Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

Absolutely superb alignment on your doors Jay! Great to see you back on your build. Will use your doors as pure inspiration on my own...

 

There's so many different ways to get to the finish line. Seems to be all about what you have, what you know and where the finish line is. Advice here seems to ring the Bell for way too many keyboard geniuses. If you go back to this post and page 1 you can see my first moves. Those 3 photos were taken in 2013. Not everything was photo docked and I'm now 80 years young. Most of my memory from back then has a thick gray film over it. What you will see there is where it all started on this project. Like building a House and firm foundation is a must. That would be a frame table of some sort, not sawhorses! If I remember right those sub rails were 2"x6"x 1/8" material. Then I set the cowel and worked back from there with LOT'S of fit and adjust over and over getting everything happy. Then I built the A posts and worked back from there. This was my end result. What a journey and never again!

 

I think there’s a picture or 2 that kinda show how I braced mine in my album here. But yeah, what @Pist-n-Broke said is very relevant. I’d just measure to find centerline on your cowl and body(rear window/catwalk) then x measure to get things squared from there. Again, see the above post since everyone works differently.

I’m sure you already know this, BUT, don’t fully weld anything until you have everything fitting how you want it. Just hard tack it since it’s easier to cut a few tacks than it is to cut fully welded parts or start over.

 

This said I'll add that a tape measure is only going to get you close. These Chevy's were nothing but a wooden Apple box with Tin nailed to the outside. They flexed, bent and moved every direction the moisture or lack of changed the inner structure. You now have sag and bow in all the body panels front to back and top to bottom. To work this out I decided to use my Lazer. I put 3 stations front to back on my Frame table front center and rear on body centerline. First, I stacked them together and put them on my mill and bored 3/8" holes 3" apart so I could insert 3/8" dowels to set a ridged bar on center to measure from. What I started with had one quarter panel that looked Pregnant and the other looked like it had up against the Barn Door to many times. The only good part was there was minimal rust in any of it. The door skins were equally as bad. I noticed that when I sat them B edge end to end against the wall. The top to bottom bow was totally different between the two. All of this was simply caused by age and lack of precision when being stamped. It's all been fixed and why the Top got a little haircut a****st other changes.

 

34 3 window POS

 

it is around 3 year project

 

The roof is filled there is no wood both doors have steel rot on the bottom . P***enger side everything is dropped. I will start this winter. I have 2 others I am completing first. The tail looks funny/odd and I may have to change that! The frame looks like a 32 Ford and it has a 9" Split bones . I will know more after the initial shock!

 

That is where I am headed! Anybody recognise the grill? Or where it came from or built it?

 

Looks like 35 Ford truck

 

Installed part of my floor subframe today . . . and the doors stayed aligned! Hooray!
I temporarily secured the rockers yesterday. I built some temporary internal brackets with 3/4” sq. tube. I’ll weld more 3/4” tubing to create some triangles so the body will be less likely to flex. It’s all temporary bracing. I didn’t take many pictures today, so just watch this video for a review.

 

You're figuring the issues out, and your progress shows - Pat yourself on your back!

 

Nice cleat work this is why I am here to get the best ideas to fix what is broken! Nice pictures and video!

 

I’ll make the top of the door frame next, followed by the framing above the windshield that connects the A pillars. These poster board templates will help me get the correct shape.

 

Top of DS door frame is done. Door alignment is still good.

 

31 f/s in Sacramento:
https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/talmage-chevrolet-independence-coupe/iN63QDGZWX7bB8QCjrVnQM

Don’t know the seller so do your due diligence.