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Thread: 39 Ford Project

  1. #391
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    I have been continuing to prep and paint parts as the weather cooperates. Got a bunch of small parts done before the weather got cooler again so I went back to doing some repairs on various parts.


    Welded in patches on these from the last post (I called them windlace retainers but I think they are actually called kick panel retainers) so they are now ready to paint.


    This is the rusted out end of a rear fender brace. This will get cut off and repaired.


    Here I have a new end welded in place. Once I get the end bent into the original shape it too will be ready for paint.



    Next I decided to try and repair the inside windshield trim. The painted one on the left is for the drivers side. What's left of the passenger side piece is on the right. Same rust issue as the dashboard from the leaky windshield.


    In this picture I have a trim piece I got at Jefferson swap meet last spring from a 40 Ford. It is similar to my 39 Ford Standard but not a direct replacement for sure. I am hoping I can use just the lower corner to repair my original.


    On the left is a piece of my Original trim and on the left is the 40 Ford trim. Quite a bit different profile so it will take some trimming and re-shaping to make it work.


    So I cut the rusty ends off of the original trim and screwed them in place in the car so I would know how much of the 40 Ford trim piece will be needed.


    I then cut that area out of the 40 Ford trim piece and set it in place. Looks like it could work if I can get the shape to match the original 39 Ford trim piece.
    Brian

    "To be continued below"

  2. #392
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    To re-shape the 40 Ford trim I made patterns of the outside and inside shape of the original trim to make some profile dies.


    Here I have the profile dies made from 3/8" thick stock bolted into a modified vise grip. I modified the vise grip to bolt the profile dies into it vs welding them in so I can use it on other projects by making different profile dies to bolt in.


    I found it was easier to use the tool by clamping it into a bench vise as shown here. Not a perfect solution but it got the trim piece close enough to make it work. When I get some time I may try to set up my planishing hammer to be able to bolt the profile dies into that to see if it works better. Pretty sure that would be easier than the vise grip method for smaller parts.


    It took a while but I got the 40 Ford Trim piece pretty close to the same profile as the 39 Ford Trim piece. (original on the left, 40 Ford on the right)


    Then I got the modified 40 Ford trim piece fit up in the corner and added the screw holes and screw hole dimples with a tool I made. Just a piece of 1/2 x 1/2 steel drilled and tapped with a counter bore at the top so I could form the dimple with a flush mount flat screw similar to the original trim screws.


    Here the original upper part of the trim installed and the new corner fitted up ready to tack weld together. I tack welded them together in place on the car and then removed them as a unit to finish welding them together.


    After welding and finishing out that seam I fitted up the last piece to tack weld in place.
    At this point I have the windshield frame in the fully open position as that is the only way these trim piece and be installed and removed when they are one piece as original.


    And here it is all welded up ready for prep and paint next to the drivers side trim on the left.
    Not exactly the same as the original piece but close enough for me and way better than having a completely missing lower corner.
    Brian

  3. #393
    Registered Member Belair-o's Avatar
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    Hi Brian,
    Your profile die pliers idea is great! Thanks for sharing your innovative ideas that don't require a bunch of tools to implement!
    Thanks! Doug

  4. #394
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Belair-o View Post
    Hi Brian,
    Your profile die pliers idea is great! Thanks for sharing your innovative ideas that don't require a bunch of tools to implement!
    Thanks! Doug
    Thanks Doug, I have been watching metal shaping videos on you tube which gives me lots of ideas.

  5. #395
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Continuing to work on odds and ends parts I got a few more things painted last week while the weather was still cooperating. Looks like that will be on hold for a while though as the 10 day forecast is for at or below average temps which means highs of about 40 or less.


    These are the headlight buckets for the 39. I soaked these in the Milkstone rinse (phosphoric acid) for about 4 days then just a light sandblasting cleaned them up nicely.
    I decided to just cut off the sockets where the wiring goes into them and will just use a rubber grommet instead.


    One good thing is these are the same for left or the right fender so no worries about mixing anything up. They are in decent shape other than a few rust pin holes that needed to be welded shut on the right one. The one on the left will need a small patch at the bottom.
    The brackets inside which hold the reflectors and and bulbs are in good shape and function as they should. I don't have the reflectors however as someone had replaced them at some point with 6 volt sealed beam lamps and discarded the reflectors.


