Just read through this thread for the first time. Great job on the car and also on documenting the trials and tribulations of building cars that aren't in the us. Bought ems rockers and quarter panels etc. from ems, and still amazed that they sent them on the Thursday and they were delivered to our house in Australia on the Tuesday. Shipping was a killer but it hasn't stalled my build.
Thanks guys! Yeah,it will be a bit more challenging to build cars like this,when most of the parts you need are located on the other side of the planet.That Cali trip i did,helped a bit.I think i saved few hundred bucks because there wasnt any shipping charges for the parts i bought.I was thinking about buying a brass radiator too,but i should have made a pre-order for that one month earlier or something.Well,its not on the top of my shopping list anyway,so i'll get it later.. EMS stuff is good and they fit nicely.Ofcourse they need trimming,but its a same thing when using NOS stuff or making the panels by yourself.
Are you going to get back at it? I'm thinking I should go see if my car still exists one of these days.
So,its still prisoned in the paintshop? Yeah,i am.I did some lathework,made sheetmetal stamping dies.But i havent tested them yet.If they work,i'll post an update soon.
Big A had you considered either another painter or painting it yourself? I realize painters are notoriously slow but damn!
I dont know why they are slow in there,too much work and lack of interest to mess with old junk? In here they are known as a heavy drinkers.I dont say that they all drink too much(one friend of mine who paints is a straight edge kind of guy),but constant hangover makes things go slower..
My guy doesn't drink, and he does good work when he gets to it. Just doesn't seem to get to it very often. I'm going to have to look for other options, I'm just not sure where that's going to lead. Probably end up doing it myself. What sort of stamping dies Antti? Sounds interesting.
Well,i dont like how the Lincoln door pushbuttons seat on the shoeboxdoor skins,so i thought they need to be frenched.I noticed that Harley ignition switch is same size than the Lincoln pushbuttons. I needed a dies that work with the HD ignition switch too,but that didnt go well.These dies work fine with the ignition switch,but not with the pushbuttons.So i have to change the die design and do some lathe work again.You just cant win always...
Allrite,the stamping die 2.0 worked a lot better than the first one.I punched a test piece: Well,it doesnt look like much at this point,but it took almost 2 hrs to made the dies with 60 yrs old lathe.Its around 3mm(3/32") deep,the point was not to sunk the buttons in the middle of the doors,just make them seat better.I guess that will work..
Well,i havent updated this thread for a loooooooooong time,but that doesnt mean that this project is completely forgotten.Just been playing with other stuff.So here's something i got done. Long time ago bought a pile of interior parts,garnish mouldings,inner quarter panels and few pairs of vent windows.Too bad that they all are just crap,there wasnt a single vent window assembly that was even close for a driver quality.But i had to part them anyway and with a little part combining i was able to build a decent vent window assembly.Here's some of my vent window stash: I guess the biggest problem was this at the drivers side: A damn nasty ding on the middle of the vent window post.I decided to try to fix it and spent around 50 bucks for the jewellers hammers and an anvil plate.Those hammers worked fine and after filing,sanding and polishing it,i think its good enought.The vent window frame modification took less time than fixing than damn post. So here it is,my very first chopped vent window assembly ever:
Nice job on the mount for the Lincoln push buttons (that will make your's just that much cooler than everyone else's) and chopping the vent window!
Nice job on the vent window. I tried one a few years ago and it didn't go as well. I'll be attempting them again some day, hopefully I can do as good a job.
Thanks man! I've seen that done before,so i think thats not a new invention. Thanks Andrew! I think that wasnt a bad job,but without the anvil plate it would have been.I've heard that people use regular bodyhammers in this job.I guess they work fine too,but the anvil plate is must to have.It was something like 10 bucks on ebay. Thanks for the offer Kurt! I think i have enought of the vent window parts.Its a same thing for the passengers side,a little combining will be ahead again.Luckily there wasnt any dings on the visible spots,so that side should be easier because there is no hammering involved. I dont usually upload anything from my phone,so i guess i've forgotten this photo.After i got home from LA,i picked up my fenders and Merc' grille surrounding.Its an old pic,but better late than never.. Sure they need some work,but atleast they are primered.
Kurt,thats an optical illusion.They arent really that good they look in the pic.Some dents and dings here and there.The rear corners need some welding and the inner braces bottoms on the both fenders look like someone have shot them with a 12 gauge shotgun.But they are still better than the pair that came with the car.
I guess its time to post a small update.I have to say that this summer really sucked.Lot of rains and some thunder too.The thunder was a bigger problem at this time,because a thunder fried my tig welder and right in the middle of my vacation.So,i didnt do much welding then.I saw that thunder strike,it hitted to the electric transformer that is near my home.Holy shit that was loud,lots of sparks and smoke came out of the transformer. Before the strike,i unplugged my computer and tv,but that didnt come my mind that the thunder could broke welding equipment too.My trusty tigwelder is an ancient(and heavy)piece from early 90's,so the repairing was something like 200 bucks.Its not bad,but i sure could spend that money for something else.So lesson learned:unplug your welders always when not using it. We had few sunny days when i was on vacation,so i did some sandblasting and took an another batch of parts for powdercoating.They offered a zinc plating for those parts too,i never know that they had that stuff too and i have used their services almost 10 yrs..
As a fellow Nordic I feel your pain. This summer wasn't that bad over here, but as always it's hit or miss this far north. Keep up the good work, I'd love to see your car finished!
sorry to hear about all the bad weather and problems antti.. i know you will get through it like you do all the other problems you have come across.. my 51 has not been touched in years since my partner and best friend died.. i am thinking i would like to either sell the car as is, or just build it into a vintage 'gasser' replica instead of trying to build it back into a streetcar.. your car is going to look great when you get it ready.. i'll be watching..
antti.. since Finland is a small country i need a favor.. maybe you would of heard about what happened to my old '46 Cadillac hearse' someone over there bought a few years ago.. i lost his contact information and would like to see if he has made any updates on his build
Sorry for your loss,i guess building something could be a good therapy? Well,only '46 Cadillac hearse i know in here is mr.Luntamo's Hearse,i guess thats the same car? .Its a pretty cool ride and it was at our clubs car/bike show 2 yrs ago.They chopped it,but with a good taste.Here's a pic of it from our Riverside kustom day. And here's a video about the chopjob:
Thanks! Speaking of the cash/fusebox,i picked it up from the powdercoater at last week.It was there "only" 2 months...Well,it took a really long time,but those guys arent dicks.They were sorry about the delay and traded the job for 3 boxes of coffee.I also picked up my sideproject,E&J style headlight bucket that i made from fairtrade aluminium flower vase.Well,thats a kind of off topic piece,but i guess nobody in here doesnt mind if they see a homemade headlight buckets like that.
The Jalopy Journal
