I´m more than certain that your metal work skills are up to the task! You´re doing amazingly well with it so far. Totally understand wanting to get it back on the road though.
There's a guy here on the West Coast that races a Super Snipe in 24 Hours of Lemons races. His first car was as badly rusted as yours. He just added a cage and went racing, sort of. He rolled it at an event because the body roll was so terrible.
You know what would look pretty damn good on that Humber for replacement wheel openings? '65/'66 Barracuda wheel arches. ESPECIALLY if someone went all "Squablow" on it and magiced up a 2 door........
Well, I've been away from the garage for a few weeks, but I've managed to dedicate some time on the car... I started to repair one of the rear wheel-tubs and got to a point where there was just so much rust behind the outer arch that I couldn't ignore it... I also had to make some sort of quick win to get my mojo back, so I've bought a pair of the few panels that are being reproduced for these... So now I've got to bite the bullet and cut up to the middle of the trim line and graft these in - after repairing the frilly mess that is the outer edge of the wheel-tub. Anyone got any advice on this sort of repair? Thanks in advance! Matt
Hi Matt , great job you are doing there keep at it, I purchased a Frost kit when doing the body on my truck now I lead all my repairs. When doing the wheel arch repair purchase a panel joggler and step the rear quarter panel inwards then plug weld the repair panel By stepping the joint you will avoid warping and any moisture that might run down the inside of the panel wont seep into the joint Hope this helps Dave
Looking good and finally seen one on this side of the pond,it was about the same year and might be a larger version as I think it had a six.
Hi guys, Been a while since I've been on here... Too much of this going on lately... (That's my new kitchen we're installing - which means the Humber has been kicked out of the garage for a while! Man I hate sawdust - gets friggin' everywhere!) Anyway, I digress... I've not got much more of an update other than to show the recently acquired rear arch repair section taped on in roughly the right position Looks like its going to sit a lot higher than the previous wheelarch, which leaves me with a problem. Its just going to look too damn high! I was thinking I need to cut up the repair panel to lower the arch - leaving the door aperture, sill (rocker) and behind the arch in place so it lines up... Any advice on how best to tackle this job? When taking a rare look at the car from a distance, I really wasn't happy with the way the front arches looked either - so I bit the bullet and bought a pair of these Which will be going on as soon a time allows... They're really nice, thick panels. Made by a reputable company here too - so hopefully they won't require too much work. Thanks for all the kind words by the way! Matt
On the rear wheel well patch - I would make 2-3 mounting holes you could line up with the trim holes, so you could take it on and off during fitting and it would go back the same each time. Then I'd patch the patch, off the car (much easier to do this on the workbench), adding metal between the wheel arch and the upper part of the patch. When you're happy with it, then put it on the car. Cut carefully - into 3+ pieces I think - to retain the areas that match the good panels on the car. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You could always lower the arches a shade, as per my photoshop. You have nice new metal to work with now. I know it's not a cheap option, but would it be worth buying a second set of rear arches to make inner arches out of?
I've owned three Humber Hawks over the years and they were all riddled with rot. You are doing a great job of fixing the cancer in this "restored" car Matt, well done. One of mine had a Rover V8 in it and stopped ok. Not brilliant, just ok.... Another thing you might want to consider upgrading is the rear axle as it is not strong despite its size. The one on mine was on the point of destruction when I sold it on. Car gone, not my problem anymore! Here's one I saw yesterday.
I think that 'original' arch line is far from original, and has been butchered and badly repaired over the years, like the rest, which is why its lower and of a different profile to the repair panel. And yes, going back to one of your posts from last year, the 38DGAS carb was used on the Essex V6, but it only just had enough ooooomph for a 3 litre V6......can't imagine it's much of an upgrade on a Rover V8!! Should be easy to find a cheapish used 4 barrel manifold for the Rover on the bay of evil etc., might even find one complete with the Holley 390 as well that most fitted to them back in the day??
We used to cut away the old rusty panel to good metal and trim the replacement panel to match. If you have a MIG welder you can butt the panels together with no overlap. Welding them together with no warpage, that is the trick part. It helps to do short welds and cool the metal with an air hose.
