Projects 1939 Ford Convertible Sedan Resurrection

Nice job, as usual.

 

Yes I'm still working on this thing. Just moving kind of slow through the summer months and then fall came and I had to get some home projects done before the snow fly's. I will attempt to catch up on the projects we have been working on.

I had to take the right front fender off for a cowl modification which we will cover another day.
This exposed the inner fender panel and looked like a good time to finish a modification tothis panel.

This lower cowl brace on my 39 has a bump in it that a 40 Ford does not have. It sticks
out far enough that this aftermarket panel would not lay flat against the frame like it should.

So I cut the panel and bent the panel pieces out and filled the gaps with some scrap
19 gauge steel.


I also modified the bottom bolt hole by changing it to an oval shaped hole. ( not shown).
Fits good now.

 

I keep pecking away at this dash project on days that I don't have too much time to work
on the car. I ran across the Lokar shift position gizmo one day and decided to try my luck at
cutting out the hole in the dash to accommodate it.


Lokar sends this pattern on the instruction sheet. It turned out to be very accurate.

Their is supposed to be a little stainless strip between the gauges attached to the dash
through these two slots on a 39 dash. I would have had to modify that stainless piece to
make it fit between my Classic Instruments gauges. This looked like a good place to put
this indicator. It should be easy to see from the drivers seat without taking my eyes off
the road as long as would if installed next to the shifter on the floor.

I drilled out the two ends, then used my trusty Dremel tool with 1 1/2 cutoff wheel to
cut the sides out. The device fits well and you cannot see any sign of the stainless strip
mounting holes.

Two skinny plates hold it in place from the backside.

 

I like the reversed louvers, always wonder if it makes any difference with air flow, does one way "Scoop" more air than the other?

 

The right front fender need 11 different repairs , some easy a few not so easy. Here's the first one.

Here's a goobered up weld repair. Gotta fix it.




Took quite a few different tools and a lot of test fits to make the patch

Weld penetration was pretty good

Finished.

When test fitting and aligning the fender we decided we would have to modify the fender
brace slot. We had to cut a section off one side to fit the fender braces which made the
hole too wide for the rubber grommet. So we had to add some metal here.



Done, That's all for now. Thanks for watching.

 

Nice job Sam...as usual. Very nice your thread back up and that you're still picking away.

 

The dash mod for the shift indicator is really slick. Piece by piece with the fenders; tedious and necessary. Nice work.

 

X2 Nice Job!

 

Thanks for the positive comments and likes!

More fender stuff

Next on the list of fender repairs. This was an ugly fender repair. Started with a piece of
19 gauge bent over a jig I will show you later.


I still get nervous when cutting a chunk of metal out this car., wondering if I will make
it better or worse.

Again lots of hammering on all sort of surfaces to get the multiple contours of the patch.

Finally ready for clamping.

Welding again with cold air used to cool the area between welds. Here I would make
two or three spot welds and cool the metal to touch before welding again.

Finished

happy with this. Slightly below contour. Just right for that dash of bondo.

 

You can relax and stop thinking about that "making it better or worse" everything you've done has been making it better & better! It's nice to be able to follow along.

 

Definitely better....well done.

 

henry would've frowned...edsel would have been jealous!!

 

Thanks for the positive comments!
More fender stuff:

Most of these fender repair pieces were formed at least in some part on the two jigs
shown here.

real simple but rugged



The flat plate allowed a place to clamp the 19 gauge metal.

A heavy rubber mallet was used for most of the shaping.


This particular piece was shaped for the bottom fender edge. I will show the results later.

This is the place the rock shield attaches to the front fender. You can see the stress crack.

I wanted to fix the crack but also thought it could use some reinforcement so I made this
piece.

After cutting it down some I set about shaping it to match the arch of the fender.
I used this hammer for most of this. Usually beating on it over the round part of my
bench anvil. It took awhile....

I drilled a couple of plug weld holes in the flange. I didn't want to weld on the outside
surface of the fender so I hope this will do . I did weld along the inside edge .

This bolt clamped the piece in quite firmly for welding.



