SPL311-18278

[Florida Roadster]

Well, this part has been a real job, making the shelf. I had planned to make MDF dies and use an air hammer to hammer in the depressions. However, a friend said he had a bead roller and that another friend had a 48" sheet metal break. I experimented with some scrap before working the pan since I have never done this before. I can say that it was a lot less work than hammering! I need to put in the trim strip you see in the back and to make some trim strips for the sides. I hammered the brace over a piece of 1" square stock. I used 3/4" angle for make the ledges to attach the pan. I used the metal break to fold the front edge back upon itself and then folded the double layer up to make the lip. I am pretty happy with the results.

Looks great Steve! I recently picked up a bead roller and I already have a 36" break. Going to make the floors for my car soon. Any tips or helpful suggestions? It's funny how we can stress out over these areas that are completely covered up by sound deadening, carpet, and interior trim. Jeff

[Steve_69]

Thanks Jeff. I don't really have any great suggestions. For the shelf, we barely had enough throat on the bead roller, so we had to do one side, then reverse the dies and do the other side by flipping it over. As for the floor pans, I bought mine from Ross. Where I could, I would leave a lip form the cut out floor to create an overlap. A lot of places, there was too much rot and I had to cut back and do butt welds. My project is all about the learning opportunity, and with this car, I am learning a lot! A simple car, but a lot of skills I have never tried until now.

[S Allen]

Looks awesome. Nice job.

S

[Andrew Griffith]

All looks like fun to me..Andrew

[Steve_69]

A couple of weeks ago, I got the body off of the rotisserie and on to a cart so that I could repair the areas that the rotisserie blocked (such as under the battery). I have made all of the repairs. I have used truck bed liner underneath and on the floorboards. I have a lot of stripping to do once it warms up again.

[iloveredmeat]

You're doing so much great work. Keep it up!
pm

[Steve_69]

Progress has been a little slow lately since I took on a part-time consulting/teaching job. So much for retirement!
I have soda blasted the intake manifold, wire wheeled and sand blasted several of the linkage components. The intake water valve was a real pain. It was frozen such that I had to take a torch to it and use some percussive maintenance to get it apart. The steel components were pretty much gone so I had to make the valve stop, drill out a washer for the end piece and find a replacement spring and cut it down to size. Here are a few pictures. I had forgotten to take pictures of the carburetors when I rebuilt them, but you can see one in a freezer bag in one of these photos. Now, if the weather will turn warm, I will get back to stripping the engine bay.

[iloveredmeat]

Progress! Any progress is good – and what a difference. Looking good.

[Steve_69]

Got the rear brake lines and linkages installed, and the frame pads & mounts installed. Tomorrow I should be setting the body back onto the frame. It has been a long haul to get to this point and yet I still have so far to go!

[Steve_69]

Managed to get the body on this morning.

[notoptoy]

Coming together nicely, literally!

[Steve_69]

It has been a while since I have posted, but that is because it has taken quite a bit of time to reconstruct the driver's side fender. I did take 2 weeks off to visit Seattle and Alaska though. I still have the other fender, hood, trunk lid and both doors to do and install the steering column before I take it for finish work and paint.

[Steve_69]

It has been a bit since I have posted. I am nearly done with repairs to the hood. I had to fabricate a front lip for and cut away the old rusty one. I will soon start on the doors.

[notoptoy]

Wow, nice work!

[TobyMan]

Wow! You are Fearless. Can't wait to see the finished product.