Projects 32 Ford 3 window build finish details

Hi Guys,
I made a little progress on the 32. It was time to finish & mount my headlights. I had to install the new King Bee name tags. A few weeks ago I got a call that the Stainless Steel headlight rings are back in stock so I received those a few weeks ago.


Of course the holes had shrunk during painting so the rivet wouldn't fit. I carefully filed the hole opening with a tool makers file.


My fingers don't do well with small parts but so I used the file as a way to line the parts up. Man them rivets are small!!


Then some tape to hold one side in as I did the other side.


Then the other side. The name tag is flat and the headlight is slightly round so I pressed it with my thumb to try and form it.


I made a die on the lathe to form the rivet. I machined a tip to locate it and hold it in place on the rivet as I tapped it with a hammer.


I put some tape on the bench, centered the head of the rivet on the bench and hit 3 times with a hammer, inspected it, then 3 more and then 3 more until it looked the way a rivet should.


All 4 rivets turned out good and the rivets are tight with no chipped paint. I feel lucky today!!


All mounted on the car. I used the mounts that every one else uses. ( I think they call these "32 Ford belly ****on parts"..lol) No creativity on my part here. And no, I did not attach my brake line to my head light but it sure looks like it on the drivers side head light doesn't it


That's odd the p***enger side looks like the brake line goes to the headlight too.


Okay here is a photo where you can clearly see the brake lines don't attach to the headlights.


In other news, I dug out my radiator. I wanted to test it's condition so I made some plugs to put in the hoses and connected it to an air regulator.


After filling with water, I carefully put compressed air in. At 15psi the radiator cap opened which was good, it is a 15 psi cap


The radiator held air but I did get a a few drops of water every couple minutes where the top tank meets the cooling fins & tubes. I found a Radiator shop about an hours drive from my home that said they work on cl***ic cars. When I walked in the door before he said Hello, he said "32 ford radiator" I knew I was most likely at the right place. He asked how much horsepower this radiator was expected to cool. When I said 365 HP, he suggested a rebuild. So my radiator is out for a rebuild. He took my radiator and set it on the floor next to a Model A radiator.


Lastly, I painted some small parts satin black. Long term some of these parts that are used on the engine may get chromed. For now in keeping with my "home built Hot Rod" theme, I am just going with satin black. I started painting them with a rattle can. I got half way done and pst..pst..dribble..dribble.. the can went dead. Don't you hate when that happens?? I sure do!!


Well my plan B when this happens is my $29.95 Harbor Freight paint gun. I wrap a rag around the top of the rattle can, poke a hole in it and slowly let out the pressure and then pour the paint into my HF gun and start painting. No air dryer, no special air hose that I use only for painting, no special coalescing filter. I just plug into any air line in the shop and pick up where I was painting when the rattle can died. When I got done the parts looked great. I actually don't feel like a hack. I feel like a Hot Rodder!!!

Thanks for following along! Greg

 

Hi Guys, Happy New Year!
In the summer my wife and I try to get out & watch our local minor league ball team, the West Michigan White Caps, play a game. When the game gets slow or when a team is stalling, in a deep, low, monotone voice the announcer says BORING!!!! The crowd sometimes cheers. Well I hope the White Caps announcer is not following my build thread because he might leave a reply and just say BORING!!!
But here is my progress anyways.....warning its pretty boring....
I found some new clamps to attach the heat wrap on my exhaust pipe. No matter how tight I clamped the old ones you could still turn the heat wrap on the exhaust pipe. These new clamps have a liner inside that covers the slots for the worm gear. It gives a nice tight grip on the heat wrap and doesn't let the slots dig into the wrap and tear it.


Next, I made a bracket for my stop light switch. I didn't like how I had the stop light switch hanging on the brake lines so I made a bracket with a rubber coated clamp to support the switch.


Then I started making brackets and getting return springs for the clutch & brake pedals.


The return spring that worked best for the brake pedal is a shortened screen door spring. I painted it satin black so it disappears and it not to visible. I also painted the brackets.


I made an adjustable brake return pedal stop. The threaded bumper is a hood stop but it works great.


The brake & clutch pedal are all installed with return springs, pedal stops and I should be able to adjust pedals to be at the same height at final ***embly. This picture it really busy, you cannot see much.



here's another picture. Not much better still hard to see everything.


Alternator brackets are all painted and installed. I just need to buy a single wire alternator.


I think the ch***is is all done for now until I get the body on.


The ch***is ready to go.

another picture.


For now I put 2 car covers and a fire resistant welding blanket on the ch***is and moved on to the body. I don't have a rotisserie. I have a wooded cart. I am working on the body work & priming all the areas that will be easier with the body upside down. I have been working on the wheel wells and underside of body



The inside before paint.

