Yesterday I sanded the wheel wells and painted the body patches. This week at work I noticed a pile of old v belts that we no longer had a use for. I took one home thinking I could cut it to length and take it to the shop as a guide to buy what I needed. It fitted perfectly, so I also bought home the other 2 as spares.
Whoever used to own my coupe needs their drill and body filler confiscated... I found more after I took this photo...
Every one of those holes were drilled with Hotrod Love...or is it better than Bullet holes...probably neither...making it right then pinstripes...
So much better than bullet holes. If I had to beat everyone of those holes back out that fire wall would be all over the place.
Ward, I'm approaching body sub rail procedure on my '27 Touring. Your pics helped immensely, great decisions and fabrication. Was moving along, then life tripped me up. I have a nice rear section from the 'C' pillars back, (fronts of rear doors) but was undecided on the sub rails. '32 frame is narrowed, pinched and shaped to fit the '27, (had a 'glass '27 roadster body, then I found the steel tub) Not an overnight job. Thanks for all the details, your header reshape was great. Where do the tight bends in tubing come from? Someone had a 2" 'donut' some years back, grabbed some, used them. Haven't seen them lately.
@Atwater Mike Its great to hear this thread has helped someone else along with their progress. I searched and gathered info on here and the net myself so I kind of see it as paying it forward. I bought a 5” OD donut in 1.75” tube for the headers. I ordered it on line but can’t remember where. It wasn’t hard to find.
When filling holes I try to stay away from welding with a brass block behind. If possible I make a filler piece and weld it in. I have a punch that can pop out discs up to 1/4” but a lot of the holes in my firewall were larger. So I made a disc punch to pop out larger slugs. It makes 3/8” and 12mm. Then I drill the holes out to the closest size and fill it with a punched disc. This is a hole I drilled out to 3/8” and tapped a disc into. It will make for a neater job with less heat distortion from the weld.
I had some good progress this weekend. I filled all the unwanted holes in the firewall. The body was bolted down properly with the new body blocks for the first time. I made a template for the sheet metal to go around the steering column and pedals. Then I turned my attention to the rear floor. This panel comes in the Steadfast kit. I had to modify it to clear the rear u bolts.
This weekend I made a bracket to support the steering column at the dash. It’s rock solid and hides well under the the fuel tank. Then I made the patch for the fire wall that goes around the steering column and pedals.
This weekend I worked on my grille. I relieved the sides to drop it down so it lined up with the cowl but still run a full size insert. I cut up a little bit so I wasn’t messing around with the mounting points on the shell. I marked 1” then 1/4” intervals. I used the hood top I used to have on the car to set the height by lining up the belt line of the body and hood. I ended up taking out 1 1/4”.
I made a start on the floors. I had to make a trans hump. So I tried to make it as small as possible and styled it like a 32 trans cover.