Projects 37 Zephyr build thread

Thanks for the comments Guys.

Still here, just not updated for a while as I have not worked on the zephyr for around 7 weeks. I quit my day job and have started up doing classic car restoration with some hotrod and custom stuff thrown in for good measure. Needless to say I had to spend some time getting my workshop up to scratch which involved an extension out the back for use as a compressor room/stores area, wiring in more lights ,finishing the ceiling and painting the walls. It's looking a whole lot nicer in there now and loads brighter. Iv'e got ample room to work on three cars at once and still have the folders,wheeling machine, air hammer etc in there.
I got started back on the zephyr last weekend and will update on the progress with some more pics soon. Not much to show at the moment. I spent pretty much all weekend dressing out dents and shrinking hollows on the roof as it was fairly well messed up all over. No major dents but lots of small oil can dents all over it. I guess pretty much unavoidable considering it had been abandoned and then saved and then shipped halfway across the states to Tom's where he started the process of fitting it on the zephyr.
I have got some more done on the rear pan, it's now all leaded in and pretty much finished. I have finally got the drivers door frame to fit the curve of the rear panel and with a good fit at the rocker. A major amount of work, which in hindsight would have been better if I had just made a new frame from the swage line down.
Hopefully I will get back on it at the weekend and will have some progress shots early next week.

Paul.

 

Awesome job!

 

Good luck with the new venture, with your skills you should have a shed load of work in no time .

 

Best Wishes on your Venture.......

With your Fab Skills I'm certain everything will be grand !

Can't wait on more updates on The
"Zipper".


smokey2

 

Best of luck to you in your new business.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

hey Paul, that is some news, hope everything works for you in your business! good luck!

hope you find some time soon to spent on the Zephyr again,

Cheers, Carsten

 

Thanks for all the good wishes guys. Things are good with plenty of work and as I'm working from home I can put some long days in and then spend a whole day on my stuff rather than just a few hours here and there.

Right time for a bit of an update.
Spent what seems a lifetime on the drivers door and after take three it's finally looking like it belongs there. I started with the half rear sedan doors and parts of the rusty coupe doors. As posted earlier I had made the frame and welded up what was left of the original skins and made and tacked on the new bottom quarter skin. Things were looking good right up until the point of bolting the door back on, it soon became evident that the sedan doors really don't fit to good at all. The whole bottom profile is totally different to what I have.I ended up cutting and altering (twice) the bottom of the door frame and also pie cutting and pulling the door in to fit the curve of the body better.
As of tonight I finally have a drivers door that is ready for blasting and leading, I have also started on the bottom of the door pillar shaping it to match the curve that I have put on the door.
I have also welded up the original wiper holes and have made provisions for fitting the Leyland/mini type wipers.
I have also got it in primer again (forgot the pics of this though).










Paul

 

Looks amazing paul can't wait to see pick of you driving it

 

Brilliant!

Are the rounded lower door corners factory, or just a spot of Kustom work?

 

Cheers Doug, I can't wait to be driving it mate. Hows things going with you guys ?

James, the door corners are square at the rear of the door in stock form, I have rounded them to match the front curved profile. I think it just gives it the edge over the square corner.

 

Good idea to round them off - it looks very good.
Seriously can´t believe what a nice car this is rapidly transforming into. Especially looking at the evil state it was in before.

 

What he said ^^^^^

 

Been cracking on with the zephyr at every available moment.
I have welded up all the holes in the running boards where the rubber vulcanised. Have finished the rear wings and got them in primer again and nearly finished replacing the awful repair in the front fender.

Still a way to go but the body is really starting to look like a car again now.





























Paul.

 

sweet work mate

 

It´s just a suggestion, but I always felt the running boards on these cars looked bent. They hug the body lines closely to the point where they end up looking buckled.

What do you think about something like this, that flows a little better maybe?

 

That's the way they should have looked from the start! What a cool build and awesome workmanship!

 

Love seeing this come together! Great work.

 

Can you explain after you tack weld in the filler piece what your process is. I'm new to this and wanting to learn from someone who makes the finished piece look good. I assume you finish by:
1) Completing the tack welds all the way around.
2) Apply a lead or lead free filler down over the weld. What do you specifically use?
3) Then you grind down the filler with a sanding flap disk?

Are there any downsides with using the lead filler after welding the piece in? I don't see a lot of people using this technique, but it appears to give a better finished look.

Thanks.

 

I have just read this whole thread Paul and I am stunned into silence, I would love to pop over one day and have a look if at all possible. Might have a bit of work to put your way as well

 

looking good! love this thread!

 

James D , I know exactly where you are coming from with the swoopy shape of the zephyr running boards, but they have grown on me and now I have filled in all the holes they do look pretty damn good. The pic doesn't really show them that well tbh.

This one shows it a bit better




That said the photoshop one that you have done also looks damn good.If you are as quick and as good at doing bodywork as you are at photoshop do you fancy a trip to the uk to help push things a long a bit .

49 Dreamer. I generally tack the new piece in making sure that the panel and new piece are flush with each other , I tack it in several places to hold it, dress the tacks where needed to take out the shrinkage. I then tack it all up so that it's tacked with small tacks at intervals of around 10mm or 3/8", I then weld them fully . The welds are then ground down and dressed with hammer and dolly and then sanded with a 60 grit sanding disc on a 4 1/2" sander/grinder.
This normally brings things up to a pretty good finish.

I like to fill any panels I weld in with lead if possible. I think it's a better long term end result. I have seen loads of plastic filler show through or blow out from under the paint after time, I haven't seen this with any lead work though. Most of the original lead is still in my zephyr from when it was put in way back in 1937, it's still as good as it was the day it was done.
I think the reasons that most people steer clear of lead is the cost,of the materials, the time it takes and the preparation before you can start (lead needs to go on perfectly clean bare metal, plastic filler could be put on top of paint if it was keyed enough), and the health issues with using lead (drastically limited if you wear a mask and dampen the area if you have to sand any lead. Personally I can't see plastic filler dust doing anyone any favours )

Lead filler is filed down with a body file or I use a surform with good results, plastic filler with sanding paper or body sander.

Hey Pride, give me a bell, your more than welcome to pop over. My numbers are on my website link in my signature. Bring that longroof of yours, Ive got a bit of a thing for them.

Paul.

 

Lots of work, but hey, it's a Zephyr! There is a four door 37 Zephyr half buried in the dirt out back in the desert near my house. It's on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management). They get possesive when you try to take stuff off. I soaked the steering wheel in WD-40 for a week trying to get it to budge. No dice.

 

I´d be far more of a hinderance than a help, but if you want to take on an apprentice, at vastly inflated rates, who you´d have to teach absolutely everything.....

 

Yep perfectly good title, and it is a very cool pile of rust

 

I had hoped I deleted that soon enough since I noticed this was such an old thread, but, good!

 

With that perfectly symetrical dash, I thought you'd like to make it a right hand drive?

 

Thanks answering my questions. Watching your build and the pictures you post is proving to be a good source of learning information. I look forward to your continued progress. Thanks!!!

 

I'm coming over to the UK to see some people in Norfolk so will pop in
Great project
Neil

 

Olpaul, Icould have changed it over to right hand drive but I actually prefer to drive left hand drive cars, even over here. So it like all my american cars will stay left hand drive.

Neil, Your more than welcome, would be good to meet up. Let me know when you are planning on coming to norfolk and we can arrange something.

Paul.

 

I like the door bottom treatment.
Your almost done...!
TP