Finished. I will apply sea sealer to the inside during the body work stage.

Hopefully I will get back here with some more updates soon. Your likes and comments are encouraging and I appreciate them.

 

your work is amazing I enjoy your thread just from the learning aspect Thank you

 

Thanks nor6304 I have been around long enough to know there are many ways to accomplish the same goal when it comes to fabrication. My hope is that in sharing the tools and methods methods we have used to accomplish a task can help some other hobbyist to accomplish a task he might not otherwise try to do himself.

Again, more fender stuff to share.


This doubler piece that helps to support the running board at the back of the fender
was in pretty bad shape and I didn't want to leave the rust that had formed in
between the the fender support there to continue it's rusting process after the car was
painted.

So I made a template or pattern with masking paper. Just rubbed a pencil along the edges.

It didn't come off easily. It's amazing how hard a small pinch weld can be to remove.

I cleaned up the fender as well as I could and then painted the surface with rust converter.
I then masked the area off and sprayed some primer on the area. I put masking tape over
the spots that I planned to plug weld. The back side of the piece also was primed.


The pieces pretty simple to form. 16 gauge was used for this.



A few 5/16" bolts were used to clamp the piece for welding.

Not too pretty but it doesn't have to be. It should do the job.It is strong but not so strong
that it won't allow the fender to form to the running board shape. I say that because my
40's front fenders have always had to change shape a little to match up to the running
board shape. I will put seam sealer on this after primer to help keep it dry.

Hey, two posts in a day! Well I am off to share lie's with my Thursday Night Garage Assoiation
Buddies for a few hours!

 

I really appreciate your posts....but it is aggravating my PTSD.

 

Very nice work as usual. Enjoying all the pics.

 

I am assuming you are referring to your recent saves of some worse fenders than this one. I can see why you would have some unpleasant memories of that part of your project. I hope you have a a coping mechanism for that!

Thanks Bandit! I hope you are all healed up and back on that hood project. I am back on my hood and cowl fit problems again today after avoiding it for a week or so.

But in the mean time we still have a couple of fender patches to cover today.

These were little rip repairs. I wanted to be able to use the carriage bolts for the inner fender attachment so these stressed out square holes had to be fixed.





Small patch. I put some copper behind the flange for clamping and to help prevent
a blowout.

Same method here. That nice surgical clamdoesn't like welding heat.... I little grinder work
Separated it from the weld and it is still usable

Done, square holes yeah!




So this next patch was supposed go up the fender about 2 1/2" so that's why we went to
the trouble to make this jig.

The reason for the two layers of metal is that the first piece we shaped had the right contours
but was too narrow, so we tacked that first piece to the jig and formed a second one
over it. That worked okay bringing the dimension into tolerance.



It actually came out pretty nice after a lot of hammering and some shrinker strecher work.

BUT... I chickened out.I was concerned about warpage of this very thin piece and decided
to cut down the first piece we shaped and use it for a backing for the surface weld. I really
hesitated about sharing technique with you since I think it was not the type of repair I would
usually do. But since I am not Ron Covell or Cornfield Customs this will have to do.


You can see how rusted out this bottom edge was. Some good reason I didn't take any
pictures of the weld before grinding it down. This technique actually worked really well.

The edge is sound now and again I will use body sealer to protect the seams.

Finally the last piece Sorry fro the fuzzy pictures. Dang camera doesn't take macro pics..



Here's the patch. It was bent to 90 degrees in the break and the the shrinker was used
to get the rounded contour dialed in. The four holes by the plies were used to plug weld
this piece to the running board support that was installed earlier.

Looks good as new.

Arrow points to the plug weld sight.

So this fender is done. The left side fender looks like it will not need anywhere near as much work as this one did. Doing this one made me glad I splurged and bought brand new rears from carpenter last year. I'm back on the dreaded hood to cowl fit project now. Some progress is being made on this, but it is slow and I seem to find other little projects to do rather than the hood. Even leaf raking looks good to me at the moment.


If you are wondering what my buddy Don has been doing in between summer camping trips I can tell you he has been working on the stainless window trim project. The guys a jewel! He has suffered through the process of sanding and now buffing these window frames for months.

