Rust Repair on the Door Bottoms of the 1946 Studebaker Pickup Truck

I don't know if there are any pre-formed patch panels out there. I find that those that are available, all need some finish forming to make them work. It's easier for me to just make the panels myself. Then they fit like they should. I've formed the lower parts of the door shells and have one tacked into place. It's very important to keep the door fitting to the opening during the rebuilding process.

Bolting the door on and taking it off again will happen numerous times during the process. If you skip that process, it won't fit in the end. Trying to bend it into shape at that point will result in some ugly distortion and a completely disastrous finish product.

After I am finished welding the shell together, I will check fit again, and then at point I will form the outer skin which I have already made pattern for. The skin will get tacked into place, joining it to the existing skin, and then the whole skin will be removed from the shell at the bottom of the window opening.

I'll be showing the rest of the process in the next posting. Stay tuned.

 

1946 Studebaker Truck Right Mirror Arm

For those interested in making a mirror arm for the right side of the 46 Studebaker pickup, I'll show how I went about copying the left side arm.

This is what I started with. This mirror arm came with a 5"round non glare mirror head that I bought on eBay for the truck. I have no idea what the arm was for, but it was a start. I first made a template off the drivers door for the outer skin and another for the front of the door shell, flipped those patterns and market the right door, cut the hole in the skin and then went to the next step.

After heating bending and hammering the arm into the right shape and welding the hinge mount part into shape and cutting the extra length off the end. I hammered and shaped a round for the mirror head to mount on. I cut two pieces of plate and welded those to the arm and together. Then I ground the weld to shape.

After fitting the arm through the hole that I copied from the left side door, I drilled through the front, holding the arm in place and made a mark in the mirror where a 1/4" countersunk oval head screw will go. I then removed the mirror arm and drilled that hole and threaded it 1/4-20. I bolted the mirror arm in with one hex head bolt and then drilled the other two holes into the arm slightly in order to achieve a precision fit for the finish bolts. I then removed the arm again and drilled and tapped the rest of the holes and then recessed those hole to allow for the countersunk screws. I then bolted the arm into place with some sacrificial screws and heated the hole in the door shell, and ran the screws in while it was red hot, in order to create the countersink. 

The process actually took me about 6 hours to complete, using a die grinder 3" cutoff wheel,  oxy-acetylene torch, hammer, anvil, vice, drill press with several size bits including one to recess the holes like the original, a 1/4" tap, and impact driver. I had some flat stock in my inventory for the mounting part. I used a mig welder to make it one piece and used a thicker cut off wheel for grinding the weld as well as a roloc disc and a rotary file in the die grinder. I hammered the areas that show that were "too smooth" in order to give it the natural cast look.

I since ordered and received some oval slot head finish screws for the final assembly. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and can now have a right side mirror. 

Here is the 1937 Chevrolet Pickup Right Mirror Arm that I made.

Ongoing Restoration of 1946 Studebaker Pickup Truck

I've been busy on the project and have some new images to share. Getting the dash back in and everything working was a real project. The headliner and all the trim panels are in place and all the garnish moldings as well. I was able to modify a switch knob that matches the original headlamp knob, for the heater switch that I mounted under the dash in the middle.

I'm waiting for defroster hose to arrive but everything else is together in the dash. I was surprised to see an ignition switch illuminator, but I am learning that these Studebakers were much more deluxe than the Fords and Chevys. 

I elected to refinish the heater in the original hammered finish and may do the turn signal switch the same as it came hammered finish too. I still have to go through the turn switch, I having a lot of experience with the early turn switches, and decided to use the one that is the most appealing to me cause I just got lucky a couple weeks ago and picked up this one on eBay. It is also the rarest of the nice self canceling add on switches.

I also elected to eliminate the original starter button that was pressed when you pushed the clutch in all the way. I picked up a nice push button switch that I mounted in the left side of the dash as you can see in the pictures.

