Projects The Hardscrabble Hop-Up; A 1940's Style 'T' RPU build

Bitumen hey, you should live up here that is the form most of our oil takes. They don't call them tar sands for nothing. You are crazy but in a good way!

 

Really looking great Gary! Looks like you're back on this project in a big way. Fine looking dashboard!

 

Thanks fellas!

Been trying to figure out what to do about a column drop...I really like the '37 Ford units, but the angle is all wrong & I'm not sure how easy it would be to bend/mill one to fit. Had a '33-4 Dodge unit that literally dropped into my lap, so I shot a quick coat of lacquer on it and tested it out. Not sure if I like the look, but it does have 1 3/4" of adjustability and I do like that.

Also got the pedals mocked up...definitely going to require some heating and bending to clear the column tube. Might also have to cut a sliver out of the firewall to gain enough room for the clutch.

 

I really like your build Gary, every time you put a part on, the little T tells you whether
it like it or not. It's funny how cars sometime tell you what they want.

 

On the subject of obscure paint recipes... A couple days ago I was at it with the hammer and dolly on my '25 T roadster body. It's pretty rumpled and I broke out the torch to shrink a couple areas. It stunk to high heaven! Kind of a cross between a tire fire/burnt down house smell. Confusing because the metal looked to be a surface of solid rust. Yesterday I did some blasting of the areas where I will weld and, to my surprise, found black paint stuck to much of the body after 89 years. Mystery stench identified. When you figure out that asphaltum paint recipe let us know. It's GOOD STUFF!

 

Japanese acrylic

 

Heck yeah, that's Gilsonite!! Spent the weekend under the weather, so as soon as I shake this and can breathe I'm planning on destroying my lungs by doing some sprayouts with my asphaltum-brew. As best I can tell, there were 2 recipes Ford used; (From Trent Boggess' excellent article on Model T paint)

As I'd rather not burn the house down trying to 'cook' down Gilsonite into linseed oil, I've found a high-quality asphaltum japanning varnish (available from Liberty on the Hudson) that I'll be modifying to match the factory Gilsonite paint on an undisturbed (nearly NOS) Model T hood. Straight out of the can, the varnish is very thick and takes at least a week to air dry. Will be thinning with naphtha to make it sprayable and using japan drier to speed cure time.

I did manage to sneak out in the garage for a few minutes last night to finish my instrument panel mockup. Need to fab up a similar panel out of sheet metal with mounting studs spot-welded to the back and engine turn some aluminum to 'face' it with. From left to right; starter-pull cable, ammeter, speedo (ignition switch underneath), temp gauge, and choke cable. Really stoked about the way it turned out, although I may ditch the nickel knobs on the choke & start cables for stock '32 units...

 

^^^^^^^^^^
I like your three theme Gary, three spoke wheel. three gauges, three screws in the dash,
and three notches in the drop. Pulls everything together, and makes for a nice cockpit
experience.

 

good observation! symmetry and balance.....i love it!

 

And it'll take me three decades to finish, hahaha! Never noticed the 'threes', but now that you mention it, I see it. Getting this together has been agonizing - thinking and re-thinking it constantly; glad it's finally coming together!

 

A damn excellent, well thought out build, Gary. I like it all.

 

Love the look of the dash and wheel etc. It all looks brand new and everything is just right and works together, im jealous of that set-up JW

 

Dash/wheel/instruments look really good! Glad you found a paint source. What is "Liberty on Hudson"?
My grandad told me he and my uncle "used to paint our buddies cars during lunch break" in the 30's. I'm not positive lunch break wasn't code for "on company time when no one was watching". Two guys, two brushes. Gramps worked in the iron ore mines near Hibbing Minnesota as a welder and fabricator but was always up to some kind of "side job"monkey business. He outlined the process like this.
"The first guy layed down the thick stuff ( hmm?) with a regular short hair brush. We let it sit a while. The second guy had a long, horse hair brush dipped in naphtha w a little hardener. He swept over the thing in long, smooth strokes. Pooled everything out real nice, got rid of any brush strokes. Whole thing took 20 minutes"
I wish he was still around to ask exactly what that paint was. At the time he told me the story I had assumed the paint was lacquer ( the only "old stuff" I knew of then) but I think the horse hair guy would've ended up wiping all the paint OFF if it was lacquer.
I did ask him if they had the option to spray the stuff on. "Sure" he said " but this way was easier and it came out better. Plus, hardly any cleanup."
Maybe this was the common Gilsonite application technique? I know walking around junkyards you see a lot of ancient paint jobs that look really smooth with just a hint of brush stroke in the warm out spots- like fender tops.
I like how the Sherwinn Williams ad says "refinish your car in only 4 days".

 

Well, I just spent 2 hours re-reading this whole thread.

1) I think this is probably the most authentic build on the Hamb.

2) I'm now extremely jealous... While my own build is okay. It pales in comparison. It has no where near the details that this one does. Makes me want to revisit everything

 

Thanks for the link, Jeff. Was a fun read w my Cheerios.. it helped me identify exactly when my body was built. An "improved" 1925. Woohoo. The article also provided some chuckles. Short and curly hair? Interesting that there was a form of clear coating going on back then. In our metal fab shop we used to use a 50/50 blend of Penetrol and denatured alcohol over gun blued, sanded of flat painted projects. Slow drying but gave it a nice depth without looking too plasticy. Brushed on then wiped off as it started to tack up. Looks great on old stuff (like pitted paint) and provides a little water proofing.

 

Wow, thanks guys! Always hoped my OCD would pay off!!

Here's the first test spray of the asphaltum paint. I mixed 2/3 cups of pontypool japan straight out of the can with 3 tbs of mineral spirits, 2 tbs of japan drier, and 2 tbs of turpentine. 2 coats were very lightly misted on with a crappy Preval sprayer (about 10 min between coats).


The Preval's tendency to sputter made it extremely difficult to avoid runs (although the few I had 'flowed' out almost immediately). I probably need to cut the mineral spirits by 1 tbs and add an additional tbs of turpentine to reduce the sheen slightly. The japan drier helped immensely; paint was dry to the touch within 5 min and able to be handled after 15.

My experience with this stuff (straight out of the can) is that the shine is reduced by 20% or so after a full cure, so I'm going to leave the test panel out in the sun for a few days to see what happens. In the meantime, I'm going to adjust the mixture and try again with a decent gun.

 

OCD my ass...I'll bet you iron your underwear too

pay shun lee......

 

Rad.

 

Gary,
Why not paint with the "wand" like Henry's boys did ?

 

Hahahaha ban coming in 3...2....1.... In all seriousness, you gotta be careful how you crease them and I'd always recommend going easy on the starch.

@Jungle Jalopy - I did a second test panel (on the right), lightly wet sanded, polished, and buffed; matches my '17-23 hood perfectly...gloss, color, and even the way it 'lays' is exactly the same. Even has 'authentic' dust particles trapped in the paint like the original, hahaha!

 

Better pics;

 

wow man! I've never seen any body chase this stuff down like this before! very cool to see.

 

Looks great Gary nice work!

 

Paint looks right on the money.

 

Amazing.


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Great job matching the paint!!!

 

I love this thread. Keep up the good (if slightly crazy) work.