I’m piecing a 32 Tudor body back together and I’m using the rear fenders for alignment of the back panel. I have fenders but I need frame horn covers to mount then in the back. Before I order anything can someone tell me what the difference is? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You say "order". If you mean purchase a repro pair to use for setting this up, I'd say don't. Repro fenders and pans are notorious for needing bolt holes filed for fit (that's if the shape is even the same). If you think the repro frame horn covers will give you an accurate fit right out of the box, you are mistaken. Isn't there another 32 guy around that you can borrow originals some from?
Alchemy, I was hoping you would chime in on this. You’re right. I was going to order the United pacific repros. My original plan on this build was going to be fendered. That has since changed to fenderless. So I was going get everything lined up and send them back. I don’t know of anyone in the Cleveland Ohio area that has a set of originals. But I’d love to borrow some of somebody has some close to me. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
If it's going to be fender less I wouldn't worry about them. When I built my sedan I bought brookville fenders that literally fell into place with no modifications. The rear frame horn covers were another story. They were cut, sliced, sectioned, to make them fit. I really don't think it's going to make a difference.
Rusty, Thanks for the reply. The reason I want to mount up the fenders is for reference points. This body doesn’t have any subrails and I’m replacing the bustle with one from a fordor. I’m trying to get as many points as I can to get everything lined back up. Here’s some images without the fordor bustle sitting on the body to get a better idea what I’m working with. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I think you are at the point of "if it looks right it is right". Find a height where all the parts seems to look right and fit together. Forget the tape measure other than making sure the left matches the right. If the car will never see fenders, it doesn't matter. First, get your frame solid and square with all crossmembers welded in. Your pics don't show any of this in your frame. If you go start bodywork before you have your finish-welded frame you are kidding yourself that it will fit later. For the body assembly, I'd start with a excellent firewall, then mount the cowl to it with the gasket in there (surprisingly we found a Vintique cowl to firewall gasket to fit best), and work backwards from that. Make the doors gap nicely to the cowl, the B pillars gap nicely to the back edge of the door, and scoot the new fordor wheelwells up nicely to the tudor back section. I'm thinking you will be constructing all your own subrails from scratch? Won't matter then if you are exactly like stock. If you are using a 32 tank you can slide it in there to make sure your rear bustle is not too low before you start welding anything. Very last will be filling in the missing holes like cowl, rocker, and quarter patch panels. Guys get way ahead of themselves thinking they put these patches in first. You need to have the foundation built before you can put the siding on the house. All these outer tin parts can be adjusted and reworked to fit the space you end up having to fill. I'm currently working on the bottom end of a 5-window that has a mostly from-scratch subrails and floor. All my work is based off the good firewall and working backward, and I will basically have modified every Ford panel and every patch panel to get them all to fit together.
I totally agree with alchemy, if it's never going to get fenders line everything up so it looks good. Frame horn covers fit to the body not the other way around. The 'professional' that jiggled my frame got the rear frame from the axle back about 1/2" to low. Like I said before my fenders fit like a glove but the frame horn covers were cut, this could have been from the frame being to low. Every build is going to have different issues but honestly I don't think you need to have the covers. Good luck, keep us posted on your progress.
I've done several highboy deuce sedans and I wouldn't waste the money on horn covers. What I tried for was good door fit and having the rear body panel clear the gas tank by about 1/2 inch. Old adage I use in building cars is if it looks right it's ok.
Alchemy, I'm doing exactly what you have said. The firewall is a nice original with the seal installed. The doors are gapped at the front and are swinging. The rear of the cab is gapped from the rear of the doors and aligned at the beltline from the doors. I've measured up from the bottom of the frame to the beltline and it's almost dead on both sides front and back and side to side. I am making my own subrails. I will be starting them tomorrow. I was just thinking one step ahead with getting the bustle lined up. My plan is to get the pillars locked to the subrails before I hang the bustle on. I'm not sure yet on where I'm running the tank, but I do have a plastic tank for reference. As far as the frame. It's not leaving the table until it's done. I wanted to get everything in relative position, motor, trans, and body before I start boxing and putting in the crossmembers. Rusty and Krlon32, I think this is good advice. It's truly amazing to me how 88 year old bent and rusted sheet metal will basically fall into position. Except for the chop........I've seen as much as a 1/2" difference from side to side! As far as fenders or no fenders, I do want to keep that option open if I ever decide to throw them on. I do plan on starting a build thread on this when I get a little farther along.
Must be a generational thing. Good luck on getting it all together, but nobody likes a customer like that. -Dave
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