Projects 1939 Ford Convertible Sedan Resurrection

My breathing air compressor looks just like yours. Mine is SAS brand also seen the same sold under the Allegro brand. Mine is over 25 years old but works fine was able to get new filter. The full face mask was SAS got through Amazon.

 

Wow that three months went by fast!

After finishing the body we masked off the wheel tubs and sprayed some Upol Raptor
liner.

We chose to spray it on with the same gun we are using for everything else (except clear)
(De Vilbiss FLG3) Which was sold to me as a primer gun. We have three different size
nozzles for it though and Don seems to favor using it.

We used brushes and rollers to pain the tool box.

It's finally ready for the move to the clean shop. (Early April I think)

The removable wall idea worked well. I removed a few screws, put some handles out of the
junk hardware boxes and it slid easily to the right giving us plenty of room to move the body out.

The move is only about 40 feet but we knew better than to try to roll this contraption
across the loose gravel. So we winched it on the trailer for the move. it was good to see
the body out in the natural light.

We decided to do some small stuff next.

I wanted to get the dash pieces ready for the woodgraining project. I was supposed to
deliver them to the artist a couple of weeks ago at a swap meet in Monroe WA. That
didn't work out so I will have to deliver them to his home in the next week or two.

I have some more stuff to share so I'll try get back here soon.

 

Man, that looks great! I’m sure it feels good to have it to that point.

 

I am liking the progress. It looks like you are doing a first-rate job.

 

Fantastic work Sam and Don!...You guys are getting dangerously close to the final assembly, which is the really fun part of seeing a long term project come together (literally).

 

Wow, looks amazing!

 

Great progress/build!

 

I've been wondering how you're doing. It looks like big steps now. I'm impressed
by the amount of work you guys do so that you can get stuff done on the car. It's looking great.

 

Thank you! Yes this body work has been a tedious project , but every time we get some more parts painted and set aside for assembly we are more inspired to not give up.

Thanks Bandit! Slow but sure....

Thanks Tim! I don't think it is time to hang up the danger signs yet but I am still hoping to drive this before this winter.

Thanks Dan!

Thank You!

Thanks Joel! It is very SLOW but steady progress.

Back to the project.

After doing the small pieces I decided to take a look at my grill. I had paid a bunch of money for this grill about a decade ago. It looked pretty nice when I bought it so I paid way too much for it as usual.

I decided I better see if the center trim would fit. Of course it did not.

All three of the stainless trim sockets were flattened and or messed up in one way or another.



I decided to make little dolly to help recover the proper shape for the center slot.



It did help. we used a little heat and various tools to get the slot usable.

Eventually we got the trim piece to lay down to contour most of the way.

This last bit at the top is easily pushed into place.

The two side piece sockets were almost flattened. We eventually were able to get them
to contour also.

We noticed some rust peaking out from behind that green primer. So sanding some primer off
in a few places we decided that some previous owner had laid down some green primer over a
light surface rust. You can just guess how fun it is to sand blast one of these stamped steel grills !!!
I did do one sand blasting session and managed to get the front of the grill blasted clean. I ran out
of 80 grit sand for the pot blaster though ( thankfully). Bought some more sand. Those hundred pound
bags are too heavy for this old man to lift theses days. Well the next time the weather, my physical
condition and ambition align I will try to get the inside blasted clean.
I don't look forward to trying to spray painting this thing.

Thanks for watching and commenting, it is encouraging!

 

Holy smokes, Sam. This think is gonna be killer!

 

first i've heard of 80 grit...thought 60 was the fine-get the kid at the yard to load them and put garbage can under the tailgate to take 1/2 when you get started blasting

 

What holds the narrow stainless trim to the side grill bars? I see some holes in the grill bars.

 

Hi Joel! Well the bottom appears to be held in the socket we repaired and then the clips shown below apear to insert into the holes in the grill.

Hello Patsurf,
Well, we have tried other grits but this 80 grit seems to work well in the little HF pot blaster. It leaves a good surface to start the body work/paint projects. I did get the young fella at the yard to load it. When I got home I rolled it off the tail gate and into a small yard wagon that has a dump function. Darn bag about flattened the tires on that thing. I will cut it open and shovel the sand out of the wagon when I am ready finish the sand blasting in the next week or so. I need to get that done before it gets too warm around here.

Sam

 

It's door time!

2K primer

I wanted to run the license plate light and third brake lights through the X bracing so
the Ford wire tabs can be eliminated. I had quite a time getting the wire through the
brace but it's done. Due to poor planning I had to carefully cut off these tabs that I
assume ford used to secure the wire after the primer was applied.




