I am humbled by the positive feedback. I have a sheet metal guru that has helped me immmeasurably and I am lucky - I have learnt alot I manage a roofing company for a day job and I am building this at the back of our factory. Brookville bodys are fantastic but where would the fun be in that. The project has become sort of therapy - just like doing it Can't wait to drive it but still a fair way off. The more I learn the more I want to take the car further. I really want to put it down the quarter......at least once. Just one of those life wants Looking forward to a session on Sunday Thanks for the interest
Hey turns - excellent job on the metalwork. I realise that the focus now is on the metal work and someone may have already told you but in your earlier post you said you don't know many hot rodders so......... When you get to the engine if you fit a SNOWWHITE waterpump conversion it will shorten the overall length of the ford engine in your A by about 1.5 inches. I have 351w in A coupe and the extra space helps. Speedway in oz sell them local not expensive for the gain in space you get. Cheers Acme
I honestly look at the drivers side where the headers, steering, starter all reside and it will be interesting to get it to all fit - my thoughts are if it just fits.....well it fits I looked at the Snowwhite pumps but ended up picking up an adaptor I think made by CRS that allows fitment of a Holden inline Six water pump. Basically does the same thing and shortens the motor. I don't want to hack the firewall any more than is needed. Cheers Turns
I have borrowed a 'loaf dolly' that you use as a post dolly but needed a post. It needed to be solid to hammer against with a round base to make it easier to move around the workshop floor. I scrounged up an old bollard I had laying around the factory which has a wall thickness of about 5mm I needed to fabricate a socket or reciever for the tapered mount on the dolly. Here is the dolly with the tapers traced onto some 5mm plate steel Clamped them into position Then welded them up Cleaned up the welds and checked the socket for fit I stripped a steel wheel that I had laying around and welded the cut down post into the wheel flange Welded the socket into the top of the post Here it is with the dolly fitted
I needed to get the other quarter panel tacked onto the car. First port of call was taking a template off the existing quarter already on the car - ensures symmetry Without boring everybody, it was pretty much the same sequence of events as the other side. Still needs a bit of further tweaking
Next I wanted to make some sill panels that gave the quarter panels something to weld to and to provide a place for the door to close into. I have channeled the body over the chassis by 35mm (almost 1.5"). Also I wanted the sills to look good from under the car. The car will never be a show pony but I thought it deserved something better than square tube I started by folding some ideas that progressed to a concept Alright I had some ideas how to tackle it now Firstly folded the depth of the channel used 45* angle for looks This is the sill panel starting to come together
Looks like this from underneath - the yellow thing is what is holding my chassis in the jig The bit the door closes into - still needs some more steel folded to box it up The bit the quarter welds to Here you can see the quarter lapping under the new sill And did the other side to match From this view I just noticed the opportunity for a rolled rear pan. I knd of really like***** De Luna's 34 rear pan so may steal some concepts rom there Cheers Turns
I realize it's a bit late (only just found your build) but I just brought a '30 roadster which is in a thousand pieces. Let me know if you need any specific measurements or pics
Man that is turnsing out nice(sorry no.one else did so I had too) I really likre where this is going and am looking forward to how you tackle some of the detail bits like the door jams & fitment.
Great progress. Looking at all of the work ahead of you as 'therapy' is probably a great way to not get overwhelmed by it all, although I quite often find myself thinking of something to do on my car just to get in the garage. Makes me feel better too.
Great project very nice build I will keep following your progress this is getting me motivated on my project. Frenchy
My hat is off to you Turns, looking good. I've done lots of welding/dent repair and painting but can only imagine myself flooding the scrap metal market if I tackled a job like this. Old cars are therapy for me too!
Thanks for the positive comments. Hey ratty aussie your roadster body looks really good and I sometimes wish I started with more. I do enjoy the therapy of working on it Going on from my last update I needed to make a stand for my borrowed shrinker/ stretcher. Thought I would powder coat them Because the quarter panels are still removable I thought it would be best to have a look at the rear pan and boot floor while they are accessable Rolled up this but was pretty wary as to how it would look on the car
I cut the panel to try and be able to form the outside ends of it Cut the back out and used the shrinker to pull the end of the panel into some shape I had my troubles with it My mate Stuart (metal whisperer) visited the skunkworks and I was keen to hear his feedback. He helped me heaps with the transition of the panel from the rear body crossmember
At this stage I may use this first attempt at the rear roll pan as a practice panel. I learnt almost everything I need to know to be able to make a good looking piece. I get the feeling that this panel will be one of the most complex panels on the car - especially if I louver it The boot floor I folded out of 1.2mm. The floor will be welded in but the small floor panel will be fastened. Kinda wanted to do a flat panel to chill This is how it folds in behind the rear*****pit rail support These are the tail lights I have always lusted after and thought I would post a pic to show some other stuff I want to do . Saw these on US ebay and bid but lost (at an amount lower than I would have paid) 1950 (?) Hudson. These were glass and not pitted - I was gutted but will continue searching Later that day I recieved my delivery of clecos I ordered so I was happy As an aside, Stuart brought me a heap of cool stuff to use. Some are dollys that he has doubles of. The big lump of a dolly was the handle off a swing press and one dolly is an excavator blade - all just work Cheers Turns
Hi turns, 1st up welcome mate, wish id seen this from beginning sorry for belated reply, you deserve all the praise your getting here from everyone . however im going to give you a tonne more, hats off to ya a thousand times, its coming along perfect, that body is looking fantastic and i can tell already how great the finished products going to be, thanks for showing ur build im very impressed indeed, but the only guy that needs to be happy at end of day is u and id say youll be grinning ear to ear by now and have an even bigger smile when you drive your pride and joy once complete, once more big pat on back , keep us updated and keep posting ur pics, Thankyou A-Tub
Thanks for the wrap atub I wanted to start working on the steel out for the cowl and doors. I thought this would be easier to fabricate if the fuel tank (just the top) was removed from the cowl. I found some rust doing this so stripped the panels back to bare metal for a closer look
Pretty good all in all - it is over 80 years old I had to change the steel out slightly to better fit the quarter panels I stripped the panels from off of the sub structure and flipped it so i could weld up underneath as I had only tacked it
While I was under there I thought I would sheet under the boot and refabricate the sills for the quarters to attach to and the door to close into - 35mm channel That's about where I am up to now Cheers Turns
Whilst the steel out was flipped I had another go at the rolled rear pan. i am thinking of recessing some amber indicators (Aussie rules) and louvering the pan - actually, I plan on louveringthe whole floor pan
Bought some wheels. 16" X 4.5" for the front and 16" X 6.5" for the rear which originally came off a Ford Mainline and then modified
From previous posts, my mate lone*star helped me weld up the quarter panels. These welds are long sheet metal welds that were worrying me a bit. Wasn't sure whether to use oxy or tig - he used both methods, first oxy and then tig Lone*star welded up my rear pan too - needed a few shrinks also
The welded quarter panel has come up well - still needs more work Other side - tig Here is a close up of the tig weld once planished. You can see it just to the left of the light reflection. The panel came up superb and is testament to lone*star's skills Working hard on a louver press now to do the floors Cheers Turns
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