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Projects Rehpotsirhcj’s 30 Flathead Coupe

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by Rehpotsirhcj, May 30, 2010.

  1. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Picked this up from a fellow HAMBer yesterday (the coupe body not the kid). Thanks man for traveling north so far to meet up, and for all the info.
    Should be together in time for him (the kid) to drive it to highschool :D. I'm tired as hell from driving 12 hrs, but its home and I can't wait to dive in.

    Chris
     

    Attached Files:

  2. fiftyv8
    Joined: Mar 11, 2007
    Posts: 5,394

    fiftyv8
    Member
    from CO & WA

    Great start, tell us more about what you have planned for this build.
     
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  3. chopt top kid
    Joined: Oct 13, 2009
    Posts: 959

    chopt top kid
    Member

    Nice score Chris... Can't wait to see more pic's...
     
  4. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Well, the drive and the night of tearing up Missoula left me with a bit of a cold.. so I've only managed to take a few more photos.

    I think my first step will be to build a dolly so that I can move it in and out of the shed to work on it without stressing the pannels any more.

    I'm looking to build a very simple period correct little A v8. Something we can bum around in and maybe..just maybe take to the local strip on a weekend or two each year. I'm awfully new to this, so I've been reading Bishop and Tardel's book, Ron Bishops text on flatheads, Tex Smiths book on chopping and watching David Gardner's dvd on metal shapping over and over. For the last month or so I've also been practicing my sheet metal welding with the oxy-acet torch. Hopefully those things, in addtion to reading everything on this board will prevent me from screwing things up beyond repair.

    anyway, I'm thinking a highboy on an A frame steped a little in the back with a drop axel in the front. I like fairly hard chops (e.g., the Green Grenade) but I don't want it too look like a r** rod either, so I'd have to make sure it looked right. I imagine a wide fives and a 48-53 flathead. No red rims, no flat black, no roof fill. I'm pretty much open for suggestions after that.

    the body has some obvious issues, but also some good points. I think I got a fair deal for what I paid.
    the good: both cowl pannels are solid with the lower bead intact. The rear quarter ends are in good shape too. The firewall look fair, except where someone stick welded the hood support brackets on.
    the bad: the front cowl brace is snapped on the passenger side, and there are some helacious stress cracks under the rear bead line that I'll need to figure out how to weld up. the rear subframe is missing, and the someone bent up the door pretty bad..look like they were pulling the window regulator out.

    I have another front brace I can use, and a good tank..thats about it.
    If there's interest, I'll post more when I have some progress to show.

    Chris
     

    Attached Files:

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  5. F&J
    Joined: Apr 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,222

    F&J
    Member

    I am thinking the quarter window and upper quarter got hit, and then the car was still being used as a truck on a farm. All the stress from kinked metal caused it to crack from driving vibrations.

    You need to straighten all the upper and lower damage first, before welding. You may need to relieve the buckled up moulding area with a torch, just to de-stress it.
     
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  6. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    You're probably right. The passenger side rear quarter is dented in and the rear window has dammage that could have occured at the same time. the missing rear subrails no doubt made things worse. I need to get it secured as there is very little structural strength in the rear. I cant move the body without stressing those cracks (both sides). I wont be tacking anything until its square. I dont know about releaving the stress with a torch..wouldn't that just shrink the area more, increasing the pull on the stressed area?


     
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  7. Bikertrash
    Joined: Aug 29, 2007
    Posts: 150

    Bikertrash
    Member
    from Boise

    What a great project! I restored a '30 coupe that belonged to my Dad. It's beautiful, but I still look at it and think of chopping/channeling. There's bound to be a Model A Club in your area. (Don't tell them that you are going to hot rod that car, old men will throw rocks at you) They will have tons of extra parts laying around. Good luck and post more pics as you go.
     
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  8. F&J
    Joined: Apr 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,222

    F&J
    Member

    I mentioned that because after you fixed the dents at the window and dents below the beltline, the beaded moulding might not want to go back in the right spot when cold.

    Another thing is that the metal edges right at the cracks is likely stretched a bit right now, and even if you have to heat to bend it back, you may have to trim a bit with a cut-off tool.....mainly because the metal just won't fit back together.


    Whenever you have a vibration stress crack like from a bumped fender that eventually cracks at the bead, the areas right at the crack seems to be stretched. Most times a slight cut-off wheel slice through the fender crack allows the fender to look good after welding. If you did not trim first, the extra metal makes the curve of the fender to be wrong.
     
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  9. ratster
    Joined: Sep 23, 2001
    Posts: 3,588

    ratster
    Member

  10. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    good advice, thank you.
    too bad your so far away, I'd have you come show me.
    another thought I had was using some sort of heat sink behind the bead to keep any warpage down...but the more I think about it, that seems like a bad idea. the sink wouldnt be a perfect match, and would likely cause uneaven heating. Anyway, thats a while off. I have plenty of metal to straiten before then :D.

     
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  11. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Step one: Disassembly :D
    hey, its not much, but at least I got something done tonight..raining here.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. temper_mental
    Joined: Oct 22, 2006
    Posts: 2,718

    temper_mental
    Member
    from Texas

  13. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    New doors!
     

