Projects NOT THE TYPICAL '30 ROADSTER BUILD

Thank you

 

A quick little update....
Back from traveling for work and hoping to get some work done this weekend.
Started by fabricating horns similar to the originals to be able to attach the rear crossmember to the Steadfast sub rails

Started by putting a 90 to some sheetmetal in hopes to make a box. I could have gone to the metal place and could have gotten a square or rectangular but figured to use what I had.


Once I had the metal boxed in, I put the radius to copy the original. I added a cut out on the bottom to be able to have access to secured the crossmember when the time comes.



I now should be able to run a bolt from the rear corner of the body down into the cross member and secure it to this tail piece. The tail piece will be welded to the sub rail and that should solve that. At least in theory, I think it works...
Let's see what tomorrow brings...

 

Got some more work done on the crossmember ends. Using all the original attaching points on it. It should be nice and solid at the end.

All together I have about 6 hours on these.
Unfortunately, the welding part of it is what is taking me the most time...still not good enough at it.
I am still struggling with weld penetration, speed and heat. I have what I think is a good solid weld but once I grind it, it cracks, showing penetration wasn't right. After a couple trials I get it right but it takes time.
Good thing I have patience and have come to I love welding....
My beads are getting better, not such thing as roll of quarters style beads....mine look more like loose change in my pocket but getting better


Still need to properly squared the openings at the bottom.


I made a base to prop the crossmember against the bottom of the car, since both corners are shot, and start tracing the sub rails to it.
It should help while blending the two pieces together..
Sub rails pitch down 10 degrees. and crossmember ends will come straight in to these.

 

Slowly but continue making progress...
Started working on the corners to bring strength back to them and be able to attach the panel below the deckled and eventually the crossmember.


The return flange was very damage mostly held together by rust itself. This is the first thing to tackle.


The corner bottom flanges were the crossmember attaches to were also gone beyond repair.
I replaced those too.
Holes for the bolts will be added later, once I match the crossmember to them.


Spot welded in place for now. Will fully weld once the corners are fully repaired


Panel below the deck now has something to attach back to it.
Looking good for now.

 

Looking good!

 

Assembled the rear and started to squared the body off. Things are starting to take shape.
Distance from the rear/side of the frame to the inner wheels wells are equal...a good sign!
The piece of wood is prying the body over from the rear cross member to help center it. Once the rear sub rails are in place the body will have some structure back to it.

 

my sportster quarters sag out not in... fixes ?

 

Nice build, I'm starting a coupe and doing sub rail kit. Lots of questions on where and how they fit.

 

Take your time with it. Measure 3xs and then cut.
I've been fitting everything loose and clamped in place. In my case, there has been a lot of remove, remeasure, reclamp and move to the next piece.
I am getting closer to the point where can start tack welding together but I want to almost fit everything and test that it works before start tacking.
The rails for me didn't fit, at all, the way I was assuming they would fit.
Somehow, in my non-experienced mind, I was thinking they were going to run along centered on the frame, and somehow they were going to transition onto the rear crossmember.
Well, my first surprise came when I realized that the new sub rails are not the same width as the originals. and that's why the "hats" come with it, and most installation I've seen, they blend the two where these meet.
I cut mine at the starting point or front of the rear wheel arch, where the originals reduced in width; mostly, because the area in front of here was in good shape and the rear part was not.
I see several people cut theirs 4" to 6" from the rear of the door. Not sure what the advantage of this is but what I did seemed to work for me. I was afraid to cut them further forward and weakened even more the already flimsy body.
Once I recreated the cut out of the rear arch, the sub rails were pretty even along the way with the frame, but again, they sit wider on the rear than they do in the front.
Bolt everything on, I will be bolting my deck lid tomorrow. Bolt as much as you can before tacking or welding.
In the process, I've seen my rear quarters sag in and by the next adjustment I see them sag out, so bolt as much as you can.
That's all I can say for now, since that's how far along I am in. Good luck!

 

I started the work on the left subrail. The right side is pretty much done and so far, happy with it.
I cut the front bottom of the wheel arch to expose the original rail. The side has some rot while the top appears to be nice and solid. I will cutting the side of the new sub rails long to splice into the existing one.




I traced the scoop out of the original rail on the new subrail. I should be easier to blend once is all done


I ran the side of the new subrail longer so I can splice on the existing and remove some of the damage rail along the way.


Fitting nice against the frame and against the rear wheel well....and it is symmetrical to the right side...what do you know, I am happy!


Tomorrow, the plan is to bolt on the deckled and to start blending in the support for the rear crossmember to both rails...Keep making progress!

 

Thanks for the play by play, perfect timing...
The angled braces that run from the rear of the quarter window down to the base of the B pillar on the '30-'31 coupes usually rust off at the subfloor.... the rusted ones are cheap and ready to cut down to the length you need in the trunk... that is what my sportster's trunk will get when I get back to it...

 

Couldn't get much work done today. Real work got on the way.
Still got an hour to spare, so I started thinking how to rework the rear corner braces and supports to fit the new rails.


The supports will be easiest, just cut them to size, following the angle of the brace, and attach it to the sub rails same as original.


The corners were a bit more involve but not bad. Stated with a cardboard template. Thank you USPS!


Clamp it in place, trace the subrail, and look for the best fit and areas to trim.


With some trimming, the original pieces will work just fine and the brace will sit behind it.
The corners still will have the two holes to attached the curve trunk piece.