We used single stage gloss black on the inside of the doors.

Painting the back sides and jambs independent of the outside was probably not the best
plan. We did end up with a tape line on the back side edges that we had to sand and buff.
That was not fun and some paint touch up was required.












Base Coat

Clear coat. The paint came out pretty smooth but we have been cutting and buffing for
a couple of weeks now. We cut and buffed the back side edges first after replacing all of
the plastic masking. The plastic starts peeling paint after a couple of days. This really mess
with the cut and buff process.
All of this stuff is now cut to 3000 grit and looks pretty good. We plan to try some buffing
today. I hope to post some shiny door panel pictures tonight.

 

Well none of these pictures captures the luster of the shiny black paint or the smiles
of the builders. Don worked all afternoon on this trunk. It just had to be black.......

We still see some areas that need a little more attention and will tackle them tomorrow.

 

Wow. I guess I hadn’t looked at your thread for a while. Great progress. Looks like it should be on the road in no time. Hope to see it in Oct.

 

Hi John, Well progress has been painfully slow over the summer especially. But we are making progress. Getting on the road in no time is not going to happen. We are still struggling through the final body work and paint phase. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I had to bring these doors into the clean shop so I could use my car trailer for something
else. It is kind of encouraging to see them as we walk to and from the paint booth.


I hope we don't ding them up before we get them installed.

The rear fenders are ready for pant. We put the fenders on this jig made from a steel saw horse
and some square tube. I t worked okay but Don wanted more space between the fenders so
he could get the spray gun in behind the fender so he could paint the rounded edge of the
wheel well.

So we rebuilt the jig to spread them out about 12" This should work well.

It took us a few attempts to get the hood as smooth as the customer (me) was happy with
the surface finish. This pic of the hood was taken after the second coat of high
build primer was block sanded off.

This hood was almost as rough as the rest of the car. Much patience was needed to get it right.
The black paint will reveal all. I feel like block sanding is like putting developing a photo.
I always have this great anticipation when I start sanding hoping that it will all be gray this time....

With the top of the hood ready for paint we moved on to the inside of the hood today. There
is some disagreement between Don and I about how smooth this inside needs to be. But the
customer is always right. Right? We Applied 2k and then a few coats of high build. It will get as
much attention as is needed to make it presentable. I can't back off now on the quality of build
I am trying to achieve.

After years of indecision I have decided to try black wall tires with Gold wheels. I figure
I will be busy enough trying to keep the black paint looking presentable. I don't need to
be cleaning white walls too. The sample wheel was a 14" wheel that I cannot use with
my new larger brake package. I think the beauty rings and hub caps provide enough bling.

I painted the new Gennie 15x6 wheels with Duplicolor DE 1604 Universal Gold.
I cleared them with some Rust-oleum 2X Ultracover Gloss Clear. In this picture the
wheels appear to be different shades. I just think it is the way the light shines on them.
I just received the rear wheels yesterday. They are 15x 7's. I bought two for the car and
two for the Mullins trailer I will occasionally pull behind this tub.

That's it for today. Don and I are traveling over the mountain passes to Grahm WA. tomorrow, to pick up
my newly wood grained dash and garnish moldings . Hopefully they turnout as well as the wood artist's sample pieces.

 

Great progress Sam!! I know what you mean by hoping it's all one color after the block sanding is done!

 

Looking great! I really like the gold wheels.

 

Thanks Tim!

Thank You! And thank you for the like on the Gold wheels!

Well it's been an interesting week. Block sanding went well on the top and bottom side
of the hood. We painted the underside of the hood with base and clear today. Seems like
painting the underside of the hood has a high difficulty level. There are a lot of multi- contoured
surfaces that need to be covered. Way too many runs are showing. We will have to see if we can do
a good job of sanding those runs before we cut and buff it.

We were going to paint the rear fenders today, but ended up with runs in the sealer primer, so we
had to scratch that project for today. This is disappointing to say the least. But we are amateurs,
and set backs are expected.

I mentioned that my wood grained stuff was ready to pick up last week, so we made the
trek across two mountain passes to pick up the parts last Wednesday. I had hoped to be
gushing with excitement to you guys about how well this came out. I have been looking
at this stuff for a few days now trying to decide if I can live with it the way it is, try and
correct it myself or take it back to the artist for a re-due. What I am dealing with is a lot of
bubbles in the clear coat and a less than shinny /smooth cut and buff of the clear.
The artist has been doing this for 60 plus years. I had high hopes....... On the bright/positive
side I like the look of the gauges in the dash. I noticed when I was putting these gauges in
the dash that I bought them 17 years ago. It truly is a long term project.

