1957 Sandblasted Coupe

[ukinusa]

OK its been a while...but been slowly plugging away at the left rocker and finally have that squared away and closed up. I thought (naively) that it would easier as I had done the other side to 'practice' on - humm... will never think that again - it kicked my butt - I just could not get things to settle and line up as needed; but patience and perseverance got it (not my strong point)

Now onto the final wall - rear foot well wall. Previously (see above) when I tried the panel it seemed a really poor fit. No I have tacked the 'box' back in and retried the fit,it looks OK ....BUT IS IT ? ! The floor slopes to the middle very noticeably and of course none of the reference photos, from the hundred I have taken, show that angle - am I off is it OK?


Broom handle level !


Better fit around the 'box'

I can't see anyway to 'lift' the floor up, as the panel is a tight fit on the 'box' bottom...reassurance/ideas needed please!

(and for the eagle eyed, I mounted the monkey motion mount ... tried to get it as close to old score/cut marks and 90' to the tube; when all this done and takje my first test drive and I cant change gear, I will cry !

[JTR70]

There is a very subtle slope toward the center but yours is a bit too drastic Steve.

Here's the area untouched and factory which seems almost square across.




Here's the coupster with the same replacement panel as yours also showing about the same attitude as the original in the first pic.



I'm gathering from your photo that the problem lies at this bottom shoulder. Yours is way too tall which is forcing the center of panel down too far. You'll have to flatten and roll the lower opening tighter so the center of the panel can come up around the bulkhead leveling its profile more. Hope that made sense.
Justin

[Jack Staggs]

here are Simonsen's A-floor stampings:

These pics are much more like what I am accustomed to seeing in the transition from the floor pans the the rear center snout. Note how short the step is, compared to your Broom Hilda pics.
On preA and A cars, there is very little clearance at the rear between the floor pan and the long linkage tube from the shifter when all the monkey motion is installed, often less than 1/4", so even minor upward dents in that area can foul the shift linkage. With the butchery that has taken place on the lower half of the rear snout, I suspect that a small section may be missing all the way across from top of the lower section that you are attempting to refit to the upper existing half. Fit the swinging gate to the new mounting that you have welded to the torsion bar tube, and the long linkage tube with the ball socket, to check for needed clearance before you weld the lower snout. Then trim the rear foot well wall to fit accordingly. Believe me, I have been called upon more than once to "fix" problems in this area on finished cars.

[ukinusa]

Thanks again all - I really appreciate the help and clear pictures... clearly I need to do some reshaping to get that cross panel to come closer to the snout/box.
Trial fitting the gear shift rod is a great idea...I have a rear simonsen floor and so will need to get all these pieces that are interdependent in place to trial fit before committing. I had forgotten how close the gear shift rod runs to the floor.


Also rather than use "broom hilda" I will run a straight metal edge from one rocker to the other without the wall being held in place - that will give me a very good indication of what room I have to play with and how well the box/snout is positioned. TBC

[ukinusa]

Trying to hang the rearbox/snout in the correct position "in fresh air", with no reference points, is a futile exercise I realize. So I have created a frame which 'hangs' off a small L support steel screwed across the floor supports; mounted as close as I can get, to where the rear floor will go, and yet give me work room.

I mounted the snout/box onto some aluminum angle and have set it square to the main body above. 15.5cm from floor to bottom of box on both sides so square to body and level to floor .. now to lift it a little to give me room for the wall/support piece, but not too much as I will loose my gear shift rod clearance (see below). This is a challenging 3 dimensional jigsaw!







Now I can see what clearances (or not) I have to work to. Broom Hilda has been banished to cleaning duties



I installed the monkey mount and gear shift rod,I think I am ok but I am taking Jacks advice to heart and want to check further...
As I have the floor, I am going to install it as well; I need to trim the width, but will leave the end angles for later. Then I have a true flat surface to check the gear rod separation.


Seems I have some clearance.


One discovery - I have two rods of different lengths - both appear 'original' (ie: not butchered) What gives ????

[356hunter]

Could be the longer rod is T-1 and pre A, while shorter rod is T-2 which has shifter and mechanism closer to driver. But not sure about the short rod as it appears substantially too short. Anybody know length of t-1 and T-2 rods?

