as aluminum. for one or two parts it's works.
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