Projects 1920 T Roadster Build Thread

Thanks for the kind words and pics Brent
talk to ya soon Bill

 

Thanks, man! Every day I get a little closer. It's strange, I find myself trying to savor this part of the build.

Of course! Bill, the plan is to get it nickle coated. I'll have more pics for you then, too. After talking to Chris from SFSS the plan is to prep it for the platers, leaving the welds. I'll have a bunch of bracketry for the wood that'll get coated in nickle, as well. I've considered doing the exhaust pipe too... but, restraint is key so I'll hit my library of prewar pics and see what I find. It's most likely to stay black.

 

Lookin' good, the intake too!!
Nickel plating sounds like the perfect touch. I think the exhaust would look good plated. Especially if there is not a lot of other bigger parts plated.

 

They'd be the only plated parts with the exception of some pieces for the wood kit (which won't be seen). Everything else is painted black or dark blue, including the engine (black). Hmmm, you've got me thinking.

 

I wont to Nickel the side cover and the timing gear cover and all the water out lets on mine with the ford green paint. In your library of prewar pics see if you can tell when the rich kids started to plate a lot of stuff.

 

nice i will get going like your when i have time

 

this is coming along very nicely.
i reckon a little nickel plating here and there would suit your colour choice very nicely.

 

Gotta second the nickle on the exhaust as well. Cool that your doing nickle instead of chrome too.

 

Like the new avitar Brent.

 

I haven't looked into it too much yet, other than asking around for decent shops and such. I need to see it come together to get an idea of how it'll look.

No time like the present!

Haha, thanks, I'm just glad my own dumb antics weren't caught on film.

Okay... as far as some of the stuff I got done today. The rails are completed that secure the top interior to the body. I used 1/4" steel rod and 1/4"-20 carriage bolts with a groove ground into the head. The original studs I had planned to use didn't work the way I wanted to. They ended up being ground off... poor planning on my part.







The body is now ready for primer, bodywork, paint, etc., finally!

Tomorrow, I plan to get the body and turtle-deck into epoxy primer. The remaining wood is going to be pulled and the body will get a coat of Picklex-20 before paint. I'm going to do some hammer and dollying tonight. We'll see how that goes...





Above is the door gap. This is light-years ahead of the lousy gap the body had previously. The body is really coming out well, and STIFF too. Wow, when the wood is installed it should be a sturdy T roadster. Something not often heard, for sure.



I needed a way to put the cap onto the chopped upper frame.



Came up with two of these T-nuts (aptly named!). They dropped right into place, perfectly lined-up with the hole.



And tigged in... just need some smoothing. It did make the frame an eighth of an inch longer which I'm hoping will still fit into the windshield. We'll see. If not, I know now what needs to be done.

That's it for the moment. More progress pics tomorrow.

 

Looking forward to more updates...that much closer to the brush paint job!

 

Todays update...



Here's a hole for the hand primer. The hole to the right will get filled. The notch for the left is to fit a spring clip the holds the pump's cap in place.



Here's the clip.



... and the pump overall. It's a pretty neat piece from 1918. It needed a rebuild, which consisted of a new piece of cloth (I used glove leather). I have two primers a Kig*** and this Lukenheimer. The Kig*** I got from a Bugatti restorer (and was more costly than this piece, but the cool-factor and age of this pump fit in better than the other, although the other pump was still pretty darn cool.



I applied Picklex-20 a rust transformer and preventative spray. It's costly but has seemed to do what it's intended to. But man, it stinks. Smells a lot like Simple Green and I HATE the way that stuff smells.





The body got darker as the stuff dried. I am ***uming there's some chemical reaction going on.



I pulled the door off to get everything covered.If there's too much applied it will leave a residue behind. It say on the bottle to leave it and coat over. I found that using a rag dampened with the stuff gets it off and leaves a more even surface.



NOW, here's something that really excited me today. I am officially hooked on metal working. I picked up a hammer and dolly kit from Harbor Freight (the most expensive kit was on sale for 27 bucks... knocked down from $45). You do get what you pay for, though, I broke the hammer handle within an hour of use.

The area below looks considerably better, the welded area will now need very little material to smooth it out. It really excited me to see the results. I just took my time and used common sense... so I think I am doing it right.





I removed a crease from below the drilled hole. Here's an in-progress pic.



This was so wavy before that the flap disk wouldn't remove material evenly. Both sides were this way. I got it much better but it still could use more work. I'm not sure how to get it baby's **** smooth, but it's a lot better.



Lastly, I went at the dash removing all the dings.

All in all, the body is much smoother after me working on it with the hammer and dollies. The rail all the way around is smooth and uniform. As well, the lip that the nails go through into the main floor support beams is smooth and straight. I really enjoyed doing it.

That's it, for now. Once I get a few welds in place, primer will be flying.

 

Oh Man! Off to Harbor freight I go! Looking good!

