Wow, Neal! An inventive and cool solution for the age old problem of butchered top inserts. I'm saving this one for sure!
My friend Joe came over today to help on the front crossmember repair. He's done a few, so I let him take the lead. He got right at it, cutting out the damaged section with a plasma. Here's the old and the new Good thing we are replacing, as the old crossmember was really bad underneath New piece clamped in place And welded and ground. It ended up at about 1" drop, so that will help the stance. I am looking forward to getting the front end back from powder coated, so I can get it back together and down on the ground.
I fit a set of early Model A square top u-bolts and cut down upper plate, along with a 32-34 lower plate. First step was to drill the two locating holes for the upper plate. Then make some 1-3/4 wide spring spacers for the bottom golf the spring pack. I used some 1/4x2 flat bar and took an 1/8" off each side in the mill Being that we kept the back portion of the original 32 crossmember in tact, the u-bolt holes needed to be enlarged to allow the lower plate to go up an inch further than stock. And a stock V8 radiator clears the u-bolts and upper plate with about 3/8" clearance.
Great updates/progress! when you made the curves in the new roof pieces how did you bring it around the form/corner? That stuff can be pretty touchy so I image heat and pull the long end around compared to any sort of hammer work.
I annealed about 6" sections where the bends needed to be, then just bent the molding by hand. I had left about 12" extra to use as a lever. One bent really flat. The second bend had a twist to it, but I was able to use a plastic shot hammer and tap it back flat, hammering only on the top of the electrical cord I had stood vertically in the channel. I watched these 2 videos to get an idea of what I needed to do. He talks about annealing at about the 6 minute mark, so then I watched another video just about annealing aluminum. I used the Sharpie and Oxy/Acetylene torch method
Worked on the front end upgrade project this weekend. Primed and painted the front crossmember as well as the original 41 Lincoln backing plates and "pancake" drums...plus a few small pieces. I blasted the insides of the drums, painted them with cast iron paint and then turned them. They were standard size, but had a few grooves and cleaned up at .030" over. I had most of the other parts gloss black powder coated. This pile made it almost like a big model kit. Assembly started pretty smoothly. We slid the frontend under the car and let the weight down on it. I put a 7 leaf reverse eye spring in, as I've used that combination several times before, but this one seems to to be a little too de-arched, so I'm gonna add 2 more leaves in and try that. I ended up with 9 leaves in the front of my 5w, so hopefully that gives me a reasonable amount of travel Until next time...
You ever think about using the stock rubber bumper in the spring clamp? I want to dearch my sedan’s spring a bit but the axle will be getting close to the clamp. The bumper would prevent hard smacks.
I will use the rubber bumper in the lower spring plate, and have in my other cars. This was just mocked up in the last pic, as I knew it needed to come back apart to add more leaves to the spring.
When I opened this thread I thought "ugh, who's bumping a 13 year old thread". Always nice when it's the OP bumping it up with some cool updates.
I didn't do very well taking pictures today. I had to travel several hours this morning to pick up a batch of freshly machined steering boxes. When I got back I started sorting out pieces to finish the frontend. First up were the wheel bearings. I was fortunate to have a full set of Ford script bearings. Little details like this make my day Then I got busy working.... And I ended the day here. The extra two spring leaves that I added to the pack were just what it needed. Still low, but with just enough suspension travel to make for a good driver.
Got the frontend buttoned up today. Shocks attached and everything is snugged up and cotter pinned. Now time to put the lower splash apron, grille shell and hood back on. Then get back on the roof project. Need to drill all the holes and fit the tack strip. Then pull it back off, paint it and then get it to my friends upholstery shop to install the new top material
They are new Rotoshim shocks from England. I have a full set on my 5W and was happy with them, so decided to buy a pair for the front of this car. https://rotoshim.com/technical
Do you ever screw up on a project and don't tell anyone about it until after you fix it? Well I've got one of those stories. When i ripped the old top material off and was pulling the front suspension out, I thought it would be a good idea to protect the paint with some of that blue collision repair protective film Everything seemed good until I started pulling it off the roof. The 50 year old lacquer didn't quite agree that that was a good idea. I was pretty disgusted. Since it was lacquer, I turned to my trusty friends at Autozone and picked up some Duplicolor black lacquer in a rattle can. A little 1500 grit wet sanding several coats did pretty well. And after some compound and polish i think it looks alright. Its not perfect, but it fits right in with the rest of the 50 year old paint, So I'm happy with the repair. I just didn't want to fess up to my mistake until I fixed it. But figured I better warn others before they do the same. Im hoping to fit and paint the tack strip tomorrow, then off to the trim shop.
It looks perfect, Neal! Duplicolor spray cans can and do actually work, considering in the old days they used paint these old cars with mom's vacuum cleaner! I had the same experience as you with the paint coming off the primer, but on my late model white '99 Chevy pickup, like they all did some years ago. So I too turned to Autozone and Duplicolor spray cans. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I tried it. I used their white primer to build it back up, then lots of sanding, then some coats of their color matched white, lots more sanding, and a few coats of their clear coat to blend into the original clear coated paint, with more sanding and then a good buff with compound. I was actually shocked I pulled it off and couldn't even see the repair. Never be afraid to try Duplicolor lacquer, it actually might work, especially in a non-metallic color!
Spent the entire day polishing. I paid to have the car detailed before I took it to the Roc 2 years ago. I see why he charged what he did. I'm worn out. Almost Roc ready again.
I got the tack strip fit to the car, then pulled back off to prime and paint And got the headlights wired and final assembly done on those. They are original BLC 682-C's, but with new brass tags Hopefully I can get it in the trim shop this week.
I dropped the car off with Tom Sewell yesterday morning for the new top insert. And picked the car up at the end of the day, with a new top. I did need to finish screwing down the tack strip and putting in the rubber cord It was too late last night to get pics, so I rolled it outside this morning before heading to work This phase of improvements is almost a wrap. Here's the list: Repaired/replaced broken front crossmember with 1" drop center grafted into original 32 crossmember, retaining the stock motor mounts. Replaced dropped Mosel A axle with dropped 32 axle Replaced leaning original spring with aftermarket reverse eye spring. Went from 7 leaves to 9 to gain a little suspension travel. With the dropped crossmember the car still sits a bit lower. Went from 40 Ford brakes and drums to original 41 Lincoln backing plates and drums. The 32 axle was a little wider drop than the Model A, but the pancake style drums narrowed up the track width, centering the front tires nicely in the fenders. Dropped the tierod for crank pulley clearance due to the dropped crossmember Upgraded to new Rotoshim shock absorbers with shorty shock links Powdercoated frontend plus bumper irons (went to shorty rear irons) and speader bar. Removed horn, front license plate/bracket, cowl lights and greyhound radiator cap. Changed headlights from chrome BLC 903's to painted 682-C's. Wheels changed from maroon Kelsey Hayes wires to 40-48 Ford disc wheels, powder coated black with 47/48 Merc hubcaps. 16x4 front, 16x4-1/2 rear, still with 5.50 and 7.50 Firestones. New top insert, replacing the old Hide-em trim strip with an aluminum tack strip bent to fit. That's about it for this round, but this car has been a continuous improvement project over the last 13 years, so I'm sure there will be more changes in the future. They are never done!
The Jalopy Journal
