Hi, I have a 1930 coupe that has severe damage to the bead area of the panel above the deck lid. Apparently a previous owner used body filler to shape the damaged bead. I would like to replace it if possible. I found the panel shown below from Brookville (A850B), they list it as both a 30-31 Bead 4 Foot Long and again as a 30-31 pickup cab back patch panel. I'm a little confused as to whether it can be made to work in my situation. The panel is about 7" wide x 4' long with a 1 1/8" bead at the bottom. If anyone has experience using this panel to repair the bead above the deck lid on a coupe I would appreciate hearing about your experience. I contacted Brookville and they said this panel does not have a crown at the bead like the original panel does. By that, I mean that if you look at the rear window panel from the back you will see a slight curve from the right side to the left. TIA, Tony
a hamber gave me this email address for a '29 coupe above deck panel and tulip panel rusted off at the rear window, the beadwork is part of the tulip not the above decklid like a 30 sport coupe... the lower roof with the bead should work as a patch... [email protected] ...he sent me a pic but I can't transfer it here...
Tony, that Brookville patch looks like a rocker patch. Sure, it's a bead, but not the right bead. I don't think you could make it work without using as much bondo as the previous builder. No offense meant, but if you are asking us about it you probably don't have the talent for a metal finished patch job. I've been welding patches into old Fords for over 35 years and can even make many patches from scratch, but I can't do it without using a bit of bondo.
Thanks Alchemy and sloppy jalopies. I don't have a problem with bondo but 3/8" thick is a little excessive. I've done several rust repair patches and needed to use a slight amount to filler to make them look good. No problem with that, but never having done a repair of this magnitude I was posting hoping someone had "been there done that" and could offer some experienced advice. The excessive filler was obvious when I saw cracked paint in several places at the top of the bead. It looks like my best bet might be to patch small 3"-4" areas at the end of the bead; the location of most damage, with the correctly sized bead. Does anyone know of a supplier that sells a bead that correctly matches this bead? Other than a store bought bead patch can I roll this bead using a budget bead roller like Eastwood sells? Any advice from someone who has rolled this bead would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tony
Even a cheap bead roller like a Harbor Freight will have a variety of dies, and using different pressures can produce different shapes. Or do half the bead and cut down the center to splice with another half formed on a separate strip. A shrinker/stretcher would be handy too. Any friends with this stuff? Buy a full sheet of 20 gauge cold rolled and go over to their place with some tag board templates. Leave the leftover steel as thanks.
if you have access to a brake, i show how i bent some beads in this thread: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/31-buick-3w-coupe.1019753/page-4
The best thing to do is make a paper pattern ,,, find a good body to pattern or put the bondo back, carve it nice and pattern that. Transfer the pattern to some sheet metal and knock the bead in it. Just a little ingenious trickery with some wood, a sander a chisel and hammer will get you a really nice patch. Weld it in and move on. However, if you're going to trade 3/8 of bondo for a bunch of work and 1/4" of bondo I'd rethink the whole thing anyway. To me it looks like they mudded up over plent of surface rust on places it was easy to get off, imagine what they mudded over on difficult places to prep. Is there solid metal with welded joints under the fractured mud???
the '29 coupe's reveal on the bottom of the tulip panel has the right arch top to bottom and front to back should be good patching material...
I can make any bead you want . Can't figure out what bead you are looking for though . 32 roadster . Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
he... we...want the bead that stands upright and runs across from left quarter to right quarter above the decklid and below the window on a '30-'31 coupe ... that bead could be made to work on a '30-'31 sport coupe, or coupester project... ...let us know... go flop go !
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