1957 Sandblasted Coupe

[ukinusa]

Lead hides a multitude of sins - most all in this case bent metal that could have been straightened a little more before its application and now rust and rot. The upper lead work was great, but the underlying prep. work ... well enough said.


Dents and twisted


Rotted through


Early tacking, being a complex twist and turn, I did it in two pieces,and metal working back as close as possible to original body curve... not finished in this picture of course. After finishing welding the serious hammer and dolly work was done.


New lead applied - well OK ...."All Metal". I didn't have the luxury of new panels to work with, so I was never going to get a nice sharp NOS edge to weld to (well that's my excuse )


Starting to rub down. More 'light' hammer and dolly to come


Under side looking much better


Coming from here...


Little knowing what horrors awaited !

Sorry for the picture being side on - I changed them but clearly the edit didn't 'stick'.

[ukinusa]

Humm been a while and JP prompted me to update ... (thks JP )

So having finished off the rear fender I moved to the floor and seat rails. THANK YOU Justin for blazing the path ! I followed you example.

First off was to reclaim the seat frames and clean them up. I used used wood glue and tooth picks to fill the"termite like" holes caused by at least 3 upholstery periods...(*sorry no pictures)



Having the tunnel in place gave me fixed location for the inner seat rail, and I could check on my levels - phones are great - they give three data points at once





Then I assumed that having the inner rails I could use a straight edge to get the position of the outer rails - they would line up I assumed !



Then it was down to verify levels again.


Tack welding and checking again and again ...

...
Mounting rail moved in picture relative to stud. It's pretty close to center when fixed

WARNING ! One measurement that I hadn't thought of, the position of the tunnel once welded in; it determines the inner seat rail positions and hence the outer rails. I verified I can get the seat frame to mount and slide but there is very limited room to get the frame in.
If you have to mount a tunnel I suggest you check the seat rail position before you weld it down - I didn't but got lucky !

[JTR70]

Great work on that Steve and very sound advice at the end!
Thanks and keep up the nice work!
Justin

[ukinusa]

The other work just completed is the pedal box area and front board mounting.
So checking things first I compared the Simonsen mount to the pedal mount - it was off



Easier to adjust the pedal mount holes than relocate the nuts


That's better !(camera angle doesn't help either !)

Before welding I used 'weld through' primer and black paint to give some protection...




Then onto trial fitting the panel to make sure the pedal could slide forward and back to allow box removal.(Eagle eyed among you will see these pictures are after welding but wanted to add step for completeness)


and

Looks good. One issue was that the radius curve of the panel was too soft where the pedal box metal the upturn, used a wide chisel to 'sharpen' that angle - gave me another 1.5 mm. all helps.

Then checking the left wood panel fitted OK ...


then the other side with the pedal too - all buttoned up.

[roy mawbey]

Well done Steve, a lot of work there but a great result.

Roy

[ukinusa]

In the last couple of months the front and rear bumpers have been my focus.
The rear:
First off the repo. horns foxed me - couldn't get them to mount properly and line up - until I realized they were completely wrong profile. So acquired some 'real' ones and problem solved.


Profile all wrong.




Once that was sorted it was onto the body. First trial fit looked better than expected.


Then reestablishment of the holes, the car has had a replacement clip in the past and they were filled in.



NB - Chalk mark was off - pls ignore !!!!

Tube support well off- the inner mount needed to be reformed.



Luckily bolted in - maybe in the past /originally they were welded tabs ?

Trial fit of the guards - hours and hours spent reshaping the profile with grinding and cutters. Little by little. The yellow tape trying to save the finish !





The two side bars are copper finish ready for chroming. I got these that way from Bob. Also he had prepped the ends of the tubes with the the correct profile, to match the curve of the bumper and had the nut welded in; all I needed to do was locate the two spots where I needed to drill for each bar.







It was essential that the fitting takes place with the plastic '8' profile strips. Apart from protecting the finishes it makes a big difference in the fit. I couldn't get the rubber 'shoes/buffers' to fit on the actual bumper and will have to re-vist that issue before painting them.






Maybe about a couple of weeks on these ! My hat goes off to Bob Chase (Grey Eagle Overriders) - I now have a real appreciation and admiration for the skill he has; and hope he gets well soon.

[Red911]

Hi Steve,

In 1979 when I bought a '57 A coupe, it had the front and back bumpers along with the tubes you are installing.

I was younger then and foolish, as I wanted nerf bars on the car. So in the trash they all went.

I am prepared for a whipping by the board members now.

Tom

[ukinusa]

The front proved more challenging. The 'original' bumper I had, had a very strange profile and was pretty beat up too.


Rather than wrestle it back I decided to buy new and acquired the 2 halves that make the whole.
I used an original chrome trim to ascertain where the the trim mounting holes should go and set my self up to wrestle the overriders. Again a huge mount of work needed to get them to sit true (vertical)and equal off set to support holes. My new nose needed the support tube hole cut as well





The stainless steel towel rail from Bob was very raw (unlike the rears which were almost finished). It didn't have the mounting nuts welded in nor the profile established for it to sit on the bumper.




Then the rubber from a vendor got me freaking out as the profile I established was very different - Motto - don't assume you get what you asked for !



I opted to weld the nut fairly deep into the tube so that I could 'suck' the bar down bit by bit - grinding the tube profile as I went to match the complex bumper curve.


Then I had to build metal back in, the 'back' of the tube is pretty good, (not shown) but the front is real bad, I had to be build 'down' and reground down. (It's slightly forward in the picture but I hope you get the idea)



To make matters more entertaining, the top bolt in the over rider angles down and trying to establish the offset holes proved very challenging - thank goodness welding can fix the 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 ad nauseum attempts !





Almost there.

[ukinusa]

I want the body cleaned so I can see where I next need to focus - so at 6am on Tuesday its off to get the body and panels nut blasted. This is a major step and as the majority of big stuff is done, but a ton of smaller details and some revisits for 'do overs'. I also hope it will re invigorate me as flagging a bit







Yellow tape is mainly original lead that I don't want touched.

[roy mawbey]

Steve,

It will help you to make the next stages, so much you have done already to get to this important part. Hope you are pleased with the result on return.

Roy

[ukinusa]

Now the care really lives up to its name! Got up at 05.00 in the dark to get it the yard...We (well he!) started at 06.00 and worked solidly through till 09.00 when the sun just got too hot. Got it done though !















Home - now to get back at it !

[Phil Planck]

Really looks like it came out nice Steve.

[John Pierce]

You gotta love clean metal. It looks great. Are you going to prime or pickle it?

JP

[ukinusa]

Bare metal is just great - almost porn quality I remember getting excited when the new repair panels came in and while looking great turned into PITA to fit etc. But the car now ? Yes love it.

Just sprayed the top metal with CRC 3-36 this evening. I was told about this rust inhibitor at the Lit Meet by Steve Hogue this year. I had seen a car there in bare metal for over 2 years and asked how he kept it rust free. The web page says it lasts +9 mths. In the dry desert here I suspect longer. It needs to be wiped off (or sprayed I guess) with solvent before painting.
The bottom areas I am hoping to get a layer of primer on tomorrow.
We have Monsoons starting in July into August and humidity goes way up ... so need to get something done asap.

[badsix]

I wouldn't want to use any form of lubricant on or near anything I was going to paint. I think your just asking for problems. there are better products from major paint suppliers such as phosphoric coatings that can be wiped on. i had some parts dipped and they put a phosphate coating on them. some of the parts have been in my shop for 20 years and no sign of any rust and I live on the Oregon coast.
Jay D.