Projects Olds Rocket 324 in a 32 Ford; "trying to finish it thread"..

I gave up on electrolysis on the hood because it was eating good metal and some areas would not clean. I ended up with "cracks" where the metal is folded, and I know they were not there a few days ago. I used worn out sand dust from a cabinet blaster.

I almost wussed out by not putting the taillights back on the fenders on Monday, when I had it outside. But yesterday, I blocked off the rear deck panel to hide the other taillight holes, and then moved the lights up 2" and then moved them inwards 1/2", and it looks great to me in person. Some things are just not done anymore, but this is one thing I recall from the past, so I am going with it. I plan to have Charlie "Bandit" to redo the ultra fine white pin striping, just like it used to have.

Yesterday is the first day that when I stared at the car outside, and said I actually like it. I am happy with all the details, so it's time to start slinging filler It looks like the style I remember around here.

I also made up the spring loaded, hood hold downs, sort of like Tommy and Rolf have done. I may not run the hood full time, but I need to have it ready for paint with the rest of the car. It's pitted badly but i can fix it.

 

Frank, are you going to run bumpers?

 

I`m liking it frank doing gooood

 

STOP IT !




This was originally going to be a highboy, so it would be quicker to build and not have to look for so many parts.

Yes, it looks very odd without nerfs or bumpers...but I can't do stock bumpers now that the rear frame is bobbed, AND I don't want to run a rear gas tank.


so, maybe some sort of front nerfs, next winter. IDK

I pulled the rear lower panel off the body last night to fix the taillight holes and blast it today.

Then fix the rear fenders next, then fix/blast the fronts, then...

 

doesn't need bumpers

 

Correct..


I welded up the rear panel where the taillights were going to be..then I blasted that panel and also blasted the decklid. That lid came with the car, but the seller said it was eastern rust belt found. It had rust going on under the primer.

Got done spitting sand, and I was supposed to weld up a few spots on the lid next, but I ended up fiddling with rear shocks again

I took the gas shocks off because it was a tick too high in the tail, and still a bit firm for me. I found some new unknown shocks in the barn that had a stud mount at the top, so I convered them to eyes ... such a hack. I just finished install at 8pm.

I want to drive test these in the AM. These shocks seem way different that any others I can find here. They compress about the same firmness as they extend? All the others, are much stiffer on extension by a huge margin. I need less on extension and more on compression, so that the frame rails don't hit on the axle tubes.

 

That's good to hear. I liked the taillights better when they were on the rear panel...but I just have to go with the old ways on this detail.

Those fenders came out of Mass off of a 50s built 3w, but I don't know if it was done in Mass or some other state.

But my old 50s built roadster I bought over 40 years ago, was supposed to be a Springfield Mass build, and it had 52 Buick lights in the fenders.

So Yes, re-living the past, for good or bad.

 

Why is it taking soooo long....

Some of us are working on cars that would not have been saved 30 years ago, and if it's a 32 Ford, and on a slim budget, you have to work with junk parts

My decklid is junk, and I did make new inner and outer lower patches last year, but never finished the latch area inside.

I bought the NORS 37 Ford locking handle a few years ago from a CT swap vendor who must have bought a warehouse full of these...he always has one on the table...for years now.

My son said it was too big and i should get something less noticable, but he's in Key West this week, so I put it on.

I welded in a mag wheel thick washer in the outer skin, with a keyway slot for the lock pawl to lock into. Then made a thick plate to weld into the inner skin with a pipe bushing to keep the handle from feeling sloppy. I just need to make a simple J shaped hook to fit on the shaft, and that will hook onto a simple U shaped loop on the lower deck panel.

Also got the taillight holes welded up on that panel. This panel was totally welded solid to the quarter panels when I got this body. It was a tedious job to cut the panel away from the quarters.

I am now doing final welding and fitting on the rear fenders...then do the fronts.





Speaking of junk 32 bodies; I sold a 32 3w about 30 years ago for $200 to Dave R. in Brimfield Mass. Dave bought it to flip it, and he told me last year, that the guy that he sold it to in Mass, is finally almost done with the car...30 freaking years! good grief. That body was way better than what I started with this time.

 

why is it taking so long?
restoration of 80 year old car takes lots of time... plus...erasing crap work by previous customizer, lots more time. doing the hot rodding of a vehicle takes time then multiply that with the fact your using parts that haven't been made in at least 50 years aaaaand any good part [if you can find it] costs an arm and a leg. using this formula it should take...well...many moons.

 

Ted PM'd me sometime yesterday wanting an update.

