Model A job

[idrivejunk]

Today's scene-





All that, to make this cut-



I will let you form your own opinions of why.

Today's first move can hopefully further define my character. I been wanting to knock out the cowl seal flange since the experimental sample and its a perfect project size for a Friday. Plus it would make for heroic forum pix.

But in the back of my heart I knew, I had seen and went past...

The facts that the back left corner of the roof sticks out, isn't perpendicular, and still had a contact spot with inner structure preventing movement in the right direction.

Stuff usually comes up to blow Fridays anyway, and it did today, but the path I took was chosen with virtue.

Grab li'l torpedo level. Floor level? Check. Right B and C pillar tubes and window opening sides perpendicular? Check. Left C pillar? Check. Plumb all around. Upper left B pillar? Insert gymnasium scoreboard buzzer sound here. No. Top leans out a quarter inch between upper hinge and roof rail. Dadgum somebody's hide. Hanging a string from extended upper hinge bolt holes down past extended lower hinges confirmed the variation to be isolated above the hinges. Whew.

Theres no escape, I reckoned. Move it now. Will it affect the door? Of course.

It did. Cut, moved, tacked roof rail and upper B post. Position corrected, I put the door on and started down that road. As hoped, since I was correcting something skewed, a more proper fit and look emerged but with much manipulation and some backtracking at the front half of the tub connection to qtr and reshaping of the door corner to flatten it out so the bottom bead flows.

I got door and lower qtr cooperating but as I moved to the roof, the day had to end because it was primer spraying time in the grey room.

The pics below were real quick, had to run from overspray. But there are some things visible. Screwed left rear roof corner to the window panel tab with new holes since it moved, closing the wide-at-top gap nicely. But, it still does not sit perpendicular. A cut at the base of the roof on the body line, like the other side has, will be required here so I can even that out. Should be no sweat, but all that places the front tip of the roof side pointing inward as-is. Thats OK too, because now theres a properly debunked guideline (the rest of the car) to reference for correction and that will probably end in cutting at the chop spot above the window or elsewhere along the roof side over the door.

I really don't mind and am not messed up in any way about making this correction. It is to be expected but if the concentration potential had been better on another long lost day, I might have had the cowl knocked out today. Looking forward to that. I will take the fitting fuss only as far as I gotta before the slew of epoxy sessions. When I feel confident that I can sort out the remainder of issues on the final fit and weld stage, thats where I raise the epoxy flag and push on. If I just weld up what tubing I cut today, thats pretty much where I'll be.  



Theres room to move the top corner inward now, and the qtr to tub connection is in progress, pending. Ima knock this whole job in the head soon though, you watch and see-

[idrivejunk]

Today I leveled it up and checked all around and came to the conclusion the trunk lid bottom edge is crooked and the tail panel with it. Clockwise.



Here is where I am at. Easiest to level the tail by lowering the higher side. Tail panel needs to go straight up until the latch can reach and one or both roll pan tips gotta move up or down.



Tape is about the gap I need to see-



In this pic you can see that I did check front lid corners, perfect. You can also see the white line at bottom of lid which is level and straight-



Also in that pic you can see the crown of the top outsides of the quarters doesn't match. Viewing angles effect the severity of the appearance of that greatly. Both sides were multi-mangled so... thats on the list.

Knowing what the monster lurking under the bed is beats not, right?

Had it outside eyeballing it this AM. Got you a pic of that qtr-to-door bead mismatch fix-



Heres one showing what a new OE body tub looks like after you skate a block across it-

[idrivejunk]

Anybody still getting anything good from this thread?

[idrivejunk]

Thought not.    Me either.

[idrivejunk]

I took it apart today and brushed epoxy on places on the structure that are to be hidden. Also did this-

[chimp koose]

You know that when you are done , this car will be more plumb and square than Henry ever had one   . I am quietly sitting back and learning something from every post.

[idrivejunk]

[idrivejunk]

[idrivejunk]

This job is on hold per the customer. Let your minds roam free as to why. As they would if I told you anyway.

Got in a couple fun hours on the sedan delivery tailgate this morning. So you have these pics-







Make them last!

[idrivejunk]

The "hold" on the A is not a shutoff and cooldown kind, try not to worry. More of a hold the brake or toss it in neutral kind of thing if I read it right.

Meanwhile, allow me to dump some more fill.

[idrivejunk]

[idrivejunk]

[chimp koose]

Question , are you using the spot welder to heat and shrink the low spots ? I noticed where the seam was welded it curled down. Is that what to expect , I did a seam like that on my T and it moved about the same. There is a small low spot on the T so I think a little putty will be fine . I am going to have to replace the door bottom to about 4" up on my d/s door and I want to get as little shrink as possible, any tips ?

[idrivejunk]

Question , are you using the spot welder to heat and shrink the low spots ? I noticed where the seam was welded it curled down. Is that what to expect , I did a seam like that on my T and it moved about the same. There is a small low spot on the T so I think a little putty will be fine . I am going to have to replace the door bottom to about 4" up on my d/s door and I want to get as little shrink as possible, any tips ?

What I used is a dent puller made by Spitznagel.



The part sticking out of the top of the blue handle is a shrinking tip used on a higher setting than the pointed pins which are pulled on via the lever with pivoting foot. The dots only discolored are "shrinks" and the ones with dots in the dots are pull points where the pin was used.

This was already cut open and had patch made before I got the task, so all bets were off as far as results. My tip to you is straighten the old skin first, as best you can. If you can weld from the inside some, that sometimes helps. But for touchy ancient metal thats already been worked... just be dang sure you have plenty of crown when you make your cuts, and plan to tack, grind both sides, planish, check with sanding block, correct, repeat. And don't forget about hitting the edge of the skin when the face goes a little flat. Re-fit the door during the tacking phase. Fold patch edges during tacking phase. Don't tack skin edges until ready to commit.

And as you just saw... have a stud gun or something around... might help.

In the third from last pic, last post, on the easterly side you can see where I used MIG dots and cold wet rag with breeze to shrink down some last pesky big swollen spots around where it was beat out in antiquity. Same principle as the shrinking tip, but a much more effective (and messy) way to tackle big swells.

[chimp koose]

The door I am talking about looked fine shape wise but after the molasses bath it showed rust all along the bottom edge where the reveal is , enough that it will crack apart when pushed on. I am thinking I will cut about 4" up from there where the metal is solid and the shape is good . This panel will need to be bead rolled on 3 sides for the reveal and folded around the sides and bottom. It also curves out in the middle . For such a square looking cab it sure has enough curves !