Well here goes! This is my first real post although I've been lurking for years and learning all I can from the Masters. Many great builds that always get me a little closer on each project. Thank you. I have a 36 and 40 Ford. I dropped a 331 Hemi in the 40 and its a blast to drive. Goes like stink. My problem is the body is falling apart and basically I'm pushing the roof up and sliding parts under it. Because the PO putty'd the hell out of it, painted it to look nice, I feel for it and gave him the cash. Its been 10 years of fun driving it but now its time to get it back to metal. I got a donor car and that was as bad as the one I'm working on so that got sold. Here's my problem. I'm replacing both rear quarters because they are beyond repair. I'm also reinstalling the rain gutters. No offense to the custom guys. Separating the rear quarters was no problem. Removing the door flange at the roof connection is a bear but manageable. How the hell do you weld this sucker back together with so little room? I've heard guys use glue, others weld a 1/4" rod to the roof and pretend its a rain gutter, neither sounds good. Is a spot welder the way to go or is it just a matter of getting as many rosette welds in as possible? I'm not a beginner and have good welding skills, but this has me stumped.
One of the rod magazines covered this in a good photo illustrated article in maybe the mid 80s A difficult job, not for beginners. Maybe someone remembers what magazine it was in
I put the gutters in the 40 coupe project I'm working on and used my mig to plug weld from the trunk lid to the B piller above and below using the new gutter as the base of the welds about 1 1/2 inches apart. Above the door from the B pilled to the top hinge I spot and plug welded it in the jams. Also put a few stiches on the inside above the door. If you bend down the flange where the headliner bows screw on, you can stich the three pieces together on the edge. Looks like you drilled the spot welds out so use the holes to weld the new gutters in, and drill holes on the new quarters flange and plug from the bottom. The new one piece gutters from Dennis Carpenter fit great! There is some pictures in my albums under V12 Lincoln of the gutters installed on my car if you want to see them. If you need any more pictures let me know the car is still apart.
Thanks "two couped up", you're right on target. I'm checking out your pictures and I'll get back to you. I appreciate you taking the time to get me back in gear.
I'm stuck again. I looked at your work on the V12 Lincoln album and the drip rails look great. Very nice work. Now to understand how you got there. No problem from the "B" pillar to the rear. I can use the new gutter flange as the base metal and weld up through the new 1/4 panel and down through the roof flange. I used a spot weld bit to take out the old welds and only made holes in the old drip rail flange and the old 1/4 panel. The roof is still solid so I will have to make holes for the rosette welds. I'll also punch a few holes in the quarter panel flange. My problem is from the "B" pillar to the windshield. I've got the upper door jam directly above the door separated by bending down the support flange as you suggested, and banging away, Now I'm stuck at the front corner of the door where it drops down to the hinge. It looks like I have to remove the corner support at the windshield that holds the sun visor and the rest of the upper door jam bracing welded to the windshield flange. So it seems the whole upper door jam has to be separated from the roof before I can slip the gutter in. Was that how you did it? Man, what a project. Taking it apart is one thing, lining it all up and welding it will be another. I feel like I'm going down the rabbit hole, but its OK if that's what has to be done. One last thing, the Carpenter drip rail they sent me has a flange on the passenger side from the "B" pillar to the front hinge of 1-1/4" the drivers side is only 3/4" Sounds like a bad piece to me. I'll test Carpenters customer service skills on that one. Again, thank you for any help and guidance you can give me on the upper door flange removal.
This is the only picture I have left from when I did the rails on my '39 but it doesn't help at all on the issue you are having. The only thing I have to offer is my sympathy. My '39s were such a pain in the ass that when it came time to do my '40, I left them rusty. -Abone.
I did mine 12 years ago, so I don't remember much but I do remember the front part of the door pillar being a pain in the ass. I'm pretty sure I cut the new drip rails to the length they needed to be and welded them to the upper part of the A pillar corner. But don't trust me, I could be full of shit as that was a long time ago. -Abone.
Thanks flamedabone, you seem to remember the pain in the ass part so I'm not imagining things. This afternoon I got back out and did a little more cutting and surveying. There's a piece of angle steel that the door jam is spot welded to running from the top of the door above the fly window to the hinge. I just need to remove the door to get a clean shot at the welds. I'll cut those spots and see what gives. Thanks for the info.
I couldn't find my other pictures, so I took some new ones. The Carpenter gutter that has the 3/4" step in the front is correct, the other side will need to be cut about the same place. That step is where the gutter gets plug welded in the jam from the hinge to the curve, the flange stops going between the roof and the door jam at that point, see the picture with the tape and arrow that is where the wide part of the flange stops. Pictures 2 and 3 show where I spot welded above the door and 4 and 5 are at the hinge area. The jam from the hinge to the B- pillar will be seam sealed before paint. If you have anymore questions or want more pictures just ask. Also you don't need to remove the angle steel piece. PS. you do need to open the seam above the door to insert the flange, or you can cut the flange back drill holes and plug weld it. I opened the seam on mine and its a bitch to get the old gutter flange out, I used an old butter knife ground like chisel to spread the seam between the spot welds, then used my air saw to cut thru the spot welds. If I do another car it will get the flange cut back and plug welded from the B- pillar to the hinge.
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