Get some rollers on it for now and worry about fine tuning it later- the first one I did took over a year to get where I wanted it. Tires, suspension, etc. It's near impossible to nail it first time around (in the garage)- you gotta get it out and DRIVE it. It might look pretty as hell, and suck on the road! You're doing a great job for the first Rodeo, don't get too far ahead of yourself, it's coming together really well.----- Captain Chaos, Master of Disaster
Not quite. I did post up in the classifieds everything of value I want to part with, but not going to vend. I have been going SLOW. Kinda makes me angry. I have been cleaning a little, but been hesitant to try and locate the body. The bad thing about the new floor is that it has no mounting holes to locate the panels with. I also don't like the idea of buying new toe subrail extensions either, because they are super expensive. Anyways, here is the limited progress in pictures. This is the driver's door. I chopped the old piece off, installed (mike's) re-rod, and went to town. Doh! This is a howell's panel. It is about a quarter inch too long in between bends. The bottom bend is actually contoured, so you can't just re-brake it. Cut and weld it back. Also had to patch the corner. Besides that, I cleaned and painted my final set of wheels and the subframe so that no rust will start. And my current project is to fix the cowl post. It is bad, and I have to fix my "unconditional" methods of taking the hinges out. Only issue is trying to match the countersink on the new hole. Also need to somehow fix the bottom. Then I can place it on the frame.
ditto on the plywood, i would build a 24" tall table to reduce bending... '30 Coupe subfloor / rails are at a different angle than the pick up / tudor, Coupe doors are 1.75" shorted, [27.5"] and 1" shallower, [3" above the top hinge][tudor / truck is 4"] ... on an A chassis most of the body doesn't rest on the sub rails, it bolts through the cross channels, shim the subfloor with the mounting blocks before you weld...... also, i would restore the lower B pillars "before" i did the sub-rails...
Well, the project is back at home; and it feels good! So I was able to get the hinges fixed finally! Top tip: Don't even bother with the nut welding. It sucks. I just kept building a weld on top of the ungrabbable stud, sorta quenched with Pb, and turned it right out with vise grips! I had to completely fill, drill out, and re tap three holes. BTW, felt like I won the lottery each time a screw was actually taken out. Here is what the subframe looks like. All of the holes line up! That is nice, and I do have the wood set now as well. My question to you all is what to do with the rear. I cannot just trim it, as the whole rail is blocked by the frame. Also in the midst of repairing my grille shell. Going to work me thinks.
On the subject of notching the subframe over the z... Armed with an idea and a sketch, I headed to work... And made a template... Sorry, no pic of final template... Made out of 16 ga. And mocked up. And welded up and conditioned... Still have to work on the passenger side, but looks damn nice in person. Goal is to weld it in, and then cut the old part out. On the subject of fixing the cowl... Rinse, repeat, clean. Still have some work left to do.
Looks good kiddo! I just noticed in post # 423 you're still using that piece of re-rod- that's pretty funny!
Especially when it's a part that is more than one paycheck!!! It clears currently with no body blocks. I thought I had good blocks, but the shop was out of coupe sets, so they pieced together me one from a Tudor set. They are missing a couple, so I am going to have to return it and get the right set...
First Patch panel day! I am kicking it into overdrive this week as I have vacation this week; next week I start working again... Now, believe it or not, even I make mistakes. Hard to believe, but it's true. I was working on the driver's door and I cut the path panel hole larger than the patch by a good portion. Doh. But life goes on. As a result, I had to drag the weld over the panel gap, meaning extra heat. Followed by some impatience, I developed a bit of a warp. Once recognized, I slowed down. The damage was done, but I continued. I finished it, and it looked horrible. I did not want to take a photo to show my mistake, so I didn't. Basically, there was a huge crease where the panels met. 3lb hammer time! Wailed on it for a few minutes and got it looking good for my first patch panel ever! Still have to go over a second time weld wise to get some points I missed, but it looks good! I weld-thru primered the edges which are hidden, and made those extra strips up the side out of 20 gauge.