You can see how little material I need to remove, to make the corner braces work.
I will cut out the dimple and add metal to make flat so I can spot weld to the bracket that will run behind it.
Feeling good about these!

 

Got another hour of work in. I doing all I can to spend at least some time on it everyday.


I've been getting requests for pictures from underneath looking up at the rails. You can see how they taper out. They are flush to the outside of the frame, where the rear wheel wells start and the at end of the frame they are out about an 1" out
That's what I meant above by saying they don't seat dead centered on the frame. You can see the different color marks, as references, as I have been adjusting the position.

Today, I trimmed back the rear of the sub rails and mounted again the rear crossmember.
Now, I have a clear view of the transition between the two and plan to blend them both together.


The outside of the crossmember now allows me to attach the rear wheel well same as it was originally.
Once I fix the corner and install the new wheel wells it should look good.

 

Looks like you're doing a fine job! Good choice on the Gary Maxwell frame. I also have one under my '28 Roadster and I've been very happy with it.

 

Thank you.
Agree. That frame is awesome. I wish my skills were anywhere near that.

 

She is not going to win a beauty contest but I think I got her done.
It is just tacked in place, as I am sure I will be reworking it before final welding it.



It does what it needs to do.


...and off to the other side...

 

A good day today. I finished tacking the other side sub rail and got the deck lid mounted on.

Here is the driver side all tacked. Same as the right side, not winning a beauty contest but doing what is supposed to do.


The cut out for the rear wheel well


The deck lid mounted back on and the side gaps are looking fairly good. Looks like the back remains pretty squared.


Love the look of that quick change peeking underneath!

 

roll,
Great work on the "how to" on the rear subfloor...
I am not cutting my '32 rails like the As...
I will piecut the '32 rails so they dip downward...
will let the rails slide under the rearmost crossrail, letting the body sit flat on the center of the frame …
will then weld A frame horns to the piecut '32 rails but upside down...
will mount a stainless spreader bar between them...
your post shows me the angle change from '32 back to level and the subfloor's offset involved... cool !

 

Sounds like a solid plan. I am tuned for your built.
Looking forward to it

 

Just now tuning into this. Great start, and I have to say, your fab and bodywork skills exceed some I've seen out of "pro" rod shops. Humility and an honest assessment of one's own skill level goes a long way to making sure you stay on track and end up with a good result. Gives you time to take it slow, study, learn, ask questions as opposed to blowing and going. Really enjoying what you are doing and looking forward to where this is going.

 

I'm just now joining the fun, also. Great thread with lots of good detail. And I'm a kustom guy, so roping me in for a hot rod build is quite an accomplishment! [emoji39]

 

Bit of a slow day today...but a productive one.
Stating to secure the body to the frame and starting to measure the wood blocks to ensure the doors fit and close properly.

Started by securing the package tray to give the body all the rigidity possible. Just now I realize that i should have secured the fuel tank too to keep the front from bowing.


Front blocks are 1-1/4" but most likely will end up at 1". The middle blocks might not be needed and the webbing might be enough.


The crown on the doors is sitting nicely against the body. I might have to rework it a bit, to get it to sit flush.
Not sure how close is suppose to fit to the body but as of now, it is as close as it should.


The gaps in front of the doors are starting to come together. The driver side fits better, even top to bottom, The passenger side wedges top to bottom.
I may end up adding metal to close the gaps...3/16" finish gaps would be nice


The upper belt moldings are starting to line up correctly. too The driver side looks better than the right one.
The belt molding in the aftermarket door skins are a bit wider than the rear quarter panels....might have to do some cutting and diccing to fully get them to match.


Gaps in the inside are looking nice and even around the door.
Doors are closing with no effort and locking very nicely. Even my younger daughter can close and open them

I will do some more adjusting tomorrow and see if I can get all the minor misalignments to fit better. I might have to settle for what I have, since the doors are closing so nicely right now.

Once I get everything fully line up, it is welding time for the sub rails!

 

A lazy Sunday. Spending time with the family.
No progress this weekend but always time to find inspiration in others and move forward...

 

Looking good, you’ll get it all fit.

 

Mikie gives his vote to the light blue, tan top, '32 grill, maybe general jumbo wheels rig... yup.

 

Not a lot of progress. Just working on adjusting the doors and making sure the body is straight and square before I start spot welding things in place.
Mostly going back and forth on adjusting the body, playing with wood block heights and different amounts of tightening on the bolts to see what feels good.

Bolting the fuel tank, or whatever is left of it, made a big difference. Those bolts are 10-24s for of those like me that struggle finding bolts sizes.


I am very happy with the way the doors are fitting. Took a bit of persuasion with a woodblock in a corner and the right amount of pressure on the other. The gap down the side is looking nice and tight.
The passenger door locks a bit easier and better than the driver size door but I think at this point I am just splitting hairs.


I will be moving to the rear sub rails again in the next few days.
The plan is to mark the holes for the frame and insert and weld a metal tube to the sub rail to avoid crushing the rail when tightening the bolts down. Those frame bolts are 3/8-16....yes, I do struggle finding the right bolt size.

 

The fit on the doors look excellent to me. I’m sure it is better than when the car was new.

 

Doing some nice work! I want to warn you that after you hand sand all those louvers a couple times you will only be able to pick your nose with a knuckle!

 

Thank you! Hope they stay looking this good.

 

LOL...I believe that! I
That black paint looks beautiful!