year old hot rod chit

Let's start the new year by blowin out the cobwebs,

I've got 80mb of memory and need to make space!

My old buddy Mario had acquired a clean 30 coupe,

and bought a repop 32 frame.

Of course those two don't go together automatically,

as model A's have a flat frame.

After 100's of texts and not helpful pics,

I figured what the hay let's do it.

Lotsa rusty metal cutting,

most of the rear subfloor and notches.

The body dropped maybe 1.5",

almost a cheater channel,

 but basically flush on the sides,

sucked in on the rear and forward ends.

Voila!

All done right?

Ehh not necessarily...

The wheel well had gaping holes and no structure.

Hmm...

That's the time to step back and do other stuff,

let the old computer chip make a plan...

A flathead was desired,

so mounts were whittled...

Firewalls were hacked,

bulges were flattened...

Finally I had a plan.

The first was to trim the body along the frame,

then to pinch the inner metal in a bit.

A mounting lip was welded on the inside,

(those little white caterpillar welds)

which gave the rear it's needed support.

Reveals were refit and rust was patched.

Now to fill in the gap.

There were times when I questioned my sanity.

Why spend all this time on an area covered by a tire!?

The trick is to keep moving forward.

Finally the result resembled what I'd imagined,

minus the dozen hours I didn't plan.

The good thing is the other side was half the time.

All done... Yay!!

Nope...

The inner subframe was needed,

he wanted a lip to lay in wood floor panels.

Effin guy...

Then the rumble seat mechanism was welded in,

the first time it had actually worked in 50 years.

The gaps were close enough at this point,

since the body would need shims when bolted down.

During this time the shiny frame 

didn't stay shiny.

If you notice this was before the big shop move 

of January/February 2016.

Jaxon spent a lot of the early summer sanding away,

preparing for some rattlecan black.

Good ole child labor...

There were a ton of other things done,

Vega steering box mount,

trimming grille shell to fit,

modding headers to fit,

some crossmember framework to fit the t-5 transmission...

Boring chit of necessity.

Now it's relegated to the "where are they now" files.

Hopefully Mario will get on it soon.

TP

Hot Rod Alchemy

So there's this 1930 ford pickup back in the shop.

Ya may remember it from a summertime post.

t's a compilation of 2nds and 3rds,

the parts that are borderline castaways,

usually needing extra time to massage into place.

The end result is coming out pretty cool.

Another builder Tony did a good chop, some cool pipes,

and a slew of mechanical feats.

 I got it and have been trying to get it 

on the road for James,

balancing efficient time with the parts at hand.

More of a form follows function build.

As long as it doesn't break.

The clutch linkage was also reworked.

Much better.

James had scored a deal on an early mallory distributor,

and we found out why it was cheap.

The advance assembly is attached to this oval plate,

which had loosened up over time.

The quick fix was making a D slot,

matching the shaft to a welded up hole.

Please work...

After some grease monkey magic,

we got the flathead running smoothly.

Hopefully it will make Mooneyes in 2 weeks!

TP

11 month Mercury challenge

As the shop progressed into a working space,

there was one huge thorn in my side,

waiting to be pulled.

In the past 11 months,

you may have noticed this giant 

black hole of a sled in various spots

in the yards of our house and shop.

Like a car version of "Where's Waldo?"

As soon as the doors opened up,

this 1963 mercury filled the void.

The owner had been extremely patient,

and it was fine time to pounce on it.

I had more stress reparking this thing

around the neighborhood,

then the actual repair needed.

Way back in February I had cut out the rust,

and welded in the secondary panels,

starting outside under the canopy.

This project stimulated the shop renovation,

as working in the dirt wasn't as fun as I thought.

This was before the wood chips.

While the restart to the patch panels

started off slow,

once I got into the groove,

the work was actually soothing.

Probably cause it's mainly tin snips,

hammering,

then tig welding.

Quality time spent on tight fitting patches

cuts hack time welding bad gaps.

It is rewarding to cut out cancerous rust,

and know the new metal will last another 50 years.

The toughest spot was this corner,

somehow eaten away over the years.

There was nothing saveable.

Fortunately a Ford corner patch panel was made,

which was a close enough match,

needing only a little massaging.

The rest was basic templates,

filling in the gaps with sheet metal.

There were a couple more patches,

but I'm sure you get the idea.

Weirdly enough,

most of the repairs are covered with fat trim.

The main reason moisture had

accumulated to such an extent.

And another reason to not need perfect bodywork!

The rolled epoxy would be enough protection 

until a proper paint job.

When Hans picked it up,

he acted like I had it for a couple weeks.

Whew...

I felt like 2 tons was off my back!

TP