Projects garagefind/ survivor 40 coupe build. FIRED IT UP!

Excellent progress on a challenging project...

 

You've asked the question that I ask every day. The last car I painted was 25 years ago; since then I have done a few bikes. I am using different equipment; hvlp vs. conventional guns is a big adjustment. My space for painting is barely adequate for cleanliness and I will have to do a few pieces at a time. If I get more comfortable with the process or I lose spot to have it done, I'll spray it and live with the results.
I'm working to keep both options open.

 

Thanks. Challenging is the word.

 

prime on; prime off..again. This will be the last block sanding on the deck lid.

 

It was a beautiful day here yesterday. So I sealed the decklid and took it off the stand to work on the doors. Also I opened the door and blew some of the dust out.
Today I'll be sanding on the doors. Happy Easter.

 

Happy Easter Joel! It is a good time of year to do body work. Moderate temperatures allow some fresh air in the shop. I hope we are only a few days from starting the body and paint work on the Mercury. The parts finally arrived for the coupes trans so we can put the car back together early next week. But today is a day to celebrate with family!

 

Right on, Sam.


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I sanded and sealed the bottoms so if water gets there it can't get between the skin and the frame. It says that on the can. I sprayed DP on the edges.

I flipped them over to finish blocking the outside. I went to the glass guy today and ordered clear laminated all around.

 

Wow ! I would love to see that car in person.

 

I looked for the 3M fairing board that you recommended and couldn't get it locally , but I couldn't find paper for it anywhere. I was looking for 220 to 320 for finishing prior to sealer. I used a 24" Durablock and stick-it. Thanks for the tip.

I knocked down the the right door with 180/220 and have yo finish with guide and 320. drivers side needs more K38.

Maybe I'll get it sanded and sealer on today. I have to fix the mower first.

 

It looks like 2 weeks have slipped by and I finally put sealer on one door. I hope to do the other tomorrow, but I may have to do another coat of surfacer and block sand that.

I jumped into getting glass for the coupe because I was daydreaming about having the car painted and what would come next. I thought of glass first and then the stainless trim and ,since the garnish moldings are done, started looking for related parts. I had all the channel and rubber in boxes from Drake and Carpenter and I found the crank mechanisms and stainless dividers for the doors in various places around the property.

After blasting, I had 2 usable ones and both were for the same side. you can see the holes in the bottom one; I was going to going to turn one of the rights into a left. One of the guys in the club (V8Bob) told me they are repo so I have a pair on the way.

These need polished and the fuzzys riveted back in. I also have to rivet the vent window rubbers to the door garnish molding , so I bought a small press.

I may also remove the stainless latch and pivot bracket from the vent window frames. I have to make punch and anvil dies for the press.

 

Hi Joel, just been going thru this build - again, very inspiring, I must finish my 40! I have a little question, I am thinking of fabbing fenderwells, one thing I've been pondering is the heat buildup where the pipes run out the back of the inner fenders, as its pretty close to the cowl, have you had an issues? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/dscf1351-800x600-jpg.2927527/

 

Not yet but I haven't put much run time on the car yet. My plan is/was to use some stick on heat shield on the cowl after paint.
I let it idle once for 20-25 min and made a few laps of the neighborhood.....less than 5 mi total.


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Hi Joel! Good to see you have been busy. After just a few days of paint prep on our project I can see why you would be looking at other mini projects to do for break from bondo, sanding and painting stuff.

 

You know it Sam. I've been using a shop vac to clean the sanding surface but it still had to be cleaned up. It took most of a day to clean and change filters. I have to take some trim to the polisher tomorrow; 6 weeks till he can start on it.


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I finally got the second door block sanded and sealed; it will have to be scuffed before spraying color. Today I moved the car over and put it up an wheel stands so I could finish body work on the cowl.



I'm going to do some lead on this area( edge of the door opening and the seam from the patch weld) on the bottom half of the cowl. I did make a lap of the neighborhood before I backed it in. It hasn't run for about 3 mo. so it took a while to fill the carb bowls but then it fired right off. Shit gas. Good drive.

