1933 3 Window Build (Ardun!)

I am incredibly fortunate enough to be a part of the build on this incredible 1933 3 window coupe. My part in the build will be to take care of all the sheet metal issues, finish and update the chassis, and see this project through till its a finished car.

When it first got to me back in April it was in a rolling state. The chassis was pretty well complete, and the body had been chopped. The body was a super clean original body but needed some attention sheet metal wise.
*Both doors belt lines didn't line up with the quarter panels.
*The bottoms of the doors under the bottom hinge sucked in away from the quarter panel.
*The drivers side quarter panel above the wheel had a push in dent.
*The hood needed to be replaced.
*It needed a bolted in style roof insert.
*The chassis needed full exhaust.
*Needed brake lines, and a new master cylinder.
*Needed a drive-line, etc.

Here is the car when it arrived at my shop:


















Here you can see where the bead lines on the door don't line up well at all.







And the bottom of the door sucked in away from the quarter panel.







Here is the drivers door, it lined up even worse.







And the bottom of the door had the same issue.







Here is the rear dent on the quarter panel bead.









The hood was't level, it had a bad bow to it.












The front of the bead curved up.

 

One area that needed rust repair was the tray under the rear window. I made a new piece for the bottom and welded that in place.



















Then I removed the body and started making the full exhaust. The headers had already been made so I was able to start from there and make my way back.

Here is the initial lay out for the exhaust. I'm using 2" pipe with mandrel bends. They are run into porter mufflers. I wanted to make the exhaust flow with the frame and not clutter the area next to the drive-line. That way from the back of the car its almost invisible.












Here is a more final mock up of both sides of the exhaust.













The end of the exhaust will have these turn downs 90 degree. They will direct the exhaust towards the ground.

 

I had a local drive-line shop come down and measure for an aluminum drive-line. They did a fantastic job.











Next thing I did was start mocking up the brackets that bolt to the frame to hold the exhaust:











Had the brackets laser cut, then I bent them on the brake.

















After I got all the brackets tacked in place I sandblasted the exhaust for final welding:











Here are the samples of ceramic coating my buddy does. We chose to do the middle one, the satin black will really stand out once the frame is re-painted gloss black.

 

Another area that needed to be done was the brakes. It was tricky researching out what master cylinder to use for the Kinmont brakes. But after talking to Brizio they were able to help me get the right one. So we ordered a new dual master cylinder, and all of the rest of the brake system will be full stainless including lines and fittings.







I made up some brackets to hold the residual valves to the frame.









Then started running the lines to the residual valves:









One those were run I was able to start running the front lines:

 

The body needed lots of attention so in order to work out all the issues I sanded down the body to bare steel that way I could find out exactly where the issues were.















Then I used metal die to highlight the dents and areas on the body that needed attention:





























Then I started working out the dents on the roof using my shrinking disc and other tools:

 

I was able to work out the dent on the drivers side quarter panel bead. Now that flows like is should:











Here is the body after I worked out all the dents on the back of the car and on the rear of the roof:







Then the next thing I did was re-leaded some of the original seams on the body:













Then I went back and filed the lead smooth with the existing panel:

 

In order to fix the way the doors lined up with the quarter panel I had to remove the original wood. Then I had to make hardwood maple plugs and plug where the original holes were for the hinges. That way when I got the wood back in the car I could re-align the doors and re-drill the wood to hold the door in place exactly where I wanted it.


Here is the wood removed, plugged, and coated with linsead oil.







Then before I put the wood back in the car I coated behind where the wood goes with Por15. That way I wont have to worry about rust showing up after the wood was put back in. Then I put the wood back in using new nails:











Then with the wood back in I was able to place the body back on the frame to start fitting the doors:









Then with the overhead crane I was able to hold the door in the air and place it in the hole. Then I made up clamps that would hold the hinge against the wood that way I could open and close the door to see how it was fitting.











I was able to line up the bead from the door to the quarter panel now:







But the bottom of the door was still sucked in away from where it needed to be:









So what I did was made a cut on the inner panel that allowed me to move the outer skin away and line it up where it needed to be. Then I welded in a slice of metal back into the inner skin to hold it there.

















Here you can see the slice I made to the inner skin:

 

Then I did the same process on the drivers door:





















We got a new rear window wood it. Then I had to chop it, and then fit it to the car:







We ordered a brand new one piece hood from Rootlieb. It fit the car initially really well, and really changed the look of the car immediately:









I will be making a piece that has the small bead that follows the grill, then weld it into the hood to finish off the front:







My dad came down and we were able to roll out the roof skin. It turned out really well. It will be a bolted in style with a really neat inner skin that it will be rolled around like the edge of a door skin. Then it will be bolted in the car with vintage wing nuts, and have a rubber seal to keep water out.

 

And here is how the car sits now. This was the display for my open house last week:

 

You do great work man! Il be following this one

 

WOW, what a great build, attention to detail is fantastic..

 

Incredibly talented people build incredibly beautiful cars. Don't stop. Ever!

 

Great job as always. You are very talented.

 

Nice.

 

Very nice


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Bad ass.

 

impressive work...a lot of work to get the details right, but worth the effort.

 

yup some beautiful work on that car , the engine is way cool to ,

 

Strong, very strong! You do really great work, thanks for sharing.

 

That is going to be an amazing car after you work your magic! Excellent work, great post!

 

That is some fantastic work looking forward to more pictures
Cheers paul

 

Man that thing is nice!!!

 

There no flys on that,,,,, what good looking coupe!!!!how long have you been working on this project?

 

Great looking coupe and as always, it's a pleasure to see your terrific workmanship.

 

Beautiful work ! Your corrections to the body made a world of difference.
One little note on the exhaust, in my experience 90* turndowns can cause reverberations that are bothersome to the driver. I had to remove them on my first rod.

 

Amazing attention to detail, awesome car!

 

Super nice coupe and meticulous metal work. I recognize the coupe from another post. I can't wait to see this one finished.

 

Great looking metal work. I know that you did not do the frame and was wondering why they put the spring on top of the rear axle like that ?

 

I wondered if that car ever got finished. It started out at Fullerton fab right??

 

Awesome work!...thanks for posting!...subscribed!....