    Here I have the lower lens tabs and the tab for the headlight lens bezel removed and the bad section of the bucket that will need to be replaced. The 3 little tabs at the bottom were riveted in place and the inner part of the bucket is solid so relocating the tabs will be easy by using the same rivet holes.


    Replacement patch all formed up and fitted ready to weld in place.


    All welded in place (bucket on the right) and the bezel tab riveted back in place. I just used 1/8" pop rivets from the back side and then peened them over on the lens and bezel side.
    Bucket on the left shows how the little tabs are needed to hold the headlight lens in place.


    The lower lens tabs were in pretty bad shape so I made new ones and pop riveted them in place. You can actually buy the replacement tabs but they weren't that hard to make.


    And here is a close up view. I had to tweak them a bit to get the lens to fit correctly but good enough as they will not be visible with the lens and bezel in place.


    This will be my next project to work on then. This is the drivers side running board, the passenger side is soaking in milkstone rinse to remove the rust while I work on this one.
    Where I have the outer yellow tape is what shows past the body when mounted and the inner tape is what will show with the door open.


    Here is a more overhead view. Originally these had rubber covers on them which is why they have all the little holes in them. I have been on the fence about just installing new rubber covers or smoothing these out and just painting them. It would be easier to just install new covers but I am not crazy about the look so I think I am going to take the plunge and start welding up the holes and go the smoothed out route with maybe some kind of step pad in the middle. If that doesn't turn out well I can always just install covers later, as it shouldn't hurt anything if the covers are on a smoother running board.
    Brian

  6. #396
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    Looking good, Brian. For an idea on running board rubber, here's one we used on the 49 F-1 pickup we built some years back. They are aluminum strips with rubber inserts. They have held up well over the years.

    IMG_0424.jpeg

  7. #397
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TrifiveRichard View Post
    Looking good, Brian. For an idea on running board rubber, here's one we used on the 49 F-1 pickup we built some years back. They are aluminum strips with rubber inserts. They have held up well over the years.

    IMG_0424.jpeg
    Thanks for the idea for the running boards. That would like nice!
    And nice truck, I remember my dad having a couple of dump trucks and a stakebed of that vintage when he had his plumbing and excavating business.

  8. #398
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Work on the running boards continued this past week. I made my tray for the Milkstone rust dissolver big enough to fit one running board at a time so while I had the passenger side soaking I did some work on the drivers side.


    I started by welding up a bunch of the small holes which I think are in there to help the running board covers adhere better. I had started welding up the holes on the bottom edge and then decided I didn't like having the little bump out at the bottom edge.


    So I started hammering the bump out from the backside to eliminate the bump. With the running board clamped to my welding table I used a caulking tool I made (on the left) and then an air hammer with my home made planishing die to smooth it all out better.


    Hard to tell in this shot but I have the bottom edge smoothed out and all the holes welded shut. The holes were easier to weld shut this way so that was a plus. It will still need some body filler but it should look much better when done. So at this point I pulled the passenger side out of the rust dissolver and put this one in to soak for a while.


    With about 85% of the rust cleaned off, the passenger side board should be easier to work on. Less dust anyway, but it looks like this one will need more patches for the rust.


    After flattening out the bottom edge and welding up the holes where the metal was still solid I marked up where I will need to make patch panels for the areas that the rust pits have become small rust holes. Pretty close to not being worth fixing but I will see how it goes.


    I started with a patch on the rear outside corner. On this one I left the lower edge intact and spliced the patch into the face only of the hem at the bottom.


    Then I decided to recreate the bottom edge hem on the patch panels to eliminate one long weld seam. Unfortunately this meant the patch panels would have to be shorter as 10 1/2 to 11" was the maximum I could bend in the 16 gauge I was using to match what the original running boards are made from. To make the hem I 1st bent about a 90 degree angle in the panels.


    Then I hammered them over to create the hem similar to originals just without the little jog just above the hem. Good thing these won't show on the finished product unless someone sticks there head under the running boards. The car should be plenty low enough to prevent that from happening!!


    And here is the first section tack welded in place.


    And here it is with 5 more patch panels tack welded in place as well as a small patch where it will meet up with the front fender. Lots more work left on this one but it will look much better when done and I am pretty sure the drivers side will not need near as much rust repair.
    Brian

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