Hi I have a 39 plymouth that I've been collecting parts for a few years now. It was an old race car years ago and now I want to do something with it. The main problem with this car is that it is completely rotted nearly a foot up all around. Last summer I found a person who was set to s**** a coupe and being that they were too far away and the top half of the car was pretty well beat up the guy offered to sell me what ever metal I wanted. I wound up buying the bottom 18" of the car and had it shipped via greyhound. The parts consisted of the floors cut in several pieces, the rockers from cowl to 1/4 with some floor attached, the trunk in a couple pieces and a nice tailpanel. I realize I have bought a really bit jigsaw puzzle and am trying to figure out the best way to get the car together. Currently the body is still mounted to its frame. Any ideas of what I could do to piece this thing back together? This is a picture of the donor car to give an idea of what metal was removed.
rg, I think the most important thing for starters, is to keep your original Mopar body bolted to your original Mopar frame. If you look at how distorted the parts car is, that's how yours would look if you removed it from its frame. Next, line up the 18 inches of patches that you bought, mark that line on your old body, and cut your old body with a sawzall, allowing about 3/4 inches overlap. Then, use a compressed air-operated flanging/punching tool (Eastwood sells them), put a flange on the new, replacement panels. Next, using the same flanging/punch tool, punch holes along the old panels, in the 3/4" overlap edge. Finally, tack plug welds in those punched holes, a little at a time to avoid warping.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that, depending on where you are in the vast state of NY, if you need help when you're doing all this, send me a PM, and I can bring the aforementioned flanging/punch tool, however please don't ask me to bring the compressor too.
Hey, That looks like a great project ya got there! What you don't know about working metal now, you'll know upon completion of the pro- ject! I'd start by looking at the doors and the deck lid. These panels will have to fit within the openings of the body that will be the most difficult to change once the welding is completed. The A posts, B posts, and the rear quarters will all have to come inboard, out board, fore & aft to fit. The skirt areas of the quarters arn't really a major deal, once the posts and rockers are in alignment. The body mounts and the floor and cowl panel will all have to be aligned together, to get good alignment of the body. The front "dog house" tin is all adjustable once the body is in alignment. S****ey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
You do have a project on your hands. Having been through a project like this before (I started with the top 1/2 version) you will have a full understanding and a new appreceation of good metal men when your done. Are you planning on using your existing frame, is it still good???? You have to do this one the Johnny Cash way, one piece at a time, but the place to start is to put some body bracing into your old body to keep it in location when you start replacing rusted parts for good metal. I would start at the door hinge area first (a post), then do the door latch area (b post) Then the rockers and body mounts with the center floor pan supports. The trailing edge of the roof and trunk hinge support in next (c post) then the tail pan. Then finish up with the firewall and then the rear quarters and the remaining floors. The door area is the most important. If the doors are not located properly and can hinge and latch the rest of the project won't matter. Every time you open or close the door, if its not right, it will piss you off. If the body is right at the doors, the rest can be adjusted as needed. Also, be sure to do the body mounts and have the floor supports right, the floor pan just covers up the underbody structure. Gene
You dont want to flange and overlap the panels..Two things that makes this not a good way to fix this is that it traps mosture behind the overlapping panels and the other is you cant hammer and dollie your weld seam to strech the panel back out. Pat
Not that I'm an expert, but since it hasn't been mentioned, another strategy is to tack weld the doors & trunk into place and help use them as both alignment guides and structural reinforcement for the body as it comes together. Good luck on on an unusual car
I am looking for a pair of rear fenders for a 1939 Plymouth Coupe if anyone has a set for sale please let me know, thanks.
Thanks for your responses. Although I am not sure if I would want to flange the metal, I like your suggestion of using the sawzall to cut the metal allowing for the 3/4" gap. This would probabally greatly aid in lining the patches into their correct places. I agree that the most important areas are the doors and trunk and those areas are the one that have me the most worried. The frame is in suprisingly nice shape so am planning to use it. The way I recieved the metal the rockers are a solid piece from the cowl to just before the rear fender. You guys mentioned the a and b pillars seperately. Would it be a good idea then to cut up the nice unit sections I have now? I was hoping that if I could get them in the right places without cutting the piece up it would aid in aligning the doors. So the appropriate way to do this would be to work around the lower perimeter of the body and the head towards the center. I think I forgot to mention last time I also have the 37 firewall I would like to install. How would you go about bracing the body more than just tack welding the doors and trunk into place? Right now the way some of the parts are sitting it seems the body is slightly ****ed over to one side. Where would be some good points to brace from? After bracing the body, would you want to do this work on or off the frame? The one down side I see to doing it on the frame is trying to attach the body mounts to the body, and the drawback I see to doing it off the frame is that there may not be enough support to keep the body stable. Below is a picture shortly after I got the car with the doors and trunk open. This picture makes the car look much better than it is, but it should give a decent idea of what I am working with. Also I might know of someone with fenders, if you would like more info on that, please pm me and I'll try to help you out. On Ebay a year or so ago I saw a book with frame dimensions of a bunch of old 30's cars, does anyone have anything similiar that might help me get this whole thing straightened out. Richard
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