COE 1941 Ford COE build

tipping die, hammer and profanity worked pretty good on panel number 2... Not so much on panel number 1... the first try gave rounded, wavy corners on the flange and tore out one side of the louvers. It's pretty ugly.. Debating what I'll do next.. Some trickery to cover up my mistakes or toss the damn thing... It's FAR better than the lame Corvette hard tonneau but not really good enough to bother painting...

 

On my first bead roller I just used a large washer for the upper tipping die and a skate board wheel for the lower. Gives a softer radius than using a hard lower.


http://willyshotrod.com/tools/24inchBeadRoller.htm

 

attempted to put the new fuel tank covers (cookie sheets) into the bead roller to put the same line on them as the bed's side panels... I was quickly reminded that they will not fit since I already have the flanges on them... drat.... I stopped by a local hot rod shop that I recently found when they had a car show and asked them about it... The panels would not fit in their bead roller either, but he was confident that he could do it with his power hammer.... we'll see....

 

Power hammer did the job.... sort of... It created a fair amount of twist and distortion... he straightened them mostly and the lines are not perfect, but I think they are good enough....

On another topic, my wife says "do you think Buford will get as much attention when he's shiny and pretty?"... Now I wonder if I want to actually paint him blue/white or just have my guy do the same hot rod flat black that's on the bed now on the sleeper and cab.... Damn pesky logical wife!

 

Paint it, there are too many rat rods already! (this being said by a guy that is painting his olive drab, because shiny would show his lousy body working skills)

 

Best damn cruise night evah last night... Had no idea what to expect driving about an hour to a golf driving range and ice cream joint for a cruise night that I had not been to before... WOW! Probably 100+ cars many I had not seen before.. 1 1969 AMX and 1 Mark Donahue Javelin, very cool.. some very nice hot rods as well as other odd ball stuff like 2 Falcon Rancheros, Valiant ragtop. This combined with live music, BBQ, Ice cream, tiki bar all in a nice outdoor setting was pretty sweet... It's definitely one to return to...

 

Buford found his "friend" again at a show yesterday...

 

Buford at a local-ish Cruise night..

 

....and he won a trophy!!

 

Ok, it's small... (that's what he said)

 

I'm going to have to do something about the headlights.. This cruise night was kinda out in the boonies and the unlit roads on the way home were a challenge. I certainly have some room to raise the aim, but I'm not sure that will be enough... I've never been a fan of those conversion headlight units for HID (or whatever the fancy bulbs are) cuz the ones I've seen just look to modern... are there any that look like good ole sealed beams?

 

Do your original headlight shells accept 7" sealed beams? I think that is what should be in there since Ford went to sealed beams in 1940. My '47 COE had sealed beams. Use some good high quality halogen 7" sealed beams like these SilverStar H6024 sealed beams. I used halogens like these in my Guide 682 headlights on my '32 roadster and they were very bright. So bright the guys I ran with, hated it when I was driving behind them.

https://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-SilverStar-Headlight-Performance-Replacement/dp/B000COCTWG

If your shells are the Ford bulb type reflectors, I would adapt sealed beams or get some Guide 682's with the turn signals on top. You can find originals or repops on Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124893607702?hash=item1d143d3716:g:C3oAAOSws2NhOz7y

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363280322842?hash=item549531d11a:g:wgkAAOSwG7xgGbIk

 

yeah, they are definitely sealed beams, I think they are 7". I'll look at the brand I stuck in there... On '41s there are small turn signals under each bucket...

 

well, lookee there... they are Sylvanias, but not Halogen 6024s. I prolly thought a headlight was a headlight when I installed them 7 years ago... I bought a pair of H6024s, now I'm a little torn about installing them cuz I really should be taking the truck apart now if I stand any chance to make my pain paint booth reservation Oct 31st... (And fixing all the little***** I have left to do)....

thanks for the lighting tip! Coincidentally, 24 is the last 2 digits of the part and also the price.....

 

Maybe you should try them out to see if they fit your needs. It should only take an hour to install them both at most. Or just put one in for comparison. If you don't like them, then you can get them returned since they are pretty expensive. You could also try regular halogens that are a lot cheaper than the top of the line SilverStars to see if they are worth the extra money.

 

well, when you put it that way.... If the forecast for tomorrow night is clear I may do just that... We'd like to get back to Marty's driving range for their last cruise night of the year...

 

Dragged out the welder to fix a few things I still needed to address before paint. I got it done, but also was reminded how inconsistent I am with the damn thing.... I ain't no Blue!

Glove box moved to the right courtesy of Barry's donor cowl.



A pillar patches...

 

Glove box installed... extra points if you know what the glove box cover came from..... BTW: If someone needs a stock 1941 glove box door, I have one in respectable shape that I won't be using....

 

next up, door hinge where the farmer welded the hinge to the sheet metal... My "skim" of bondo didn't survive all the torque... I plan to disconnect the sheet metal from the hinge somehow.... ideas??

 

All my guesses on the glove box door, I've shot down with google image searches...
mid 60s-70s c10 or f100 versions didn't seem correct.

As far as separating the door skin from the hinge, I'd think trying to surgically shear it away with a sharp cold chisel and deftly cautious strikes as close to the weld as is practical? Tough to guess without laying eyes on it.
JML

 

1955 CJ-5 glove box door....
On a completely different note... Bought my niece a ticket to drive a Ferrari on a rally course... She had fun. They also offered ride alongs with pro drivers on the 1.7 mile road course... I'm the****hole with my arm out the window at 140+ on the back straight... super fun...

 

39 bolts removed freeing the sleeper from the cab, Monday pieces start going to the paint shop...

 

Sleeper off for paint using the 2 post lift... some trickery was involved.. Obviously, I had done it before cuz there are pics in this thread to prove it... But I had to remove one of the lift's sliding arms to get enough clearance. then I remembered that at some point in the past I moved one of the lift posts 6" closer to the other one cuz of floor cracking... I bet it was after I last pulled the sleeper using it...

 

I'm thinking about*****canning the third tan color and going with just blue and white. The body line would be white instead of tan... reasons... 1) tan on the single body line beside the grill will accentuate the not-so-great fit of the grill to cowl area. White grill and body line will hide it (i think).. 2) Just picking out the paint colors the three colors seem to get busy... I wonder if it will be too busy on the truck also...

 

I began grinding on the lower "chrome" plate on the grill that has the engine crank hole. I planned on just grinding down the significant pits in preparation for paint... Look what I found instead after a little sanding then polishing... What is this cast nickel??

 

Cast nickel would be way to expensive, probably zinc-aluminum alloy.
Also known as Zamak

 

You may be spot on, Steve! A magnet does not stick to it...

The sleeper is at the paint shop now, the rest of the removable parts go tomorrow then the cab, bed and chassis later in the week. I already have separation anxiety!

 

Dropped off all the removable parts yesterday... They want the remaining stripped cab, bed and chassis in 2 weeks.... Don't think that I wasn't completely anxious leaving panels that took me hours, days or WEEKS to build (EACH!) in someone else's hands....

 

thinking about making the gauge cluster more '59 Impala-ish... I don't hate it, but I'm not crazy about it either...



Of course, if I had a big budget and wanted it to look stock, there's this....


https://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/-p...geCTriionT5ELUxBQO-nbE5TR2Zq6obIaAuAlEALw_wcB