So here is a before picture and a couple of what it looks like now.

1946 Studebaker Pickup Truck Restoration Project

This truck came up on CL in my immediate area. 

 

It didn't take long to get it loaded on my trailer for the short ride back to my shop.

It had a lot of cobbled up stuff going on as you can see by the interior and engine bay.

I was lucky to acquire the correct wiper motors on eBay as well as a NOS headlamp switch, and pieced together a couple very nice period correct Guide R13 glass tail lights. I also acquired some correct NOS Trico wiper arms and blades, and a very nice radio delete plate to replace the one on the truck , from the second owner back, that had 3 holes drilled in it. He actually had the truck stored  in his vintage cars and parts store for more than 20 years over in Port Townsend, WA. before he sold it to the last owner.

I can't stand driving a vehicle that doesn't have 3 mirrors, and I should mention that they need to be "No Glare" mirror as well. I'm still trying to locate that third mirror but today I completed a right side mount in the same fashion as the original left side bracket.

I still need to find some correct screws for mounting this cause the Phillips head screws are just not acceptable on this truck.

More later on this project. 

RARE RARE RARE CLEV-WELD CHEVROLET WHEELS 1930s

Rarest of the early accessory wheels made by Clev-weld, who was the same manufacturer of the famous , so called "General Jumbo" wheels. General Tire made tires that were named JUMBO, and they were mounted on the aftermarket wheels that are known as the General Jumbo Wheels.

All the other tire manufacturers made similar tires and call them different names like "Air Balloon"and "Air Wheel", etc. but the one that is by far the most well known is the GENERAL JUMBO...

I have owned and seen many different wheels of this sort that were produced for the early 1930 cars, so that they could run  "BIG WIDE TIRES" that would go over soft surfaces better than the original "PIE CUTTER" tires.

General offered their JUMBO tires on wheels that were 14",15", and 16".  The 16" are by far the most desirable now because there is a fairly wide verity of tires available now in reproduction.

I was very excited to see these wheels that I just purchased on eBay.  They are full set of 5 wheels in 16" x 4-1/2" and 6 lug Chevrolet pattern.  The wheels are NOS and have never had tires mounted on them.  They are wheels that I have never seen before.

Mopar had some wheels that were similar but not the same, if you look closely and count the spokes...

I may use these on a Teardrop trailer that I plan to build.  I haven't decided yet as I have a couple of different options of rare accessory wheels that would be great on that application. My other option is the Bent Spoke/40 Spoke/ 16" x 4-1/2" Kelsey Hayes 6 lug wheels.

Update.... I am now offering this set of 5 Clev-weld wheels for $1800.  5/6/22

Here are some images of my choices.

Jaguar XK140 Roadster Body Restoration

The Jaguar XK140 Roadster, in my opinion is possibly the sexiest car in the Jaguar line up.

I have the privilege of doing a full body restoration on one that has only about 32,000 miles on it, and the metal is without any corrosion to speak of.

There is a lot of challenging metal work to do on the car, but this one will be without a doubt, one of the finest examples, when finished.

We acquired a new door from Jaguar By Jorge, for about $2200.00. The first example was made from .040 aluminum and the welding was hideous. The skin also had a big hollow that was sunk in about 1/2 inch in the middle. I didn't even check the door for the fit because it was so ugly that it was not fit to use on a quality restoration.

The second door we got from Jorge was a lot better and didn't have the big glob welds like the first example did, but rather, the skin was dimpled at the edge as it was done originally when these cars were built. It was also made from .020 as was original.

I will have to shrink the skin as it is bulged out quite a bit, and I have had to reshape the ends of the inner shell panels, as well as remove the top inner so that I could trim about 1/4 inch off the wood in order to allow the panel to be riveted to the upper part of the skin as original. They actually installed two channels up against the inner side of the skin, and tried to glue them with epoxy. This kind of thing does not work on a panel like this because if it is actually glued to the outer panel it will cause uneven expansion with temperature change as would be the case with the car in the sunshine. A severe distortion issue would be the result.

