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Thread: 39 Ford Project

  1. #251
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigblock View Post
    Nice work
    Thanks
    Will have another update soon.

  2. #252
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Progress update

    So with the front floorboards done other than the final trans cover piece on to the rear floorboard replacement. I will be fabricating these myself from 18 gauge cold rolled steel sheet.



    This is what the passenger side looked like with the worst of the rust cut away. Some of what is left is pretty solid but I did find some pin holes in the rib at the rear seat kick up. The drivers side was a bit better than this side but not by much.



    In the end I decided to cut out just about everything but the driveshaft tunnel. Just seemed to be easier than doing smaller patches and then trying to match the rib pattern of the original since I don't have a bead roller die that would even come close to the factory ribs.



    First step was to make a cardboard pattern with the layout for bead rolling. At first I was going to do a simple X pattern then changed my mind and did a pattern that would follow the frame x-member.



    Then I changed my mind again and did a new pattern, Hard to tell but is the silver sharpie lines.



    And now easier to see laid out on the sheet metal ready for my 1st attempt bead rolling a bigger piece like this.



    And here it is with the flange at the tunnel bent up and set in place to begin fitting it up. The actual bead rolling went pretty good for my first try at a piece this big. (used a 1/16" flanging die) Not perfect but I'm happy with the way it turned out. The only problem I had was the throat on my bead roller (Woodward Fab Super Bead Roller) not being quite deep enough so I had to flip the panel over to finish 3 out of the 4 areas.



    Once I got the seam to the front floorboards fitted up good I welded tabs to top at the front and rear so I was able to screw the panel down in the same position each time during the process of getting all the joints ready for welding.
    I probably had it in and out about 20 times to get all the gaps the way I wanted them. Also located the body mount bolt holes during the process as well.



    All tacked in place ready for final welding.



    Most of the seams final welded up until my welding gas ran to low. I tried a different approach on welding up the seam on this panel, I started at the seam between the front and rear floorboards and the trans tunnel. Instead of jumping around with the welds I just started there and followed all the way around to the door post where my gas ran out. I just took my time welding a half inch or so at a time between the tacks giving plenty of cooling time as I went, always making sure I could touch the area just welded with my bare hand before continuing. It seemed to work pretty well and didn't seem as tedious as jumping around on the panel to keep things cool. The last welds I did near the door post started looking kind of bad which I was thinking might be from the metal not being clean enough but my welding gas was down to about 10 CFH of less so I will grind out that are and try welding it up again with a new gas bottle and see what happens.



    And finally here is a picture from underneath. For the most part the weld penetration is pretty good. May be a couple of spots that might need a tack weld from this side. So just need to finish the welding on this one, grind out all the welds, then repeat the process on the drivers side.
    Brian

  3. #253
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    Nice job with that bead roller, Brian. Floor is looking great.

  4. #254
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Thanks Richard.
    I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

  5. #255
    Registered Member Belair-o's Avatar
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    Wow! I had no idea one could bead roll such complex areas like you did on the four areas. Very cool!

  6. #256
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Nice job on the bead-rolling of the floor panels. I have two Mittler Brothers bead rollers and have used one of them a couple of times. I would have liked to roll some details into my rear cargo floor and inner fenders, but I got the bead roller after I made them. Also thought about having someone else do it with a different machine before I painted them but chickened out after spending so many hours building them. I would have let Robert do it.
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  7. #257
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Thanks guys, they are far from perfect but being floor pans which will be covered on the inside and rarely seen from underneath the main goal is the added strength which it did pretty well. One thing I need to figure out how to do is to pre-stretch the panel before rolling the pattern to eliminate the distortion it causes. It wasn't to much of an issue on these being floor pans but would be if making inner fenders or engine compartment panels and such. I watched a few videos where they use an english wheel to do the pre-stretch. I guess you could hammer and dolly the panel or use a planishing hammer too.
    So now I have 2 more tools on my wish list!!

  8. #258
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Progress Update

    So with a new tank of welding gas I finished up welding the last seam and ground out all the welds to finish up on the passenger side floor pan.


    So with this side done time to repeat the process on the drivers side.



    Drivers side panel bead rolled, fitted up and ready to tack weld in place. I must have set the bead roller to tight doing this one as it left more of a mark around the edges than the 1st one. That's why it's good to learn on pieces that won't show unless someone crawls under the car!!


    All tacked in place with the weld tacks about a half inch apart. Once I get to this point I fill in between the tacks by doing 2 to 3 tacks at a time to fill in the gaps. I just start at one end and go all the way around making sure each weld is cool enough to touch with my bare hand before moving on to the next gap.



    Fully welded ready to grind out all the welds.



    With all the welds ground down and sanded with 80 grit it looks much better.



    So finally I have floorboards that I don't have to worry about falling through. A big improvement from the rusty mess I started with.



    One last piece to close up the last hole between the firewall and front floorboards fitted up to weld in place.
    Once this is done I can work on fitting up the drivers side rocker panel I had made a while back and make one for the passenger side. It is supposed to be in the 70's here all week so with a bit of luck I can get all that done and get some epoxy primer on some of this by the end of the week.
    Brian

  9. #259
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    This week I almost finished up on the floorboards. Just a few things left to call it all done.
    First up was to finish up on the last piece of the firewall.



    This is the last part of the firewall in place. This one was a bit of a struggle as I fit up to the flanges on the firewall and trans tunnel at the top and bottom and fit it for butt welds on the toe kick panels. Of course the flanges on the Bitchin Products pieces needed quite a bit of tweaking to get the pieces to fit tightly together.



    View from underneath shows the fit on the flanges as well as the butt weld section lined up and tacked in place.
    I wanted to get the fit on the flanges as tight as possible so they don't become a place for dirt and water to collect and cause future rust problems.



    And finally all welded up and sanded out. With a couple of coats of epoxy primer and seam sealer the joints should be good to go.



    With that done I got the drivers side rocker panel that I had made a while back fit up and screwed in place so it would be ready to get epoxy primer on both sides before welding in place for good.



    I then made up the rocker panel for the passenger side and got it fit up and screwed in place. This one turned out a bit better than the first since I had a better idea how to make it this time.



    Since our weather last week until today was in the 80's I got all the floorboards and the firewall scuffed up and cleaned up to shoot a couple of coats of epoxy primer before welding the rockers in place.



    And a better view of the firewall area. Nice thing about 30's cars with original door hinges is that it's pretty easy to pull the hinge pins and get the doors out of the way when needed. I didn't get pictures but I also got epoxy on the rockers inside and out, the master cylinder access doors and the cowl vent door backside and part of the outside of the cowl where I had welded in a new piece to repair the rust in that area.



    And today I got the drivers side rocker panel welded in place and used some spray cans to get primer and semi gloss black over the plug weld spots and the welds on each end at the door jams. So all that is left to say I am completely done with the firewall and floor pans is installing the passenger side rocker panel, and getting seam sealer around the firewall on the inside where it meets the original cowl and a few other areas that have lap weld joints. Then I can continue on to the rear seat area which I think has just a few small rust holes, and then into the trunk floor area which has major rust that will require making new panels.
    Brian

  10. #260
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    It's looking great Brian! Way too good to consider selling when done..

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