Technical TECH WEEK ---- Repairing shaved gutters/drain rails

It all started when a friend of mine ask me if I knew anyone that could replace the rain gutters on his 40 Ford sedan.

This approach would work on just about any type of car or truck that need drip rail whether the were rusted away or cut off.

We sandblasted the area where the moldings use to be,,,did a little grinding because the Bondo was so thick where it was built up get it smooth.


We used 5/16" cold rolled steel rod to replace the gutter line,,,tacked it into place

After cleaning the surface of the car and the rod stock we proceeded to tack the rod in place,eye balling' it every other tack to make sure the couture was on the money.

Everything tacked into place we sandblasted once more,cleaned it again and spread a coat of dyno glass( kitty hair as us southern boys call it).

They don't look stock but kinda look like the drip rails on the 33 /34 Fords but they are a major improvement over the no nothing look that was a big mistake.

We started at the rear of the car.



And worked ourselves forward.



The Rod is even with the door opening.



The front of the rod was the hardest part to keep straight,a lot of close tacks and using channel locks and a screwdriver kept it straight,also a couple of extra sets of hands.



It is necessary to measure and cut the rod to the correct length before you get to the hinge and follow the rod down to the original location mid hinge.

All tacked and some slightly grinding everything is ready for the skim coat of Dyna-glass.



this is where it starts to take shape.



With this photo I think it gives you a good idea about what a difference a little piece of rod and about 4 1/2 hours worth of work will do.



The underside of the rod gets a little seam putty around the door opening.

The rest of the drip rail will be left alone and body filler to smooth things up.

from 10 feet away I don't think the unwashed could tell the difference between the factory gutter and this home brewed drip rail.



We did grind the inside edge of the opening and use a chisel to remove the remaining traces of the butchery that had been left for us by the previous owner.

What could not be removed we used a piece of square stock and a hammer to make the rough edges flat and then a skim coat of mud will make it look clean.



Looking up at the door opening.



This is a series of photo's of how everything looks after the car was painted.











I will report in that Steve's 40 sedan has weathered the rain very well.

It is a thousand times better at keeping the rain out better than no gutter or rail at all,remember the original gutters were shaved off for some unknown reason before Steve acquired the sedan.

This was the easiest way of making a repair and 99% of the people that have seen the car never noticed the difference until pointed out.

I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish this but this is just a simple way of making the repair. HRP

 

Actually, the 37 Ford had the same type drip rail the40 had (from the factory}. Not much choice in the method used, and it came out looking way better than being "bald".

 

Hey HRP I really like this very nice repair and something that is inexpensive plus metal fab can't get much better than that ! I love tech week Jim

 

Nicely done. Simple, fast, economic and, best of all, good looking results.

 

Awesome Job!

 

Nice job on a difficult task. I have replaced them with an original style but I like this look better. The 34 Ford has the same look.

 

Thanks for pointing out my faux pas,typing too fast and corrected.

Thank you sir. HRP

 

Nice job, and doing that was absolutely necessary as without the gutters the car just does not look right. I've seen 39-40 coupes chopped without the gutters and they look hideous.
FWIW Drake now sells rain gutter in 4 foot sections I believe. Great looking car.

 

Looks great! That final picture really looks "factory".

 

Nice work! I have a 35 Pickup and was wondering what to do about gutters because one side is in rough shape. I had thought about something like this so glad to see it done. My problem is the tighter bends towards the rear of the door.

Thanks for sharing!

Pete

 

Came out real good. I can't stand the look of no gutter on these cars, makes them look cheap. Now it looks finished.

 

Yeah,the term ugly as a mud fence comes to mind! HRP

 

Speaking of mud fences, hows the weather drown there today? May be a lot of mud fences by tomorrow from what I see on the news.

 

Worked out great - nice tech !

 

This is a great way of fixing the problem, but I am surprised that you didn't weld it solid or at least many more tacks. I always worry about moisture getting in behind.

 

Came out looking good. Also looks like a great place to practice with lead!

 

Lead it,weld it solid whatever,the sky's the limit. HRP

 

Yep,looks good!

 

Thanks - great info - never have understood eliminating rain gutters, unless maybe running at Bonneville.

 

It was an eighties thing, for some reason they liked to remove all of the character out of the old cars and make them look "modern". Thank God for the HAMB!

 

I saw this and did to my 39 Sedan after someone had cut off the factory ones and it worked Perfect. Thanks for posting this. It cost 500 big ones to buy replacement rain gutters and this cost only about 20 bucks for the rod.

 

This is a fantastic idea. I would not have thought of that.

 

Very nice !

 

Great work and most worthy of a tech week post. Having spent most of '65/66 in final body repair @ Fisher/GM ATL, I know how tough gutters can be to repair damage, much less outright butchery.
As for b-bob's post about welding solid, you just might wind up with so much warpage that you'd get seasick just looking at it.

 

over 40 years ago a friend bought a tudor with gutter on one side rusted almost off,
So he did basically the same thing, only he used steel brake line: Fast forward, brake line got condensation inside, rusted out , horrible mess, Last time I saw it it was still rusting.
steel rod saves the look.
great article..

 

Great job-nicely done--40's without rain gutters look awful--a friend did similar to this on a 40 coupe several years back-sure saved the look of the car.

 

It's great to see the finished product after a repair tech. usually it ends with the repair. The car looks MUCH better, nice paint.

 

Thanks Dave,you are right,we spaced out the welds to prevent warpage. HRP

 

Looks real good an way better. I remeber thinking how cool shaved off drainrails were in the late 50s,but as I've gotten older and now all the f-glass bodys around an all of those look shaved an a kind of dead giveaway its f-glass from a block away,I no longer like shaved off drainrails. Funny how that happens LOL

 

Very nice job. I'm thinking of stealing that to replace the gutters on my 50 Chevy. It looks like someone tried to bondo the rusty spots to look stock. It's a bad look to say the least. Thanks!