t is for train wreck

One of the reasons for doing this blog,
is to give me a chance to sit back and digest a project mid-stream.
You guys are basically along for the ride whether it works or not.
Either a train wreck or a near miss.

high hood

Since I was on a roll with that '36 side project,
I'd thought it would be a good idea to carry the momentum back to the 40,
specifically tackling the hood.
The last huge sheet metal project.

high line

The hood's reveal line seemed to shoot up a bit from the body line.
It's  hard to see from this picture but it looked about 1+1/4" high.

low line

The big problem was this car was never meant to have a full hood.
Vague measurements were used to match the front fenders to the body.
1.5 inches longer isn't a big deal without a hood,
but ouch now its thrown a wrench in the gears for sure.

So this hood project has two goals.

One to make the hood fit length-wise,

and two to pie cut a little bit out height-wise.

ill fitting

After scrubbing the paint off the potential weld seam area,

a tape line mapped out the first cut.

It was getting late so there was no time to dilly dally.

I didn't hesitate long to start making some noise.

lower section

With the bottom section free,
it was painfully obvious how bad the hood lined up with the fenders.
Most likely a result of using a botched up grille.
Slowly the reality was setting in.

mismatched

Here you can see the gap if the top piece lines up with the cowl,
and the bottom piece lines up with the grille.

1940 ford coupe chopped channeled sectioned

Now this is where the picture gazing comes in.
The other night I had removed the stainless trim from the hood.
There were 2 pieces that overlapped the grille,
but since they were behind it actually raised it up a bunch.
The above picture is how the hood sits jammed down,
and compared to the picture below I think I like it better.

pie cut hood - 1940 ford coupe

Now the pic mocked up with a pie cut looks too low.
I think what happened is since the grille is slanted down,
the forward movement of the hood also lowered it another half inch.

holey chit

Did I screw up the 74 year old sheet metal by cutting it?
Not yet!
The base will be easier to match up to the fenders in pieces like this.
There are already a couple small relief cuts to the inside lip.
Instead of a fat pie cut the front will only be lowered maybe 1/2- 3/4 of an inch,
and the extensions will go in that square above the exhaust,
and along the top line of the cowl.
Good thing I didn't cut the wedge slice out...

This made the choice easier to not go to the LA roadster show this weekend!

TP

H is for hostage

All I needed to do was slap some green paint on Brandon's 36,
and get it out of here.
Instead I got a little carried away.

1936 ford coupe rear - after

It did look cleaner with the green rattle can.
Here's a before picture...
Still needs that chop though that's for sure!

before

The little hoodlet was never really finished up.
It was made on a template,
not on the actual car,
and while it was really close there was a little overhang.

brandon's 1936 5-window ford coupe

Nothing a little cutting and welding couldn't fix.
Looking on the underside reminded me how much work this was to make.

8-piece hoodlet

Had to sling some plastic to smooth things out.

1936 ford hoodlet

Now there was only one thing missing.
He had tricked me by leaving it here one more day.
Holding Chief hostage in his garage miles away.

template

A template was made the previous night,
and a rough T was cut out of some 1/8" aluminum.
I love that little band saw!

hammer time

After a ton of filing and hack hammering,
the piece was whittled into shape.
Better than I had imagined.

roughed in

The hammered look would have matched the rest of the car.
Something in my head said... "just a little more..."

brushed bullnose

Now only a few small blemishes remained,
and dang it this took almost as long as the rough shaping.

polished bullnose

The back side could have been cleaned up,
but this was prototype work.
Since it'll never be visible,
I kinda liked the drastic transition of work and show.

perich engineering

The little piece slipped in just like it was custom made.

1936 ford grille

Here is where my old droid phone starts to show its limitations.
The camera doesn't like the bright.
The wife just upgraded to an Iphone 5 the other day,
and I almost fell into the upgrade trap as well.
It's a quandary.
Have a bitchin camera-phone for you guys to see clear awesome pictures,
but then not want to hold it with dirty hands.

1936 ford custom grille bullnose

The bummer was Brandon picked up the hoodlet the night before,
to get it pinstriped for the LA roadster show.
Will the little bullnose piece line up?

1936 ford front

I didn't take any pics of him working to the Perich Brothers 34 watt light bulb.
Anyone can work in a lighted concrete floored garage.

nighty night chief

Finally Chief got his spot back.

TP

sweat factory revisited

Last year we had it easy with no smog checks.
Now both of our white Fords are gonna take us to the sweat factory.
Typically I'm a cheapskate for stuff like this that's out of my control.
I'll search around for deals and maybe find a coupon.
For smog it's totally different.
No deals.
There's that element of uncertainty and risk,
second only to gambling.
I'll let my superstitious side take over,
and go with statistical history and luck.
Which means going to the same guy that has taken our money for the past 5 years now.

perich brothers (and sister): sweat factory

holey chit

It's been 2 years and the same guy is at it
with the same crusty cockatoo in the shop.
I had prepared the car by checking the tire pressure,
and the all important oil change.
A short freeway cruise to heat up the cats and we were good to go.

In San Diego they have a load or speed check.
There's an automated roller mechanism in the floor.

mercury on the roller

You don't know if you pass or fail until after the information is sent to the dmv.
After all the button pushing is done,
there are a couple minutes of hope and uncertainty.
Way worse than the dentist.
The girl before us failed her test so we knew red was bad.
Fortunately the screen was all green for us.
What a relief.
One down one to go this october.
Now hopefully the old merc will last another 2 years!

