Projects coupester #4, '30 w/ '28 stanchions

Cut the steel flat stock for a couple of the lower hinges, cut and ground the tubes to size,
welded them up, ground the welds , sanded some of the threads on a pair of [2"] 1/4"-20 screws and used them as temp pins...
had a torch cut center male hinge, will weld a tube to it for the 4th hinge for this coupester…

 

Drilled and tapped 6 hinge holes to 5/16" - 24...
Installed them in the car... cut and installed 2 mounting blocks under the B pillars and 2 just ahead of the wheelwell… got a block set coming Thursday...
I only use the 2 long rear and the 2 cowl blocks...
had to shorten the cross rail under the sub rail at the B pillar to clear the wooden blocks...

 

Rock on Dude

 

Just got a line on a pair of coupe and a pair of roadster quarters...
still frozen in... and the poor guy is expected to get 10" - 16" of snow tonight and tomorrow …
back on the coupester...
I got the body mounting blocks from the Brown truck this AM....
got 'em, bolts dropped through the sub rails and new blocks, right door A jam edge trimmed, door set on, pins dropped in, B pillar bottom trimmed to fit the base plate, when set I trimmed the top as the door skin has to close over the B pillar... raining hard...now snowing hard...

 

Hung the left door, had to tweek everything, but its close though...
Saturday I tacked on the B pillars and the lower gussets I made, tacked the B pillar to the strip that I clekoed/ cap screwed to the subfloor... adjustable...
ran some scrap conduit to x brace the B pillars and doors..
I found it hard to determine the doors angle as it arches...so to check the door, B pillar or quarter I set my angle finder against the lower beltline bead with it's top edge level with the crease between the beltlines … I can repeat the same position from side to side...
this baby is at 5* both sides with braces...
welded the triangle gusset to the B pillar and the sliding plate...

 

Bent up a couple quarter caps,
cut, bent, welded and ground an arch on the trailing edge of both caps...
they are about 8" long... I may shorten them some ? ...
the quarters are full length, having a rather large cockpit... I think I will keep the caps less than half the opening...
I will tape them on and see how I like them...

 

Bent 2 trunk gutter, and 2 B pillar to tulip pieces...
Cut 2 more for under the tulip verticals and the 2 horizontals from qtr to qtr...
Cut the pieces from 1/2" conduit to make a cage to support the rear quarters, lower and tulip panels for welding...
sanded off the zinc for 2" on all the ends...
Also fabbed the brackets that will weld under the conduit and screw up into the gutter... keeping the conduit up an behind the gutters... leave room on the tab for a 3/8" hole or weld on a flat washer to run the ratchet strap hooks through when suspending the body/qtr. from the ceiling...
Made a couple more that weld to the inside edge of the conduit, have 4 nuts welded to the outside of them... a flat washer on top... the bolts will run through the tulip and quarter and into the nuts...
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As the quarters don't have even the inner lip left to mount the lower panel to, I will weld a vertical strip with 3 nuts welded to the back side onto the inside edge of the lower conduit to mount the lower panel …
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Replaced the ends on the tulip as someone had cut 2 and ripped 1 bolt hole out on each end...
More of it left than the sportster's tulip had...
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Going to patch / replace the mating edges on the quarters next, that should give me places to cleko the qtrs., lower and tulip as I go...

 

Used the S/W filler panel, sold joe the '31 tank, cut out the '31 teardrop firewall indent, and these 2 [$15.95] swing arm pivots. .
I will bend them 90* and weld them on the left and right vertical surface where the studs will get bolted through the '28 stanchions , can't tilt out but holds the W/S frame in and the flat face of the frame will hide the flat mounting surface … only the threaded ends and wingnuts show... there will be some trimming for stud clearance .. ..
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Cheap azz cowl steering blister... was born a '31 firewall indent...

 

Like I don't have enough to do... I have another '30 cut down cowl,[naples, me.] ... decent firewall, filler panel, toeboards and tanktop …
got a couple A rear wishbones, they will get some cutting, heating to bend, welding and drilling of a hole for the pivot stud... will use the rest of the bones to extend the A frame to support the R-E bed while it awaits adoption...
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I think I see a coupester cowl, using trimmed A rear wishbones as upper stanchions w/ a closed car w/s frame...
not a new idea, I talked a buddy into trying it on his roadster as it saved so much cash...
worked, and looked cool...
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I don't think It deserves its own topic, so I will just pop the threads into my other topics...
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initial tape measure tour was promising...
I wanna leave the forward wishbone mounting "ears" on as fake top mounts...
wishbone is an oval so I intend to let the back side of the w/s frame's face just rest against it...
will weld on a vertical section of small square tube that the w/s frame's inner glass channel will rest against …
It cannot tilt forward as the lower W/S frame sits below the pivot point...
hope some find it interesting or even a cost saver...
any hints, tips or advise now is the time , thanks .
View attachment 4644654 View attachment 4644653

 

taped a quarter cap [top] on,
patch panel on the right side... just a tad too short had to weld in a filler...

