Here is a picture showing what I was up against. The passenger side profile is totally sprung. Made relief cuts to the edge and clamped a 2x6 across the inside and pulled it into shape. I over formed it because I know when you weld the relief cuts is will pull back some. Just trial and error. Now that's as good as it going to get!
I made a decision not to replace the wood in the quarter or back of the seat but replace them with tubing. 1.5"sq x .125 for the door jam. 1.0x1.5" x .062 for the upper quarter curved piece 1.25"sq x .125 for the balance. I will add a cross brace as soon as I figure out what gas tank I will use. Just tacked and the back half of the body is extremely ridged. It will assist in keeping everything aligned. Now I can finish welded the quarter panels up.
broken record i know, but if you are making or buying a trunk mounted tank, the hight times width times length ... divided by 231 will give you the gallons in that tank... make a cardboard box that fits your trunk, measure and figure out it's capacity...
My seat is from a Dodge mini van. 2nd row. It is a fixed seat meaning it doesn't flip forward like my pickup truck. It got me to thinking just take out the top bolt on each side. I now have a flip seat. So I added a little more tubing and made a bulkhead Out of plywood.
A quick check to see how the headers fit with the fenders. Like they we made to fit....oh yea they were. LOL.
I am not a fender guy but if that front fender to exhaust is too close, have you thought of using '28-'29 fender, splash apron and running boards ? they stay closer to the tire , may buy a little more clearance... buddy has a glass one, would be great for a mock up... $0.02.
Whoever put the Cadillac in my roadster c. 1960 got the headers a little too close to the cowl sides... blistered the paint on both sides. One of the things that will be fixed this time around.
If I was concerned about the paint you both are correct. I only cared if they rattle against the sheet metal. I have a 1/2" to the cowl and 1/4" to the fender. I might relieve the fender if required. Thanks guys.
I saw a couple of posts about bobing rear fenders so this morning I took the plunge after removing all layers of paint. I believe I read 2.5" below the fender brace hole and remove 4.0". I change that in my case due to a lot of repair welds where in that area. Just under the fender brace hole I could eliminate all that poor repair work. A little more work was involved because to two profiles are different. Hey what is a little more hammer and dolly work. It doesnt look as dramatic as I thought. Maybe 5.0" would be better. What do you think?
The 1.75" makes a difference but not enough to do it over. I guess we have the same tastes. Looks good.
I lucked out and found some nice fenders and aprons that where removed to make a hot rod. The rest was single sourced piece by piece. I couldn't find one complete car that was basically rust free within my budget.
Now it time to do some rust repair on one of the front fenders and get them mounted. The only rust I had was replacing the mounting flange for the running boards. I used a piece of 12ga to replace the original double thickness piece. The new running boards served as a hole template.
View attachment 5072334 View attachment 5072334 Now mounting my fenders was a little bit more of a challenge. My model a frame came to me boxed. To bolt things to it I used in this case I used flange nuts from McMaster Carr. Drill a hole and weld in place. The thickness of the flange is minimal and works well.
Yep my A frame was boxed prior to my buying it also. I used something similar to that mounting my body also. What i used was a tad bit more heavy duty, but same concept. Worked out pretty good. Actually easier than bolts and nuts.
A change in plans is in the works yet again. A member here had a convertible top for sale which was apparently for a much longer and narrower car. For the right price, I took a gamble that my mad fab skills would prevail. A quick mock up proved I believe I can create the low look and keep the oak bows and irons sort of like stock. 1. Add 4.875 to each bow width. ✔ 2. Shorten the folding irons with the corner clamps holding the windshield at a nice layed back look. My goal is to have all three choices: up, down, and totally removed if I want. I may just like it so much I might just leave it in place.
Here is with some more adjustments. I need to make the front bow now out of some red oak. I will have to glue up some stock and blend the edges. Hope the corner clamps will work. They are kind of at wrong angle with the stanchions layed back.
Sharing my fine wood working skills on the bows. I also glued up the front header out of red oak. Top 1×3 bottom 1x2. Don't own a router so this makes due for the windshield slot. Corners radius thanks to a rattle can lid. Front needs the same the whole length. Then make up some steel brackets to fasten it the the corner clamps. Repeat for the other side irons and she should be ready to give it the folding test.
The Jalopy Journal
