Projects CONVERTING A 1933 FORD FOUR DOOR SEDAN INTO A 5 WINDOW

Pop's and my conversion of a 4 door sedan into a 5 window coupe. With help from Chris Davenport. Already made quite a bit of progress, so i will post a few pictures to get everyone up to date. Hope to learn from the community and hope this thread will help someone else.


Now for the tear down



Placed in the cross bracing.



Now the fun part.




She's all sand blasted.



Rebuilding the sub rails.




The original bottom hinge was missing so we took a hinge off of the back door that we were not using and then grafted a new piece of metal onto the hinge so it would be the length we needed.



Also took a pice off of the back door bracing and grafted it in and welded it to the hinge.
Worked great.




Mocking up the back quarters and trunk to get a feel of what we are getting into.


Mocking up the back end trying to get all the lines and curves right. Had to do some shrinking on the passenger quarter panel to get the trunk and the quarter on the same plane.



Looking like Frankenstein.



turned a small flange and cleko'd it to the quarter panel so it would hold the correct shape.



Repairing the bottom of the inner panel of the passenger door. Created a new structural piece for the bottom corner.



Put in some much needed cross bracing inside the doors, "on the side he's got bound for glory, in red, white and blue flash paint." who knows the reference????? Doing some adjusting on the hinges to get the gaps right on the doors.




Doing some much needed rust repair/patch work.



Creating inner bracing out of scratch. Cant afford to buy that stuff new. Plus its cooler when you make it.


Bondo was used to the the exact profile of the belt line. Once it was hardened Chris sliced it in half and scanned it onto the computer to get an exact computer duplicate to send of to the machinist to get a dye made. We later discovered that the belt line was tapered so we ended up cutting the dye in half and stamping out one side of the belt line at a time.



Chris pounded out a door skin on the power hammer and we did some pre stretching for the belt line.



Here in the previous two photos you can see that only one side of the belt line has been hammered out. The picture below is the finished panel and belt line in place.


I guess that i can only upload 30 pictures in one post. More to come.

 

Are we talking about a Ford? Looking forward to seeing what you have done.

Ah yes, now the pics are up. Good work, going to follow this build for sure.

 

Yes, pics coming soon!

 

Great start keep those pictures coming.

 

I like this!

 

Awesome

 

Great job

 

Awesome! Looking forward to following along. The Coupe roof portion will be the toughest part to get right. Some conversions look right while others miss the mark, leaving the bubble sedan shape. With Chris in the mix, I'm sure you guys will nail it!
Are there plans to chop it?

 

I vote for a small chop as making the roof contours match the stock coupe is tough...
but with a little chop most of the contours will be changed making them just different enough...

 

Great thread keep the updates coming. Where did you get the quarter panels from, or did you guys make those as well?

 

And welcome to the HAMB.
You guys got talent!
I'm following this ....................

 

WOW! Thanks for the great responses guys. Plans are to chop it. We got the quarter panels from Steve's auto restoration. They are to a roadster. I've been thinking about how to get the specs right on the top that we will be grafting in. Quarter windows and crown are totally different. Luckily we were able to locate a perfect match last week, the back end of an original 34 5 window. Been rusting away in the same spot for about 30 yrs. Luckily no major rust problems on the parts we will be using.
Planning on getting the top grafted in and everything to the original 5 window specs before we do the chop.
Here are more photos! The picture above is where we originally found the car. She's the second one in. Too bad she is missing the grille right?


Woken from her slumber. Notice the shovel acting as an A pillar to hold it up.



Nothing a few hits with a hammer won't fix.



When I was hauling this I was thinking to myself... 99% of humans don't even know what this is on my trailer. They just look at it as a piece of junk. I was also thinking if I get in a wreck right now I hope they hit my car not this beauty I have on the trailer.



The two meet for the first time. Little sneak preview of the aluminum louvered roof insert we made as well.



The dye we had made.

 

Nice work. Don't throw away the rest of that donor 5 window. Someone will need it.

Keep it coming.

-Abone.