I find it's always best to leave as much original material as possible and cut the patch panel to fit.. Not sure if that was possible in this case but it looks fine now.
I'm making progress, will post pics tomorrow. Quick question though; Is there a cheap way around the front subrail extensions? I kinda want to get them going because then I can really start assembly!
Well, tomorrow became a while away, but here is some of the highlights from "crazy BenLeBlanc's patch panel bonanza" I find the weirdest stuff... Even my truck was caught in the midst So according to the group consensus, my previous patch panel welding idea won't work.... I'll show you guys... And onto the passenger door... Pat helped me shrink the edge. I just used 20 gauge bent up so I didn't have to pay a bunch of money for the large patch! I still have to patch the top, which MikeBowling sold me! I plan to cut everything up, and then put pins through the hinges and weld everything in place later! Mike also sold me a bad cowl to cut up for the bottom extensions! Needs work, but good enough for a start! I spliced above the bottom hinge because there is a tubing brace on the back side that ends there. Then I measured on my cowl panels to make sure the holes for the hinges lined up! Only took two tries on each side... I ran outta clamps, but you get the idea.
"Bad"???? Those feet are close to mint! (HaHa) We'll see what you look like at 86! Looks real good, pardner! Go Cat, GO!
Haha, the cowl in general is not great; being the uprights are cut off. Those feet are pretty sweet. I am going to start spot welding the cowl together soon, using weld thru primer in the permanent areas. Screws in normal locations, but rivets will just be spot welds.
Thanks, and it was nice meeting you [ABONES] at NED. Currently I am researching the reversal of the firewall section, so that I could clear my flathead. Problem is that I wouldn't be able to run my gas tank, correct? EDIT: saw a car today with a merc flathead and he had no firewall modifications at all. I guess I will wing it.
I'm going to stick with the stock tank; it's clean and cheap (cause I already have it!). Here is what I did as one more year of TROG went by... NEXT YEAR IS MINE!!! Rear quarter disassembly... Went very smoothly. Kinda roached. A new pair of those panels runs 80 bucks; not sure if I will go that route or not. (Pic shows area above door) And typical near gutter rot... And now I have a question. I am running my brake lines and have gotten to an impasse. I want to run a flex hose from the master to the t which splits the line into the left and right half at the head of the torque tube (lines run down wishbones). That being said, I need a residual valve in there. Therefore, I need the residual valve to be directly off of the t, and then the residual valve then needs to go directly to the master. Problem is; they are all 3/8 24 inverted flare fittings. In order to do so, I need a double headed male fitting which has the same thread size on each end. Anyone know of such a thing? I am considering getting a pair of adapters to do this, but the idea sounds off. (I.e., adapt to another size, then back down to 3/8 24) Anyone?
My residual valves are 1/8 pipe thread. You can get a T fitting (I'm pretty sure) that is 3/8-24 on all 3 sides and modify 1 port to 1/8 pipe, then use a male-male 1/8 pipe. Pretty sure that would work anyway. Maybe someone else has a better idea.
I screwed in one of my 3/8-24 fittings to make sure, and it screws in, so it has to be. The worst part is that I need two of these fittings- one from the t to the residual, and then from the residual to the brake line. Brake line is also 3/8-24 (if it were an3 or something other than 3/8-24, I would have no problem- the issue is that no one really adapts a 3/8-24 to a 3/8-24)
Well, just to keep costs down, I am just going to make very short lengths of pipe with the fittings on them. Onto today's progress; I took apart the driver side quarter. I can't believe that there is some 86 year old unrusted bare metal! Problem areas; Gutter as well. I have heard that there is some write up somewhere on how to re create the bottom of the b pillar. Anyone with a link? Also: I can tell that I need the panel under the piece of wood that goes from the b to the a pillar. (Above door) Does anyone around me have one?
So, I fabricated the bottoms of the pillars today. I followed a post on the fordbarn, but I used 16 gauge instead of 18. The pillar is definitely 16 gauge anyways... Onto the next problem at hand: does anyone have any, or have a suggestion on what I should do about the triangle braces. They are pretty complicated.
The Jalopy Journal
