Projects My '32 5 Window Project - Done and Cruising!!!

Thanks to alchemy for the great picture of the unchopped yellow 5 window. It really let me see the belt line bulge under the quarter window area and in front of the door. I had been struggling both places for what was “right”. The bright yellow made it stand out for me.

Fixed the area in front of the doors today. Looks much better to me now. Still some shaping to do but that has to wait for the frame.

SPark

 

Killed a little time today truing up the upper and lower edges of the beltline. Had a few small low areas and a couple dozen nasty sanding scratches that needed some glaze. Worked the edges down straighter and tighter. Looking much better to me now. That's the last of the major repairs to the main body that I know of. There will still be some fine tuning after it's bolted back on the frame but this should be the biggest end of it.

Started bodywork on April 20th and pretty much worked every day I was able to. Skipped a few, but nearly every day something happened. 9 days of doctors, 4 days out of town, 32 days doing body work and 6 days wasted. Some of those days were spent assembling the rearend, front axle and other sub assemblies that came back from paint so they weren't lost days be any means. Anywhere from 1 hour to 20 hour days doing body work were put in that thing. Several 15-20 hour days when not sleeping. Neighbor thinks I'm nuts, maybe he's right. Glad I didn't have to pay to get all those issues fixed! I'm a tight ass. A few hundred hours of grunt work saved a lot of money that can be used elsewhere. I could never make a living at this, I'm too picky and too damned slow.

Tomorrow I'll start with 220 grit and blocking the whole thing.

Also supposed to get some more parts back from paint this week. Sounds like they are about ready to start on the body work on the frame. If they can't get to it soon, I'll just bring it back home and start on it next.

SPark

 

Fantastic work @LM14...Picky works for me...

 

You know what they say about preparation?! When you see it in living color it will all be worth it.

 

Make sure you let your wife know how much work and hours you put in this if and when the time comes to sell it. That way nobody will be able to lowball her.

 

We’ve been married for 40 years as of next Monday. I’ve always told her exactly what things cost. Racing, hot rods, parts....whatever it was she’s known the real costs. I also keep spreadsheets on build costs. She may not always be happy about the costs but she’s always known exactly what they were. No secrets.

I don’t plan to ever sell it unless I get to the point my mind is good but my body won’t participate anymore. She will probably have to deal with it eventually. I also have several good friends that will help when that time comes.

SPark

 

You have done an awesome job working out all the minor imperfections and details. I could not imagine what the body shop would have charged or if they would have gone to that much attention. I hope that I can get my body close to that. How do manage not creating flat spots on the belt line areas? The rounded lip all along the fenders and running boards on mine have mold lines in them. Trying to figure out how best work them out and form a consistent radius.

 

I would use a DA to remove the majority of the mold parting lines. Only to get closer. Then for me it turns to hand work.

Never sand in a straight line. That makes flat spots. Remove the bulk of it and when it gets to the actual shaping always work diagonally in a cross hatch pattern. Lower left to upper right for a couple passes. Then lower right to upper left for a couple then back. Repeat. Use the longest block that fits the area.

Something like the belt line takes very short strokes. I also define the edge where the belt line ends and body begins with masking tape. Keeps you focused on where you need to be working.

Even though it’s a glass body and I don’t need to prime it for all this intermediate work, a light colored primer makes it a lot easier for me to keep track of progress. Shows pinholes better and while the primer is wet you get a good look at your progress.

Use hard blocks to shape, fingers are an absolute last resort. Don’t be afraid to remove material, prime and then stop to look and feel for issues. I also use small pieces of tape to define issues I need to attack. Also don’t be afraid to go back to an area to do more work. Maybe it needs more material removed or maybe more filler. Sometimes you pronounce area “A” done and when you work area “B” it shows an issue back in area “A”.

Every time you walk past or rub on it you will see something new. The hard part for me is deciding when to actually walk away and accept what I have.

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate them.
SPark

 

Not a lot happening the last couple days. Waiting on a delivery that was shipped to the wrong end of the country first. Hopefully it gets here tomorrow. First I order a new "gallon" of Rage Gold and it comes half smashed. Had to rebuild the can and lid to even use them. Didn't know body man in a can required a body man to fix the can. Then my new can of kitty hair (local places carry a different brand now and I like to keep the same thing going on a project so there's no surprises) goes to the NE corner of the United States, twice! I'm in the middle of the country! Ordered it 11 days ago and it probably has 10,000 miles on it already. Latest update at least had it within 100 miles of me. It's been to almost as many states as I have.

