I remember this car when it was first chopped in South Florida. Mike Jacox did a nice job on the chop. The car has a great profile. Glad to see it is still coming along!
Yeah, Mike did a great job with the chop. I met him once when i was in Florida, nice fellow. I like how he chopped his Hudson too, it looked almost like it has rolled out of the factory with that chop. He sure has a great eye for chopping tops. At the moment i am struggling with the door alignment job. I started with shimming the body on frame and i think i am close where it should be. The B pilar gap is a bit tight, so i guess that needs a some more adjusting. The next step will be chopping the NOS door. I thought it could be shame to leave the cut off NOS parts out of the chopwork, so its a kind of blank canvas. My plan is cut it just like Mike did, its hard to beat the way he did it.
I think the B-pilar side door gap is pretty much there where i want it to be. So i started chopping the window frame. Its not done yet, but its getting there. I try to use tig so much than its possible, but i guess mig will be needed too in this work. Here's a pic how it looks like at this point.
Allrite, i got the chopjob done and tig only. I know its time consuming, but the idea of using that is developing my tig welding skills with thinner materials. I made it barely, looks like i am almost out of argon. I got a lease bottle and their pricing is getting more expensive every year. My lease contract is almost done too and hell no i am not going to renew it. So i think at this point i have to buy my own bottle and forget that lease bottle crap. Anyway, i did the corner pieces first, before welding them on the door. I think this method was easier and there was less hammer/dolly etch job because they were done earlier. I guess next step will be working with pushbutton ring (again), but i have to figure out that argon issue before that.
Thanks! That was a kind of copycat operation, so it was pretty simply job because of that. I didnt post a pic of it, but i did the inner corner piece too, just like i did on the passengers side top corner. Thanks Kurt! I havent hear from you for a long time, i hope everything is fine at your end. Thanks Carsten!
I got the argon issues solved and bought a bottle. I counted that the refilling will be a half of the price than it was with the rental bottle. One of the things i've should done a long time ago.. Anyway, i got the pushbutton frenching ring done on the drivers side door. I had to modify slightly the vent window mounting points on the door, to get vent window mounted. The vent window fits in this freshly chopped door too, so i guess i did something right.
Thanks guys! I almost forget this one, the final piece for the passenger side door fix. The door seal brace on the bottom of the door, that annoying wavy thing that most likely rottens first. There wasnt much left of it on the passengers side door, but i made a template from the drivers side brace. I saw that there were aftermarket braces and they didnt cost an arm or leg, but they were sold as pairs and i only needed one. I bought an air nibbler while ago and it made the fabrication job really fast. I guess it might look like a bit complicated thing to do, but it was actually really easy with a template. I brushed some phosphoric acid based antirust stuff on that piece before painting it, maybe it will last a bit longer with that.
Thanks! I havent made that visit yet, that we talked about earlier. I have to do that at some point. I welded the wavy thing on the bottom of the door, so i guess most of the door is done. Well, maybe some gap filling on the latch side, but otherwise its good to go. I had some citric acid mixture left and i cleaned all the garnish mouldings and primered them. I think they need some finishing touch and one is still unchopped. I guess i'll mess with them awhile as a small sideproject.
Okey, i got the last garnish moulding chopped. I think its better than the passengers side, that i did before. But i guess the passenger side will better after some finishing touch. I didnt like how drivers side door garnish moulding seats on the door, so i had to do some rework on that one. Its not done yet, but its getting there. Looks like there will be some changes in my life. I quit my job awhile ago, where i spent half of my life. I liked it at first, i learned at a lot there from older fellows. They were old school craftsmen with a really strange sense of humor. All of them are retired and some of them have passed away. Last few years it felt like it was more like a prison than a job and everything else in that career started to go south too, so... I sent an apply for a really interesting job, just for shits & giggles. I was surprised that i got the job, i'll start there soon.
So you got that job what we talked about? Congrats for that! I'll try to stop by at your place soon...
Looks cool! Did you have '50 or '51 fenders on that car? Looks like they fit nicely on your car. Mine are from '50 and they fit like crap. I have learned to stick with the same year parts only, makes life much easier. Thanks! Not sure how much that new job will take my time, but my wild guess is that this build will be most likely a weekend build in the future. Thanks! Yeah, i got it, but as a contractor. So i am in the middle of founding my own company process. I'll start there when i got that sorted out, i guess i got the paperwork done at next week or so. Looking my emails inbox reminds me a scene from western movie, where the vultures are circling around the fresh meat. I've got email from webpage designers, insurance companies etc. I even got a phonecall from the city, they asked do i want they to add my company on their list of the local companies? Didnt ask the price, but i am sure that wasnt free either.. Hell no, i really dont want anything (except the insurance, thats a mandatory thing). Its a one man show with a basic hand tools, not the next Nokia for god sake. And the update: I got the door garnish moulding rework done too. The B-bilar side was a kind of wonky, but now it follows the windowframe better. I guess i have to pretty much same thing for the passengers side, when i have the door fitted properly. The windshield garnish mouldings are fine, so i think i dont touch them.
Son of a b.....Just noticed that most of the pics doesnt work in thread. And i think i dont have all of the oldest one anymore. So this thread is like a blank canvas now. Feels like pointless to post anything in this thread now. So, have to think what to with this mess. Start a new thread with pics i have or try to fix what i can? I think new thread could be easier move to do.... Well, nothing special going on with the build. I wasnt happy with the B-pilar side door gaps, so i started to fix them. The drivers side is almost done, but the passenger side is more time consuming thing. I had 2 weeks off from the work and i had plans what to do. But that plan backfired, i have a nasty flu and its still going on strong. Pisses me off, but thats how the life goes sometimes.
Don't sweat it too much Finnrodder, most of the longer threads at some point have the same problem with pics hosted offsite. I'd say keep at it on this thread but it is entirely up to you. Hope you get feeling better soon- at least it happened during the winter when you're around the house more anyway.
Allrite, i think i stick with this thread. Looks like that damn photofucket is completely messed up. I try to save everything from there and add them in here, if and when their website is up again. And i am feeling better, ofcourse when i have to go back to work again...
Thanks Carsten and same to you too! Yeah, everything is back to normal again. I was busy at last weekend, but hopefully i'll get something done at the next one.
Allrite, here's a small update. An another thing that doesnt look like much, but that took few hrs to do. So, i wasnt quite happy with the B-pilar side door gap, it was just too tight. The problem was that there was no room to move door forward and slicing the door skin wasnt the best way to do this. So i made a cut for the quarter panel to create a decent gap. This same problem is on the passenger side B-pilar gap too. The passengers side doors edge is grinded for making gap at some point before i got the car. So the problem has been there before. That edge isnt completely straight, so there will be a welding/filing/sanding operation ahead before i can cut the passengers side quarter panel too.Here's couple of pics of the process:
The Jalopy Journal
