Great work. There's something so appealing about simple, no nonsense Hot Rod build-ups. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing your photos. CM
Paul, you make it look so easy.....I wonder why mine is still a pile of parts! Keep up the great work, I'm looking forward to the rest of the build.
HOW DID I MISS THIS THREAD??????? Great workmanship a parts combo. My Lyndwood rail had a La Salle side shift trans, SBC to La Salle to '46 Ford rear. Back in the day the Lyndwood shop offered the modified parts to do this. Are there rebuild kits for these tramsmissions? It has been years since I took mine apart and in the back of my head I keep thinging a needle bearing went lost.
27 T roadsters are one of my fav cars and yours looks awesome so far. cant wait to see how it turns out.
yesterday I started repairing the panel below the deck lid a 4" grinder with 1/16" disc and a sharp wood chisel got it all apart pretty quick I was hoping to reuse the inner bracing but it was for the most part too far gone to save so I ripped some new pieces of channel from some square, and heated, hammered and welded some reasonable facsimilies of the original pieces clamp, check, tack, check, spot, check, weld, check... ground the spot welds flush, washed it all down with phosphoric acid (Ospho brand metal prep) inside and out and there ya have it.
Holy cow, Paul. Seriously... I'd like a "reasonalble facsimile" of a decklid skeleton to put a skin on.
Hey Paul, Was that a Howell's lower decklid panel? Mine seems to be a little too "tall". If you can see the bottom edge, it sticks out about 3/4 inch too far. Can you do me a favour and measure fold to fold on yours? I'm going to have to refold mine but just curious what other panels measure at.
Mine appears to need some adjustment as well. It's not too tall, it's too wide! As usual, stellar work Paul.
I don't know who made the skin, I picked it up a one of the local swap meets from a small time vendor but height and width were very close to the original measuring from the top; 1/2" to the bottom of the step and 11-1/16" overall from top flange to the bottom flange width is 35-1/4" out to out. I wasn't too worried about height, as I figured I would have to make my own deck lid. ...while we are at it, what exactly does the deck lid measure? stock or repop..
started repairing the upper deck panel, the bottom edge of the skin looked pretty bad, rusted through in one spot, so I removed about 2-1/2" of the skin and it exposed more serious rust in the inner bracing not as bad as the lower panel thankfully, but still enough to need some removal and replacement I cut just the outer flange of the lower bracing off and replaced it with new steel, cut a strip of sheet metal to replace the skin and started working the edge over trimmed, folded and clamped it in place tacked it every couple inches and checked it for fit, looks good enough to finish, that should happen tomorrow.. it's late and I need to sleep
Paul, why the '50 merc axles? What are the advantages of them, and are they worth the hassle of modifying the axle tubes?
"drop in" style axles, much heavier than the stock '40 Ford they also come with self energizing brakes and 5 on 5-1/2" bolt pattern. it's all old school stuff, you can do the same thing a lot easier with later parts. you could ask why early Olds motor, or why '37 LaSalle transmission, answer would be about the same, 'cause I'm a glutton for punishment
today, ground all tack welds inside and out flush gently bump to shape starting at one end work towards the other end tacking between tacks repeat until there is about 1/4" between tacks then weld those gaps alternating every couple inches with the welder on the lowest setting to avoid concentrating too much heat in one spot grind all that flush inside and out again, gently work it back into shape finish welding the folded ends and go over the whole outside with a 3M disc on the little grinder to remove the bulk of the surface rust, wash it all down inside and out with more Ospho and clamp in place with vice grips to check fit there is one more piece of the puzzle ready for bolt up, there are a few very minor wrinkles that will be easier to work out once it is bolted together instead of chasing it all over the work bench
The Jalopy Journal