The inside after epoxy primer.

The fire wall inside being painted.

The fire wall outside before priming.

The fire wall outside all primed.

The rockers underneath all primed. I drilled a few extra drain holes to help water get out even though there is a drain formed into the rocker sheet metal.


That's it for now. Is anybody still awake??? Some pretty boring stuff here right now I know. I am really getting excited about turning the body over and seeing the body right side up for a change!!
Thanks for following, Greg

 

Any progress is good progress, keep going you'll get it done.

 

It's a 32, what's not to like!
Extra points for the T-10 four speed.

 

Progress is .....progress!

 

ekimneirbo - great minds think alike I went to my local auto body supply store, its a cool place, no sign outside just a brick building, only auto body guys go there because no one else knows about it. They have touch up paint and some car cleaning supplies on the retail shelfs. But if you go to the counter and talk to the experts you get some really good advise. I went there last week and asked what he would do for my rockers and he sold this to me. I used it just like you said. I stuck the tube in the rocker, moved it back and forth and let the 360 degree nozzle fill my rockers with rustproofing. Seemed to work well but it is waxed based so I hope my wax & grease remover will clean off any over spray or drips prior to painting.


Ekimneirbo - while I got you on the line, back in post 201 you brought up my clutch linkage which I was a having an interference issue with the brake pedal. I think I solved it. I put a dip in my clutch fork to clear the brake pedal. It seems to work well and I have asked several guys for constructive criticism. The feed back was that since I lengthened the fork a little to check function. I did this and at fully depressed pedal, I can turn by hand the yoke at the tail end of the transmission and with the pedal fully up there is free play in the linkage so I think it should be okay. The extra leverage from the longer fork may make it feel like a clutch for a Honda and not a Hot Rod but my knee is okay with that. The other feedback I got was that I welded a grade 8 bolt to it to connect the hiem joint and sometimes when you weld a grade 8 bolt it breaks in service. My solution for this is to try it and carry a stud with a hole in it in the glove box so if it breaks I have a way to fix it on the road and keep moving. If this mechanical system doesn't work I will probably do a cable system like you show on post 201. Thanks for the detail in your posts ekimneirbo!!

 

Hi Guys, I made a little more progress on the 32.
I finally finished up all the work on the underside of the body. The last step was to seam seal, prime and paint. This is the primer. I forgot to take a picture of it painted the final color.


Next we hooked it up to the crane and took it off the wooden cradle.


Then set it on several inner tubes.


Then skooched it over on its side, then rolled it over back up right. I think my son in law can lift a Caterpillar bulldozer with ease so this was a easy task.


Lastly, we set it on the inner tubes right side up (without any damage.)


Next I used my carpentry skills to modifying my cart to hold the body right side up.


I really want to get the car in primer. I got busy cleaning the light surface rust on the body, dressing welds, adding a few welds, patching a mystery hole, finishing some filler that I started years ago, and even doing a little lead work in one spot.
I had a mystery hole about the size of a Nickle in the area below the back window. I couldn't figure out what it was for, so I cut a patch and welded it up. It went to the trunk jam so I figure it would leak if I was in the rain.


There was a dent in the rear lower fender where it meets the rear panel. I couldn't get to it from behind, it was too stiff to use a slide hammer and too deep for bondo so I did the traditional thing and leaded it.


It was about a 1/4' deep.


I found the Eastwood's video that Gene Winfield did on "how to lead a fender". I following it exactly like Gene did and it worked out really well. (actually I think it is a lead free process I am using). I will finish it with bondo later.


The paint on the car was stripped off over 20 years ago but the car has always been in a heated dry garage since then. However, it still had a very light layer of rust in several areas on the bare metal. Most cleaned off easy but a few areas were terrible to get at, for example the truck jams. I could not get my finger in there to sand or clean very well so I used Eastwood's fast etch.


I used a small disposable brush to apply it in the trunk jams and kept it wet for 30 minutes.



Then cleaned with wax & grease remover. It looked great when it was done.


Then I mixed up some epoxy primer and brushed it on so all the areas that won't get covered when I spray primer will have primer.


Next I cleaned the body with hot water and baking soda just to make sure there was no acid from the lead or fast etch on the body. Then a wipe down with lacquer thinner, then wax & grease remover and finally it was time to spray primer. Now my little coupe is finally in primer!

The back side.

Drivers side.


I still have a ton of bondo & sanding work to do. Mostly little stuff. When that is complete I will spray the body with high build primer and do a final sanding.
Thanks for following along! Greg

 

primer looks so good you could drive it that way!

 

Patsurf - if it wasn’t for the fact that the doors, trunk lid, gas tank & radiator shell are already painted blue I would be very tempted to ***emble it and drive it in primer!!!