If you have ever tried this stainless polishing you know how much work it is. Even after
countless hours of sanding with varying grits of sand paper he still has to go back and sand
some more after the initial buffing because you just cannot buff those sanding scratches out.
you have to get down to 2000 or 3000 grit before buffing. He is past halfway on the buffing
now. Should be done in another week or so.....

 

Great work again Sam! It's interesting how we tend to put off those projects we know are going to be a challenge (like your hood)...and then one day (I often find while mulling it over in my sleep), the plan of attack becomes clear.

 

More great work, all these small bits take a lot of time.
I decided to polish the brushed spokes on my stainless Bell style wheel, that was a lot of work, stainless is a hard material, and you're right, those scratches were a nightmare!

 

Thanks Tim! I am a champion procrastinator! I usually come up with the Ideas solve a long standing and put off project while in the shower. I got back on the cowl and hood fit problem today. I'm hoping for a less messy solution on this side of the car. Learned much of what not to do on the first side.

Thanks Neil ! We did all of the stainless on Don's Mercury a few years ago and seemed to take forever. I am happy to see him near the end. He had one close call ( slipping off the wheel and hitting the clamping nut on the buffer) but was able to sand out the scratches from that After that close call he installed pipe insulation on the buffer shafts and clamping nuts. So far that is working well.


So here is one of those small bits Neil was talking about. I need some lights in the dash for turn signals and high beam indication. I just don't like most of the aftermarket options for these applications. These little plastic led lights just don't look good in a nicely detailed dash and I don't like the size of the the larger ones with chrome bezels. The high beam indicator in my 40 coupe is blindingly bright.

So I hatched this plan. I tried it first on a flat piece of 19 ga. metal using some clay to mock it up.



It actually took 4 tries to get the holes correct.



So how should I get the holes drilled in the dash which tapers down in the instrument
area straight. I decided to measure off of the bottom of the gauge holes. I cut some clear
plastic as square as possible and cut as square as possible in the desired dimension and
drew a line I spaced the lights at 5/8" on center.

I think the drill bit was 1/64" The lights are set into the plastic so that the light bulbs
rest in the drilled socket on the back side of the dash.

The ABS plastic light holder was countersunk to hold the light at the desired depth.
I also counter sunk the plastic to give enough room for the flat head screws depth.

5 minute epoxy was used to secure the #6 32 screws to the dash.

This assembly is pretty light so I think the epoxy will hold it okay. The assembly will
hopefully be easy to service. I plan to change the amber lights out for green during
final assembly. I tested the lights during light and dark. They were adequate in the
brightly lit shop and were not too bright with the shop lights off. So if the paint and
wood graining does not plug up the holes It should work fine.

 

Well I guess you guys silently voted on that last dash post. I still hope it works out . I may open those holes up a little if the primer phase of the project shows that the holes are getting filled up with paint. After all it will get primer,filler primer base coat and then wood grain finish.

I was talking with Doug Pierce today, and we were talking about the absence of the X bracing in the sedan convertibles that this vintage of Ford closed car would usually have. So I thought I would share this project tonight that covers this issue.

This 3/4"x3" piece of hardwood is what Ford used in the area that they normally put
some form of X member support in a closed car. I didn't think that was enough support.
I decided to make a steel cross bar to increase seat back support and hopefully make the
rear of the car a little more rigid.

I started out with some 16 gauge flat stock and bent some 90's

Clamped it to a sturdy wood table.

Started tacking. I noticed early on that I should have measured more than twice. I cut
the metal 8 inches short for some reason!!! So I had to add that 8 inches. Instead of just
adding 8 inches to one end, Don suggested I stagger the long pieces and just add one
patch piece to each end. this plan worked well.

Welding took awhile. I moved around a lot and used air to cool the metal between welds.
I had a little warping after completing one side but then I rolled the piece over welded
the other side. This straightened it back out.


Metal finished it.

Got to use the lathe to make some threaded bungs.

These bung spanned the space between the fabricatd tube walls so that the walls would
not be crushed when bolting it to the car.