TP

r is for restraint

There's not a better way to get me to tinker on something,
than to take my hot rod home,
and dump yours right in the open spot left in the yard.

brandon's 1936 ford coupe

You may remember this car from when I did that nose piece.
Over 2 years ago already!
perich brothers (and sister): motorvation - ford coupe nose part I

2011

Well Brandon played his cards right,
and now his '36 was in the spot.
Now was the time for some restraint on my part.
If you look at the old shot above,
there are 2 obvious things that need to be done to his car.

One is easy - chop it.
Gone are the days of big flowery hats.
This was a little ambitious to do in a week,
but it would have been fun.

The second thing that bugged me were those little bumper pads.
If I can see them in a tiny little picture like that,
then they should be taken care of.

1936 ford coupe

Many of you restorers will cringe,
but Brandon's car already had some custom treatment -
the overly frenched tail lights and license plate hole,
and he hasn't ran a bumper in years.
Besides that the pads were basically bondo sculptures anyway.

chip away

No wonder these are the only things that hold up the bumper.
There is also no hammering access with the double skin.

stock 1936 ford coupe

Here's a comparison shot of what's missing.
Most likely the rear was lightly wrecked long ago.
The spare tire was probably pushed in,
which made the license plate hole an easy choice,
and the whole rear panel had also been replaced.

holey chit

A couple minutes with a grinder and there was no turning back.

clampage

A couple simple curved patch panels were rolled out.
Those clamps made it so easy.

stool time!

The afternoon sun was a cooker.
Crawling around in the dirt made it all the more pleasant!
It's like our own little Mexico.

tig time

I can't believe it's taken me this long to figure out how
to drag the TIG out to the side yard.
All it took was the little skateboard ramp and a couple minutes.
There is a bit of wind in this area it acts like a funnel.

primer

Some magic epoxy primer was rolled on.
I love it when it gets dark at 7:40pm.

hammer time

This was difficult to hammer out,
and I was a little lazy with the metal finish
since there was already bondo work in that area.

smooth

A couple thin layers with the Evercoat Z-grip smoothed out the weld seams.
This stuff is amazing how fast it can be sanded.
After that a thin coat of the finishing or glazing putty was spread out.
Much easier to feather in the patched areas.

brandon's 1936 ford coupe

It looks much cleaner to me,
a much better flow.
Some stainless nerf bars,
or even a push bar style pipe bumper would be cool.
Still needs a chop...

TP

d is for deals

Happiness is waking up to a kid hovering over you,
rallying to go to for a swap meet scrounge session.
The other kids enjoy sleeping in,
but Jakob's ready to walk the aisles of junk.

foam conquistador

We found out that the SD swap meet has geared for the super early birds.
We're lucky to get there by 7:30ish,
which is late as buyer entry is 7AM.
I guess there are so many people scrounging for deals at the 5AM seller time,
that they are starting to sell early passes.
No wonder the scores have been light these past few times.

Jakob's skateboard score
dream 1.43 rolling boards deck
DGK wheels and deck

NO matter.
I'll actually be intentionally later just to not see any of the good stuff.
Otherwise sparse project money may be frittered away for something we don't need.
Jakob's focus is the skateboard guy.
His honor roll prize $$ was burning a hole in his pocket,
and this swap outing saved him almost half his dough,
which really meant ending up with twice as much stuff!

library

My pickings were light just a couple $1-2 books and some veggies.
We'll get our moneys worth out of these that's for sure.
Weird how it was also the D-day anniversary weekend.

jaguar d-type

I love these things.
If I ever break away from hot rodding this will be on the STD list...

TP

And no I didn't pick up the foam conquistador!
At first it looks like wood and I had to stop.
Now looking at the picture dang it if I should have at least asked the price!

learning curves

 Last night the goal sounded easy.
Finish off a couple pairs of those scoops started a while back.
perich brothers (and sister): brewing

production line

Earlier I figured a way to attach them.
It seemed quick and easy.

office space

A 1940 ford juice brake backing plate was dug out for the jig.
Usually there is only one scoop on the leading edge.

fit jig

A couple pair of the stainless steel scoops were matched up.
I tried a simple smooth edge first.
Easier to trim with the little band saw.

smoothy brake scoop

Then I tried the scalloped edge,
similar to the scoops on Chief.
Way more grinding to finish these off.

scalloped brake scoops

As usual the fitting took a while to do.
Now it was time to do some welding.

weld jig

Remember that back gasser I wanted to rig up a couple weeks ago?
perich brothers (and sister): justified splurge
That was for this exact moment.
Too bad it wasn't rigged up.

holey chit

The TIG burned spots on the back,
Ay caramba.

rough shine

Nothing some grinding and can't fix.
And polishing and filling and grinding and polishing...

smoothy hot rod brake scoop - perich brothers style

No sooner had the sun set and only 2 pair were made.
That was better than nothing,
and at least I learned a bit through trial and error.

scalloped hot rod brake scoop - perich brothers style

If you look closely below you can see what these are all about.
Those little shiny things on the brakes there.

Macey & Chief - 1929 roadster pickup with hallock windshield

At this rate it'll take some time to finish up all these things!

TP