 

Today I patched the area just above the 5" patch... and the one at the seam between the 2 quarters used to make one...
added a taller section to the flanges between the tulip and the quarters...

need to cut, fit and weld in the horizontal "flange" that runs from door to door and across the sport coupe's tulip...
My tulip was from a coupe in its first life... had the vertical skin only...
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I flattened the 1/2" conduit so I can weld nuts to the back side...
hammered it so the edge of the flat is flush with the pipe's edge, not centered... that surface will run against the back side of the gutters... the tabs will screw through the bottom of the gutter...
the ends of the "legs" will weld to 2"x3" plates so they can be fine tuned when skinned...

 

cut a strip of steel to form the upper flange on the tulip...

 

trimmed, bent 90*, welded to the tulip as it was a coupe...
added a small patch, capped the upper ends,
Added a section to the conduit cage for the upper mounting hole, ground it and drilled the 3 qtr. to tulip holes... 2 horizontal pipes will weld between the gutter rails...
welded a patch in the right qtr. to tulip flange...

 

Had the top 1/2" from a '29 sport coupe but only the right side, wanted the rolled over look not a welded on cap...
welded the scrap '28 section and quarter cap on ...
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Grabbed the left quarter, used a chunk of the left S C qtr. that repaired 2 other qtrs., wasn't long enough,
used all of what I had left, then filled the remaining 4" with a chunk of a trunk gutter from the scrap barrel that had a similar radius, trimmed it and turned it 90*... time for lunch.

 

go Sloppy go!...did you get any history on those 1/4's with the leaded (bondoed?) on fenders? I saw some old pics of a car from Ontario back in the day that reminded me of your 1/4s

 

Got 'em from k b cookout... [good guy] , once I got them home I realized the one with the big rusty wheelwell had had a fender on it and someone ground it off... the lead on the right quarter was 2.5" deep at the quarter / fender joint...
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Don't know if it helps ID it, but don't think it was an A fender, think it came off from a bigger car...
they had been coupe quarters and tulip... someone folded the quarters over at the window's crease level..
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they welded pie-cut 1/4" wall 2" angle iron from B pillar to tulip both sides.. and used [7] 5/16" bolts
across the tulip to anchor the heavy steel...
I kind of smile looking at them now knowing almost every other rodder would have used both of the 4"-6" next to the trunk gutter to fix a cut down coupe and been happy with that...

 

Saw this pic I posted a while back, someone liked it, came back up, I had lost the pic on my frozen computer...
kind of goes with this '30-'28 coupester topic …

 

Hung [4] ratchet straps from the ceiling... used them to support the right quarter / tulip...
clamped one side of the cage into the right quarter, ran the [3] bolts through the tulip, quarter and screwed them into the cage's nuts...
slid the quarter down over the B pillar, clamped it between the door and the B pillar...
sighted down the beltlines... look good... supper...
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Nice goin', I have a lot of metalwork ahead, too. Following this as if I were there.
Conduit and a 'hickey'. "Fathers' little helper". I use that stuff for temporary holding, bracing, etc. Even used it for body 'lining', around the back, down the sides...and upright braces just inches aft of the 'B' pillar.

I have to say, "HANG ON, SLOPPY!"

 

Transferred and drilled some mounting holes... bolted the tulip to the quarters to the cage...
slid the quarters down over the B pillars...
... coming along pretty quick while I am sequestered...
didn't realize it but the sportster makes a great backdrop...
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the cage sides are bolted in at the tulip, their legs support the weight for now...

 

lined up the left quarter, tacked the cage to the floor plates... tacked the package tray to the cockpit [thanks wtv] … every panel is tweeked… lots of shimming and blocking...
lunch...

 

Neat; while the cockpit is probably still longer than a roadster; won't the package shelf diminish valuable space?

 

yes, but it adds a bunch of rigidity if the new owner can fit in with it ?
tack welds and pan screws for easy removal...
a sport coupe is much more rigid than a coupe with the roof cut off...
also if the new owner lowers it a few inches it has more clearance as the seat back moves forward the more the tray is lowered..
did so in my coupe, lowering it gave me the room to set up the lowering rear window...
pull the handle up, slide the deadbolt through and the window is up...
lift, slide the deadbolt back, let the window settle into the bottom of the slot...
low enough not to affect seat back room...
yes those are hockey sticks as rear window wood....

 

Made a couple 90* strips to attach the upside down garnish molding / armrests...
tacked them in...
Only had 2 door garnish that matched, one is cheese.... used '41-'48 tudor …
Being that those years Ford and Mercury were the same, and business coupe and tudor using the same doors meant they are the easiest to locate...
The 1.125" offset in the door width is disguised by using the up-side down garnish / armrest...
this saves a ton of work not having to rebuild the A + B jams and replacing the hinges...
3" up front and about 8" in the rear need to be flanged to take the inner door / upholstery panels...
upper and lower inner door panels, upper end caps and latches to come...
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Got out the tape measure to check the cockpit for square...
said no, put the tape away and will go by the gaps and beltlines...
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Just found this.....I'll be hanging around for awhile!