SC Coupe Restoration

[Phil Planck]

Really nice work Tom. There's the video "Made by Hand" and then there is your topic here "Remade by Hand".

Phil

[JTR70]

Tom, I really like your internal reinforcement section; Clean and undectable once the hood is assembled! Good idea on the speed bolts for mock-up too. Keep up the great work! Justin

[John Pierce]

Tom,
I had to smile when I saw your handmade hinge bolts. That's something I'd do as I can only imagine how tedious it is to take off and put on the hood for all the fittings. It frame turned out nicely. Where did you end up purchasing the skin removal tool? I saw one on Eastwood, but it wasn't as nice as Bruce's.


John

[tperazzo]

There's the video "Made by Hand" and then there is your topic here "Remade by Hand".

Phil

Ha, reminds me of my registry thread, Made by hand again. Anyhow thanks again for the encouragement from you all.

Eastwoods door skin pliers are backordered, but that's the one I'm waiting for. It doesn't look as well made as the one Bruce shared, but its better than nothing. If it doesn't come soon, I've been eyeing some tile nibble pliers in my tool box that could be modified to work.

Tonight, I stripped the other hood that I intend to use the skin for my newly fixed frame.


There are some small distortions near the hinge bracket, but this thing is in great shape so far. Keeping my fingers crossed that its not rusty on the inside, like the other hood.


Goodnight everyone!

[tperazzo]

Warning: the following pictures are super detailed and non-glamorous.

The hinge pockets welds were cracked even before I had to "adjust" them. Now that everything lines up, the cracks needed to be welded.
Before:

After:

Same thing, but taken from under the dash

The other side was cracked in a different area. This is the vertical trunk wall where it meets the cowl.
before:

after:


That's it. Boring, but necessary.

[Phil Planck]

Tom
Good detective/observation work finding those cracks. I have yet to remove or strip the hood on FoamCar. Ugh.

Phil

[John Pierce]

Tom,
Nice TIG welds. Pedal between the knees while ducking into that small space? Very difficult area to weld in.

JP

[Phil Planck]

Tom
Regarding "annealing" your hem flange, hopefully Bruce will chime in, but I believe he is a proponent of gently heating the bend to soften it up. I have been doing that, and have not had distortion issues. I never go beyond blue, never red. Maybe it's time for a test of some type.

Phil

[John Pierce]

Phil,

What type of gas are you using to heat things up?

JP

[Phil Planck]

John
I have a propane and mapp gas torch. I usually grab the mapp torch.

Phil

[tperazzo]

Tom,
Nice TIG welds. Pedal between the knees while ducking into that small space? Very difficult area to weld in.

JP

Thanks, I don't know what I would have done without a rotisserie. With the car on it side, I could stand right next to the hinge and still use the foot pedal. My biggest issue was tuning my helmet so it would auto darken in such a tiny space. Sometimes when the helmet sensors are shaded by something, the lens doesn't want darken. Once I turned the sensitivity up, it worked ok. I ran my tig torch over the existing gas weld from under the dashboard too. This is why I haven't installed my floors yet. Once the hood is finished I'm anxious to get those floors in.

Thanks Phil for your comments on the hem. Its hard to argue with success! If I have time, I'll bend some samples and try heat to see the improvement. Sometimes my engineering theory gets in the way.

Here's a little more progress. This is a hole in the fender bracket/wire conduit.


.


Thanks,
Tom

[JTR70]

Great job Tom! The repair above like the hinge mount welding from the previous page are those Nagging PIA chores that have to addressed so you can move onto the more obvious or glamorous stuff like fenders and hoods. It was such a relief to get those little repairs in the done column wasn't it? Looking forward to seeing the reskinning of the hood!

[Phil Planck]

Tom

Where is Bruce when we need him. I know he is on a short road trip, so maybe not checking this forum till he gets home. Anyway, I did some googleing on annealing and inconclusive results. One says metal must be blue, another says use a Sharpie on the bend and heat until the mark disappears. But, my experience is limited to short sections, not 4 or 5 feet of heating with more potential for distortion. Fixing any cracks might be the safe way to go. After all, how hard is it after just one bend close and open. Also, not sure if it would be possible to open up just the rear hood flange to flat(180) and just open the remainder of the flange enough to be loose and slide the hood forward off of the frame. Contour may prevent this.

On the conduit, had the same rust hole on Foamcar. Repaired it years ago, but was worried about the inside weld surface from my sloppy mig when trying to route harness through. As I eventually removed the headlight bucket, and had a spare conduit that came with I believe the fender brace, I am going to use that one when the bucket goes back in.

[tperazzo]

[tperazzo]

Here's another small repair, but this time on the outer body where the bumper bracket goes through the nose.

Someone has already welded on this area before,


Cuts were made well clear of the cracks and previous weld areas. I must have not taken a picture of just the hole.


New hole sketched in. Outlaw crossed my mind several times!




That's it for now. Have a great weekend everyone!
Tom