Well ive got this to be a running and driving hotrod. My thing is the body work. Were to start. I have all new from Brookville Roadster. The subframe complete. All the sheet metal for the wheel wells , corners of rear quaters ,panel below trunk. The lower patches all the way around. Plus new cowl side panels. My question were to start. Should I replace what I can on body as it sets on frame. Or just grind all the rivets lift up and set on new subframe ? Most of the bottom is rotted away. So im curious as to how to make sure I get it good and setting correctly on new sub. I can use some good advice here. Im ready to do this.
First question: is that a Roadster or Coupe subrail assembly? The door area is different, that is why I'm asking. The quarters have extra material ( may have rotted off your originals)that bends around the subrail sides to hold the quarter on. My '30 Roadster body has ben apart for years, I can shoot some photos of these details. Bob
It's a coupe subrail assembly, I personally went over to Brookville and picked it up. I bought roadster cowl panels as they don't make them for the coupe body ,knowing I was gonna have to cut out only what I needed.
Here's some links that might help: http:/www.fordgarage.com/pages/quartersbefore.htm http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/subrailsbefore.htm http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/bodyassembly.htm http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/trunkconstruction.htm Rich
There is a flat piece of steel that was spot welded to the subrail for the cowl to bent around and under, not sure if Brookville added it. I'll post a photo of mine. Bob
Pull your body off the frme and bolt the new subframe down to the frame with all the proper wood blocks in place. Cut the rivets holding the original door posts to the original subframe, then lift the body off the old and set it on the new. The cowl's feet and the rear tail cross bar are great places to begin the alignment. Put the doors on and square them up. Stick the decklid in and make sure it's gaps are nice. See if you might need to adjust the tabs and such on the door posts to tweek the jambs up or down to make the doors fit nice. When it's all good, tack the post in place before removing any doors or decklid. You'll probably need to crawl in through the open floor. When it's solid and square, cut the rusty skin stuff off and weld the posts solid. Don't replace any lower patch panels until the whole skeleton is solid and square. You may need to adjust the patch panels to fit the new subframe, and if you welded them on before now they won't line up right.
Ok, The cowl piece I mentioned is listed in the Snyder's catalog as a "Inner Cowl Bottom Patch" part number A-014-X $18.50 each. the original was spot welded in place, you may find the remains of yours when you take the subrails out. I'm making up my subrails from original parts from three different Roadster bodies, once everything is together I get the kickup kit from Stedfast to clear the '32 kickup. I made up a table top that is over 2 inches thick and set my cowl on it and traced the real nice front section of the subrails. I then removed them, kept the cowl base added the long setion of original rails that were on my body when I found it, them cut asnd fit the remains of an original rear section. Your Brookville rails cut out all this work, but you still need to start somewere. I'd recommend you buy the wood body blocks and setup your cowl like mine. The cowl panels will fit your firewall, and gas tank and that is the starting point IMO, now you have a bottom bead to aklign the doors and rear quartes to. I've got new Brookville full cowl pieces too. Bob
Thanks for the advice, I'm not gonna be using the wood mounting blocks like original. I'll put either poly or something alike between body and frame. Car. Isn't going to be a restoration, as it's been chopped and I'm not using original body mounts so I've got a lot of variables to work around. But your plan sounds like a good start.
I like alchemy's plan, and it makes sense to do the subrails before the lower patch panels to give you more access to weld the new rails in. And even if you're not going to use the wood body mount blocks in the finished car, it's a good idea to have a set to bolt the new subrails down to, that'll keep it square when the body is lowered into the new subrails. You can always resell the wood and replace it later, just use them to make sure the body dimensions are correct.
Body blocks keep the subrails off the table and allow the patch panels to slide underneath, fourty bucks for the set isn't bad IMO. Bob
Well I found most of the body blocks out in shed. Not sure there gonna be much help to me as ive gotten rid of original mounts on frame. I pinched the frame a bit thats why a made my own mounts. Sent from my SM-N920V using H.A.M.B. mobile app
"Alchemy" gave you excellent advice- set the cowl, and clamp in the panel below the deck lid, then fill in the blanks . The bodies are pretty basic to put together, but because of the "new" concept of mass production, they are kind of sloppy as far as "fit and finish" goes. Take your time and good luck.
I havent separated the cowl from the main.body. Really I dont see how to . I thought about that. As it sets right now. I tacked the doors to the body as I did when I chopped it. I also have braced it good from cowl to behind the door uprights and diagnally as I did when I chopped it. All the body lines look good. Doors open.and shut nicely. Im not doubting any suggestions here. I may going about this entirley wrong. But I dont see the point of separation of the cowl and body if all is happy. I understand they are separate. Im just hoping that I have it braced thoroughly enough that when it goes on new subframe assembly. It is close and I can shim or modify what needs to be done. Thanks for everyones suggestions as im trying to do the best I can with what I have here. Sent from my SM-N920V using H.A.M.B. mobile app
No reason to separate the cowl from the body. Just the sub rail from from the body where you have the yellow lines drawn at the back of the cowl feet.
No sense in taking the body apart piece by piece if everything lines up and its braced. Maybe throw a couple braces in the rear section of the body if you havent already. Then remove the old subrails, and attach the body to the new subrails, tack or bolt it together temporarily before riviting it or finish welding it to make sure the doors and trunklid still fit and work properly. Then weld in your lower patches.
Got olds subframe out. Body is braced really well. Took alot of reference pics and notes. Gotta patch or replace a few things like the rain gutter bracing and those triangles in rear of trunk. Which I can't find any spot welds just yet. Still figuring how to get them off with out damaging the trunk area. Few pics here. This old subframe is pretty much shot. But looks like maybe the front sub rail sections could be salvaged. ? If someone is in need of some things off of this letter me know. I could maybe trade for something I need. Like those triangle pieces or the parts you see in pics that are really bad. Sent from my SM-N920V using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Well got quite a bit done yesterday. Even had my buddy over. He slapped together a 4x8 table for me to do my body work on. And it was all free , left over materials from what he does. But here is a few more pics. New subframe fits chassis really well. I just need to get rear sub installed and welded up ,I'm not doing the rivets. So it'll be welded and bolted where need be.
Hang on to that old sub frame- front looks pretty solid ( they usually rot out under the cowl "feet"). You can buy rear sub rail pcs that go from the "B" post back for a couple of hundred bucks . The rear cross member looks pretty good too. All worth money at a swap to put back into the car. ( or build another car!) So far, looks real good.
As for replacing the wood blocks i have used 5 quarters plastic outdoor decking... some has enough sawdust added so you can sand it... bends easy... used it around the rear cockpit combing to make a '29 Sport Coupe look a little more Roadsteresque...
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