35-36 Ford rear wishbones...strengthened, drilled and polished!

And I thought gwhite here was detail anal...damn dude, you and your customer need detail therapy too.

 

Therapy wont help, it's too late. Thanks Larry, been patiently waiting, for you to post on one of my threads

 

Looks great Harv, I love attention to detail like this, I recently polished my Hudson steering box so I know the time and effort that goes into work like this. Keep up the good work mate, I always like following your threads..


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

ALL of your threads are a MUST READ. What the hell is there to say ? Just your tools make the average man whimper........but what you do.....makes me cry tears of joy every time. You....my friend......are from a better galaxy than I.

 

kidcampbe1171, that may be the nicest compliment anyone has ever given me, sincere thank you!

I started grinding the peaks with a flap wheel, aggresive at first and then slowly, sneaking up on it, as going too far will make more time consuming work.. When the peak is roughed in, I grind the edges flat, and then weld in all low spots. I then grind again, slowly until the peak is nice and straight.

 

...

 

On to to tedious task of detailing/blending the end cap. I hit it for a short time, stopping to check progress, I had to be careful not to dig a low spot. I welded in any low spots from welding and sanded more. I also used sand paper rolls as well as the small flap rolls. It's looking pretty good, there is a nice gentle curve where the recess meets the end.

 

...

 

After lots of welding and grinding, the peaks are very close. The center line is wavy, after all the small blems are filled and detailed, I will finish off with a sanding block to make it arrow straight. The ends need some filling still as well, and will get a special detail.

The recess is pretty close too, the edges still need some straightening and i'm pleased at how nice the ends came out. A small pin hole needs filling, i'ts all in the details....stay tuned.

 

...

 

Harv,
Your work is unbelievable, I can not wait to you can start on mine !!

 

Thanks guys.

Started detailing the tube ends, they took some careful work and lots of welding, grinding repeat. I have to lay the tig tip over so it heats up ahead and burns most of the impurities out. No matter how hard I try I still will have some pin holes that need to be welded up after grinding. You can see that I vee out the seam so it gets a good weld. It's roughed in and will still need some small pin holes filled and some scratches sanded out, but it's coming along...more to come.

 

...

 

Nice work Harv. My fingers hurt just looking at the photos. You must be a young guy with no arthritis. Ha!

 

I built up the ends with weld and continued the peak, took a couple of times welding until it was right. I'm really not sure how I will blend the peak into the oval tube, it will tell me when I get to the final detail at that area. The other end I just ground off at a 45 or so, it would have been to sharp leaving it flat and too busy continuing the peak up and over.

I clamped the ends into a vice and blocked out each side, checking often to get it nice and straight. Sanded the inside and edges too, until my fingers were raw. I also welded in the slugs, abit more detailing and all will be welded together. I mentioned earlier in the thread that this would be MUCH more difficult with the tubes still attached...stay tuned.

 

...

 

both you guys are talented and harv sweet a lot of work bro ! you all should rename the thread WICKED WISHBONES dude !

 

The bones were shipped with an earlier torque tube with a relocated bone mount. I drug out a banjo from the parts pile, (which keeps growing ?) and put it up on the bench. I bolted the torque tube up, (which will get the full treatment too) and the ends, which are a nice tight fit. I had to take abit off of the slugs that I had welded into the ends earlier to get the tubes to line up with the mount on the tube.

Once all pieces were bolted up and clamped so the tube and end were parallel, I welded what I could and let all of it cool. Once off they will get a full weld, two passes. I included a pick from the rear, the ends look good and run off of the tube bracket at a nice angle.

 

I pulled them off and welded them up fully, ground, and welded again several times. I bolted them back up to make sure they didn't move and that they still lined up, all good. They are pretty close, some small pin holes still need filling and then the final detailing, I just gently rolled the peak into the tubes.

 

Always nice to see an update on your work threads.
Outstanding quality of workmanship, as always!

 

These were a collaboration between myself and the owner, he wanted them peaked as to tie in with the 32 front axle that I will be doing for him. To give these a peak wasn't possible in their factory form, there just wasn't enough metal to work with, hence the adding of the strap. I have never seen another pair done this way, they should look great on his coupe along with the front axle. Thanks guys, I do these threads for those who enjoy metal fab and old hot rods, and to inspire others to try it themselves, I hope I have succeeded on both counts

I like to take final pics outside, but of course it's raining again today, here they are...next post.

 

...

 

As mentioned earlier, I am cleaning up the torque tube as well. The bone mount was relocated before I reieved it, there are some marks from the original mount to be filled. Once again there is some pitting, but that is a given for an 80 year old car part. I cleaned up the flange scallop with a small round abrasive roll, and the flange with a crisp new flap disc. I will carefully fill the seam going around the tube with small welds, with cool time in between to keep from warping the tube. As for the seam running lengthwise, i'm not sure yet? Pics next post.

 

Filled is the marks left from removing and relocating the front bone mount, it took three times worth of welding and grinding. The bell end is coming along too, I have a special set up to deal with the cup, more on that later.

 

I drilled a hole in a slug that I saved from some previous project, and drilled some holes in a piece of flat strap. I then used a piece of all thread to hold the cup up tight so I could detail it and the tube. As with other projects, I use the large flap wheels to get as much smoothed as I can and then switch to the small screw locks. The front bone mount has a recess that would be hard to detail and the top was mostly gone, it as well as the welds around it will get fill and a detail.

Pics in next post.

 

Cool, as always great work.
Al.

 

The cup has a small ridge from the manufacturing process, it will be removed along with the pitting and gouges from wrenches and or sockets over the years. I use small discs, graduating in grit and then Scotch Brite pads. I use the small pads as they are the same size as the backing when needed to remove deeper scratches, then the large as it will flex to a contour for final smoothing. The area in between the wishbone mount and the speedo hole was a challenge, it took some careful work followed by wrapping some emory cloth around it to get a nice smooth/flat finish. You can see where I smoothed up to the bell, when I remove the fixture the cup will be smoothed as well.

Here is the tube end and cup done, sans a couple small areas that I will get when the fixture is removed. The cove where the cup flange meets the belled portion came out nice and crisp.