Customs From Clown Car to 1927 T Touring Custom Rod

From my experience with those T's, is the metal is generally slightly thicker and more workable...

 

I can't tell you the composition of the new steel but I can tell you that it is considered "High-strength steel". It is very stiff compared to the steel in cars older than 1990. They use it so they can make unit construction cars light in weight and still keep the torsional rigidity high. If you measure the thickness of a new car outer-body panel, you will find it is only about .018-.021" thick. It is also the reason it is almost impossible to get a wrinkle out of a new car body panel without tearing the metal..

 

Rusty J.
The only way that I can describe it is that it is "denser". The metalurgy seems to be different.
It straightens better, welds better and rust is able to be removed easier. It is way better to work with than metal post 1970 - ish. After 44 years as a bodyman, it is a pleasure to work on.
Good luck with your project Touring.

VR&C.

 

Today, I was welding the remaining patches in the Lower Sections of the body.
I have an old Roof Skin from a 1950 Ford that I kept just for sheet metal patching.
That metal seems to be the same as the 1927 metal. Any time you can get your hands on old, clean sheetmetal ( Pre - 1970) grab it and have it on hand.
I have a 1928 Martin and Swartz Clock Face Gas pump that needs one small patch. The Roof Skin will be my go to for the donor metal.
Unfortunately, I ran out of Mig wire 1/3 of the way to finishing up the welding and had to pick up a roll on the way home from the shop this evening. Of all places, I found Lincoln 70s-6 Mig wire reasonably priced at Home Depot. They saved the day for tomorrow.

VR&C.

 

woah, the Keystone Cops car belonged to a friend of mine. I thought about buying it several times but never did. It had a Chevette engine

 

You can do what you want but, you will need to donate to the children now. 10% will do. Lippy

 

I've tried working with the new steel too, and it sucks for exactly the reasons mentioned above. I also keep a stash of 40's/50's car body panels on hand for patch panels and yes it's nice to work with, so now I know that I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. My Touring is going to be yard art for a while - in fact I'm actually turning new spokes and making new felloes for the wheels - may as well make it look good so others can appreciate it while it waits for it's turn.

 

Continuing on with the metal patching. All patches are welded in, ground, skim coated with Evercoat Metal 2 Metal and first rough sanded. Hope to have enough time to finish the bodywork and get this Ol' Gal in Epoxy Primer.
View attachment 5305236

 

Lookin good man!

 

In the skim coating and blocking stage right now. LOTS of blocking.
Some guys don't get their bodywork perfectly straight prior to Epoxy and High Build Urethane Primer.
I get everything straight and then seal the bodywork with 2 coats of Epoxy followed by 3 -4 coats of Urethane Primer. Hoping to have this project in primer by early in March.

 

Blocking is finally complete. LOST OF BLOCKING. Primed it yesterday with Clausen All U Need Poly Primer. I decided to go with Clausen Poly first to block to a very fine and flat surface. Epoxy will be next.
The body still needs the Rear Panel repaired and the interior sheetmetal needs to be sand blasted and painted. It appears that Ol' Henry did not paint/coat any of the interior surfaces (maybe I'm wrong ? ) .
This body is 100%. Stay Tuned. I think that I will go to fabricating the Chassis Next. Scored a really nice set of 1935 Ford 16" wheels. I put them all on the spin balancer and all 4 are really straight. Less than .5 ounce (at the worst) of being in perfect balance.

 

Automotive sheet metal began being difficult to " work" started. IMO. In the late 50's , by the mid 60's it was difficult & by the 70's it was junk ( brittle , had inclusions from recycled junk , import steel , etc .)