Body beautiful…
Well, not exactly, but the three of us (Joe, Ken and I) got a good day's work in today on the body itself. First up was stripping the paint with chemical stripper. First it gets slopped on with a brush, then scraped and wire brushed to remove what comes loose. That takes several passes, but eventually the metal or bondo underneath reveals itself.
Here's what it looked like (smelly too)…
Once it was bare, you could see some of the history of the car. The LH windshield post had definitely been injured and the back rear had a lot of bumps and ripples, but overall there is very little body rust. Normally, these cars rust at the front cowl corners (where the fenders attach) and the top of the fender wells, but both areas are solid on this body. The foot area of the rumbleseat floor is rusted away and has been replaced by fiberglass, and the lower doors look at little rough. That's almost surely from rainwater that didn't drain away. But overall, a very solid car.
Here's the window post:
Here's a rear view:
Once we had the paint and bondo stripped, Ken welded in plugs for the four old heater holes in the firewall. I'll be putting in an original, very rare 1935-36 Pontiac NOS Deluxe Heater I found. After making a template, we drilled holes for it.
Here's a picture of what it used to look like (holes at lower left):
Here's Ken filling the holes:
And here's what the heater will look like once we get to the assembly stage:
This Deluxe Heater cost $16.75 new, as opposed to the $11.95 Master Heater.
We also made up a template for the firewall pad (insulator), which Quiet Ride Solutions will make up for me (1/2 price for providing the template), marking all but the heater holes.
Looking ahead, we have to get the vent windows, window frames and metal channel for the rubber weatherstrip made up soon and sent out for chroming. The running boards, sent off to Alberta in January, are just getting started. Richard at Precision Rubber has been out sick for the past three months, but says he will get them done in 6-8 weeks, in plenty of time.
All in all, a very good, very productive day. Again, it feels like we are making real progress.
Here's what it looked like (smelly too)…
Once it was bare, you could see some of the history of the car. The LH windshield post had definitely been injured and the back rear had a lot of bumps and ripples, but overall there is very little body rust. Normally, these cars rust at the front cowl corners (where the fenders attach) and the top of the fender wells, but both areas are solid on this body. The foot area of the rumbleseat floor is rusted away and has been replaced by fiberglass, and the lower doors look at little rough. That's almost surely from rainwater that didn't drain away. But overall, a very solid car.
Here's the window post:
Here's a rear view:
Once we had the paint and bondo stripped, Ken welded in plugs for the four old heater holes in the firewall. I'll be putting in an original, very rare 1935-36 Pontiac NOS Deluxe Heater I found. After making a template, we drilled holes for it.
Here's a picture of what it used to look like (holes at lower left):
Here's Ken filling the holes:
And here's what the heater will look like once we get to the assembly stage:
This Deluxe Heater cost $16.75 new, as opposed to the $11.95 Master Heater.
We also made up a template for the firewall pad (insulator), which Quiet Ride Solutions will make up for me (1/2 price for providing the template), marking all but the heater holes.
Looking ahead, we have to get the vent windows, window frames and metal channel for the rubber weatherstrip made up soon and sent out for chroming. The running boards, sent off to Alberta in January, are just getting started. Richard at Precision Rubber has been out sick for the past three months, but says he will get them done in 6-8 weeks, in plenty of time.
All in all, a very good, very productive day. Again, it feels like we are making real progress.
posted by Bob Shafto at 7:45 PM
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