Or... I figure that by the time I find a better one, pay for it and pay more money for it to be blasted, I may as well have a crack at fixing this. My time is very cheap - although running out - I do want to get to drive this thing!
So happy to see your project resuscitated! Gives me incentive to "get on with it" before the lights go out!
Most excellent!! That grille is a thing of pure style & grace... I look forward to seeing your execution of making the grille to hood side-panel transition. (For what it's worth, I like the other dished wheel cover... looks classier)
Geez, it seems these cars all went through similar experiences and have the battle scars and wounds in the same places to prove it! If you get a chance, could you post a few pictures of the bottom of your hood side panels where they attach to the fasteners at the fenders? Mine are all buggered up in that area and I'd like to see approximately what I need to duplicate. Thanks...and again, you're rockin' your build!
I'm afraid this isn't going to be a very good report because I didn't take progress photos. I thought I had some, but no. Anyway, The fender to cowl shape was wrong, the arch of the fender was flattened as seen in the pic a couple of posts above. What I did was take a pattern from the good side and determined the extent the shape was out. To get back to the correct shape I cut out a new inner lip using the template and made it long enough to extend several inches each end beyond where the fender line came good again. I cut out a section of fender lip, the bad part and bolted the inner and outer fender on...and these to the running board as well. With these in place I sandwiched the piece I had cut out between the fender and the cowl (no bolts involved there) and once in the correct place, tacked it where the fender line was correct. From below, using bits of wood I pushed the wayward part of the fender up into position and tacked it to the new lip. Eventually the crown to to the new correct shape. I the cut out and put in a patch where this mis alignment was as well. I then took the fender off and fully welded the new lip while removing the remnants of the old.
Working around the fender, I come to the rear outside corner that bolts to the running board. It's not in good condition so I cut out and made a new section. By the end of this process I remembered to start taking pictures! Area for surgery: New piece in: Ready to weld the corner join. You can also see another weld half way along the bottom fender lip. That had an old welded split. Unfortunately the lip was caved inwards when they welded it. I re cut it, got the curve back and re welded it. (How many splits were in the fender? What a life!) With doublers etc. in place. The corner is now good again.
Moving along to this corner. First, liberate the rod that has been welded into the lip as reinforcement. This rod goes all the way to the front of the fender. I'm just taking out a section for this part of the work. I took a pattern of the corner shape and transferred that to a block of wood to form the corner over. I banged the edges over 90 degrees. Around the actual corner radius I only used enough material to form half the lip. Too much puckering otherwise. I needed to also make the inside tab for the fender brace, so I formed the rest of the radius with that and welded the pieces together. I formed the remainder of the lip over a T dolly in a vice. I need to take a pic of the finished job. As a side note, the metal I used was the section of rear fender I cut out when I did the fuel door.
A1 ? I think, the one in Lonsdale SA. Good as far as I can see, and many attest. BTW, I've never seen a '38 Ford where the grille looked as right as it does on this car. At least, not in any photos. It looks right here.
Okay, the finished job. You'll see some undressed weld on the inner lip on the arch. That will go when I do the full arch lip replacement. I'll probably join that in an inch or so closer to the corner than the weld there. Next will be moving onto the lower front of the fender. The whole area below the headlight has accident repair and is way out of shape. Until next time, I appreciate the interest.
With this weather we are having now you may as well stay in the garage and keep working. I am so sick of this rain that never wants to stop. La Nina is at fault.
Moving to the lower front or the fender now, the area below the headlight. This is one of the most obvious accident damage/repair locations. I guess the stove in area was banged out to a generally smooth condition with little concern for the actual shape. At least that's what it seems like. It's quite an inward yet compound curve below the headlight but on this fender it was relatively flat. Fortunately the other one is in perfect shape so I did a lot of checking and comparing with a small profile gauge to determine what's what. I made a cardboard profile to determine what I needed to do shape wise on the lower lip and as you can see, it was way out! I also had a couple of patches to do as well. This one and the section where the bumper irons project (a shitty old repair with braze, as seen in a pic in a previous post) As a help I made inner and outer profiles in thick ply to act as a kind of clamping buck to hold the shape once I had the lip curve about right. Some judicious banging brought the area under the headlight into the acceptable zone. Between this and getting the lip contour right things improved a lot, much to my relief (I'm making this up as I go.) Here you can see my initial rough cut out of the bumper slot. The patch was a little bigger, with rounded corners. Looking better: I'll cut out the bumper slot at a later date. It's easier to work on with the continuous surface for now.
This is how it looks on the car. Much better than before. With the fender on the car I thought I would attack the wheel arch. As seen in previous pics, this one was very bad. From the lower radius patch all the way to the area I just finished at the front, that piece of rod is welded in, in addition to many old repairs. I'd like to cut that all out and put in a whole new wheel opening. I didn't like the idea of having to make that, but luckily I have another right side fender. It's from a Standard, but fortunately, the lip is in pretty decent shape. No rod welded in and only one (butcher) repair in the usual location. So I cut a section out and dropped it in my de-rusting tank. Actually, a kitchen rubbish bin, so it didn't fit in whole, but this was a result after a week. The lip is good inside. My chemical of choice is plain white vinegar. The cheapest home brand stuff from the supermarket. I cut it in two to get the job done and here it is with the wheel arch pattern I made. I cut out the old repair, formed a new section of lip and commenced tacking it together while checking against the pattern.
I admire your apparent fearlessness for tackling a seemly impossible goal. I'll never achieve your level of competence but seeing your journey is certainly inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
This is the finished piece, ready for trimming and installation. (Not fearless, this is the scary part!) Thanks Bill, but I beg to differ...you do real well.
I highly recommend making the cuts, fitting, and at least tack welding the patch while the fender is solidly bolted to the car. LOTS of strength in that arch, and I'd hate to see you weld the new arch in while the fender is slightly tweaked.
Time to fit this patch...take a deep breath! I thought I'd try the template first, just for fun. As it turns out in it's life of repairs the fender has taken on a shape of it's own in this location too! Mmm. After some pondering and trial fitting I decided to cut a slit up through that old repair weld at the top where the shape starts to go off. My thought was to relieve some pressure and allow the shape to conform better. In the end the slit went twice the width of the patch, but seemed to help. Here is the patch in place. Tacked. I went with Fitzee's 'cut and butt' method. The finished job turned out like this. I'm pretty happy/relieved at this stage. The large patch solved multiple issues in one go which was good. Feeling much better about this fender now.
The Jalopy Journal
