Projects 32 Five window coupe project

What I should have said is I'm not a big fan of working on fiberglass cars.

 

Alchemy, makes sense. Is there a way to research where forum members are from? I live in Centreville Va. Would love to check out another members original body.

Twisted Metal, appreciate the encouragement!

 

Put your own location on your profile so it shows in every post you make. Then type in your town or local towns in the member search at the top of the page. Glance at their profiles and some will show what kind of car they have. Every other hot rodder has a 32 Ford, so a local should be easy to find.

 

Tape off the door jambs and a few extra inches with clear packing tape. Align the door skin with the body and get the gaps where you want them. Then while the door skin is properly fit and held in the opening glass on the inner skin. If you do it on the bench you may have a twist or warp in the door when done and you'll spend frustrating hours trying to fix it. The trick will work for the trunk too but you'll want the body flipped over or upright for that one. Use the packing tape anywhere you don't want the glass to stick. You can also use mold release or paste car wax on it to make releasing the part easier.

 

One thing to consider is that the doors on a 5 window are much narrower than those on a 3 window, and getting in and out can be a little difficult for a tall or somewhat larger person. You might ask someone at a rod run if you could sit in one before you get too deeply involved in this one. Hope it works OK for you, but I would check.

As far as the clutch linkage, check out some of the threads on the Hamb for info on using a cable clutch set up. They are pretty easy to build and inexpensive. Talk to Danny @Hot Rod Primer as he has a nice set up in his car.

 

Before installing the door inner panel, consider installing the window mechanism and especially the glass. With the chop, you MAY not be able to install glass in assembled door.
Latch mechanism should be considered also.

 

@Eric Stiegmann
Many 32, 5 w in the Area,
Stock or chopped ?
About 12 miles south of you on 28
A place we call the wall, summer many Hang , about a mile or so pass
Manassas Air port

 

Alchemy,
Thanks!

 

Ekimneirbo

Appreciate the tips, thank you.

 

Phil, Thanks. Right now planning to install power windows since they came with the car. No glass though. Do I mock it up with cardboard or panel board and worry about the glass after? Can I buy the glass or do I need to have it made?

 

19Eddy30,

Mine has a 3 inch chop. Great to know, I used to live in Manassas so familiar with that area. Would be great to see some of the cars.

 

I haven't built a body, so this is just what I've picked up hanging around here.
You keep talking about how to finish out the doors. I get it, it will be a major step and make it look more complete.
However, you want to fully attach the body to the frame, then brace the body fully, then hang the inside of the door and get the hinges, latches, and window working properly, THEN put the skin on the door.

The old song says House built on a weak foundation will not stand. If you jump steps, it will require more work and you may paint yourself into a corner.

Here's another to read through.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/glass-32-5-window.1049484/

 

I agree with
@RodStRace
Later, when you are actually ready to assemble the doors, we will discuss door glass.

 

Makes perfect sense. I trimmed the body a little and got it sit down on the frame. Only a few of the mounting holes line up. Most are close. I will look at that more to see why. I cut the windshield out to get more light inside while working on it. Don't laugh... I am starting to get it, why lots of folks don't like working with fiber glass, what a mess. I wore a a respirator, a face shield and gloves. Also mated the bell housing and trans to the engine and mounted it all to the chassis with the body on to see if I had any clearance issues. All seems to fit.
As you recco'd I will focus on getting the body secure to the frame, then bracing the body and then door hinges latches etc.

Thank you all for the advice, I really appreciate it.

 

Not sure I agree with those say do body then mount doors. Seems like end up have to remove or add material to doors for decent gaps. What if tape ( somehow ) mount doors in body they mount whole thing on frame with doors in right place? Maybe wood pieces screwed to inside door & body temporary to have complete body to mount? Experts???

 

Yes, you have to be a little careful not to totally distort the door openings while mounting body to chassis. But the chassis is the closest thing we have to a body jig.

Some of the body mount locations may need spacers to keep from distorting the floor pan shape.

It's a balancing act.

@RodStRace , your suggestions to the post by @AmishMike?

 

It would be an excellent idea to check fitment of the doors before and after mounting, as @AmishMike mentions. It's known that on OE steel, shims are often needed to get gaps right. You don't want to 'flex' the body to the point of inducing stress cracks. So when bolting down, take into account how much you are pulling it. This could be feel, taping string in X patterns, or measurements.

You can also check squareness of things. Measure openings and compare left to right. I know one pretty big OT kit car has issues with passenger door fitment which requires some rework. I wouldn't trust that all the parts will play together well until it has been double checked.

Again, I haven't personally done one. I'm passing along what I'd read here and seen good results from. I'd not consider any part of a body a solid baseline, even the floor, but you have to start somewhere. That's an aftermarket frame, it should be checked too, probably first!

If you think the door openings are the start, I'd be concerned with the trunk, floor and windshield. The first two can be fudged, the glass is going to be tougher.
If the doors fit great and you install the hinges while propped up on the garage floor, will you shim the floor to frame to keep them happy, even if the body has a 1/2 inch twist?

So I guess my answer is the same, use the frame as a solid reference, but check fit of things and adjust as needed and expect that some adjustments are going to be more than simple push and shift.

 

Some examples of steel and wood reinforcement

 

Been working on securing the body to the frame. Had to trim and clean up a few spots. When I position the body on the frame so most of the holes are close, the distance from the holes near the firewall to the firewall itself is off by and inch side to side. See pics below. If attach the body in this position, I will have issues adding a hood and engine side covers if I choose to later. To fix this, I would have to swing the back a good bit. Not sure that is the right answer and can't really as the body fits very snugly against the frame in the back. I measured the frame front right to back left and vice versa using the front bolt hole (for the firewall foot I believe) and the last bolt hole in the back. Side to side it is off 1/4 inch. Contacted the frame builder and see said that is OK. Any thoughts on what to check to see where the issue is?

 

To be clearer, I am just using the bolt holes as a reference point as they are the same distance on each side from the front of the rails and from the radiator mounting holes. Which I believe means the body is not square to the frame or the firewall is not square to the body.

 

Yup, that can happen when you get repro parts from two different manufacturers. Maybe the frame is off 1/4” one direction and the body is off 1/4” in the opposite direction.

 

I would not be happy with a 1/4 inch difference corner to corner. I'd start measuring all the holes and plot them out, front to rear. If a simple ratchet strap or come along pull can get things closer. If not, I'd start checking the vertical height, too. Same with the body. I'd expect the frame to be closer to square than the body, but I'd measure things to know which way to 'fudge' things to align properly.

 

so is your frame square ?
Also,
- Check that one frame rail isn’t slightly forward of the other

If you want to run with a hood in the future, now is the time to also sort that out, along with grille surround positioning.
( a lot of cars out there have a sloping hood top - which maybe why some don’t run them )

the other comment I will add, is ;
these cars were nowhere near perfect from the factory, so sometimes everything won’t be perfect on a scratch build, - but it should always look right, such as the swages on the hood top lining up with the swage on the cowl, etc.