Projects 37 Zephyr build thread

This car was for sale near my house and despite my love of 37s I was too scared of it to even see in person because of the rust. You drag it all the way back to England and make better than new. I admire your vision and high level of skill.

 

Just read this whole build thread and totally awsome fabrication work ......

 

great progress on the vehicle ....

 

Time for an update,

Had some issues with registering the zephyr, got it registered a couple of weeks ago with no issue then it was called in for an inspection this week. But as it is totally stripped out for body prep I couldn't get there. It's a very long messy story but the end result is that they only do inspections here one day a month and they have demanded that the car is roadworthy before inspection. Bearing in mind that it will be at Pendine in September it only gives me two shots at making the inspection.

So as of Tuesday this week I had exactly one month to get the old girl roadworthy.So been burning plenty of midnight oil and taken time away from work to take on the challenge.
I will let the pics tell the tales as I'm knackered and have way to much work to do tomorrow, but basically the bodywork is now pretty much done apart from some final body prep (which will probably wait until a later date now) and finishing the welding on the passenger door (drivers door is ready for paint), the rear deck lid is going to have to be the glass one for now, just got to bond the two halves and prep and paint it, fit hinges etc.
The seat from the plymouth coupe is going in as a temporary measure until I can rebuild/make the zephyr one. Bev has bought the material for the interior and headlining and I have most of the brakes sorted just got to fit them and plumb them. Got to adapt the front backing plates to take cylinders instead of cables though.Then it's wiring, fitting lights etc,engine of to Bobs for new rings and pistons water pumps etc (don't worry it's only going for the day and staying on my truck bed ) Then glass and hopefully number plates.



























Paul.

 

Holy cow! That's an incredible transformation to say the least..

 

Keep going !!!!

 

wow! i love it!

 

Speechless Wow! Great job !!! cant wait to see more pic's ..

 

Just inspirational!

 

My new favorite build thread.

 

Subscribed! Looking forward to seeing your progress on this.

 

Nice one Paul!!! Looks fantastic in paint now. Alot of hard graft but that lights getting nearer. Great thread mate.

 

Great metal work and I admire your metal working capabilities.

 

congratulations !

 

Love it mate..

 

Very very cool.

 

Well that looks good Paul.Finally all that work fixing rust and dents paid off.

 

Wow, just an incredible job! I'm in awe, it's a killer car!

 

The rear looks even longer with the paint.

 

Wow! You don't muck about!

 

Fantastic. A bold move, paying off.

 

Brilliant! Good luck with the reg. issues.

 

holly crap that's amazing workmanship!

 

Hi
Only just seen your 37 Lincoln Zephyr build thread.
I have a four door 1936 V12 Lincoln Zephyr right hand drive which I am restoring.
Only wish that I had your skill in welding and body work.
If you have any Lincoln parts left from your build please let me know.
[email protected]
If someone could tell me how to attach pictures pleae let me know.

 

Great thread!

 

Looks great more pics please

I gotta learn to type on a phone

 

OH NO not another basket case build block sanded and in primer! I need to get off my arse NOW.

 

What kind of paints (chemical makeup) are you using again? Orange was ?
Cream was? Then what goes on next? And why choose what you chose?

 

Update time again.

Well with the 18th of this month and the inspection getting ever closer we have pulled out all the stops. Beverly took a weeks holiday from work to help out and I have been putting in between 15 and 19 hours a day into the zephyr.

It's taking way way longer to put back together than it did to dismantle, took almost three days just to piece together the front end and the rear fenders and fit all the fender welting.
I have stripped, honed out and re ringed the old french flatty. Considering how hard it was driven in the 27 and the fact that it did over 80,000 miles in the eight years I ran it and was already an unknown quantity when I bought it , it was in amazingly good shape. The bores were pretty good apart from a small groove in some cylinders obviously caused by the broken rings that I pulled from four of the cylinders. To be fair it really required a rebore but I haven't got the time left to do it. So it's got new rings new water pumps a quick check over and hopefully will be ok.
The gearbox turned out not to be seized as first thought , it was I guess just stuck on the syncrho's, a quick turn of the rear wheel once the driveshaft was in turned the box with no issues. A big result.
Beverly has been helping out loads, she has cleaned and painted the engine and gearbox, loaded up my truck and taken all the wheels to have the tyres fitted, cut and fitted all the sound deadening in the interior, flatted down the paint and saved the day by brushing out runs in the paint when it was way to cold to flash off and it all went a bit tits up, as well as keeping me going with cups of tea and coffee (lots) and keeping the food coming. She's also booked next week of on holiday to get the interior done.
I have after a few set backs finally got the prop made (I had the zephyr torque tube but no drive shaft), got the engine and box in and have got the clutch all connected up. I have fitted a radiator from the V8 pilot and it fits pretty damn good.
I had to cut the centres from my nice new zephyr hydraulic backing plates and weld in the centres from some pilot backing plates to give me the correct offset and spindle mount centres to suit my 37 spindles ( a major job that I never anticipated), the hydraulic zephyr brakes have the same bolt pattern as 40 ford and hardly any offset the ones of the 37 zephyr have the same bolt pattern and offset as pilot ones. I have taken advantage of the situation and added a touch more offset to allow me to run the 2" zephyr shoes in my wide five drums (they just fit in there and look like they will work fine).
Tomorrow should see most if not all the brake pipes plumbed in and maybe even bled out.















Adyv8 I have pm'ed you mate.

Hey Lowcoe, only just realised you last post, the red /orange paint is a zinc phosphate paint that I used on the bare metal to stop any further/future corrosion. It was then filler primed as the roof panel was very pitted from being open to the elements for years. As I now have a tight deadline and want to use it and knowing that I wouldn't be able to get back to it for some time I have sprayed it in top coat (2 pack ) with pretty much no body prep other than a quick sand down. It doesn't look to bad and should polish up well and I figured that it would hold up a whole load better than primer until I can get back to getting it prepped properly (probably a couple of years).
Paul.

 

amazing work paul, good luck in meeting your deadline.