Finished welding up pin holes and other holes in the firewall and cleaned it up today. I need to get the body stripped so that I can fix some poorly patched places but I don't know when the weather will allow. Until then, I will be piddling with this and that.
Advanced Custom Chrome in Erie, PA. Ask for Chris. He does all my plating and I have never been disappointed. Does excellent pot metal work as well as the usual stuff. See my Buick Build thread.
Well, my knee finally relented and let me get back to work on the 34. Part of the challenge of doing a custom rear floor is figuring out how you're going to upholster everything and have it look right. It took a few stabs but I am pretty happy with how this turned out. This is my first time building a car with wood in it and trying to understand how the upholsterer will have to finish my project was a challenge. The panels above the bottom of the rear windows will be covered with headliner material and the panels below, plastic and metal, will be covered in distressed leather look material. The garnish moldings will be wood grained and the vertical trim piece will either be covered in the upholstery material or wood grained, as well. I haven't got that totally worked out yet. At least I am done with this part and can move on. I guess next will be blowing it back apart and blasting the body down to bare metal.
Whew! Old Henry is stripped to bare metal except for some detail work. Jesus, there must have been 2 gallons of bondo used on this body and I have no idea why. Its a darn good body for nearly 90 years old. The Harbor Freight surface conditioning tool is a beast! (https://www.harborfreight.com/9-amp-surface-conditioning-tool-58079.html) It eats through bondo like nothing! That, coupled with some non woven abbrasive wheels on my high speed side grinder made pretty quick work of this nasty chore.
Rock, Just found this thread. Great work and I will follow it to the end. You really do nice metal work and the planning is great.
This looks great. I am just getting started on my 35 humpback sedan. It looks like everything you are doing will apply to my build. I hope you don't mind my copying you. Remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I now have the 34mon the rotisserie and am back on the build. Waiting on a couple of patch panels right now. Got to do some sandblasting and paint and Undercoat the bottom before I move to body work.
This morning I was bored and decided to work on improving myy AC instttall witth a panel that hides the AC and provides a place for the vents. Got a pretty good start, so far.
I added bracing to the chassis to accommodate the seat mounts. I don't know how it was done originally.
It was bad valve guides, Walt. My machine shop knurled the guides instead of replacing them. They are new now and everything seems to be ok. I am planning to drive it to Louisville.
I needed to remove the hinges from the car and after a weak attempt with an impact driver, I decided to just cut to the chase and start drilling the damned things out. It took me the better part of a day but they are done. Another approach and I'd be screwing with them for over a week. I took my Dremel tool with a pointed burr on it and made my "center punch mark". Then, I started with 1/8" drill, then 3/16, then 1/4 and lastly 11/64. Most went pretty easily but you need to have your Drill Doctor handy and keep the bits sharp. The hardest part is alignment. It's really hard to drill and keep yourself square in 2 planes but I managed to do ok. After drilling the 11/64 hole, I took a piece of 1/8 x 1 1/4 flat bar and drove the hinge out. This worked pretty well. Next, I drilled the threaded holes for 5/16 UNC Helicoil and installed Helicoils. Now I have good clean threads and can move forward. Some people take their time and use penetrating oil, heat, etc. but the reality is these slotted screw heads don't give you a lot to work with. YMMV.
After looking at the rear of the car, it appears that the entire rear section was replaced.....poorly. The welding was crappy. They lapped the lower panel, tacked it and then covered it is Duraglass and undercoating on the inside. It was full of holes, so I decided to fix it right. Unfortunately, fixing it right meant twice as much welding since I had to cut about a 2" strip out of the existing seam and weld both sides of a patch panel in. Also had to slit the lower panel and butt weld it up. Welding on that old, thin, rusty metal is lots of fun. Not! At least that part is in the books and it will require a lot less filler now. Next up is the lower patch panels for the rear quarters and straightening those quarters.
The Jalopy Journal