Fortunately, they welded very little of the door compared to the original, therefore I was able to completely disassemble the door by just drilling out rivets. I did have to cut the welds loose on the ends of those channels that were installed and cut in two, one that was integrated with the hinge nut panel that they made. This panel did not have the gusset braces like the original.

I am using a lot of the original shell components and discarding a good portion of the $2200.00 door. The parts of that door that I am using are all being reshaped to make them functional.

I purchased a rear body panel from Jorge as well. It was unusable, and I returned it and was charged a large restocking fee for that piece of junk.

He claims that his parts are "fine for most people" and that I am just one in a million. I feel that a car of this caliber especially, should be restored to a level much higher than a typical ammeter would do in his back yard.

I guess I just don't do the type of work that is "fine for most people", as he put it.

You can tell I am very disappointed, to say the least. Enough ranting now...

Let's look at some detail of the project.

Discard pile from the new door.

Thickness variation had to be corrected.

Plywood was more than 1/4 inch too high.

Here it is after the clean up and reshaped ends.

The original will be cleaned, painted and installed in the new door.

Now the panel has the proper bracing, bolt spacing etc.

Some of the new and some of the original parts to be used.

The door is now back together and the skin is shrunk down flat enough to surface it properly. It was bulged out about a quarter of an inch. I used four of the original door pieces to make this door usable. Shrinking a .020 aluminum door skin is a two man job. You can't possibly set the torch down and hammer it before the heat dissipates, trying to do it alone. You only have about three seconds to shrink, once you have heated a spot with the torch.

 

I have the metal work pretty much done on the doors now and remaking a portion of the left front fender to match the front of the new door and to eliminate an old repair that contained three or four pounds of lead.

 

1957 Nash Metropolitan Restoration

This 1957 Nash Metropolitan restoration started out a pretty nice car. It did have minor rust issues as is expected of a car that is over 50 years old. Walt Johnsen brought the car to me for the sheet metal reconstruction and surfacing, and I got it in initial primer surfacer as well. Walt took it from there, with the assistance of "Hutch" and in his normal fashion, completed undoubtedly one of the nicest Metros, period. (Not to use the term "period" as it has been used by our current "fearless leader").

The fit on these Metropolitans was not the best. The gaps varied quite a bit from the factory. As long as things closed without interference, it seamed "good enough". I made a choice to refine the gaps to give it a more crisp appearance.

As a result of my reconstruction, fit of the sheet metal components, and Walt's surfacing and finishing, as well as his attention to detail in the re assembly of this 1957 Nash Metropolitan, it was the recipient of "Best in Class Award" for 1949-1959 Domestic automobile at 2013 Forest Grove Concours d' Elegance.

Doug,

On the 1939 Chevrolet, you said you put highway gears in, did you use the original housing? If yes, how did you do it?

Thanks, Victor

Hello Victor,

We actually used the 1940 rear end and adapted the 39 drive line to that because we had a set of NOS gears for the 40. I recall a little machine work to make it happen with the drive line.

It may be possible to use an aftermarket, early replacement universal joint rear half with the original front half in order to couple the 40 driveline. I know that works for the trucks. Some of the better quality joints won't work because they were the needle bearing style, instead of the early style, solid bearing type. Finding gears is the hard part. I don't know if there are any new gear manufacturers. Sometimes those are noisy and inferior quality. I installed a Borg Warner Overdrive in my truck. It works very well. That requires a lot more machine work and engineering. I have another case and extra gear set for the OD.

There are some options for you to think about if any of that interests you. I think I have one of the universal joints that I spoke of earlier too.

Thanks for asking, Doug

Replacing Floor Pans and Rocker Panels with originals.

