Technical Any body actually doing any fab work?

Started by doing a digital photo of an old original tailgate, sizing it exactly like the original, transferring to a file that was cut by a machine shop with water jet or laser, can't remember.



Drilled and tapped 156 1/4 -20 holes to hold all the pieces in place. Spacing was done with 1/4 inch steel and sheet metal spacers to keep it all even.

Like all amateur presswork, the almost new brake didn't have enough tonnage to press it without any distortion. The metal shop owner was astonished that his brake maxed out the controls. He said it had never done that before.
16 gauge cold rolled.





Removing the distortion in the corners. I had to go over each letter one by one with hammers and chisels to crisp up the detail, as the press couldn't get the job done.


Flange on left side of pic was hand hammered, as my brake won't make a flange that thin.
Clamped to the table always to keep it flat, pretty much every operation.



Some assembly done.



Here you can see how I wrapped the metal around the bottom hinge pipe. Clamp it tight, then beat the hell out of the flange with the brick chisel and mallet, then clamp a little tighter, and do it again, and again, and again till it is wrapped totally around the pipe to where I can do plug welds in the holes.

The ends of the pipe have bronze bushings in them for the hinges to ride on. I put the pipe in my lathe to turn down the inside bore to fit the bronze bushings. Didn't take any pics of that.



This pic you can see a bit better how the metal was wrapped around the hinge pipe. I had a sheet metal shop bend the bottom sheet metal to somewhat of an ohm symbol. Once it was bent to a half round shape, there was enough to spot weld one side, then clamp it to begin bending it around the pipe. Hpe that makes sense.
There is a detailed thread on how I did all this on Canadian Rodder website.


This is one of the only shots I took where you can actually see the detail on the letters.



I had to make a jig to make the end caps for the tailgate.


I ended up making a steel cap for this jig, as this wooden one did not hold up to repeated pounding.



I may offer these end caps if there is any interest, as I have a good jig to make them, and its about the only piece that doesn't take so bloody much time to make that someone would possibly consider purchasing them.

That's about all. As I previously stated, It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have a ton of time into this project.

And I do have a couple extra panels left over, if there is any interest, but they aren't for the faint of heart.

So yeah, there are still a bunch of us doing fabrication work.

 

Fantastic work!

 

This is a Model A gauge cluster that I stretched to make some SW gauges fit nicer.

I ended up selling the car I was going to put it on, so didn't finish it, but I've got a flat-packed 29 RPU in the basement it may end up on that.

Pictures are pretty self-explanitory ...

 

Recently made a roll bar for my 34, plan is to do a full cage when chassis work done. Last year I made a trunk lid and punched it full of louvers on my home-made press. Glen

 

i'm trying to work out which you have more of--patience or skill- tons of both!!

 

Good morning,

Thanks you guys. You know how it is; this car deal is a bit like a village, a group of people/friends with different skill sets that help one another. My friend Mike who I did this for has helped me many times, makes the wheels go around. And tuck up in the fenders!

 

Great thread! I see shit tons of fab work in the build threads I follow but it’s different seeing individual fab projects by a bunch of people in one spot.

hopefully I’ll have stuff to share soon

 

I needed a Hurst style front engine mount for my '29, with a slightly different height requirement. So I built one, along with the frame brackets.

 

Good use of that press @Marty Strode !

 

Awesome work guys !

Neat to see the work that's been done by you gents, some of it gives me that "oh duh !" moment because I seem to over think some things and see you gents come up with a way that seems so simple !

@Marty Strode it's official!! I want to come play at your house for a couple weeks !!

..

 

I'm usually somewhere between halfway done to putting the finishing touches on when the epiphany hits me.

 

Intake carb. hat for the Belly Tank. JW

 

Maybe we need to have a Summer Camp !

 

Steering mount for the roadster I built for Pat Ganahl. Lots of fabrication in the entire car.

 

I would like to be the first to sign up Marty !

 

Man some of you guys are really good at this. I’m almost embarrassed to share what I’ve been doing, almost lol.

Here’s the bracket I made for the carburetor linkage on my 59. I guess it’s classified as machine work and not quite fabrication but here it is. The Offy dual intake setup was very rudimentary and had no provisions for adjustment. I picked up a bunch of linkage pieces from the swap meet, made up some oil bronze bushings and a carefully planned bracket.

 

I turned a simple job into the project from hell by waiting until after the dash and column went back in. “Under dash yoga” (HAMBer phrase) is not my friend. Years ago I tore the rubber membrane that seals the firewall around my steering column. I’m fabbing up a two piece panel to cover the hole and wrap around the column & shifter rod. I’m installing 10/32 rivnuts in the firewall and following up with HVAC insulation and a varying thickness gasket to compensate for the heavy jog in the mounting surface. Don’t roast me it’s still a work in progress.

 

I wanted to add return springs for each carburetor but the 1904 has no provision. I decided to utilize the unused automatic choke boss as a starting point and ground a little slice into the tab on the throttle lever. This metal was super hard and would not take a drill, hence the ground slot. Then I took some 5/16 fine bolts and drilled a thru hole, welded in a piece of stainless rod and voila! Each carb has its own small return spring in addition to the main spring on the primary link.

 

Thats such a cool idea! I might have to steal that for my roadster!

 

One of the jobs I am most proud of I did many years ago. Had to fit a bunch of stuff under the dash of a '42 Willys pickup. No room for everything so I made some sheet metal pop-out cones onto the factory center panel to get the gauges out of the way. Aimed them slightly up and toward the driver.

 

Thats Awesome Marty My press at work has a giant pile of jigs we have built over the years to bend oddball stuff.

 

Yeah Lump, if you build a wide angle bottom die, you can push a variety of sizes of round top die into it.

 

For my '40 Ford PU, I wanted a rolled rear pan, and many you see are nearly flush with the tailgate, making the box look very deep. I made this one out of .063 aluminum, and set it back under, so the rear bumper doesn't stick out very far.

 

Serious skills! What species of wood?

 

Really great stuff getting posted !!

A customers trunk floor I did, simple, cut out the spare tire well and make a section and welded it back in...

 

killer nerf...

 

Its mahogany.

 

Nothing trick here. Just feel like showing what I did last Saturday and Sunday. The non QC rear is my gift to a friend that is going to build a recreation of a Wisconsin circle track modified 1958. No Q C's allowed. Ran 4 quarter mile tracks with 3/4 ton Ford rear ends. 6.66-1 ratio. This car handled exceptionly well and the driver young Billy Schwister finished 2nd in the MSC point championship running an FE Ford engine against a field of S B C's. Quite a feat.

 

Flame cut steel for a Y-block.

 

Sam ting only bassackwards. I run CNC, manual machines 5 days a week. When I am not I am assembling or fabricating. While alot of our stuff is designed and we have the luxury of a plasma table and press brake, there still are times when the only way to get the job done is to make it work any way you know how.
And there is definatly now book on how to 'wing it'.
The only way is to throw at it what your brain has learned over the last 30 years as to what works and what doesnt.