I am stuck working on a elderly friends super rusty 23 Dodge truck. I've replaced the entire chassis, spliced in a better donor cowl, rebuilt the lower tub, built a seat box that sits further back(he is disabled and needed more room), mashed and welded the bed back into shape.....and found a pair of correct 23 and older, commercial rear fenders at the Stafford swap 2 weeks ago. That's the same chassis as a Dodge car; the Dodge's are huge cars. Yardstick on the back fender.



Anyways, I did buy 2 1933/34 Ford E-brake handles from a vendor at the Fitchburg Ford swap Sunday, for $15. One had decent chrome, and the other one had all the mating parts I needed.

On Monday a friend and I tried to find a way to bolt it to the 37 Buick trans, but there just was no room, this late in the build, without hacking.

After reading Ted's PM late yesterday, I gave it a try again. I trimmed off most of the E-brake L bracket, and barely found a spot where it could get full throw without hitting something. I welded the shortened bracket right to the heavy wall floor crossmember. The 33/34 connector link passes right under the floor crossmembers and just above the chassis center X.


Then I trimmed a hole in the heavily modded 60-66 Chevy truck trans hump cover.

That is the last fab project on this car. I can't think of anything else that needs thinking/planning.


Pulling the last 3 fenders off for blasting today...

 

Some more people asked why i am not posting. It's just metal work now that my son and I finished every last piece of sandblasting on Saturday.

I'll do 2 posts to keep the pics in order/


First repair shown is the Drivers front fender tip that was bent way up, and did not fit the frame horn. Car got hit in both fronts, right above the bumper.

Mashed it down to begin with, but the curve is not right in the first pic where the X's are marked.

Easiest way to recurve, is with a shrinking tool to shrink the lower 90 degree flange. My shrinker has always been mounted to a 2" long piece of channel iron to be portable. I rarely use it like pliers, but here is one time I did.

I also welded the rip in the front where the downward part of the fender bends to meet the shelf part.

After recurve, it needs to go back on the frame for final tweaking, which I did do later.

 

First 3 pics are the rear tail of driver front fender. The rear flange to bolt the running board to, was full of holes.

The original piece was the outer skin bent down 90 degrees, then another piece of slightly thicker sheet metal spotwelded on backside to reinforce the bolted flange.

Easy way for me was a piece of .120 wall scrap flat stock. Pretty quick job with the mig, and then ground with a 36 grit 4.5" flap wheel. I can't weld the corners yet, as that new piece must be bent in or out to match the 90* flange on the homemade running board.


Last pic shows the other front fender. I fought this one for a full day. It got hit hard halfway down the side, and must have stretched the wire edge bead. The lower edge right where it swoops down to meet the board, drooped down too much, then went back upwards to the board.

It looked terrible, so I piecut it forward about 6" and recurved the wired bead edge, and welded it up. Getting the board to fit the framerail and fender was torture. I have read of some hambers pie cutting the fender tail from the frame, right out to the outer edge, but I knew I'd better not do that



Hey, speaking of scrap metal We were coming back from he scrap place yesterday, and as we went past the local auto repar shop...there was the best 36 Ford 3W old style coupe I have ever seen. I kinda know the shop owner, so I stopped to get a look. Holy crap, it was whack. Black,mint body, with white interior and dash. Chevy with old Offy/2G trips, early Offy valve covers, mildly frenched 39 taillights...etc. He said it's just been brought in from Detroit by a local guy. Never driven since built, so a few bugs to adjust. That car gave me a bit more ambition

 

What, no pics of the 3w??

Looking great Frank, you're really givin er the gun! Love the taillights in the fenders.

 

Andy, I was going to go home to grab the camera, but then I was thinking that was very dumb idea.

The car, sitting in the care of a trusted Auto Repair shop, ends up being posted/plastered on a website, without the new owners permission.

No doubt I will see this car at a show...I hope. and then it's fair game

It really was beautiful. just a minor couple things not found in the 1950s, but the overall car was a masterpiece. someone did good on this one.

 

Frank, good idea having the shrinker mounted like that. thanks for the update

 

Tuesday afternoon was going sooooo good. The final fitting of both running boards to fit the front fenders came out way better that I hoped it could. No odd cuts to make up for something being wrong.


...then...without the rear fenders on yet, I happened to notice how both rear tires did not match the back ends of the running boards. One side was out more, but that is because I can't find a match to the one 56 Olds wheel that has the right offset. Problem was, that it was sticking out too much, compared to the difference in offsets.

This afternoon I took this pic right after I had a little visit with a 56 Olds parts car .... hmmmn, I wonder what this is all about ..

 

Not doing well today... What is the spec for axle trueness?? Anybody know??

I just checked the "new" rear end to see if it was straight. Two dead straight 4 foot long bars clamped to machined surface of the flanges.

This one shows 3/32 toe in on the 4 foot spread.

Yes, I checked the flanges by rotating each about 1/2 turn, then reclamp the bars back on to measure. No change from 3/32 toe out???