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  14. chopt top kid
    Joined: Oct 13, 2009
    Posts: 959

    chopt top kid
    Member

    The doors look good... Did you manage to get door tops and garnish???
     
  15. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Nope. No door tops or garnish. Doors are near complete though, and should save me a ton of work. I'm hoping to sell of my driver's side door which is a little rougher than those I bought, but still in pretty good shape, and a nice front sedan door. That should help with the deck lid fund drive.

    I took the day off from work today and worked on removing the subframe from the cowl, door posts etc. Now I can start pulling together the good and scraping the crap.

    The rear quarters have been a bit of a nightmare with those stress cracks. I beat most of the dents out so that things lined up again, shrunk it up hear and there. its been a real bugger to weld up along the lower edge of the bead.
     
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  16. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Tonight I went out to continue stitching the rear quarters back together. I pulled out the passenger side quarter and sat it down where I could straddle it and work some of the major dents out. I was pretty happy with the progress until I looked down and discovered that I'd laid it across my gas hoses. The sharp edge of the lower panel sliced right into them. One step forward, two steps back. damn it.
     

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  17. chaddilac
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 14,021

    chaddilac
    Member

    That's just collateral damage brutha.... expect it in the shop when you're working with rusty ford parts!! :D

    I used the torch to cut some parts apart and the slag rolled under my air hose and burned it all up. air blowin everywhere!! :)
     
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  18. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Better an empty gas line then my toe or something I suppose :)
     
  19. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Picked up a rolling chassie yesterday. Good frame, front axel and front wishbone. I'm hoping to split the wishbone myself, and have the front axel dropped. I've read that using a T rear spring will bring the back down a bit, so I suppose the banjo and A spring pack will find a new home.
     

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  20. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

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  21. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Made a little progress this evening.
    I took a break from the quarters to work on the firewall. Someone had stick welded the hood rod mounts to the firewall (cant imagine the story behind that one). I had another firewall that had what look like factory plates behind the rod mounts, so I went to work with the torch. It still needs a little grinding and finishing. Tracing the patch acurately was difficult with the curve at the top of the firewall so I had a little larger gap than I would have liked.

    The Holley 7RT I pulled yesterday gets rebuilt as soon as the kit gets here next week. hopefully I can get the flathead to fire sometime next weekend.
     

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  22. chopt top kid
    Joined: Oct 13, 2009
    Posts: 959

    chopt top kid
    Member

    I think that stress cracks at the radiator support rod bracket and the amateur weld repair was pretty common on many Model A's due to frame twist. The tudor that I built several years back had the same repair. I just took a grinder and removed the old bkts., welded up the cracks, ground it down and bought new bkts. I didn't just happen to have a spare firewall laying around though. I think that your firewall looks good but then I see you have good help!!! Keep up the good work!!!
     
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  23. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    I was after the spot welded plates behind the brackets too. Seems to be a good deal stronger.

    I used the metal from the scrap cut-out to replace the footer sections where the firewall sets in the front of the frame rails. I think the gauge is a tad heavier then 16. Spent the rest of the night welding up a few other stress cracks and one of the quarters.

    Need some updates on your coupe build...
    get out in the shop Tom :D
     
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  24. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    New fuel pump and a rebuilt carb, AND MY FLATHEAD RUNS! :D
    I have one more day off (thanks to a State furlough), so it gets pressure washed tomorrow.
     
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  25. chopt top kid
    Joined: Oct 13, 2009
    Posts: 959

    chopt top kid
    Member

    Congrats are definitely in order. Now, all you need is to build a car to put it in!!!
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2010
  26. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    Mocked up a 6-inch chop just for fun. I think it needs a little more :D.

    [​IMG]
     
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  27. abonecoupe31
    Joined: Aug 11, 2005
    Posts: 696

    abonecoupe31
    Member
    from Michigan

    My last A Coupe was a lot worse than yours is... I think I had parts from 16 donor cars. Did you know a T spring is 2" and not 2 1/4" like the A rear spring?... not sure where your going re: rear end. Open drive with Ford 8" or 9"? Model A roadster rear springs resemble the T rear springs for your information as to the lower profile...

    Great start!
     
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  28. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    A long time coming, but I finally got the flathead out and home today.
    Cleaned it up a bit and pulled the pan, fairly clean. Now I have an F6 to get rid of :)

    Chris
     

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  29. pugh433
    Joined: Mar 2, 2009
    Posts: 88

    pugh433
    Member
    from toledo

    Looks like you are off to a good start. Money allowing, next build will be a 5 window. Glad to see the little guy out there with you. Can't wait until mine gets a little older. I still remember the time spent helping dad on his ride.
     
  30. Rehpotsirhcj
    Joined: May 7, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    Rehpotsirhcj
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    I try to include him whenever I can. He can't be in the shop when I'm welding or grinding (which is most of the time), so I make point to take him out and work with just him, show him any progress, and teach what I can. I also like to teach him all the hotrod terms...it bugs the hell out of his mom :D
     
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