The trip to get the dash and garnish was about 400 miles round trip. We took some time to visit the Lemay Museum just south of Tacoma Washington. Not the big new Museum but he one that is located in an old Military academy. The museum had hundreds of cars and memorabilia. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend your taking the time to see it. We spent about three hours there. The old academy grounds are beautifully maintained too.

So 400 miles of driving across mountain passes with lots of turns and plenty of traffic plus several miles of urban ( dangerous) traffic without a close call.... One half block from my driveway some Amazon driver backs out of a driveway from behind an RV right in front of me. Thankfully I was not speeding and was paying attention. Some spirited braking saved me from wrecking my wife's treasured Durango within 200 feet of my driveway.

That's all for today. Thanks for watching and commenting

 

I met one of the caretakers of that facility at Good Guys last year. Nice guy, I need to get up there and have him show me around.

Enjoying your build, great body work doesn't come easy. Nice work.

 

Excellent job!!

 

If it makes you feel any better, I think the dash looks absolutely great in the picture.

 

Thank you! The jury is still out on the wood grain issue but most people tell me it's fine....
We got some more painting done. This is some of Don's best work with the spray gun! We think we are still getting too much clear atomized in the air. The booth filtration system works fine for all of the other paint products we use , but the high volume of clear coming out of the gun fills the air and empties my wallet.

Those brand new rear fenders didn't require much work but the hood was definitely
a challenge. These parts should cut and buff pretty quick after we let the paint season
awhile. Just front fenders and the grill left to paint now.

 

I just noticed I started this thread 5 years ago! thank you all for hanging in there to watch this slow moving project!

 

Just fantastic workmanship. I really like the black with gold wheels look I think.

 

Well, iffen it's any consolation, 1st glance at those doors made me smile, & feel good. .
Can't help on the dash, as I probably couldn't tell w/o an in-person look-see. I do know a guy(from various SDC meets, got to see his stuff up close) who does really nice woodgraining work, if things don't work out to your satisfaction.
Thinner wallet = easier & more comfortable seat-time??? . Sometimes you gotta search for the silver lining(s) hard. .
Marcus...

 

Oh man Sam (and Don)...that is coming along great!! I'm envious on your progress.

 

Really enjoy following along Sam & Don.
Your attention to detail should be appreciated by all. I too think the gold wheels/blackwall combo will make it pop, stay the course.

 

I like your thinner wallet comment Marcus. The next big wallet thinning project is tires. I should have no trouble sitting comfortably on my wallet after that.

Thanks Tim!

Thank you i.rant,

So next up is the front fenders.

I have had this strange rack minus the wood out in the shed for a few years thinking
it might be useful during this phase of the project. These front fenders are very hard to
work on without something like this fixture to support them. So after painting the inside
of the fenders with undercoater we put our thinking caps on and came up with this
fixture. It works great.



Time to make them one color.

After two coats of 2K and a couple more coats of high build we spent a few hours
with some 180 paper and thought we were about ready for some 400 hundred paint
prep and on to color....But..... no!

I decided I should try the Bob Drake head light buckets in and see how the stainless
headlight rims fit.

I am glad I checked. There was a low spot big enough to throw a screw driver though.

We also noticed that there is too much of this to rim showing so she needs an eye lid lift also.

This fender had been worked on quite a bit before I bought it years ago. It was fairly
lumpy already but we worked on it for a couple of days. It was work hardened when
we started and proved impossible (with our limited skills) get the metal to move where
we needed it to.

We tried annealing it but just got worse.

So what to do? I had a couple of 40 fenders in the attic just in case of some unforeseen
incident. This isn't exactly the unforeseen incident I was thinking of though.

Some of you should know that 39 Deluxe fenders are a little different from 40's
between the headlight and the grill. I chose to sacrifice this forty fender to save a 39 fender
My logic is that they are making forty fenders but not 39's

I cut the patch panel large enough to replace all of the lumpy segments of the 39 fender.

I cut the fender out about 1 1/2 inches smaller than the patch panel.

I laid the patch over the fender and initialy just cut out the metal at the top and bottom.
I planned to cut the fender away as I moved down the arc.

That didn't work very well so I ended up cutting all of the metal out from behind the
patch panel and carefully tacked welded the pieces together.

This was a nerve racking process. I tried the hammer welding technique but was impressed
with the results.

Well it's in there. Just a little bondo required.
More on this soon.