Here’s a little update covering the changes to the quarter windows. I’ve been having some issues getting photos from my iPhone to the PC so, I’m going to do the text from the PC and the edit the post from my iPhone and add the pictures. The quarter windows on these hardtop Fords don’t roll directly up and down. They actually pivot on the front lower corner. This gave us a bit of a challenge because we made the window longer front to back than it was originally. Now the lower rear corner of the window travels in an arc with a larger radius and when completely open, the bottom is much farther down in the quarter panel. So, the first thing we had to do was build tracks with a larger radius and fit them into the quarter panels. At first it didn’t look like they would fit but, after a little trimming and modification to the attachment points, we got them in there. The window frame themselves required several modifications. Obviously the front vertical piece needed to be shortened 2 ½ inches, the lower horizontal portion that the regulator attaches to inside the quarter panel had to be lengthened about 4 inches, and the top curved piece had to made from scratch to match the profile of the roof. The original top curved piece was to short and curved differently. We decided to make the top piece out of aluminum. I’m not aware of and certainly don’t have access to any machinery that can cut the groove in the side of an irregular curve so, our original thought was to have four pieces cut with a water jet, then use a router to cut a step in the lower inside edge of each half and then weld them together on the spine to create a channel. The router was too aggressive on that small of a piece of material and it chewed up the first piece so we’re back to the drawing board. Next up I had three pieces for each window cut with the water jet, two sides and a center, which all had to be welded together. Twice as much welding (heat & warpage) as the previous attempt resulted in a channel that didn’t quite match the curvature of the roof, so we had to do a little reshaping which in turn left the outside surfaces which will be chromed, a little wavy. To remedy the that I spent a lot of time with files, Dykem & sanding blocks to get them smooth and straight enough for a chrome finish. I needed a way to attach the steel vertical piece to the aluminum top piece so, I made some aluminum “L” brackets to go inside the channel and attached them with flathead 8-32 machine screws. The bottom piece already had a little steel scorpion’s tail looking thing that the top piece bolted to. I just needed to do a little repair and reshaping to be able to use that. Lots of cutting and filing and fitting in getting all the dimensions and angles working on these pieces. Then once I got all these modified bits bolted together and installed, I have working quarter windows. Sort of, It all has to come apart to have some bits chromed and glass installed.
... @210superair, I'll take your word for it those rat turds are slicky... Life in Hotrod/Custom...always hurdles with some so high you have to pole vault to get over them...as a manager said to me one time when I mentioned how difficult it was to overcome certain challenges I was told in confidence that's why you get paid the big bucks Stogy... Great work @DRD57
Next up we’ll cover the front and rear window trim. The rubber and stainless for the station wagon rear window is kind of clunky looking for what we’re trying to do. So, we decided to do it like we did the windshield on Tony’s 40, glue the window in and then make chrome trim to glue to the glass and since we’re doing that in the back, the front should match. the first step was making some patterns and getting the pieces cut on a CNC machine. It was either water jet or high def plasma, I don’t remember which. Then began the arduous tasks of fitting, filing, and block sanding with progressively finer grits until I thought they were ready for plating.
Somewhere early in the fitting process we figured out that our pattern for the rear trim wasn’t perfect and the piece just wasn’t going to fit without surgery, so we cut it in a few pieces and welded them back together where they needed to be and the continued the fitting and finishing
Lots of work, Don. Only the people who have read this thread will know what transpired. Others will imagine if they have done that kind of work before. Excellent.
I think Don would agree that the changes to the quarter windows were among the most complex parts of the project, but they're also among the most effective.
One thing I have to give you or Don credit for, you always go the extra mile to get all the proportions right. You see a lot of chops where the window openings get funky, these are spot-on.
Yes, that's true. I think I may be a pain-in-the-ass customer, but Don is usually on the same page when it comes to getting it right.
I agree. It made a huge difference on the '40, especially when it turned out to be extremely difficult to do the stainless in the same way that Ford did.
It looks like I neglected taking pictures while cutting down the wing vent frames. It wasn’t rocket surgery, just cut them up and jigsaw them back together 2 - 1/2” shorter When I got all the window frames mocked up I sent Tony this picture. His reaction was the same as mine. The proportions of the three windows are not quite right. With the windows all shorter vertically and the quarter window also longer horizontally the balance was off. At Tony’s suggestion I did a little mock up to see if shortening the wing vent and lengthening the door glass would remedy the situation. It does look better so, the next step is to modify the length of these four windows too. We settled on an adjustment of 2-1/2”. I’ll remember to take pictures this time.
The Jalopy Journal