Michael Foster

[Jack Staggs]

Very creative jig you made for the pig snout, Dave. Broom Hilda would approve. As I suspected, there is a strip missing across the full distance of the lower half. The clearances of the linkage look good there as is, but another mm or two of clearance wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't worry about fitting the floor now, as the rear foot well panel should drop down about 2 or 3mm further there to meet the floor. Your new panel will need trimming there. Plenty of clearance directly under the shift stick, even for factory preA short shifter (unless the tunnel has been messed with).
A note on forward mounted shifters with the long shaft (T1 and some preA). Before you fit the transmission, try to install the long shift rod from the front to the rear. Some cars can have problems there (are you listening Justin?).

[JTR70]

Looks like your well on the road to getting it dialed in Steve.


I hear ya Jack and I have my big hammer at the ready for any clearance issues with that floor. Yet another Pearl, thank you!

[roy mawbey]

Steve,

Well done on sorting that out. Clever indeed. You guys make me realise I don't know much about these cars at all. There is so much to know !!

Roy

[ukinusa]

If someone has couple of minutes I need a measurement please.

I am rebuilding the 'inside' of the nose/snout and I am not sure how far the metal comes forward that I need to add to the 'arch'.

There is the metal tab that has T nut for securing the tunnel cover; if I knew how long that should be and more importantly how much of it is exposed, (that supports the tunnel cover), I can get a pretty could idea of the depth of strip of metal, I need to attach to the arch. In the picture the 'sharpy' is pointing to the small U channel mounting piece I am referring too...and yepp those clamps again !

How long is this piece ? And how far is it 'exposed'?

[JTR70]

Hey Steve, I remember you asking me about this detail last time at the shop. I dug out the original rear pan section from my coupster project today for clear and detailed shots.



No definitive length on that extension as the edges were fused and melted to varying depth.

As long as you have the mount spaced away from the vertical wall by this much you're golden.

Hope these helped.
Justin

[ukinusa]

Thanks, I will do some measuring and fabricate up that mount, appreciate you taking the time .(Nice ruler too!)

[ukinusa]

Like others summer duties (pleasantly) got in the way - so back at ...
First order was to get the Nose/snout in a better position; turns out it was rotated about 3' or 4' off flat/horizontal resulting in the inner lip being a little high. Correcting that gave me a much better clearance on the monkey motion and gear shift (the extra 3mm + it was suggested (thanks Jack) I find !).

Also the angle of the floor looks a lot better - still has a slope but I cant see a way to remove that. The panel actually has a bend so I think its OK ??? Using a small angle iron screwed to each longitude, I get a drop of about 8mm in the center from either side ...is that OK ?





The butchering that took place with the tunnel meant the center metal curve was missing, so for the first time pressed my Harbor Freight shrinker/stretch into service. Two end bends are very tight and so used some heat to soften and pound flatter, not so pretty but will be covered by the new metal







Thks Justin too - I made the mounting tab - way too long so I can cut it back when I get the tunnel finally cleaned and mounted...

The new backing panels looking better, the radius issue at the top is now not so bad so think I should be able to curve that into the correct shape.



Everything is loose right now, so I need to commit myself shortly and start fixing for real. This recreation has been a real brain tease.

[ukinusa]

I guess when you are unsure follow your intuition! So I pulled it all apart, widened the U cut (for the torsion tubes) on the snout, to bring it 'up' more, which also helped close the rear gap too.





Still got a good gap - will watch this closely when I 'finally' finish this section and put the floor in ...

[Jack Staggs]

Really nice job on the Napolian Hat, Steve (?.. No signature name). I have a few concerns about the Broom Hilda part. 8mm transition from the floor to the pig snout is still a bit tall, but far better than previously shown. Photos on page 38 show it to be just in to the radius of Hilda, with a step of 4mm or so. I'm not freaked out about it though. Another greater issue is the location of the hand brake cable holes. Threaded bosses will need to be welded on there (for hand brake adjustment equalization, left to right) and yours appear to be too high and too inboard. See page 38 once again for spacial relationship. These adjusters and jamb nuts are on the order of 27mm wrench size, and it can be difficult even on original cars to fit this large sized wrench to turn each flat enough to capture the next flat with the wrench to continue turning the adjuster in the needed direction. I hope this makes sense.