Bengeltiger: the stretch has to be spread over a larger area rather than be concentrated around the small straight sided puck. I believe making the puck cone shaped like the final shape would have gradually moved the high stressed area further out and allowed more overall deformation. So in a way that is a pre stretch. Progressive dies would work in a similar way, but again I tried to get away with as little effort as possible (with mixed results). Thanks for the tip and everybody's nice words!
Tiny update: added the mounting holes on the trunk panel and cut and fabricated a cover for the rear spring shackles. The mounting holes have a reinforcement piece spot welded on the underside. And here is the cover. The bead came out crooked but it's not easy doing it with a manual bead roller and only using one hand to control the panel. Let good enough be good enough... I used PEM nuts in the trunk floor so I don't have to worry about removing and replacing the cover.
Got the seat riser panel blasted. It's pretty rough and needs several patches. I started with the two curved pieces on the outside. I cut a piece of wood for shaping the slightly curved shape of the bent edge, the used the shrinker to put the bend in the panel. Another patch. I was running out of 18 Ga so I had to use some scrap practice pieces hence the odd shape. This was the first ever hammered bead put to use. I will replace both back halves of the seat pans next.
This corner was really thin with some rust through where the internal mounting bracket was attached. I decided to replace the whole corner. Here with the bracket in place. Final cleanup to follow...
Fabricating the patches. Matching the beads ... Cutting the general shape and bringing some shape into the panel. Fitting a curved panel took some effort. First side went in a little crooked. Second one not so bad. Here everything is welded solid from the underside with some areas also welded from the top where there was not full penetration.
Loving it, you got me thinking that doing the floor in that manner would allow you to drop the shell back over the top and give it a subtle body drop just an inch or so to get that wee bit lower... Ive just laid hands on a 40 mercury destined for the Kustom treatment. Following your posts with the greatest of interest..
Redoxide: a slight channel could probably be done, although the lower cowl would require work to allow the sub rails to correctly mate. The floor also needed to be lengthened to reach the toe board as well as generally tweak the body. Nice project!
I had a think about the channeling process using the way you did your floor on the chassis rather than fitting the floor into the body. I think your method alows greater flexibility in the initial layout, and doing on the chassis ensures a great fit.. If heading in the direction of a slight channel It would be easy enough to make the sub rails deeper by the ammount of the channel and drop the shell on without any mods to the lower cowl.Nothing radical, just an inch or so for that extra little bit...Im not making a start on mine untill next year, so I will most likely be stealing a lot of your ideas LOL... Keep the progress pics coming, great project...
Nice work. Great use of hand tools. '39-'40 Mercs are one of my favorite Customs, looks like this one is in good hands, keep up the good work. Lets see some updates!
Took a hiatus but I'm back at it. Rust obviously didn't sleep in the meantime. Anyway I took measurements of the body at both door post to get the du rail position correct in relation to the floor. The square helps me measure over the driveshaft tunnel. Clekos come in handy and will serve as reference when it comes time to weld the floor into the body after welding in the sub rails.
The trains cover was rather reached out and after all the tweaking of the floor didn't fit anymore. Time to cut and weld some new metal. The driveshaft tunnel was a bad fit and needed some help
Getting there... What is missing is the acces opening for the master cylinder which was hard to roll when I made the floor edge. But sometimes it helps to break down a problem into smaller parts. Using the bead roller to make the round lip of the opening. The piece is screwed down on the 4"x4" and lets the metal rotate freely. Worked like a charm. Test fit the new piece. Then cutting the hole and spot welding in place pretty much finished the floor. Sprayed some epoxy primer on the bare metal to keep the rust at bay. Not sure if I should start on the chassis or the body next. Maybe it just have the body blastsd and put it in primer before doing anything else. Have two local sources: one does dustless sandblasting, the other soda blasting. The soda blaster actually shows pictures of severely rusted projects he supposedly blasted clean. Always thought soda didn't do much on rust. Opinions? What should I expect to pay to have the body shell blasted inside and out (tar is removed) as well as doors, hood, trunk inner fender panels?
Swissy, looking good You got mad skills The dustless blasting process on TV looks like the hot set up JT
Dustless Blasting is great! As long as who is doing it knows what they are doing and make sure they rinse all the glass out of your body with the hold tight solution. Don't do soda! It is bad news when it comes to metal prep afterwards. And no it does not remove rust at all. Should pay about 1200.00 for your car to get dustless blasted. Well worth the money.
Still trying to get the dustless blaster to come out and give me a quote for blasting the sheet metal. In the meantime, I made some brackets to help me locate the sub rails in the body, while I cut out the rotted bottoms of the door post. Of course here I am shooting for the width measurements I took when the subrails were test fitted on the frame. I leveled the body on the dolly and then used an magnetic angle finder to make sure the subrails were vertical before tacking the brackets. This is the bracket in place. There are two dowels which engage two of the bolt holes for the door hinges. I will probably add a third hole so I can use a bolt to hold it in place.
Started with the replacement of the 16 gauge reinforcement panel which has the flange on the inside and will eventually spot welded to the subrail. I transferred a cardboard template onto steel and bent the basic shape. Stamping the reveal Welded in place. Will still need an additional piece on the inside at the door post.
Starting on replacing the bottom of the door post by first replacing the piece I cut off earlier. I am flying partially blind here as neither side was complete. Starting with a simple shape, the gradually adding features and curves... Hope to make more progress tomorrow. I will have to form each facet of the post individually and weld them together.
Tackling the middle piece. Picked up this nifty tracing thing from Eastwood the other day and it came in handy. Made male and female bucks for forming the patches. Using masking tape to get the shape of the patch transferred onto cardboard.
The Jalopy Journal
