Projects 1940 Ford 4-door restoration project in Europe

Wow that is some serious rust damage. After sand blasting you will probably find some more. I have seen people drill out the rivets and completely disassemble a frame to allow for repairs of the double walled areas. I am sure you will do excellent repairs on your frame.

 

Hi Sam,

I am going to remove a number of rivets. Unfortunately I have not found anyone in The Netherlands that is able to install new rivets when I’m done with the repairs.

I have found a shop that sells the rivets but..
Do you know what is the minimum in tools that you need in order to install such a steel rivet?
Can a spot-weld machine perhaps be used to weld two half rivets that meet each other in the middle? Or can it be done using friction welding? I do not own a massive furnace..

Has anyone tried to pre-heat a steel rivet with an induction heater?


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Use an air impact hammer to set rivets. And a heavy weight or bucking bar on the other end. There is a waffle bit available for the impact hammer. It's amazing that the hamb is now a restoration forum

 

I think this company can supply the tools and the information on how to properly install the new rivets. The ford barn has some info that led me to this site. Good luck and please post some details of how you do the job.

http://www.bigflatsrivet.com/assets/tools.pdf

 

Thank you manyolcars for the info.

I’m restoring the car in order to get a license to drive the car. Authenticity is a big criterium for getting a license in The Netherlands.


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Hi Sam,

Thank you very much for this detailed information. You make the impression of an oracle. You seem to know everything!

Kind regards,
Chris


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Installing rivits is not that difficult. I bought from Big Flats and made a bucking bar from 1" x 1" stock with dimples spotted on it to hold the heads. Heat the rivets with a regular oxy-fuel torch using a welding tip. The 2 tips are have the pieces tightly clamped together and the rivit should fit snugly in the hole. Good luck

It took me three 35-40 frames to assemble one good one. Yours looks to have the typical rot in the kickup. Blow the frame apart, blast, repair, reassemble. Its just metal.

 

No,I am not even close to an oracle. I had to look up in the oracle in the dictionary. I am just naturally inquisitive ,especially when it comes to the restoration and preservation of old cars. When someone asks a question about something that I may know something about but not enough to give a good answer I will look it up on the internet or in literature I have on hand and pass on what I can in hopes it will help. This also allows me to learn something too. I am enjoying your project Chris please keep posting.

Sam

 

Thank you Sam.

I have continued disassembly of the chassis and suspension.

I removed the pedals and the engine and gearbox. Got my hands really dirty.





And the brake lines.



I also unbolted the rear axle and removed the leaf springs.




In the process I gathered another bucket of sand, stones and tar.






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Then I used the engine hoist to move the frame under the body. From that position I can move it out of my garage and transport it to the blaster.

I wanted to have the wishbones blasted as well. Removing the front wishbone was a job.

First I cut some square tube to a length slightly longer than the distance between the eyes of the leaf spring. Then I jammed it between the eyes of the leaf spring. This to take the tension out of the leaf spring for safety while unbolting the spring shackles..

The spring perch bolts were really tight but with my full body weight on the end of a 4 foot extension on a spanner they came loose. The spring perches themselves were driven out with a 20 pound hammer and driver with the axle positioned upside down on jacks.



The leaf spring turned out to be covered in what I believe to be zinc. It had an inch of dirt on them. Most of which grease. It seals the steel really well.



Removing the front wishbone from the front axle is kind of a puzzle and I think it can not be done without moving the spring shackle pins out of the way. I re-used my home made hinge remover.




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If you haven't already, go to the FordBarn.com and check out some of the '40 restorations that Kube has done. Lots of good info on that web site.

 

I think ford depended on leakage to lubricate everything under the car . Working on the old greasy stuff is one of my least favorite parts of a project but you just have to get through that phase to get to the fun stuff. If your media blaster guy is like many of them over here he won't want to blast the parts if they are greasy. I recommend you try to get as much of the grease and oil off of your parts as possible before taking the parts to be blasted. The sand media usually just sticks to the grease and makes an even bigger mess.Are you going to take some of the double wall portions of the frame apart before blasting?

I have an axle that I was never able to get the spring perch out of. It must have fused itself to the axle over the last 80 years.

 

Hi Sam,

The blaster told me to remove all grease indeed. I don’t mind cleaning it apart from the fact that I have to wash my hands all the time.

I’m not going to take the frame apart but I have removed the body supports at the rear because I will have to replace parts of the frame there anyway. I drilled out the rivets that mount them to the frame.

I’m fabricating a chassis table and when the frame is blasted I will mount it securely on the table first before I start cutting.

About the spring perches. I read on the H.A.M.B. somewhere that it can be very hard to remove them and someone even had a 20 ton press start leaking oil when removing them.
So I thought I had no chance with a hammer but I gave it a try. I just hit it real hard 20 times and checked. It appeared like nothing happened but after 20 more blows it had moved by about 0.1mm. That is enough encouragement to continue down that road.

It does remind me of an advice of a guy I know that works in the off shore business. He told me to always put a bit of grease on a bolt before sliding it in. Because at some time you will want to remove the thing again.

Regards,
Chris





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Curious what part of Michigan did you get it from

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Hi Topher,

I got it from Twining, Michigan.
Why are you interested?




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Sorry not interested, but I am from Michigan. That's a bit of a hike for an old Ford

 

Yes it is/was. It was wonderful to be able to track the container while it was traveling across the Atlantic. It visited the harbors of Bremen (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium) before it arrived in Rotterdam.

It will be a great car when I’m done.


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For some reason I was thinking that you came all the way out to Michigan to pick it up

 

I transported the frame to the blaster in Medemblik.



We agreed to not prime it. It is clean now and some more problem areas have emerged at front of the frame:





A known problem area at the rear:



I have stored the frame under the body again while I’m fabricating a chassis table.







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That should keep you busy for awhile.

 

Still can't get over the fact that you have a tiled garage

 

Yeah I've noticed that quite a few of the European builds seem to have a tiled garage floor. Mine is concrete with grease/oil/ paint stains as highlights!

 

Hi Topher,

It was tiled by the previous owner.
As the garage is quite small the fact that it has a tiled floor does help me to quickly determine whether parts will fit anywhere on the floor


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when I built my garage I painted the concrete floor.gave it two coats .thought it was real posh.bright and easily swept.next time ill paint it green not grey ,be easier to find dropped washers and stuff.

 

I started building a chassis table. I bought some cheap steel tubing on the Internet. It is slightly oversize (140x60x4mm) but better safe than sorry. It stretches my band saw to the max.




I welded 10 frame supports. I used temporary welds to prevent warping.




I had to combine a couple of tubes to reach the length of the chassis. But these welds were a real pain. The combined tube warped at the weld about 5 degrees even though I clamped it on all sides. I cut the weld and tried again with the same exact result. In the end I did a heat treatment. I simply heated the weld one side. It was really cool to see the thing straighten up.




I’m still learning how to make nice TIG welds.
To learn I watch youtube movies. These welds turned out fairly well.






Some parts are hard to clamp for drilling when I need a hole one one side. I use a water level and a hydraulic jack to make sure I drill straight.



I intend to make a kind of rotisserie to make it easier to reach the chassis where it needs welding.



I have de-greased all parts for paint. It was a hell of a job. I used brake cleaner and after that I rinsed the parts with water.





All parts painted using cheap Hammerite Hamerslag.

 

Boy, that frame table looks professionally built. Great job!

 

Lookin good Chris!

 

Thank you Jason! I appreciate it.


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Thank you Tubman! I hope all parts will fit when I start assembling


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Nice welds! Nice color! I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.