Projects What!!? another 27 on 32 chassis!??. Scratch build body.

Looking good David! I thought the first firewall looked good, but the change really does give it a more interesting shape. It is hard to backtrack, but I guess you have enough experience to know if you don't you will kick yourself for a long time!
Thanks for keeping us up to date on this project!

~Alden

 

Very impessive, Dave you are a true craftsman... Thank you for taking the time to share this build, very inspirational. You'r dvd is also very informative and worth every single penny...Thank's

 

I got your DVD very quickly, thanks! Can hardly wait for your next one. Love following along on this build. Thanks for taking the time to post pics and explain how you do things.

 

Lovely! See ya later! Now setting off the long way round...

 

Hi Alden,

Thats exactly right! I knew if I left it it would nag at me every time looked at the car. I appreciate your interest in my thread and your comments it helps knowing what other people think, I want to end up with a car that is a good traditional hot rod, early fifties in style. Good original panels are pretty much non existant here and I did not want to have to patch original panels when I can get a better result making new. A tight budget put me off buying an original body as a pattern. Probably should have though.

David

 

Probably a lot of us who agree with dropped jaws.

 

Thanks for the comments guys I am very happy that you both like the DVD. Working towards some more but its hard to make a living here and find time for making DVDs.

 

My mate Glen turned up yesterday bringing me my brakes all rebuilt. I painted the backing plates before giving them to him, here's what I got back...





All new brake cylinders and brake shoes are new the brake shoes were rebuilt by 'Nervous' Bob, cheers Bob. Glen did a lot of work to rebuild these including a good few miles in trips to get parts- so thanks once again Glen. he also brought back my Trans which he changed over to closed drive and pit new seals and bushes in so that's the trans ready to use.

 

I put the firewall and subframe assembly on the chassis and there is no issues there so I am all set to build the rest of the body. I took a few more patterns of the trunk lid from my (sadly departed) friend's roadster today so thanks once again to his widow. I am now ready to start making the engine,trans, wishbone and rear spring mounts. I also need to (part) box the chassis. All I need now is the time to do it all!.


David

 

You've been making good progress David. That rear kick in the frame looks VERY nice!! I am very happy to see you building this for yourself. It's so hard to do when you have a stream of work coming in from the outside like you do. Good for you!!

I say this because I'm so far behind on my shop work, my model a body has sat for close to a year with very little done to it. I pick at it now and then. I picked up a 331 Cadillac engine for it and machined the heads, and worked on setting up a trans for it in my spare time. I'm hoping for good weather in May. I have an open trailer, and if it's dry I plan on hauling the model a up to Dans Minn. Meet and spend a good week on it. Last year I did a really good job cutting it all apart lol.... Maybe this spring I can get it all welded back together.....

 

David, it looks like Glen is a pretty good buddy to have! He is obviously putting quite a few hours into your project doing the mechanical things.
It's all looking good!
Looking forward to seeing more metal magic.

~Alden

 

(Dyce )

Jeff I have been waiting to build this car for thirty years -(longer than my customers have waited) I just do a few hours here and there. I am way behind with customers work as well but as long as I put in my forty hours I refuse to feel guilty.

David

 

Alden, Glen and I have been friend for around thirty years, I have helped him and most of my friend on their cars over the years. I also do work in exchange for their help like the rear panel I posted earlier. As for Glen he is getting some parts out ot the deal and I have made a couple of pieces for him so its not totally 'free' help but he is putting a lot effort into helping me and I would not be able to have got this far without his knowlege and contacts as well.

David

 

Hoping to put the rear panel in on Wednesday night Dave so we can finish the woodwork. Saw Neil Tuckett today and he said he needs to work out repaying you for that truck cowl.

 

Just read this from start to finish and really like it. Went to you site and the buy it link was not working while I was reading this, but thankfully is now. Looking forward to seeing it.

 

Jeff, I am in the same boat, I took on lots of work when they started talking about the credit crunch thinking half of it would not materialize but it did and now I can't get through it all. I am determined to do this for myself so I stay late and work a couple of hours on it here and there as I can. After all I have been waiting a lot longer than any of my customers.

David

 

I am glad you like the thread. Thanks for ordering the DVD I hope you like it when it gets to you.

David

 

Phil, he does not really owe me, he has probably forgotten but I only paid the postage. I wouldnt say no to a couple more T sections though, if he has any.

David

 

I finally got round to putting the pieces I made for the substructure of the cowl together. It was a bit hard without the original to check against and took quite a bit of working out.




Still a little work to do but I put all the sections together and spot welded them in place. A bit of tidying up and more welding is needed yet.

More photos later.
David

 

Here are a couple more photos...



put the subframe on the chassis for a look...



David

 

We're sill watching David, just hoping your shop work load peters out.

 

Wow wow wow!! Gives me lots of hope for building all the panels for my 28 chevy roadster. You have some serious talent

 

Thanks BrerHair, (I think) Trouble is when you have work you don't have time and without work there isno money.

The23Kid - Glad you like the thread.

David

 

Im planning to skin an original cowel structure. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you do it! hurry please...hah

 

I've been watching this one too....

He's pretty much where you're at on your body now eh?

 

Do you have a photo of your cowl sub structure? I have never seen one without the skin, It would have been usefull to have had a photo, it still would help.

David

 

I said before that I had seen Ron Covelle was building one of these bodies. He had made a really elaborate buck which is completely over the top for a body like this. If you build the sub-structure like the one I built for my T (below) which is a copy of the original you have most of the information needed to make the outer skin...





If you need more info about the shape of the skin you can simply add a couple of stations (wooden profiles) to the substructure to give you a guide to the shape in particular areas.



The amount of work in building the buck he built would be at least equal to the work involved in building a body in steel and if you have the original body in front of you you simply don't need an elborate buck.



I built a simple buck for the turtledeck of this body but only because I knew I would not have an original body to work from. If you have original panels to work from you do not need a buck for a simple body like this which is made from lots of small panels. I dont actually have an original body to copy and am workiing from info gathered from various sources and from photos for the most part.

Unfortunatly sometimes things are shown to make things more difficult than they are.
I have had teachers that make things look as difficult as possible to show how clever they are rather than actually teaching sound methods.


David

 

I agree that bucks aren't always necessary when building a body. I used a Fibreglass T-bucket body for some patterns when building my T body..once I had the floors done i then made a steel 'jig' to position the top of the cowl and the rear 'cab wall' and then its just a matter of keeping panels symmetrical ...and I was able to make a few changes as I went...ie lengthened front bulkhead.
I'm reall enjoying your build David...wish I had more money to spend on mine!! I've got 5 restoration jobs here at the moment but its been getting veeery difficult to do better than just paying the bills here lately

 

fleet-master

When I built the body for the car below I worked from a f/glass body which was longer and wider than an original. I started with the outer panels just taking a guide from the 'glass body and made everything symetrical. I put the floor in last, it has two opening doors. I just made the panels and bolted them together like an original.

Money is always a problem, the UK is no better. I have lots of work but am under pressure from some of my customers regarding cost. I am building my car on a tight budget but I am determined to get it done. I laid out most of the money up front when buying the donor car.




For simple bodies like these you just don't need a buck.


David

 

Really nice work Dave, it's really starting to come together.

Just wondering about those sub frame rails you made, looks like you've made them out of two pieces right?