Hi there, my name is Patrick and I live in Perth, Western Australia. I'm 26, nearly 27 years old and after tinkering with the idea; (also having a so cal front end, currie 9" rear end, stock 1929 5 window coupe and a big turbo helped), I decided it's now time to build my very first hot rod. Without going into too much detail it's a 1929 Model A 5 window coupe, building my first chassis, 100x50x4mm RHS stretched 5", 6" front kick, 13" rear, about to start a 5" roof chop, will then get channeled 4". Fixed body to chassis so I can run a full cage, bracing through the firewall and a X infront of the motor to stop it from twisting... All this will be thanks to a 460ci BBF and a Borg Warner SX400-75 turbo. Enough said here's where I'm up to at the moment... And as of this afternoon, being the old boys 56ths birthday, I decided today was the day! Metal work to start tomorrow...
Patrick,,Its not necessary to call your coupe a 5 window,,,Just a 29 coupe is good enough as all 29 cpes were 5 windows
So I did a little on Monday, then yesterday had abit of guidance from someone with model A chops under their belt. So I came in this morning, had the rear window tacked up, B pillars tacked up, then started on the A pillars! Being a 5 inch chop, they were a bitch to pull out and get straight, but nothing 65 good straight edges can't fix haha. Then after I pie cut the front to have a nice straight inside edge (looking front on), and then the back part of the pillar I put a little shape in to blend back into the straight top section of the pillar.. Anyways here's where I'm at, just on a smoko break
Scratch those last 2 pillar shots, I played and played some more until I was happy with both sides flowing nicely into each other
B pillars are now tacked up nice n securely, and both line up well, so I'm happy with them! Onto the sailplanes...
Well I've been doing a whole load of research, and after abit of advice and brainstorming, I decided to attack the sailplanes a little different than most... Rather than relief cuts around back, and then the effort to try and get those sailplanes back and in shape, as I'd like it metal finished and not painted. So I decided to chop out the whole bottom section, move it ever so slightly then put it back in, add a couple of little strips, and now all the metal finishing is in areas a- easier to work on, and b- have a little more strength, so less panel warping... Enough crap here's my drivers side, you can see the panel gaps, cut out, put in place then the strips added.. Then finally a pic of the baby sitting there getting her surgery!
Nice... are you gonna weld them up from the inside? i saw on another post that was done. Less messing around they said. not sure.
Lookin good just finished mine drove for first time dec 5th 14 Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Awesome man! I bet that felt amazing!! Mines still a long ways away, but you don't get any closer not working on it!!
Yeah it felt great still needs a few things but its all good major stuff done. All i have to say is keep at it! It took me 5years off and on. you know shit comes up and you have to take care of other things in life. Family etc but its a feeling i can describe. You imagine it for so long and we it finally happens your like HOLY SHIT!!! Lol like i said keep at it it will eventually get done. There will be people who Doubt that you'll finish it....,but you wiil. B Before and after lots of hard work
Wow dude that's an awesome end product from the card you were dealt!! Cheers also for the words! I've toyed with cars but never done anything this major, so I've put 2 other cars on hold and am focusing on this. My aim is work to the little goals, first get this chop done, then floor out and on the chassis for the first time! But for now more sheet metal work haha
I think if it were me, i'd probably weld the bottom of that sail panel on the inside.. preferably with a tig instead of a mig, but mig if thats all ya got. Reason being is that outside looks like its welding in a corner.. so it'd end up with a fair bit of build up before it peno's through to the other side.. which means a ton of grinding it all out with the mig. If you weld it on the inside you only get the penetration coming through on the outside to clean up. Might make it easier for you.
Cheers man, I have my tig here too, so I may weld the inside bottom of the sailplane tig then, if needed, a little build up mig on the outside just to finish nicely. But cheers that may work out way better!
Afew guys have mentioned stuff about the shop I work out if, so here's a sneaky pic (mind the mess and chairs). There's my coupe, the chassis for it both stock and my new one on the bench, my bro in laws 1947 F truck, a spare chassis for my RHD 1963 belair, and the belair tucked behind a wall at the end... I'm very lucky in the aspect my parents are well off, so this my all my old mans doing. As a kid I grew up seeing him working +80hr weeks, balls against the wall going for broke, and it paid off, so things like this is how he enjoys his wealth... He works out of the office on the RHD side as a finance/mortgage broker, and the rest is our car playground
Got the outside all welded today, over a long period of time, inside bottom of the sailplanes and clean up tomorrow, here's 2 artsy photos a mate took and a sneak peak of a cleaned up pillar...
After a day with my 5" sander, 4.5" flap disc and pneumatic 2" sander, with many variations of disks, I finally have some nice smooth steel! As I'm going in painted for now, I've been trying my darnest to not have to big a single join, there's afew lil imperfections, but day 1 cleaning up was a great success... A and B pillars are pretty much done, C around the window and sailplane needs more attention, but I mainly focused on the A and B today...
Great work. First class. You are playing with fire by not covering your exposed skin during welding. You can be cool after its done. Cover up man.
Well today I've decided to focus on certain areas at a time, the A pillars are now done, and the inner window edge done, I'm leaving a weld on the back to keep some strength in it, seeing as it's covered by a panel anyways. Here's photos...
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