I fitted mk1 rear arches to mine , but this was 1980 and mk 1 panels were easier to come by ! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hey GeeRam! You're right - the arches that are on it are from something else - but I don't really want to raise the profile if I can get away with it. I've got a couple of eBay alerts on 390's and 500 Edelbrocks, but nothing as yet! Cheers!
Your Photoshop is what I'm aiming for James D... Nice and subtle changes... Trouble is, I can't work out how to cut n' shut the rear of that panel... The curve is right where I need to cut... I don't think I can afford another set of rear arches - I think I'll be replacing most of what I've got anyway, so I'll have to make-do. Or I was thinking of trailer mudguards for the inners...
Matt........I also remember reading that article that Rusty O'toole refers to regarding the factory 318 Chrysler powered Humbers that didn't eventuate.......however at the Street Rod Drags in the early 80's at Sydneys Castlereagh Dragstrip a nice black mid 60's Humber Super Snipe turned up, slightly lowered, widened stock style wheels and hubcaps with a pair of exhaust tips under the rear bumper......they let him have a couple of runs against some 50's Chevs and he whipped them good..............had a hot 318 LA Chrysler...........the owner had also read that same article..........lol..........Humbers are a neat car, like the work you are doing.........great thread............andyd
It started out with 4.5 Daimler by 85 it was powered by a 455 Pontiac, I have owned several over the years Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
How did you get on with the Daimler motor? I always wondered if the 4.5 was worth anything as a hot rod motor.
Hi Matt I am going to look at a 62 Humber Hawk this weekend -I'm sure I will be after the same repair panels you have got ,please can you advise me where you obtained them (will need chassis repair ,front and rear arches and lower door skins.) I think you have made a great job of yours-another one saved
Hi all, long time - no updates... Well, garage time has been scarce lately - but I've finally got enough together to put some sort of an update up here... I've cut the rear arch away only to find more nasty surprises - but I think I've got a plan, more on that later... When I cut away the arch to roughly the same size as the replacement panel, I found that the outer half of the wheel tub was wobbling all over the place... It seems it was rusted along its entire length, and wasn't actually attached to the fender. (The pic above is looking directly up into the wheel tub. The right hand side is the arch panel, and just to the left of that, you can see where its more or less rusted through the whole radius of the panel) (Wheel tub outer half removed) So, here's the plan... Rather than trying to create a replacement for the inner arch, (which I'm sure with enough time and guidance, I could knock up) I thought I might simply join the inner part of the wheel tub directly to the new arch panel. Sort of 'tubbing it' but outwards, rather than inwards. Can anyone see any problems that I can't? I've borrowed a friend's shrinker/stretcher to allow me to put a flange on the outside edge - will see how that goes... Any ideas? Oh, and while grinding back the paint to give me an idea of where I'd need to cut to get the panel to fit - I unearthed about a 1/4" of filler, over a 1/4" lead, over a bunch of dents that look like they've been sorta' pulled out - great! I'm thinking this might cause me some problems when it comes to attaching the wheel-tub repair section as it falls square in the middle of this cluster of dents (at the peak of the tub)... Might have to cut yet more fender away to make some progress...
If I can recall correctly, isn't a Rover 3.5 really a Buick 215 Nailhead? Cool motor, looks better than a Ford. Looking good!
There are a few options for wheels out there in the 5x5" size - I found some Buick Rivera wheels which kinda give a period look. Mine probably need restoring, but then again so does the whole car, so no point getting too worried about things!
I admire your dedication to fixing this car. Welding the rear inner wheelhouse directly to the quarter panel is going to cause a shadow in the bodywork from flexing later. That's why the factory brought the wheel arch all the way down to the seam of the wheel opening originally, to avoid that attaching point. What you might try is, if you can make a flange on the inner section that will reach the new quarter panel, add a big flat sheetmetal piece that goes all the way down to the wheel opening, so you can attach it at the opening and not in the center of the panel. Basically you made a new, boxy inner wheel arch instead of the stamped, more rounded one. Does that make sense? I'm having a hard time explaining what's in my head.
Is it worth trying to look at some trailer wings? They're possibly somewhere near the shape you´d need for inner arches.
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