Got the wheels and steering column back from the painter's today. I masked the top portion of the column off and shot the bottom part that sticks out of the firewall on the engine side dark green. Light inside the car and dark outside.

Decided the time was coming for a little cleaning. Put all my subassemblies on the 4'x8' quickie table I built a week or so ago. Organization is not my strong suit. At least now things are all in one place. Should make life a little easier.

Got my header panel mounted above the windshield. Dark and hard to get pictures of at this point. Shaped a piece of 1"x1" angle contoured to the shape of the header profile. Then bonded it to the top of the opening for the windshield. That's my lower mount for the header panel. Use your imagination. The ends of the header panel are open and don't look finished. Added some glass cloth and mat to fill in the ends. Next it's kitty hair to build up the area and match the top corner of the door jamb. Then a little sculpting to make it look nice. If the kitty hair ever gets here!

After mounting the header panel it was time to do some cleaning in the interior. It was getting pretty deep in there. Metal shavings, grinding dust, fiberglass dust, sanding residue, and filler droppings. Even found a missing socket! Vacuum and a blow gun did a great job, who knew? At least now I can see the floor pan again.

Starting Friday, looks like I'm moving my work area to the painter's shop. Going to start the body work on the frame. Have a few areas that need a little mud but he thinks hi build will take care of most of it. I'm going to scuff and mud then they will finish it. Between deer hits, bad drivers in general and a massive hail storm moving thru the area last week he is swamped. Cars sitting everywhere and insurance adjusters camped out there. I'm just going to set up in a corner and keep to myself on my little frame project. Anything to speed up the project!

SPark

 

It is nice to clear stuff out so you can see everything again.

 

Since I had the interior somewhat cleaned out, decided to finish the header panel install and get the dash ready for paint.

Dash was easy, scuff and a bit of fill primer should take care of everything but one little spot. Blocked all the edges to true them up, too.

Header is very oddly shaped and hard to block sand on. Created end caps for it, widened it a bit to fit closer to the A-pillars and worked on getting it straight(er). Filled several low spots and waves. Bolted it in to sand since the screws pull it a bit compared to it's relaxed state. Not much but enough to make it hard to get straight. Also filled some indented areas to make it a little smoother looking.

Tomorrow I head 35 miles south to the painter's shop to start work on prepping the frame rails.

SPark

 

Nice gaps!

 

A bit of grunt work today. Spent about 5 hours at the painter’s shop. Scuffed the epoxy primer then spent some time with a file removing weld splatter, cleaning the edges of the laser cut brackets and truing the unboxed areas of the frame rails.

Probably 20 spots need some filler work. Everything else should come out with hi build primer. They have their marching orders.

SPark

 

Love seeing the car evolve. Better and better even when I think you must be done. Your reward is coming soon though!

 

One thing I’ve been putting off is a defroster system. I’ve threatened to work this out for over a year but couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. To get thru Iowa inspection and get a title I need defrosters.

Asked about a “bus fan” and it might pass but it might not. Depends on too many things. Didn’t sound promising and wouldn’t look the best. Needed a better answer.

I want to drive it as long as possible each year so a defroster is a plus. Problem is room, or lack there of. I’ve looked at a few steel ‘32’s and done a ton of internet research. Ideas, but nothing I was really liking.

Think I’ve found my solution. I’m going to make the dash deeper along the top and sides. 1” will give me what I think I need. Well, actually it varies from 5/8” to 1-1/4” of new room. I’m bonding spacer blocks to the windshield bulkhead base where the dash bolts on. Will make duct work and butcher some slim defroster vents for the top that will show. Early in the process but think this will work.

CT scans tomorrow with doctors and infusion to follow (if the treatment is doing what they want it to do). Hope we find this treatment is working. Tomorrow is the proof. Pretty nervous and not sleeping the last few days so this became my project to occupy my mind.

SPark

 

Your work is impeccable and the project is moving fast. Your mind must be spinning and I hope the car is a the distraction that is helping. The car is going to look amazing in paint. Stay strong.

 

Finally! A good report at the Oncologist's office!

The tumor that is where my left kidney was (kidney removed in 2009 for cancer) has a couple small cysts on it they have specifically been watching. One is noticeably smaller and the other is very slightly bigger. He considered that an even trade off that he was very comfortable with.

