Projects 37 Zephyr build thread

Perfect canadite for "dove gray", such a simple, elegante, and overlooked color.

 

Dove grey sounds like another good possibility, I am definitely leaning towards a simple, un fussy colour.
This is really taking my fancy at the moment.

 

You have done a marvellous job resurrecting this Zephyr. As for colour, there is a great site for 1930s-50s colour charts http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/chipdisplay.cgi?year=1949&manuf=Ford&info=&page=1

 

So the new pump mounts are because of the 2 pistons less flathead you got in there?

Zephyrs are beautiful cars in stock form.

Keep er goin, lookin good

 

Dove gray, yes

 

Wow, Paul, you've made some great progress!!!! have a nice weekend, my friend,

off to the garage now, Carsten

 

This is my dreamcar...I had to subscribe...Congrats man!!! Awesome!!!!

 

I'm not only impressed but I'm subscribed. Absolutely amazing, with all the bits that were falling off quicker than you could fix them.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

Hey Jimmy B thanks for the paint chip link , great site have been checking it out when I'm not in the workshop.

Jfrolka, yes the new motor mounts are because the v8 is shorter than the twelve, does mean I can probably drop the sump with the engine in place though as the front of the sump is now well clear of the front crossmember.

Hope you made some good progress in the garage Carsten. I have played around with the hood and finally got it to close properly. I think it has at some point opened at speed and had rung the firewall as well as bent the hinges. A few good blows with the hammer had it sorted and with the new hood and hinges it now closes nicely.
Got one door shut and one screen pillar all leaded in last night and tonight. No pics as I forgot to take the camera out with me.
Good steady progress .

Paul.

 

Coming along very nice! Congrats!

 

You can make some door garnish moldings from 1935-36 ford front door garnish moldings, they end up looking pretty close, great job on the zephyr!, tom.

 

Hey Tom, hows it going ?

The old Zephyr is coming on well now. I have looked at the garnish moulding that you sent with the car and I think I may be able to make up some new ones. Going to give it a go anyway, nothing to lose. Failing that I will go the 35/36 route as you suggest.


About time I did an update . Bit of a long and picture laden one I'm afraid.
I have had all the fenders,running boards,grill and hood shot blast so I could start work on them.
I have started on the massive job of trying to make something of the doors. I have made up repair sections to repair the door frame, and in the process have radiused the rear corners to match the front corners. There is a huge amount of work involved in getting the sedan/coupe door amalgamation to fit the coupe body. The bottom of the sedan doors are dead straight when looked on from above, but the coupe curves to match the profile of the rockers. This meant that I had to cut and shape the bottom of the door frame to match this curve. I had to make a new patch panel for the inside of the door panel where the door lock/window winder mechs bolt up. I have decided to use the original door skins and just remake the bottom as the one I have started on has gone together pretty well and the metal is still very good.
I have leaded both the screen pillars and apart from some fine tuning with a smaller blow torch are good to go.
I have always planned to change a few things on the body which I think improve on it. The Zephyr is pretty much spot on as it came from the factory, but I noticed that the rear panel and the ends of the rear fenders finished in a straight line across the back and the bumper had a nice shaped profile to it. I have spent a couple of hours tonight making a mock up rear pan and tacking it on , with some strips mocked in on the fenders I think it will look way better.
It should follow the shape of the bumper and the rear deck lid and just finish it all off.
I have also removed the filler cap from the rear fender, and will mount a new one in the boot as it will run predominantly lpg.

 

Just....wow!

 

I think I just found my favorite build on here! This thing is going to look incredible when it's done! My vote is for a real deep maroon too... Not often done, but man if done right its hard to beat..

 

The rear pan that you fabricated looks like it should now, great work.....
Cheers Darren

 

Great detail on the rear.

 

Nice metal work! Keep at it.

 

Great idea with the new rear pan, it looks great!

 

Not only are you doing an exceptional job of reviving this one from the dead, you're really improving on the original design. It must be nice to finally be able to do a little creativity after all that grunt work.

 

Wow that things gonna be bad ass..............hope to see more. Thanks for bringing that one back from the dead.

 

Beautiful workmanship. I think those Zephyrs deserve being saved, good on you.

 

You are coming along niceley. Simply amazing job.

 

Great work!

 

Looking good

 

Great job on the zephyr, I still have my other zephyr coupe for sale on the hamb but have made a fiberglass mold off of the body so I can make one sometime in the future, I don`t mind fiberglass, keep up the good work, I am glad you are the saving the old car, tom.

 

You're a hero for saving this car.
Love this build!

 

hi paul,pete here from nr London, you brought my old Plymouth, great build up thread on the zephyr mate, that is going to be unique, not too many over here ,speak soon .

 

Hi Paul, you are doing some great work on the zephyr, keep it up!, tom.

 

I'm jealous of your metal working skills... Great progress!

Subscribed

 

Would love to see some of your step by step patch panel creation. What you did and use and why.