Hi Doug,

 
I'm restoring a 61 Cadillac convertible. Floor pan.  Bracing and rockers are rotted out so I have a 62 Cadillac 2 door with a good floor etc., that I'm intending to cut out in one piece to replace the convertible floor pan etc. Assuming the floors are identical which I believe they are.
I was a body and fender man 40 years ago, so I hope I haven't forgotten too much. Of course dimensions and alignment are critical. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

My other hobby projects are a 74 Corvette, 68 Plymouth, 55 Imperial, 59 Imperial and another 62 Cadillac. All 2 doors.

Thanks very much.
Best Regards,
Gary
Kingston, WA

Hi Gary,

Taking it apart at the original factory seams is the way to go. They make some real good spot weld cutters/drills now, that we just didn't have 40 years ago. Also, we are using die grinders with cut off wheels, to cut welds. It used to be that we took everything apart with an air chisel, back in the late 60s and 70s. Those are used much less now as it was so easy to damage your project with the chisel. We also have a weld through primer now for the seams that consists of a high zinc content. This primer does a fantastic job of holding down the corrosion in your welded seams. It does make plug welding more difficult, but the benefit outweighs the negative.

Once you get your floor pan and rocker assemblies removed at the proper seams, clean them thoroughly and punch holes for your spot/plug welds, keeping in mind the easiest side to dress your welds when finished,  assuming that you will be using a mig welder to reassemble your car.

Prime up your seams and fit the panels in place. Make sure your car is sitting perfectly flat and that all your door openings are fitting perfectly and that your convertible top is fitting good, and your window seals are lining up as you go through the process of reassembly. Check your fits frequently, as you do the reassembly. Your starting points for fit is always your fixed body points. The easiest way to maintain that is by making sure your doors are fit to your rockers and "A" pillars before you take things apart. Even gaps at the bottoms of your doors to the original rockers usually gives a good starting point. Keep the doors attached if possible as this with give you the correct position to place your new rockers.

It is extremely difficult to correct problems with fit after a major reconstruction project that you are planning to do, is done improperly.

I have taken on projects like what I just mentioned and did what I could to correct those mistakes that someone else made. It is nearly impossible to end up with a real good finished product after such a thing has taken place though.

Finally, when it is all in place and cleaned real well, seal all the necessary seams with a good urethane seam sealer. That is another thing that we didn't have 40 years ago. Good seam sealer!

Going back to the beginning... If you take your project over to Scott at Benchmark Automotive, located in the business park by Albertsons. You can probably get things cleaned up with his new, wet glass blasting system, especially in the areas that you will be working. You should at least give him a call to discuss the possibilities. Clean metal is far better to work with when doing such a project.




Good luck with your project and don't hesitate to give me a call if you need. I'm over in Sequim now.

Doug

Early Ford V8 Meet Lake Tahoe 2013 preview 1936 Ford Towncar Delivery

Lake Tahoe will be the location of the 50th anniversary Early Ford V8 meet in June 2013. Larry Hove and I plan to display his 1936 Ford Custom Coachwork Towncar Delivery that we have been building for six years or so.

I have been very privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Larry who has a degree in art and a natural talent and passion for automobile design.
I guess his experience in wood working in the home remodel business has proved to be very valuable in the design and execution of the rear (cargo area) of this fabulous Custom Coach.

This project started out, as I mentioned, about six years ago or so with Larry's vision of using the convertible parts from one of his convertible sedans, and the remains of the Seibert Custom Coach that he had acquired years earlier, to create this 1936 Ford Towncar Delivery.

Larry and I have done some other things together over the years as well. Larry had design input on the 1958 style hot rod 1936 Ford Cabriolet that I built for Phil Blodgett. We also built a custom bodied 34-35-36 Convertible Sedan.

Larry also has a Mullens trailer that we have done a lot of restoration work on. He plans to equip it with some eleven spoke Clev-Weld wheels to match the wheels that will be fit to this car eventually.

Here are a few preview images of the 1936 Ford Towncar Delivery.