I measured so much shit in the last 3 days that I need to see if this one is worse than the one in the car. The one in the car, besides also having toe-in, also shows it has a bit of positive camber,.... but I have no clue how to say if it is on one side, both sides, or which side...???


I have not checked the new rear for camber yet, but why bother?


Last resort; a friend has a narrowed 57-up Olds/Pont rear, but I am waiting to hear how wide it is. I could use it if it's no less than 58" flange to flange. These earlier ones are 59.5 and I can't find another good "very shallow dish" 56 Olds 15" wheel to work with the width. If his is 58 or 58.5 I could use 73-87 C-10 Chev wheels and my hubcap adapters will still work with those c-10 center hub depths.

 

Rear housing all fixed. Now to find the matching 15" 56 Olds wheel for the back...


Today I followed a hand drawn map from a guy at a swapmeet about a month ago.

Turned out to be a treasure map instead. Estate of a hard core Olds lover.

4 stupid questions I asked the owner:
-Do you have a 56 Olds wheel you'd sell?
-Do you have any Olds engines?
-Do you have any stick setups for Olds?
-Do you have any J2 tri power carbs?

One dumb question I did not ask:
-Do you have any Olds convertibles with tripower and with factory stick transmissions?

I got the wheel,... and a pair of valve covers that will go on the 40.

See if you can count how many trips are there hiding..

More car pics coming next post....

 

Nice, Frank!
I'm sure you'll be going back there, right?
Did you find any Edmunds valve covers for me, by any chance?

 

57 Super 88 J2 factory stick trans conv. with wonderbar radio too. Blue one

56 conv souped up 394, offy trips and covers, factory stick. Brown one


Also pics of a flathead intake for sale, and I saw 2 1935 Ford wires just laying there. There were some flathead motors.. etc

He said tons of stuff has already been sold off in the years since his Dad passed away. I did not get to see it alll....yet

 

Wow!

 

i love old barns, especially ones that are used like that!

 

Damn, what a step back in time.......

Rare cars; is the son just going to sell them as is??

 

So far, he said they are keeping any of the Olds cars that Dad used daily. There are a few, and all are convertibles. The others are early 60s?, but I did not see them all.

He said Dad dated Mom in the 56 conv.. and Dad drove the kids to school in the 57, and one other conv. That other conv spooked the son so much as a kid, that he would only ride in the back, because Dad had a shrunken head hanging from the rear view mirror


edit; I also just had to sit behind the wheel of the 57. My Dad drove a 57 88 2dr post A/T back around 1964. He later gave it to me, and I did have to put a used motor in it to use as a field car. I was only 13. I then bought my first "parts car", a 57 S88 4dr for $10 and $5 for the tow.

 

Yes, I am still at it.

Trying to repair and fit the rear fenders to damaged wheel openings.

I "fixed" the wheel openings and beads, long before I decided to go with full fenders, so of course, they need refitting. I've got them real close now, so...

Here is the lower front inside of drivers rear fender. A scabbed over patch from when the 3w got painted in the 50s. Filled with lead which I removed. The patch rusted out over time.

This will be a pain to make pieces to fit the curve of the frame side, and the notch where the quarter touches.

I hope to get it pieced in by tonight, so I don't have to face it in the morning. This car has me at my limit of patience.

Speaking of "had enough", I did the gear swap to 323 last week, and of course the donor chuck had a loose pinion nut, which wore out the face of the yoke at the bearing, and wore the crush sleeve. I fixed all that, and then started fitting fenders. The car lost 3/4" ride height at the rear when I did away with the gas shocks. It needed to go back up, to have the fenders look right again, and since I'd found a new bump in the yard, the axle was hitting on the frame AGAIN.

Saturday morning, I ripped the rear spring all apart for the 100th time, and put in a 3/4 length leaf which needed to be re-arched to fit the already re-arched pack. It fought me all the way, so I was so pissed when I let the car down, I smoked the tires right in the shop and got it the hell out of the shop. I cooled off a bit later and drove it around, it still rides nice, and does not bottom out on the new bump at even higher speeds.

 

the three p's of restoration/hot rodding/customizing; patients, perseverance and practice.
you earned the hat trick.

 

nice workmanship

 

Rear fenders took a lot to get the fit, but now I am doing the last side of the main body, and just skimmed one hood top half. The pits were so deep, it weighs nothing and has a hundred tiny pinholes

There is no glory in this part of the job, even bondo dust got on the camera lens in the last pic.

Gaps are a bit tight on the doors, but they are coming in dead straight. I may suck at all else, but I can fit doors ok...especially mostly cloned/Dodge doors onto a bogus Ford cabriolet.

 

I'm really liking those tail lights in the fenders. Nice job!