Ya, I'm not so much a metalworker as I am a painter, but I always try to make everything out of one panel, if at all possible. And your definitelt right on this one. I prefer the English knee (thats been patented by a HAMBer) or the English fender, or the rarely seen English post in my garage. 6 to one, half dozen to the other.
Tried to post the following earlier, but the HAMB was down. (What the hell happened?) I'd use the English knee if I thought it was at all possible, believe me!! I considered trying to hammer it into shape, but I think that's a cluster **** waiting to happen. Whatever. The one place that I would buy the wheels from actually sells everything piecemeal, so it won't hurt too bad. Still a long ways off, anyway. The original plan still holds: get it as straight as I can with what I can, and then worry about the fancy stuff at the end. The wheel will come in handy for making quarters, too, should I need to make those as well. And for my '52, which will come after the '56. Jeebus, I have a lot of work ahead of me...
Update: still waiting on parts and money. The Great Yard and Garage Clean Up/Clean Out of '07 has commenced.
New rear panel sitting in place. A thousand times better already... I also got my new rear subrail and my corners. Now I see what everyone was talking about as far as the corners go. Not great. I can work with them, but they aren't great. The rear panel and the subrail, however, are AWESOME.
Was your panel warped too? That thing had so much stress in it when I got it I'm amazed I got it straight. I did the subraisl first obviously, then the wheel wells, then the corners, and the panel last. Seemed to work out OK.
My panel wasn't warped at all. However, one of the tack welds holding the reinforcement plate to the inside of the panel is broken. It's no big deal, just a bit disappointing. The corners are going to need some work, just like yours. After looking through a bunch of restoration catalogs last night,though, it looks like they all do. I'm guessing that Howell's makes them for everyone. Have you gotten the filler done yet?
Not the body, but parts is parts: The wishbone appears to be twisted at the yoke. Good thing it's getting cut. It may also be a little bent on the p***enger side. I have a press somewhere...
Thanks, Dave!! I'm working on cleaning up and reorganizing my garage at the moment, so it may be a while before there are any "real" updates. I'm hoping to get the coupe into the garage on Monday so I car start hitting the quarters with my lame little planishing hammer...
I got the lemon then. Filler is ehhhh... 75% done. I layed 3 coats of epoxy on thurs night, layed a few coats of filler today, and reprimed with 3 more coats. Right now everything from the beltline down is primed. Owner (SwSimon) came by today to see it and loiked it so were gettin there. The corners were very fun to chisel out bodylines in. Another day with a block and that will be toast. Then I put the body down, do the roof right quick and I'm all set.
How are you going to go about blocking corners, reaveals and the beltline? I've seen guys make little sanding blocks out of bondo or whatever that are cast on part of the beltline with Saran Wrap between the body and the bondo, as a release agent.
A very god idea, but I'm frugal as hell when it comes to material, especially on a customer job. I have and will make a template out of cardboard to check for "square" down the lines. What I've been doing is flipping a razor blade over and wrapping it in paper to knock down the very corner of the bodyline, then my wedge block to smooth out what I just knocked down, then a regular block for the rest. Kind of a process, but little by little theyre coming closer. I'm sending your pictures now.
I got the pix. Nice!! That's not bad at all; I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Interesting use of the back of a razor blade. Just out of curiosity, could you not use a "used up" spreader? A little more ***bersome than a razor blade, sure, but I know that sometimes I have a hard time hanging on to something as small as a razor blade.
Thanks for the words. You could use anything lying around your shop. As long as it fits the contour or the space your looking for go for it. I've used everything and I mean everything.
I hear ya. I've used everything from paint sticks to screwdrivers wrapped in sandpaper to get the desired end result. Still cleaning the garage. No real updates yet...
Got my new helmet on Monday. Almost immediately handed it over to this kid that lives down the street named Josh. He's a really good (IMHO) striper now, and is getting much better all the time. Pix: Hoping to get back to it today. If not, then definitely tomorrow...
Jack, Don't know if you just saw the post by the guy who had his car shot in a studio by a pro photoghrapher. That is one really COOL ride. It sure inspires me to do my "A" all the way ! Really looking forward to progress photos on yours ! 41 Dave
Yep, I did!! Super nice car. I'm looking forward to some progress on mine as well!! Today is kind of a wash, unfortunately. Plus, I'm still trying to get some stuff sold on that auction website. Not doing too bad so far though. I'm going to wait until after feedback is left on all sold items before I spend any money just in case someone doesn't know what "all sales final" means.
Started to continue (does that make sense?) to weld the cowl in today. Ran out of Argon. Got my cylinder refilled. Back to it, with pix, tomorrow.
Very minor update: I got the cowl completely tacked in. Not bad, if you consider what I started with. Some of the gaps are really nice, and others are HUGE. Plus, my TIG only goes down to 30 amps, which is a little too much for sheet this thin. I've had to use a copper backing strip to absorb some of the heat. I've been tacking and adjusting, and then welding for about a half inch, changing position, and then repeating. Once I get it all welded and sanded smooth, I'll go over the area with a hammer, dolly, *******, and then the shrinking disc to get it all tuned up. It looks a lot better in person. No, really!! Anyway, here are the pix: More later this week. I'm finishing a project for a friend of mine, and probably starting another project for another friend very shortly, so I'm going to try to at least get the cowl vent shell completely welded in and finished up by Wednesday...
Thanks, Bill!! It's all welded now, and I've just finished knocking the tops off the welds on the top. After I write this, I'm going to get to work on the back, and then I'll probably start sanding and hammering tomorrow. How's your customer's car coming along?
Progress got cut short this wknd (see annoying neighbor thread) but its gettin there. Just a bunch of blocking and filling and priming. All the metal is done though so thats very good. I'll update some pics on my site soon.
Cool!! Yeah, I read the thread. ****s when the neighbors are pissy about this kind of thing. I got REALLY lucky, in that my neighbor is a junk collector, too. Not really a car guy, though. Anyway, here are some more pix of the cowl. Here's the top after I ground away the tops of the welds (forgot to take a "before"; sorry): And the underside before I knocked the tops off: After knocking the seam up to level and a little higher, and using the the shrinking disc: From the other side, showing what will still needs to be done: And finally, one outside, head on, in natural light:
Here's what I did this morning: I decided to toss it back on the car to make sure that all the lines were straight, and they are. Just a little more planishing and shrinking, and it's done for the time being. I still have to get a sheet of 19 gauge to make the small filler pieces needed for the cowl vent seam, and then I get to slather the seam in lead.
The cowl is now tinned: I still have to clean it with baking soda/water, and then with acetone, and then I can get to the actual lead application.
Here's the latest: I'm working my way around the vent opening with the vixen files in a clockwise direction, starting with the lower right corner. I'll probably have to add a little more lead in a couple of areas. Or I might just use plastic over it all. Either is acceptable, I just don't know which I'll do yet. I'll figure it out once I have all this leveled.
The Jalopy Journal
