Projects 56 T-Bird panels AND first leadwork

I've been working on a big OT project at the shop for the better part of the last year, but finally got to start working on something HAMB friendly.

I'm doing some panel work on a 56 T-bird including fixing some sketchy old repairs. the kicker is the guy wanted me to do at least major base bodywork in lead--something I've been wanting to learn for a while so. Here goes.

started by grinding out over an inch of bondo on the front clip. the lip on the fender was literall filled to flush with bondo. once I got it down to bare metal I had a better idea what I was working with.

first project fab and replace the headlight area of the fender. lots of holes and braize there. after further inspection the fender actually shows an old repair where two fenders were mated into one--rather than opening that can of worms I just left it be, but you can see some of it in the pics of the inboard side of the headlight area behind the patch I made.

I spent a few hours watching videos and you tube clips on how to lead, then decided to jump in feet first on the new patch. I'm pretty happy with the results, but there's some gouging from the learning curve associate with the vixen file, but it's pretty dang close at this point.

next up is replacing the marker light assembly and lower fender under this light. stay tuned

 

Nice job!

 

Please make sure you are wearing some kind of gloves and a mask- lead poisoning is not fun.

 

thanks Chopolds

Mac, I'm pretty paranoid about stuff like that. I was wearing acid free nitiril gloves under my leather gloves and a respirator with the door open for venting. Watch a video of Bill Hines bare handed and chompin on a cigar while applying and wondered how he's made it this long.

I have to say I really like the lead so far, but it's not fast or cheap between the lead and the torch fuel. I'm using eastwood sticks right now, but open to other sources--any suggestions? fortunately not too much more work requiring lead. one fbig ass factory seam betweent the cockpit and trunk and the other side of the nose piece.

 

I buy mine at swap meets, Ebay, even. Also, Johnson Mfr. is still making lead & lead free, and fluxes for industry.

 

Just subscribed... love watching someone save another Bird.

 

Hey,

Looks like fun!

Now, this is the part where you tell us you didn't use a grinder or DA on the lead. Lead is at its' worst when it's power sanded or ground up into fine bits!

 

I did use the DA with 36 grit paper just a smidge to finish it out to even up the appearance some. the lion's share was file work though.

I'm happy to take other suggestions before I get to the leadwork in complicated areas. have a half round and flat vixen file. sufficient for most of what I'm doing, but iffy for stuff in tight areas.

I got the passenger marker light patch in and dressed today, but there's still some collateral damage that the patch he supplied didn't fix. I'm going to try to get that done tomrorow evening before i head out of town for a few days on a business trip. thought about posting in progress pics, but figure I'll wait till all the patches are in.

 

For tight spots, you might be able to use a small (6 in.) vixen file, you can still get them...handle type.
On the other hand, if you plan on doing a bit of this type work, start looking around for the old curved handle vixens. They come in different radius', flat, and both convex and concave curved. A bit expensive on Ebay, but I've found decent ones at flea markets.

 

Example, in case you've never seen one..they are getting pretty hard to find!

 

didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted in the shop before I left town, but I managed to get one of the adjacent problem areas replaced along with the marker. you if you look close the area above the marker needs work as does the grill opening at the bottom--I'll handle those when i get back.

I did run into a little hiccup. I wasnt' paying attention to the replacment panel and didn't notice it was flanged for lap welding. I'm generally a butt weld guy on exterior panels and I cut the hole accordingly. as a result I had to replace a little larger secton than I'd planned, but I think it worked out ok.

 

If you need parts, let me know. I've got enough to build a few dozen cars, all NOS or super nice org

 

wish I'd know that before I fixed that fender. it probably should have been replaced.

 

FWIW, I've always liked the early 'Birds because Ford filled all the body seams; fender to cowl, rockers, rear quarters. They looked like a custom right out the door.

I once went to the Classic Car Museum, 24 Rexford Street, State Route 23, Norwich, NY 13815. They were having a special exhibit, one of nearly every 1956 US-built car. The Thunderbird really stood out in that crowd.

Since you're into one, what material and techniques did Ford use to fill the Thunderbird seams on the assembly line?

jack vines

 

Hey,

I like a small sandblast unit, for cleaning up weld beads prior to tinning. Trying to remove fire scale, carbon, rust or burnt paint from an area, prior to tinning can really get old! Grinding with a disc, drill bits or rotory burr files won't always reach deep into the pits in the metal. Usually it's trying to tin and lead over that kinda crap, left in a panel, is where paint trouble starts.

Are you using 70/30?

 

When I was just a youngster many moons ago I always hung out at my fathers body shop and loved to watch him work lead.That and the air hammer were my favorite.He seemed to always think he could straighten things before considering replacement.Always got scolded for walking behind hydraulic frame puller while under tension you know the old L shaped pullers they used back then.57 Tbirds were his favorite and through the early 70s seemed to always be a couple around in different stages I remember the basement was stuffed with parts/trim pieces in Ford wrappers

 

jack--it's lead

pimpin--thanks for the pointers. I'm pretty neurotic on dressing welds and then metal finishing them befoe adding filler. not sure if I'll use lead on this section. that's mostly for the big factory seams. I'll have to see if I can get the old blaster fired up, though. the last section was dressed with 40 grit. and yes I'm using 70-30, but I'm going to sample with the non-lead filler too just to compare.

 

finished up the passenger side over the weekend and have gotten the marker light part of the driver's side (not pictured here yet) in. found some pretty nasty damage under the old fillers on the panel between the HL and center section. not sure how I'm going to address this yet, but making headway.

no new lead here, just dressed metal. trying to decide if I lead this section or not. leaning towards not.

 

A friend of mine is looking for right hand front fender and quarter panel...

 

^^^^there's one on the auction site right now if Death Trap can't help.

 

Thank you friend

 

moved over to the driver's side and realized the inboard side of the fender was realy rough with evidence of old collision damage. I decided to make a patch for that section and close up the factory gap a good bit minimizing the need for lead there. I also managed to move wrong a tweak an old back injury so I may be away from this for a couple of weeks until it eases up some. grrr.

 

My back's still giving me fitts, but I finally got to do somemore work on the bird. Before I intalled the patch I made on for the fornt fender I considered cutting that piece out of a donor fender the car's owner had in storage so i moved to another panel until he could get the fender to me.

the driver's side rear deck panel had some rust through issues. I ended up making a panel that to replace the entire section to minimize seams. pics are the starting point, the template,panel in progerss, then mostly dressed. my compressor crapped out in the middle of dressing the welds, but you get the point.

 

Looking good! keep at it

 

Filling in the giant factory trenches they put in these between the panels would take a lot of lead, I think you're on the right track eliminating some of those joints along with the rust repairs.

 

realized I let this thread drop. I've been roughing in bodywork before it head's to my dad for final bodywork and paint so I thought I'd update some more. rebuilt the continental kit, found lots of surprise cancer and hidden problems from last time work was done poorly or incompletely. you'll note I had to add about 2 inches to each fender because the owner installed patches were cut too short.

 

Nice job , lots of work . Looks good . I'm doing the same patching and leading .

 

headed off for final bodywork and paint after rough in.

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Nice work! Did you have much issue with high and/or low spots after those long seam welds?