Awesome stuff!! Can't wait to see more. Your right about some of the patch panels, sometimes its just easier to do it yourself. Although you guys kinda took it the next step.
want to get something done real quick and a pickup i can use everyday to carry a bit of stuff. roadster quarters are first up once the rpu is done, then closed cab pickup then eventually coupe! going to measure up a original rpu back section on saturday heres a pic of the inner door skins, probably will leave it without any holes or swages
fc ute: Very nice work !! Have you ever though of building/using a helve hammer so that you don't have to punish your body so much during the shaping process ?? Another fellow in Perth has one in his shop...maybe you know of him ?? Clive Ross @ the HAMMERWORKS ?? James
gday james, yes i have heard of clive and have seen a lot of his work. i must say i find it quite theroputic(spelling?) to use the most basic tools, nothing like bashing something with a hammer
Very impressive. Has it been your goal to be dimensionally accurate to the original? How close have you come?
Fantastic work!! Couple of questions: Can you break down by sections the time it took? The aluminum drift actually moves the steel without deforming? Do you need to dress the edge as you work? Keep the pictures coming.
yes it has and we are within a couple of millimeters, you could use our panels as a replacement for an original one
making the bucks takes lots of hours(so far we have been on this about 3 months, all day saturdays and most afternoons after work) the cowl top is probably the most labour intensive with about 3-4 hours in it. the firewall pieces are easy with about half to an hour. cowl sides are probably 1 1/2 hours each as they have to be e wheeled. posts are about 1 1/2 hours as are inner door skins. outer skins a bit longer as they have to be e wheeled. then we still have to put it all together, fit the hinges and locks, steel it out, make the back section, still a way to go yet the aluminium is a good drift as it is softer than the steel. i round off all the edges on a belt sander first and occaisionally have to dress up the edges as the can get dented and fold over, causing more marks in the steel craig
after having a month off of any car related stuff to recover from "hotrod building burnout" work commenced today. made the rear cab section
I got the door sills and rear panels for that RPU I did from Peter Jackson. He has a shit load of tools. The sills are good and he has originals of the cab sides and rear. I just got the pieces then put them together, they worked pretty well. I've seen some shocking valances though by I don't know who.
Never ceases to amaze me the talent and fortitude of the people that this site gathers. Your work is unbelievable.
not to jack , but for those interested in tryin hammer forming. . . i did kinda a "tech" for simple hammerforming a while ago, nothing even remotely close to this kinda work, but a simple radius edge for a quarter/wheel opening patch on the 54. i went into a lil detail about the actual form making, and mine were made of wood, limited/single use only but for a basic "how to" on form/pattern making it wasnt too terrible. hammer form tech
man, i don't even know what to say....... you fellas are tops.........unbelievable!!!!! please give a run down of the tools you have; e wheel, types of hammers, etc.....after i have layed out the money for a couple more machines for my garage, i want to start buying some good metal work tools.........i just don't have a clue as to what to look for... wow....simply wow! ryan, thanks for journaling about this...i completely missed it
BTTT you're gonna have to ditch the woodwork business, and start pimping your metal work skills bro....make it work, there is an international market... Cheers, and keep at it, Drewfus
Man you do some fantastic work, you know that if you keep it up you could sell that stuff easily and make a nice profit. Great talent.......
Have you done the doors with the original overlap? I have a tub rear section from 'Old Tin' and it is the biggest POS I have ever seen, the first one they sent me was so twisted that the door openings were 12 inches out when you sat it on a level surface! They sent a second one that is on it now but it is not much better than the first. They also used a different radius down the body so the original doors have a half inch gap in the centre when closed. The swages on the back are different, rather than the 5 verticle swages in two parts on the original this has two running scross the body. They did go all the way across but have been hammered flat about two inches from the end of the body leaving some major rippling and waves in the whole panel. When I orderd it I was told that it was EXACTLY the same as original, so I called to complain he told me they made them slightly different from original so they could tell there own work! Nothing lines up well on the back and Im so pissed off. Should have brought one from the states. If you ever get to the point where your going to sell them let me know, I REALY need a rear tub section that fits and dosent look like shit. I will NEVER deal with Old Tin again and neither will anyone who has seen my car. The wankers. Doc.
Are you talking about a pickup or phaeton when you say tub section Doc? If you want something rather than hassle FC, you could get onto Peter Jackson as previously referred to. His PU rear worked for me, door radius and swages right etc.
Doc, I got one of the ones made in QLD, Can't remember the guy's name but he's always at Ballarat swap. Someone will know him on here. Price was much better than Old Tin and I'm pretty happy with it. The other one to look out for, and again I don't know his name, is the old fella from Adelaide that always has T and A panels for sale at Bendigo. His stuff looks pretty good and he also sells a steel out kit for his RPU rear section. If you really need names I might have them "filed" somewhere. Then again I'd probably buy from FC. That stuff looks very good. Pete
Its the Pickup body rear section. Anyone got a contact for Peter? I hear he has a long waiting list, not that it matters right now I would just like to work out when to order one so it comes together when needed. Cheers, Doc. Anyone want to buy the rear body section to an A RPU?? Its same as original,............ honest!!
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