1940 120 Convertible Coupe Restoration

[theastronaut]

I just went back to your September 10, 2014 post to look at what you had started with. Great work! It's amazing to see how far this has come. Can't wait to see the finished product with some before and after comparisons.

Keep posting!

Joe

It's getting there, one piece at a time!

I must agree with Joe. Fantastic work and fascinating to follow your progress. Please keep the story coming!!

I have done some floor and sill fabrication myself, but my efforts only serve to highlight the quality of what you are achieving.

Kind regards
Adam..

Appreciate the comment!


The rear fenderwell brace is finished. Made the edges fit together evenly, tacked it to hold the pieces in alignment, then welded it fully.






After smoothing the welds.

[Tinman_70]

John,

What gauge material are you using for this brace? Looks a little heavier that sheet metal.

I've tried the stacked disks on an air grinder to initially smooth a seam weld, works much better than a flat disk. Not as smooth as your work but better than my past work.

Joe

[theastronaut]

John,

What gauge material are you using for this brace? Looks a little heavier that sheet metal.

I've tried the stacked disks on an air grinder to initially smooth a seam weld, works much better than a flat disk. Not as smooth as your work but better than my past work.

Joe

Joe, I used 18 gauge on the inner fender brace and most of the other parts (inner/outer rockers, A/B pillar skins, rear seat shelf, etc). The inner A-pillar post bottom was 16 gauge, and the outer sheetmetal parts like the quarters, cowl bottoms, and floor pans have been 20 gauge. The stacked discs really work well to keep from digging in as quickly (compared to a single disc) so you don't make low spot as easily.

[theastronaut]

Started on the A-pillar cover, needs final trimming and matching the hole sizes still.




Also started on the B-pillar bottom.







I half-rounded the mating edges on both pieces and ground the edges for a tight gap. Then did a few tacks to keep it in alignment.




Inside view.




Instead of doing a tack at a time I did a series of tacks in a row, only slightly letting off the trigger between tacks and overlapping. Seemed to make a slightly shorter weld bead and good penetration.






After smoothing the welds.

[theastronaut]

Roughed in the rockers, used the bead roller to make the curved 90* edges first. I need to smooth the sharp edges on the dies, they leave marks in the metal that I dont' like. It also distorts the edge some, requiring some time on the shrinker/stretcher to make the edge straight again.






Halves matched up and clamped in place.





Tacked together, then the seam was lightly planninshed on a T-post dolly to true the edges.




Fully welded/smoothed.

[theastronaut]

I reworked the front of the rocker to fit the A-pillar this morning.

Initial fit:




Scribed, and trimmed to fit the shape of the hinge pillar.






Making paper templates.






New rocker end fabbed.




Fit, welded, and smoothed.

[theastronaut]

I started fitting the middle and rear floor pan sections last week. The edges needed trimming, indentions were added for the body mount bolts/washers, the outside rear corner was trimmed to fit around the inner fenderwell, and I also started drilling for plug welds.








I also offset the end of the rocker to make the B-pillar bottom fit flush. This seam will be leaded over once it's welded in. With the rocker offset finished I can extend that end of the rocker rearward 8-10", and that will finish the rocker.

[theastronaut]

Been awhile since I updated this. Pretty much everything I've been doing lately is a copy of the other side so it was fairly boring/repetative. I didn't keep up with documenting this side as well as I did the first side since it's basically the same thing.

With most all of the new panel fabrication finished, I pulled everything back out to wash with PPG DX579 and DX520. This cleans any light surface/fingerprint rust off from handling the parts while their bare metal and preps them for epoxy. Forgot to get an after pic, this is before washing. The smaller parts were blasted before epoxy.




The center seam will be butt-welded down the length so it will apear as one piece. To butt-weld a seal like this it'll need to be plannished like I did the quarter panel seam to eliminate any distortion. I can't reach both sides so I'll need someone to hold the dolly on the other side. I marked both sides with the same layout so we can both stay in the same place.




I've started welding in the floors and inner rocker, same process as the other side.

[theastronaut]

I have the pans and inner rocker welded in, so I moved to finishing the A-pillar bottom. I tacked the inner A-pillar in place and stuck the outer skin over it to mark the size/location of the hinge holes. Used a carbide burr to open up the holes almost all the way, then a step-bit to get to the final size which also cleans up the edges.








Squared up the other opening with a rectangle file.




Inner A-pillar welded, smoothed up, and mopped with epoxy.




Used tape to locate the edge of the outer skin, this will help with trimming the outer layer to size without having too big of a gap.




Outer skin stuck in place, another layer of tape placed over the first piece. The bottom edge of the tape will be the cut line.




Outer skin welded in place, welds smoothed.




Inner A-pillar brace welded in.




Inner cavity mopped with epoxy after welding.




And a "work in progress" shot. Currently working on getting the outer rocker ready for welding.

[Tinman_70]

It's great to see a car emerging as you start putting all your expertly made parts together! As usual, great job!

Joe