I've had my 34 3 window for about 15 years. Bought from Arizona as a finished rod. It has been painted once after Ford by the owner I bought it from. He did the car in 1990. I bought it as it was a beautiful body sitting on a TCI chassis. I've added a 383 stroker with a 6 speed Tremec, removed the bumpers, new interior, 5 inch drop axle, bigger disk brakes, wheels and tires, etc, etc. I'm a Chevy guy, but I would say this has been my favourite. I said I would never paint it as it was nice, but not so nice that I had to worry. This past spring we were on our way to Deuce days in Victoria B.C. when we hit rain and standing water. Those Firestone cheater slicks didn't like it. Went side ways into a median. Wasn't going very fast, but on the median was a reflector mounted on a piece of steel. It broke off after the running board hit it. Running board folded up and put a dent in the door. So I'm going to repaint the car. Pretty much have the dent in the door out but there is damage on the quarter panel that I can't get my head around. The fender was not hit and has no damage. One section of the quarter lower reveal either has been pulled down toward the wheel well or the quarter has been pushed out in that area. Ideas, help!?
Best place to start, is sand the paint off so you know exactly what's under there. Might be bondo that you could remove and do an even better job than the previous guy. Or maybe you find Henry Ford black under there and can see the actual dents and creases caused by the sign. Won't know what present you get til you open the box.
So to be clear the quarter never took a hit, just the running board. Obviously a tweek took place from the quarter through the rear fender to quarter. Fender doesn't have a mark on it. Picture is of the car before it was painted in 1990.
What I liked about it was that other than the roof being filled the body was left stock. Other than the running board is toast there seems to be little damage. I have the door dent gone, its just the quarter that has me stumped. I have noticed scrutinizing the car that he quarters don't seem to be symmetrical. Looking at the outside body line near bottom of the trunk the drivers side is more rounded. I never noticed it before but since I have seen other cars with the same issue. Is there a fix, its the way they are, thoughts?
The computer that scanned the clay model must have had a glitch, and when they CNCed the stamping dies nobody noticed the discrepancy at the plant.
Before any body work is done, you need to bolt the Rear fender back on, then the new running board and then the front fender. This will allow you to check fit of all panels that will meet up on the side of the car that may or may not need adjustment. I'd say what you have is when the running board folded up, it pulled on fender which may have pulled out the quarter a tad. It may or may not have done any damage to the steel, fitting all the panels together to check fit will tell, but the flex of the pull on the quarter may have only just been enough the crack the paint and make it look worse than it actually is. As far as these cars being perfectly symmetrical side to side, they are not. There pretty close but there not exact. Every panel was fit by hand by a guy whose job it was to fit jus that fender and running board perfectly in just a few min of running down the assembly line, so he knew what he was doing. My own 39 Sedan has over an inch of difference in the rear fender depths from wheel well to fender lip between the pass and driver side, and these are the original paint original fenders to the car. So they are far from perfect. But if the fenders and running board all line up and gaps look good you are probably just fine to repair and repaint.
Thank you for that. I have been looking for running boards since June and finally have a pair coming that should be here next week.
Pretty much have the metal work done. Drivers door has always bothered me with the door gap. Door is to far forward so this is the time to fix it. I have been running the Firestone 8.20 x 16 cheater slicks which fill up the wheel well. I'm convinced that if I had a treaded radial this accident wouldn't of happened. Looking at bf Goodrich 275 65R 16 which has similar dimensions. Anyone running that tire?
I’m no bodyman, with luck I can make small dents out of big ones, that said I’m with Jason. The hit your car suffered, even at slow speed is basically like an earthquake, it has an epicenter and radiates out till it stops. If you ever get to look at a car wreck in slow motion you’ll see what I’m getting at. Every thing on that side of the car flexed and moved when it hit, with luck it all went back close to where it started. I have two 40’s and as I stand in front of either the pass front fender is more round and bulbous than the drivers side. I have looked at many and it’s like the same body man worked on them all.
I know what you mean. I do my own body and paint out of necessity, meaning I have more money to by parts. Lol. That being said this car is the oldest I've done and am lucky that it is in such good shape with no rust ever. I have a bodyman buddy that gives me tips so lucky there. I have had this car for 15-20 years and now that I am repainting I notice stuff. Like a member mentioned earlier that "these cars are not symmetrical". I get that and suppose it is part of their charm. I want to move the drivers door back a bit to get a nice gap. I assume the best way is to take off the body side of the hinges and bend? I have made a trace on paper of each hinge to see how much it moves. Started with the top but am hesitating on hitting it too hard, worried it will snap. I assume they are cast? What is the best way just hit hard or does it need heat?
The hinges are forged, they won't snap. I would surely remove them from the wood structure in the body before you put any force to them. IIRC they are riveted to the door and as you said, the easiest fix to your alignments issue might be to bend the body hinge. I would clamp it tight to a flat surface and accurately measure the distance to the surface. Then you can know how much you are moving things. A press is probably the best way to give it a slight bend. It would let you sneak up on it better than hammering.
So I bent the hinges ever so slightly. 1/16" seemed to do it. Gaps look reasonable. But the upper body line is low when I close the door. The latch guides don't look adjustable. What is the fix?
You should never depend on the dovetails to straighten the alignment. They should only help hold it in alignment. You need to rebend the hinges so it lines itself up without anything like dovetails or the rubber bumpers pushing it into place. I like to do all door alignment with no latches, dovetails, bumpers, or wind lacing to affect the fit. Make it fit perfect on its own.
That is my issue. The alignment is great until I fully close the door. It appears that the "dovetails" push it out of alignment.
Ford had a couple different offset dovetails for that on the assembly line. My tudor had one offset. I've seen some guys cut the dovetail mount out of the door and line it up, weld it back in.
I like the sound of offset dovetails. Would be a lot easier than cutting and welding on door. Does anyone sell the offset dovetails?
Wo Wow. I love the 1990 pic it had so much potential for a cool old hot rod. Personally i think the then owner did the car a disservice by putting it on a kit chassis and making just a regular sbc powered street rod just like thousands of others.
Wow. I love the 1990 pic it had so much potential for a cool old hot rod. Personally i think the then owner did the car a disservice by putting it on a kit chassis and making just a regular sbc powered street rod just like thousands of others.[/QUOTE] I hear you. Times change, we change. Looking back it would have been awesome to leave the paint that was on it.
I've never seen offset ones sold, seen a couple on ebay over the years. Ford made them offset up or down according to the V8 Club 34 book. Just get steel or stainless ones and section them, easier than the door.
I noticed on the drivers door hinge pillar that the wood has a crack that runs up and down. The wood is very solid. Is it permissible to hit it with a good quality waterproof glue?
Wood glue only works if you can get it the whole surface, and press those two surfaces together. Otherwise it's just caulking. Can you drill a hole from the inside and insert a wood dowel to help bridge the load between the two halves of the cracked part? Make sure you aren't doweling in an area with other notches or weak spots.
Here is the picture of the crack. Dowels would be easy to install. Just want to be sure I do the job right.
Funny you say that as I was looking at some of the other wood in the car and thinking the same thing (not that I new that Ford used laminated wood, Lol) Is it common for them to separate? I was going to glue and insert a few dowels. Is that my best option?
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