 

Brent, Your body is looking great. What shape is your turtle deck/deck lid in ? I have the front half of a Dodge touring that I will need to make some doors for. No luck trying to find them. Looking forward to seeing your progress to the shiny stuff. Have fun.

 

I'm having all sorts of fun! The turtle deck is in really good shape. It's already been cleaned up and is waiting for the body to catch up.

 

Damn cool build thread. Subscribing to this one!

-Bill

 

Man-oh-man, got a minor update. As you can see from the pic, I've hit something of a milestone. The body is now in an epoxy sealer. I'm glad this car is slated to be a pre-war salt car and not a sixties show rod because the body is WAVY and hemmed-up! I'm intimidated by it, actually.

I've been working on it every day after work for an hour or two. I've got a lot of respect for those that handle projects from A to Z.

On another note, I ordered wood today, it'll be 2 weeks for it to come in. I'm thinking by that time the car should be painted and ready for it.

Also, I bought bison leather (2 hides) for the interior it should be here beginning of next week. It's lighter than I'd like but I got it for very little, so the plan is to darken it.

 

Wow, cool. My monitor is jacked so I cant see how the Picklex worked but will look tomorrow.

 

The Picklex-20 seemed to work. I mean, I did blast away most of the stuff. Everything that was left, in pits and such, turned dark. The next day there was a semi-gloss on the body.

 

Brent-looks awesome man-congrats! It is a great feeling to get the bare steel covered in epoxy. No more worried about it rusting all up again. You are making great progress, really enjoying watching.

Don't let the remaining bodywork overwhelm you. Focus on 1 small area at a time. Fix it up & move on. You'll get it done.Sometimes it helps to look back at pictures of what you started with to realize how far you have come.

Dan

 

Thanks, Dan, I appreciate the comments. One issue I am having is that this car was never meant to be a concourse-worthy car (not like I've got the skill for it). I want a down and dirty lakes car. Something I can hop in and get some wear and tear on. I'm not exactly how far to take this body. It does need a bunch of finessing but I don't want to hide what it is, a 90 year old jalopy.

I've been scratching my head everytime I look at the photos.

 

OK, I see it better now. Looks the same as Rust-Mort afterwards.

 

Minor update:

I've been getting after the body nightly after work and throughout this past weekend. I took Dan's advice and have made progress. I'm using Evercoat's Rage Gold, which I am pleased with, as it has been very forgiving. Actually, I've used very little material so far...

While I'm waiting, in-between attending to the body, I've been prepping and priming a lot of little pieces. I'll get pics/details when we get a break from rain.

One last thing... I took on polishing the intake in preparation for nickle plating. I was told that doing this will save me money and now I know why. I've got about three hours into it so far and I'm probably half done (hopefully!). It was in good shape too... but some of the tool marks took a while to dispose of.

 

Soo cool man! That pic of your body with epoxy sealer on it looks like a model kit!!! I want to see it put together so get the "glue" and get to work!

 

Here are some shots of where I've gotten to, so far, on the body. I've got a little more to do but it's clearly getting better.





There are still a couple spots where there are pits and some minor blems here and there. I'm getting the hang of it, though.



The area below the belt line, where it's still rough, will be covered in the over-lapping leather.



I got two bison leather hides, too. Hides can get pretty expensive but I got both of them for less than $150 shipped. The seller repeated that the quality was low on these hides and the issues they had individually. They'll be perfect for the car though... I wasn't going to argue with him about the price!

After I got the hides and laid them out, I'm super-excited. They're really nice and I actually like the blems. They'll work out in my favor, actually. This car shouldn't have Bugatti leather in it.

My plan is to darken it up some. There's darkening oil that'll be used once the interior is set.





Next up is this tail light I got off of eBay. I was pretty shocked at the cost of original lights, especially the drum-type. I scored this one for cheap because I think no one wanted it. The seller was funny, his feedback said, "Have fun with your rat rod!"





My plan, like everything else on this car, is to get it to be presentable, not perfect. So, I went at the light with the same approach.

After I dis***embled it, I knocked off the rust, grime, and filth of 85 years and sprayed it with Picklex-20. Then I let it sit for a while.



Here it is in epoxy. I've gotten further on it but no pics to show for it.



The lenses were gross, too. So, I took a plate, some acetone from Linh's manicure basket, some cotton swabs, and a plate and went to town.



Here's the final result of the lens. The inner, clear gl*** is all cleaned up and ready to go too. Now I've got to find all the light bulb stuff.



That's it for now...

 

looks really good

 

pics no show. Cancel that, I refreshed my browser!

Great stuff Brent.

 

Haha! Cool! Have fun with your rat rod... Good stuff. That body is really shaping up Brent!

 

Thanks, gentlemen. And yes, I'm havin' fun.

 

Really nice job Brent....I'm gettin into this 30-ish look...