I got a set of drip rails from hamber Rob Paul a few months ago, he asked if i would do a tech post on installing them, so here it is! step one, remember to take pics! heres a before, model As look like total shit with out drip rails, i dont care how bad the car was etc etc, they need drip rails, it just kills the proportion of a model A! some one made a mess of this coupe so ive been slowly repairing it, i had to redo the chop, so now it has a 5" chop. along with numerous other things that were messed up someone removed the drip rails, dunno if they were bent or what, the passenger side had really been messed up, i think they used a huge chissel and hammer to remove the old driprail which made it a real task to fix, thankfully they hadnt gotten to the drives side, so here is what i started with: so i take a 1/8 pilot bit and drill a hole in the center of the spot weld, they were well defined on this coupe so it was pretty easy. then up the drill size to around 1/4, the more centered you get the easier it will be to get them to come off as there wont be much if any spot weld left holding it on. you can just kinda pull on it and it the front 6 or so spot welds popped right off a little further down there were a couple that were lightly holding so using the drip rail as a lever i just kinda rock it up and down the rest of the spot weld should fatigue and pop off pretty easily, i dont like using a chisel as it will distort and tear the metal pretty easily, which in the end will make more work, so take you time and be gentle! this one came off with very little effort there no were half way there right? as usual its ugly underneith so i sand blasted it underneith, you can do all the grinding and sanding you want, but blasting will usually be the best and easiest, i just used a small portable cheopo blaster. i didnt blast much above and below were the drip rail goes, that was all clean metal so i had just sanded that clean. now youll will have to take out the wood to get to the inside for welding, i took a little sander and just debured the holes and a little around the hole, dont want to make it too thin then it gets hard to weld. i took some measurements off another A coupe and made a make where the rear of the driprail goes. i just use one clamp to hold it at the front of the quarter window, the back half of the drip rail follower the shape and contour of the body good so i weld on the inside right next to the clamp, then i just work my way back finish those welds, heres the inside, i dont just do one huge weld in the hole or else youd melt right thru the driprail as they are light material, i probably do about 5 tachs in the hole working my way in a circle. at this point i forgot to take any more pics but i just work my way forward to spot welds at a time, youll be able to grab the drip rail and tweak it around to follow the lip that it buts up against at the top, the drip rail bends around nicely and is very workable. when you look back on the outside there will be some little bubbles from the weld penatrating thru so i just carefully sand them with my 3" roloc. so there you go, they car looks 100% better and thanks Rob for making a repro part that actaully functions well.
The Jalopy Journal
