1934 Cadillac

[SugarRay8]

Looking great! [cl[cl

Keep the pics/posts coming. [P


Thanks for the pics from the Radium show, love that coupe with the Hemi. [dr

 

[Oldrodder43]

Wow and Wow! Just finished checking out this and the '47 Packard builds------
Got to say....You are one talented man. A metal magician! Wish we lived closer------Perley

 

[zzrodder]

Got to work on the rear section, scraped off 10 lbs. of old sound deadner tar and roughly pounded out the dents and kinks. Then braced and squared it up, not easy, it was like trying to square up a sheet of tinfoil, took a lot of material.
Then trimmed and fitted one of the remaining rear door sections and tacked it in. I used a piece from the old rear part of a front door to splice into the top of the quarter panel to eliminate the old C pillar. I'll use a piece of the original mid post to make the new door post at the front of this quarter panel.
Actually so far, I'm finding it's not so much fabrication as repositioning of all the pieces.

 

[jfg455]

lookin good as always! [P

 

[CORPO]

looks like that all lined up nicely, Im very excited to see this come together

 

[zzrodder]

Got the other quarter tacked together today and sat there staring at the cast off body pieces for awhile 'till the light bulb came on. I needed to make new door jambs with a step in them so the weatherstripping has a place to seat. I was going to use a piece from the mid post, but it didn't fit the shape of the door right and wasn't wide enuff.
The right piece was staring at me all along - I removed the rear section from the cast-off parts of the front door from the same side of the car and tacked it in with the inside facing out. It matches the profile of the front door and has the step as well. Now to weld it all up then on to the cowl section

 

[zzrodder]

Finished welding up the quarters today and started on the cowl section. Scraped off the tar and old wasp nests, etc, staightened out the edges in prep to weld the door frames on. Originally they were screwed into the wood framing, I'll weld them on from the backside so no grinding and cleanup to do, though first I'll have to fill the holes where the original door hinges fit in the cowl. Once the body shell is together I will create all new steel tube framework to replace the wood then work out the locations for the suicide hinges and bearclaw latches.

 

[bob w]

You do amazing work. It is very educational to follow along with this build.

 

[zzrodder]

4 door no more !!

Welded the door opening frames to the cowl and patched the hinge holes in the cowl too. [ Then I welded 1/8" tabs into the door frames to establish proper door gaps and welded similar tabs to the doors. [ Now they can be removed during body assembly.
Hey, It looks like a body again !! Long way to go yet....
Next I'll make a steel frame to weld to my car body dolly to support it better and get it higher and mobile. After I shorten and install the rocker / step well panels it's on to the roof chop.
I've been looking up info on these Caddys and I don't think it ever came as a 2 door sedan like this [S - 12" shorter than it started out but still larger inside than a Chevy by quite a bit.

 

[bob w]

The body is looking great. Super proportions. Are you TIG welding the panels? Did you use welding clamps to hold the door sections together? How much warping have you experienced?
Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

 

[zzrodder]

The body is looking great. Super proportions. Are you TIG welding the panels? Did you use welding clamps to hold the door sections together? How much warping have you experienced?
Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Thanks Bob. Nope, just MIG welded, I'm not that Hi-tech. I just have a medium and long vise grip, lots of eyeballing and some hammering to keep things going straight while welding, just keeping he welds to no more than 1/4" long and moving around lots is half the battle. So far, warpage has been minimal, it really helps that the panels are all free of any back bracing so I can get at the backside to whack them straight as I go.

 

[SugarRay8]

Looks very cool, this thing is going to be awesome. [cl

Thanks for the updates.

 

[35 PROG]

wow

REALLY LOOKIN' GOOD!!! You are sure making it look easy. [dr[dr[dr[dr

 

[zzrodder]

Spent the last couple days getting the body parts mounted onto a tube frame that I attatched to my dolly. Had to go over all the braces on the rear section and square it up again as a reference point to get the cowl and doors in the right position then brace them to it. Cut the roof in half and just set it on top to eyeball it before doing the 3" chop.

 

[nos487]

You got some mad skills!

 

[CORPO]

i swear man, you get done more in a day than I do in a month...

Lookin great..

 

[skull]

progress

makin' good progress[cl

keep it up;;;


later

 

[zzrodder]

Got busy on the roof chop today. After sleeping on it, I decided to do the rear half of the roof first. Cut off 2 3/4" first then put it in place and fine trimmed it to get to the desired 3". The rear panels lined up nicely, a couple relief cuts at the corners of the rear window were needed and a bit of slice n' splice at the rear of the quarter window.
The front half of the roof is just sitting on top in these pics, haven't tacked the A pillars yet though they line up nicely, no relief cuts needed. I'll need to cut about 12" out of the top to join the two halves together.

 

[jfg455]

That will look good! Surprising how big the car is even with how much you shortened it. It will be one cool ride no doubt![P

 

[rustybeercan]

Rodder,
I love the proportions much better now that you've shortened it! Lookin' really good! [cl

Beercan