Well its a 2-1/2 yr milestone for me, its taken me that long to take a 31 tudor shell, build a frame from scratch, get doors flushed and fit in order to get to the point of finally taken 3" out of the roof. Would have loved to take another inch or so BUT I plan on having a usable rear seat in it. I layed out the cut with measuring tapes, straight edge and masking tape. Got the roof cut and removed and of course the cut wasn't perfect by any means so I was looking at re-measuring and running new tape lines to square up the next cut mark but I came up with a simpler way. I took a piece of 1x2 wood and drove a couple small finish nails thru it at 3 inch centers and then removed the tape from the car and ran some dykmans blue around the sides then came back with my wood block and ran it around the top of the cuts I made and presto I had a perfect 3" line that matched the original cut line perfectly. Worked out beautifully. got the roof set back on and measuring window heights side to side, front to back, I'm within a 1/16" so I'm really happy!! Before I put the roof back on I noticed I had a couple really rough spots needing fixed so I'm thinking before welding the roof back on I'll see about fixing the spots first. Sure be easier to work on the roof off upside down then me trying to work upside down ! Anyway some pics of my 2-1/2 yr milestone and a big thank you to those that have given me advice, measurements AND encouragement thru the years !! sure is nice to make it here !!
Congrats lostone. It’s always nice when you reach a milestone during a build. Take tomorrow off. Looking good.
I'll get some tomorrow. I've been fighting a problem with the passenger side for a long long time and I have expected its been hit on that side. Well after getting door gaps etc lined up before cutting and getting the supports welded in I thought I had everything handled.. No it didn't happen that way, no surprise of course. Cut the roof loose and reinstalled and the ugly problem showed its head again on the passenger side. The drivers side aligned just fine with some fine tuning and I went a head and welded both front A pillars and worked back on the driver's side. All went fine although I will have to make a couple relief cuts on the rear corners. So on the passenger side the roof itself is fine, it's strictly quarter panel. Its actually showing the quarter panel back a good 1/4 inch on both the door gap and the B and rear pillars. So again I go thru the measuring I went thru before, measure from rear window flange on each side to the front cowl, 1/16 difference from side to side so no problem, measure from rear panel support brace and again 1/16" difference side to side and again no problem. Measure any where from rear panel area and I always get only 1/16" left to right side. So now I decide to measure from the actual door B pillar and rear quarter window lip just below my cuts, sure enough all side measurements off quarter to cowl a fat 1/4" back, now it again is making sense in what I'm seeing and what I'm measuring. The quarter panel needs to come forward that 1/4" and that would give me my perfect door gap and align my pillars perfectly with the roof. My best guess this thing got hit on the passenger side and the door drove the quarter back a good 1/4" which I have always thought to be true but I couldn't figure out why rear measurements where so good, Now I believe that the quarter did go back but the rear panel stayed in exact place and it actually moved in the curve of the the corner of the rear panel. Now my next move is to figure out how to hold the rear body panel in place and move just the quarter panel forward a 1/4". Thinking of welding angle iron from the rear panel braces and supports straight up to the A pillar/dash area to hold the rear panel in place then figure out how to pull just the quarter panel forward....... I guess it's living up to it's name.... 1/4 panel.... So thats where I'm at but I'm happy to know I think I now have truly figured out what the hell I've been fighting for over a year on fit vs. measurements.
Ok I'm back... I have fought this thing to no end. The passenger side has fought me since day 1 that I've started this car. So anyway got the A, B-pillars totally done. Fought the passenger C-pillar into submission finally. Now down to just the drivers C pillar and then I can move on to the doors. In all honesty, the A pillars were easy, the passenger B-pillar? Cut and welded 3 times before I got happy. The passenger C-pillar? Twice cut and welded before I was happy. So yes its been a pain. But I do believe if the body hadn't been twisted on the passenger side this project would have been easier. My best advise? If your not happy with one of the pillars as you go grab the cut off wheel, cut it again and start over until your happy. Now some pics..
Made a little more progress tonight. Got the passenger door top spot welded in place and gaps fit. Now finish off the welding and some grinding then off to the other side. Interesting thing on this door is that the top part of the door seemed to wide. Had to put a jack inside the window frame and Jack it out to align with the original door top. Jacking must have worked because both edges of the door are straight with it jacked out and matching upper door so I tacked it in place and thankfully it stayed there once I let it off. Wonder if drivers door will fight me as hard. 2-1/2 hrs fighting it to fit.
The Jalopy Journal
