1951 F16

[idrivejunk]

Theres as many ways to skin a cat as there is cats. Intriguing stuff. 

You may recall the door bottom episode in my series, Mr. Heavy Slappingspoon was the guest star. If you got two good hands, you're way ahead of where I was. It was all I could do and more, just to squeak by on planishing a skin patch. I was glad we got door shell bottoms so the contour which affects overall crown so much could be restored. One door was rusted through clear across the bottom, leaving no support for the skin which sat too flat then.

Good luck with the latches. I want to say the F1's strikers ended up right at the cab rear brace height, or just above.

[kb426]

O&S had some progress today. My plan for the left door left just as many problem areas as the right door. I must be the problem. LOL. I removed the paint from the outside and got ready to hang them back on the cab. The cab is spread on the left side. I'm going to see if there is something I can come up with to make the door gaps better besides welding on them. I may have enough parts tomorrow to finish the latches. The doors are on temporarily for the 1st time in quite a while. I think I will get plenty of practice taking them off and reinstalling them until they are ready for the last time for assembly in epoxy primer.

[idrivejunk]

Looks great with shaved rails.

[kb426]

O&S measured the door openings side to side twice. The left hand was .125" wider than the right. The simplest fix was to shim the door hinge to center the door in the opening. I started out with 2 14 gauge shims in the hinges. I ended up with a 20 gauge on the top hinge and 14 on the bottom. The shim is under the outside bolt to angle the hinge and gain a little more from the angle of the hinge. UPS was here by 2 oclock so I had the pieces to finish the outside latches. The lack of space in that corner of the door is making this real interesting. One of the pics shows the linkage I fabbed up. That's 3/16" rod and quick release rod ends. The door gaps are fairly even from front to rear but side to side are different from the extra cab width in the door opening. I didn't find any reason for the widths to be that much different. ?

[enjenjo]

I didn't find any reason for the widths to be that much different

Easy, it's a Ford built when they could sell anything with four wheels. Chevys are just as bad.

[chimp koose]

Those quick release rod ends look interesting . Where do you get them ?

[enjenjo]

https://www.mcmaster.com/rod-ends/quick-install-ball-joint-linkages-6/

[kb426]

C.K., those aren't near as good as the ones we used on Morse cables for racing but they are cheap and will be more than adequate for door linkage.

[kb426]

O&S put in a bunch of hours with little progress. I started off by doing the left side door apparatus. As you might imagine, it didn't take near as long as the right. I wasn't happy with it. When I went looking for door handles, all I found were white boxes. You could pay any price from different suppliers. The pics all looked the same. Unlike the ones I used in the 32 back in 07, these have double sided keys now. That also means they aren't exact repros. There was slack in the shaft and the mounting boss. I messed with it for a while and moved on to have time to think. I installed all the sound mat except for the firewall where I still have to work. I had a lunch break and decided to thread the square shaft for a nut to take up all the slack. One of the pics is of the inside of the door. If you can make out the area past the arm on the shank, that is where the nut went. Pretty good trick to get it on. I have a tappet wrench that is long and slender that allowed me to tighten the nut successfully. I did the same thing to the right side. That handle fits a little better but this is better than the tiny set * on the arm holding everything together. I'm thinking about the inside handles. I have to install the window regulator 1st to see what I have to work around. I don't have any good pics from the white 51 to tell me where contact might be made. oh, well. Just more work.

[enjenjo]

My granddaughter's husband just stripped a Cavalier for racing, and the inside handle actuates a cable to the latch. You could mount it most anywhere.

[kb426]

Frank, I pulled a pair from the 2nd doors on a Windstar. They were smaller than the mustang units I used in the white 51. I'm not to the "enough information" limit yet to make a decision of what to use.

[chimp koose]

When I bear claw my model T doors I am going to use the stock interior door handles . Just getting ideas of what I might use to actuate them to the bear claw . Those pieces look tidy .

[idrivejunk]

Coming right along.  Slick solve on the square thing. Those 33-4 handles or deuce?

[kb426]

Matt, those are 33. The 32 are non locking.
O&S had a day at the fun park. I started off by filling the un-needed holes in the dash. I ran out of argon as I finished. That makes around a bottle and a 3rd of welding, if I remember what I started with. That's the large bottle also. I checked to see if the wiper switch would fit the hole. I started eyeballing locations for the light switch. The harness comes off at a right angle to the handle so it wasn't going to fit in any of the existing holes in the dash. I put the window regulators in for a power and obstacle check. I'm very pleased to announce that they passed on all accounts. Nu Relic has improved the wiring harness since the last set I purchased which had wiring issues that they took care off. I think quality control got improved. The wiring is now wrapped in the classic braid. It looks very nice. Not cheap but the best there is in my feeble opinion. It warmed up to the mid 70's so I moved outside. I brought the hood around and removed the 2 trumpet horns from it. I was curious, so I connected power to them. Very slight noise was emitted so they went to the dumpster. I removed all the trim and started stripping. The primer on top had turned to a solid mass. I used a purple stripping disk for a change to see how it worked. They work great on painted surfaces. There was too much wind to blast but in retrospect, blasting the top of the hood would have been a better option. The hood has some cracks to be welded and the forward brace needs work. The never ending supply of repairs until you're done. LOL.

[jaybee]

Looks like a pretty good day's work.