Hi Guys, I've just bought a Repro Steel '32 Roadster body in kit form from Sweden and was looking for pictures of the build up process from anyone that has built one recently as there are a number of questions the limited build doc/instructions does not cover....... If you have any pictures or useful info it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Michael
Well, you have had it a month now. What do you think of the fit and overall quality? I don't know if any have made it this far (the Colonies) yet.
"tin" Jim Allen in AZ is the US rep - he assembles the bodies here for Reprosteel - maybe he could offer some insight? Steve <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
Hi Steve, Where do I start I have a first generation Repro Steel body and the pressing are still top notch! They have now re-tooled and the pressing are said to be even better. I have the full Repro Steel kit which includes everything including the firewall and a roll of floor, plus I also have the Brookville subrails, crossrails and rear floor. Here's a quick breakdown of what I have done to date. Started off with fitting the Brookville subrails and the Repro Steel Firewall as they will act as a datum point for everything else. Now the firewall is an excellent repro and I think it is probably one of the best on the market. The down side is that you have to fit the edging on to it and that has proven to be a touch of a pain I now have measurements from an original which have meant I have got the edging on and nearly right (third attempt!). I may still try and see if I can borrow an orignal one to build up the front section just to be 100% sure but I will see. The good thing with using the Brookville subrails is you don't spend ages building up the subrails as per the Repro Steel build manual (loose terms for a build manual) as they recommend using box tubing. To fit the front quarter panels I just had to take a notch out of the lower rear section where the panel meets the subrail, then they slip on nicely. The same goes for the rear quarters except that you also get the luxury of having the concave section on the subrails which match the same shape on the inner wing so allows for easy line up. I was very surprised how well this worked and that allowed me to very quickly get the upper and lower deck lid panels clamped in place. I have since tacked the rear quarters and upper deck lid panel in place so I could free up some clamps. I then installed the Vintique tank to help with setup and spacing. next part coming up (somehow I lost my first effort so now doing in stages)
The Brookville floor needs trimming during installation as this panel does not fit out of the box. The Repro Steel floor comes as a big roll of steel with bead rolling in it, I will use this to make a small section of floor to go between the lower deck lid panel and the Brookville floor. I am just waiting for some Brookville sub rail extensions before I do this as they will be really useful to match the contour of the rear quarters. The trunk/deck lid comes in two pieces and interestingly the inner skin has pressings for rumble hinges and a latch mechanism at the same end It also does not have the holes cut out to allow access to hinge/latch fixings but this is easily remedied by buying a 4 1/2" hole cutter. I will be using these hinges and latch................ The doors also come in two pieces and each inner skin needs two brackets welded in place to act as adjusters for the hinges. The inner skin needs very little trimming and the outer skin just needs the edges trimming down to about 15mm to allow you to fold them over to hold the inner skin in place. One thing I have noted and want to see either an original or Brookville door to cross reference is that the lower edge of the raised area on the inner skin slopes from back to front, now this does seem to match the Brookville subrails as I measured the front step/edge and it was around 25mm high and the rear was around 35mm. If anyone can confirm if this is correct it would be appreciated. I am now at the stage of getting the cowl panel to sit neatly on top of the front quarter panels, this is where I got to last night. I need to play around with this some more to get the cowl central on the fire wall and sitting flat on to the firewall edging. Now if I am honest it is the cowl section and firewall edging strip that has given me the most amount of grief and once these are sorted I will then finish the doors and mount them to sort out gaps etc. Oh and while typing all this I found a picture of how Repro Steel recommend you build the subrails. I am more than happy with the body and am thoroughly enjoying the build up
I've now come to the next issue of how to clamp the body to the firewall as I cannot drive around with the mole grips on Anyone with pics of an original or Brookville that will help will be happily received.
There is a shop in Sweden that work with Reprosteel called Jocar, they have a projectcar maybe you can have some help there To the shop only in Swedish sorry http://www.jocar.se/?file=kop1.php and to the projectcar sorry only in Swedish, use google translation or look at the pics ; ) http://www.usabil.nu/nyheter/filer/190/
Hanky, many thanks for the links, very much appreciated! I work with 2 Swedes so will ask them to fill in the gaps that Google cannot answer Michael
Hi.<O</O I´m the owner of the the car and the website www.usabil.nu where we built the roadster -32 as a project car this winter.<O</O Jonas at JOCAR was the project leader and i must say that the bodywork is excellent. <O</O If you got any questions about the building of the body feel free to contact me. <O</O You will find all of the ten articles of the project car on www.usabil.nu <O</O<O</O Have a nice day <O</O<O</O Mats Carlsson<O</O Founder and owner of<O</O www.usabil.nu<O</O
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