 

Between the 5 window quarters, the cut off chunks of the roadster quarters, and the belt line dye, chris will fart out a complete roadster body instead of taking a lunch break someday.

 

Also, that 5 window door top and top hinge is different from the 4 door sedan door top, you can use the 5 window as a guide for yours or you can use the coupe door top on your sedan door.

What are the chances you found the exact chunk of coupe you needed?? Charmed, for sure.

-Abone.

 

Is the "Bound for Glory" inscription a Woody Guthrie reference?

 

Was just comparing a 5w door to a 4dr sdn door and the sedan door window opening is ~ 1" taller than the coupe door. The top hinge appears to be the same distance from the top of the doors. The bottom and mid hinge appears to be the same distance, on both doors, from the door bottom. So, if an inch is chopped out of the sedan door window opening, it would work in a coupe. But, if you are going to chop the top, this point is mute.

 

Some day when the car is finished a restorer type will say you "ruined the original car" , this one that nobody bothered to restore. Bob ..............love that shovel

 

Subscribed and welcome to the HAMB. Another great project to watch come together. We love photos so don't be shy! The more I see the more I learn. I'd say that would go for everyone else here.

 

Sorry, didn't notice you were new to the HAMB, WELCOME! Bob

 

This going to be good I'm subscribed can't wait welcome to the HAMB ! Hobo Jim

 

Wow skills


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

good stuff... a true resurrection...
I have used fordor doors on 5 window coupes before... memory says you must chop the B jam of the door about 5/8"... the roof will require the same reverse rake...
can't wait to see more ..... go hoov go !

 

Such a cool community of passionate rodders and great feedback. Thank you! Had to cut a couple pices to weld on to both sides of the back pannel that connects both quarter panels and sits under the trunk. This will allow the quarter panels to sit right and helps with the gaps in the trunk.

 

Great guess! Would have been cooler if it was from woody. It's from a Bruce Springsteen song. Thought I would write it on the door in sharpie to keep the inspiration flowing.

 

Great advise! I was getting same measurements, planning on getting original specs from the five window and duplicating it. Going to shortening the b pillars. The roof section above the b pillar is where a lot of conversions look a little off. Going to make sure and get it right!

 

Thank you!

 

You went ahead and cut up the four door and were rewarded with a coupe that had exactly what you needed that's awesome! Now it's more about saving the coupe than modding the sedan it's amazing that the entire bottom 3/4's of it were gone but the rest looked pretty solid! I thought it was an easy swap of the rear 1/4 panels but i'm learning the differences really are quite vast... enough that if you see a chopped sedan turned coupe you can usually tell

lol seems like all he needs is another cowl, A pillars and driver's front door and he can carry on with the 4 door mod as well! ha ha ....let's see now what use can we make of the bottom/back half of that sedan?.... tack it onto a late 20's early '30's cowl for a speedster/bucket? 3 hot rods in 1

 

I was thinking of the David Carradine movie where he played Woody Guthrie. It's a great film. Springsteen and Guthrie are kindred spirits, and Bruce would sometimes play "This Land is Your Land" during his shows back in the eighties. By the way, that's a great build you got going there, can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Fitting the quarter panels on the car...first we cut out a linear section of the b pillar, cut the front end of the quarter panel off then tacked it into place. Then fitted the quarter panel and scored where the two overlapped. Cut and weld. Turned out great.



Fitted the back end together and welded it into place.


You can see in this image where the quarter panel was welded into the b pillar. All gaps and surfaces matched perfectly.


You can see where I welded and then grinder smooth.

This picture above is of the drivers side.
Where the quarter panel was welded into the b pillar and ground smooth.


Was able to find a 33 grill! Need some tweaking but will work.



Louvered the hood, you can see it needs a little tlc.



Roof insert pounded out and louvered. Ready to be fitted, will be able to use Chris's new flanging machine he is making to turn the flange with ease.



Today I cleko'd the door shut in preparation for cutting the original sedan door down where it will be the exact same as the original 5 window door. With this fastener in place I will be able to take the top hinge out and work with the door and it will not put extra stress on the bottom hinges.