 

Joel, When I traded my 41 Ford pickup for my '40 coupe the guy had used fenderwell headers but he butchered the inner fender aprons, I hadt o get new from Drakes, (droppeded axle NO M II) however I used Ram's horns as I did not want the extra heat assocuated with tubing headers. The guy ran the mufflers under the running boards and cut up the Running board braces for clearance! awhat a mess! Again new ones from Drakes. anyway good luck routing the exhaust, you might want to consider running the exhaust under the car, not sure of clearances going undr the frame. Good luck.

 

never met a 40 I didn't like, congrats on this sweet hot rod. Excellent work

 

View attachment 3534450

I believe that the 1940 chassis will be almost identical to my 37 Ford. I used fender-well headers from Speedway that fit quite well, and just required trimming of the fender apron at the rear. I routed the exhaust (2 1/2" diameter) back under the car and to the rear of the car along the frame. I located the cut-outs just where the exhaust tucks back under the car.

The real challenge is welding in a cross-over tube, which ideally should be located at the header outlets. There is simply no room. I ended up locating that toward the rear of the car, just forward of the rear axle and the mufflers. Not ideal, but better than not having one at all.

 

Here is some pix from an earlier post#246. the exhaust is routed back under the frame and through the frame similar to original. but 2 1/4 is as large asI could fit.

 

I couldn't figure how to do an X style crossover, so I just ran individual pipes back.You're right .. no room.

 

The panel is prepped and I' m going to start tinning the area. As I add lead I have to hang and remove the door to check the gap. I'll take pix.

The dark spots are low spots; I have to clean the with a pencil grinder and roll before tinning. They're not as bad as they look and are very shallow.

 

Last night I was able to tin the area and apply some lead.

the left side is the panel tinned and the right is with lead. It's hard to see, but the main purpose of doing this is to build up the edge of the door opening. The next step is to re-hang the door . Coming right up.

 

If you keep fine tuning this lead talent you will have to get yourself a cigar butt and and some glasses to hang off your nose. The famous Bill Hines would be proud of your efforts! Any time I see someone tackling this challenging skill I think of him. Keep up the good work Joel. Good to see yo making such good progress!

 

That's funny! I'm on my second cup and a good chuckle fit right in. Thanks for the kind words. This is the last spot on the body ,and maybe the car, for lead. In the picture, Bill doesn,t have a diffuser tip on the torch and the flame looks like an oxy- acetylene mix which is amazing to me. I can't imagine how that would work. That is some skill. I bought a shrinking disk from Wray Schelin and a dvd came with it that used some techniques I hadn't seen. http://www.proshaper.com/tools/page/2/
I'm going to try some of the tecniques on the fenders.

 

I've been spreading lead and adding in a couple of places and now I'm filing it off. Building that corner up, since it is verticle, has been a bitch; at least for me.

After the first build up and it's clear more is required.

 

This is where I got last night
Gapped down to the 3rd from the top sharpie line.
Low area near the top Followed by the center area that is too high on the face and the box down to the hinge needs the corner built up and some added to the face. I'll be EXTREMELY happy when this panel is done.

 

I added some more lead along the door gap and than added some on the forward portion where there was a piece welded in.


This is the damaged area that I replaced with a piece cut from a donor cowl. It was badly smashed and rebuilt with lead. The gap with the hood was a little off, so I melted it off to see what was what. The metal left was too thin and fragile for me to just weld up the tears. that was a year ago.

This is the present state of filing. More work today.

 

Here I am on Saturday and still fussing with the cowl, but I think I'm nearing the end. I have thought that before though. Since the last post, I've had to add lead twice and filed it off twice.
The red ovals are where I was low and you can see a lot of places where the file doesn't cut much.
After much more filing, I used a countour guage ( cheap plastic one) to see if I was even close to the same shape as the other side cowl. The little blue spots in the red area are where there was too much metal and I used a stud gun to shrink it. It worked well and allowed me to file some more.
The red areas are where I added a little more lead and the blue is where I have to finish the door gap, so , I re-hung the door and came in for supper. Really nice weather here right now ; I've been sitting on a stool with the overhead door open.

 

Here are a couple more pix. Maybe after tomorrow I'll be moving on.
The sharpie line is inside the box. I filed to the line after taking the door back off.
Here it is after about an hour of sanding. I still have to sand around the "nose" on the left.