I made some brackets to connect the new brace to the inner fender tubs. The wood brace
had just one bolt connecting it to the body. One of the body braces was fatigue cracked
pretty bad. I think I showed that repair quite awhile ago. It would probably be wise to add
some X braces that go from the bottom of this horizontal brace to the floor. I am still
thinking about it.

 

Yes.

 

I enjoy following your project and like your problem solving approach to issues that pop up. Nice work as always.

 

"I should have measured more than twice. I cut the metal 8 inches short for some reason!!! So I had to add that 8 inches. Instead of just adding 8 inches to one end..."

The metalworker's mantra...measure once, cut twice, learn to weld.

Nice work as usual...I agree, adding steel will help to stiffen things up.

 

Thought it over and made some changes.

Thank You! Thanks for following.

Well I did better on the replacement of that Brace Tim, see below.


I decided that the support beam I built just wasn't going to cut it . So I did a do over.
I had originally purchased this 3"x1" 1.25 was tubing for this purpose but decided it was
too thick both in the 1" dimension and wall thickness. That's why I made the other one
from 16ga. I must admit that I thought the first one was too weak for the job after grinding
down the edges. I discovered that I had not achieved enough penetration in the weld. joints.

Rather than weld the beam again I decided to use this piece. After all it is only 1/4" thicker than
the wood beam it replaces. I think I can afford that. I found this 1 1/2" x 1" rectangular tubing
in my shed and thought it should work well for some cross bracing. The most challenging
part of this project was getting the angle correct at the foot of the brace. Patience prevailed
though I got it done without wasting any material for a change.

I think this will be stout enough. I may just weld this thing in at some point, but for
now it is just a bolted in addition. I tapped the tubing for 5/16 x 24 bolts this time rather
than making the welded in bungs as i did on the thinner tubing There is no wag
left in this old cars tail anymore.

 

Very nice ,Sam. I had a hunch that you couldn't live with first iteration. I'll bet the rear doors shut like a refrigerator . Solid as a rock.

 

Nice work Sam...look at it this way, you made a very solid 16 gauge template.

That will no doubt greatly improve the strength of the rear portion of your convert.

 

You were right! The doors do shut very well thank you. I hope they make that satisfying clunk sound after the insulation is installed.

Yes, I did use the first one for a template which sped up the process quite a bit.Happily the rear quarter does not wiggle.

Here is a catch up post: I received two sets of removable B pillars with this car. Turns out neither was a good fit for the car. So we spent considerable time combing and modifying parts to make something we could use.


The base of the pillars are made of hard wood.

This dremel tool came in handy for modifying the wood to receive the cast steel and cast
bronze fittings in their new locations.


I had to use the wood dowel trick again as the mounting holes were off a little
after loctaion modifications.



The bottom of the steel cover had to be notched for the base fitting.

The Top of the sheet metal had to be notched in a more central location. The arrow
marks the original location.

19 gauge steel was cut and held in place with froceps

I like to leave patches a little long to help absorb welding heat.





Finished

The outside metal cover did not require any modification. These covers were attached
with 1/2 tacks. we will attach them after paining. The top and bottom seals are still
available from Dennis Carpenter. The fit well and are supple.

During this B pillar project we spent a lot of time adjusting and fine tuning the window
spacing.

The side seals were temporarily mounted to determine if they would function correctly with
the B pillar location and that the top seals would make enough contact for a reasonable
seal and or not be too tight. Fortunately the seal materials both channel and rubber are still available.

It looks like a simple job but it ate up a lot of time. we think the time was well spent though
and should pay off during final assembly.

A side note: A gripe really:
I took some side glass in to the local glass shop a couple of weeks ago. I figured it would be a simple job for them. After a few days they called me down to talk. They had cut the glass with too thick of glass. Now they had the original glass templates to measure...... I refused to use the oversized glass as I want to use the original type seal ( which I also took a sample of when I left the templates off. I am now waiting for them to get the proper product
in and cut some more windows. We'll see.

Merry Christmas to you all!

 

Been following this project of yours from the start, you are really doing this car justice.