The main concern has been new growth on my liver. Not liver cancer but kidney cancers growing on my liver. Biopsies proved that. This scan showed nothing new AND what was there was shriveled up considerably. He was very happy with that finding, more than he could have hoped for he said.

Still not out of the woods by any means. Reoccurring kidney cancer has a horrible survival rate, basically zero. That's what I have. At least we have found something to buy some time. It's working as it should, I can generally live with the side effects and we're seeing positive results.

Time to get back to work in the shop! Tomorrow I'm scheduled to get the tires mounted and balanced at a friend's shop. Then I'll rip out the dash again and make the defroster ducts that get the air into the gap between the back of the dash and the face of the bulkhead across the base of the windshield. Going to be tight but I think I've got a workable plan now. All the spacer blocks are in place and the dash is ready to be extended!

SPark

 

Well that is some encouraging news.

 

Tires are mounted and balanced.

Started on the defroster duct work. Setting up everything to take 1-1/2” defroster hose I can get at Yogi’s. Cut a kitchen drain wall tube down and hammered it into an oval shape. Cut up a slim line defroster duct to make it as thin as possible. Fiberglass cloth and mat to “glue” them together. When it’s all cured I’ll rough it up and add a layer of kitty hair to make sure all the joints are sealed. Had it in place when it was taped together and it barely clears. Need to let this cure completely before going any further. Think this just might work. Stuck in some “glued together” pictures and some of the pieces I started with.

Really feeling yesterday’s infusion today. Between labs, CT scan and the infusion they jabbed me 6 times yesterday. Wearing out my veins! They had trouble getting into a vein for the infusion and had to try 4 different times before succeeding. Tried going REALLY deep once. I swear the needle was coming out the other side of my arm. Most pain I’ve ever had getting an IV started. We won’t let them try that move again. Probably taking the rest of the day off.

SPark

 

Great news on the treatment! I’m liking the defrost ductwork, too.

 

You are an inspiration!
Not only do you do amazing work, you do it in spite of what life has thrown at you.
I applaud your dedication and perseverance!

 

Since I’m usually a bit wired after an infusion, nightly duct work it is.

Ended up cutting the entire thing apart last night, rotating the pieces 180° and glassing it back together. Moved the outside of the curved area in almost 1/4”. Doesn’t sound like much but look at the 8th and 9th pictures. Those show how tight things get between the dash back and windshield bottom bulkhead. Got it finished and was even successful making a duplicate for the other side!

I have my defroster ducts.

Finish the body work on them, mount them and then I’ll need to create a spacer for the gap between the top of the duct and the inside of the dash. Then it’s on to extending the actual dash top and sides.

SPark

 

Ducts fit great! Dash clears everything.

Needed to create a base map of where the defroster ducts sit below the dash so I can find them after extending the dash top. The chrome screws are what holds the top vent against the dash. Also need to extend the tops of the vents so they reach the bottom of the dash.

Got the last picture from the painter. Cleaning up the side rails on the frame.

SPark

 

Those vent are actually really nice! Well done. (I don’t mean to sound surprised, all your work has been excellent so far.)

 

Good god man if anybody deserved to take a well needed break it would be you. You have been moving along at a breakneck pace.

 

Added the hot air pickup point to the heater. Sliced the inside half of the chrome tube off so air will blow into the tube, out the top and into the ducts.

Also extended the tops of the ducts to reach the bottom of the dash.

Started extending the top of the dash today.

Took an angle measurement from the top of the dash being zero and that told me the face of the dash was at 67° compared to the top. Removed the dash and ground the inside of the top lip and the edges. Blocked and taped it in place on the bench and then created a tape form to lay the ‘glass up.

4 layers of ‘glass mat so far. This should get it fairly close. Let it cure, make a relief cut left to right across the top where needed to pull it into perfect alignment then re-glass the top at the correct location. Then trim and remount for the final addition of material from the top.

Then normal body work to finish it. My beloved kitty hair then Rage Gold.

SPark

 

Trimmed the dash extension to the correct length, ground it down a bit and added the first layer of kitty hair. Top and both sides are starting to look like something.

SPark

 

Will the dash flow into the door? Or dead end at the door? Thanks

Phil

 

Just going to be square with a rounded edge and dead end. Planning just a small radius for the top and front faces. Need to put my door hinges back on and make sure everything clears, then we'll know exactly what I have for looks.

 

I just got a notification for this thread, and you have had a busy week! Any plans to point some defroster air at the doors?