1937 Chevy Coupe
- Thread starter Dr Crankenstein
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Dr Crankenstein
Rocket Surgeon
Thanks, joedoh. 
Here's another theory: We have the original (mechanical) lid supports and one doesn't function at all. The lid is long and heavy, so I can imagine, the lack of support (over time) could overload the hinge repeatedly and "work" the hinge to deformity. [S
Detective work aside, I really don't care how or why the hinge is bent. We'll do whatever it takes to make the lid fit perfectly...
.
Here's another theory: We have the original (mechanical) lid supports and one doesn't function at all. The lid is long and heavy, so I can imagine, the lack of support (over time) could overload the hinge repeatedly and "work" the hinge to deformity. [S
Detective work aside, I really don't care how or why the hinge is bent. We'll do whatever it takes to make the lid fit perfectly...
.
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Dr Crankenstein
Rocket Surgeon
Some progress on the lid today...
We ironed out all of the "one more case of whiskey" wrinkles inside. The photo below is is just the start, but trust me, we pulled, hammered and dollied every bent lip we could find...
With the inner structure fairly straightened, we addressed the deformed hinge.
Both hinges, side by each...
One of these things is not like the other! The left hinge needs to match the right, so we need to "shrink" the left hinge. [S
We don't have a hinge shrinker, so we made a skinny little relief cut in effort to shorten the inside radius...
That worked as we hoped it would...
I welded the relief cut, we installed the hinges and bolted the lid back on to the car... success! The lid fits flush, or a touch under flush. It used to stand 1/4" - 5/16" high, so we're happy!
.
We ironed out all of the "one more case of whiskey" wrinkles inside. The photo below is is just the start, but trust me, we pulled, hammered and dollied every bent lip we could find...
With the inner structure fairly straightened, we addressed the deformed hinge.
Both hinges, side by each...
One of these things is not like the other! The left hinge needs to match the right, so we need to "shrink" the left hinge. [S
We don't have a hinge shrinker, so we made a skinny little relief cut in effort to shorten the inside radius...
That worked as we hoped it would...
I welded the relief cut, we installed the hinges and bolted the lid back on to the car... success! The lid fits flush, or a touch under flush. It used to stand 1/4" - 5/16" high, so we're happy!
.
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Last edited:
Torchie
Well-known member
[cl [cl
[P [P [P
Torchie
[P [P [P
Torchie
earthman
Fascinated by rolling objects!
What is the style y'all are going for with this one Doc? You know these Chevy coupes make awesome taildraggers right? 
Skip
Well-known member
Nice work, A-Doc and B-Doc. [cl[cl Looks great!
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- Nov 5, 2015
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nice work Doc. I`m always amazed by how much a panel changes by removing a bunch of small dings and wrinkles.
Good thing you cut the hinge... never ever let the iron win...
carry on... [cl[P
Good thing you cut the hinge... never ever let the iron win...
carry on... [cl[P
DozerII
Well-known member
[cl[cl[cl[P[P[P Fits great now.
forbigpicture
Please stand by.......
Great job Doc... [cl[cl
[P
[P
Bamamav
Well-known member
Better a touch not enough than too much, you can always toss a shim in for alignment if required. [cl
Old Iron
Well-known member
[P[P[P
Dr Crankenstein
Rocket Surgeon
Thanks guys.
No taildragger, no chop, no airbags, no trashy billet trinkets. No big, stupid, ugly wheels with rubber band tires. No door poppers, no power windows, no bullship bling. No fancy, fruitcake, pearl, flip flop glow in the dark paint.
We're looking for a simple, clean, classic Hot Rod to drive on our rough streets and roads. It'll be plenty fast and fun. It'll probably never see a car show, that's not the purpose, so anything more is a waste of time and money!
Right. You can't cut it to make it longer and you can't shim it to make it shorter!
.
What is the style y'all are going for with this one Doc? You know these Chevy coupes make awesome taildraggers right?
No taildragger, no chop, no airbags, no trashy billet trinkets. No big, stupid, ugly wheels with rubber band tires. No door poppers, no power windows, no bullship bling. No fancy, fruitcake, pearl, flip flop glow in the dark paint.
We're looking for a simple, clean, classic Hot Rod to drive on our rough streets and roads. It'll be plenty fast and fun. It'll probably never see a car show, that's not the purpose, so anything more is a waste of time and money!
Right. You can't cut it to make it longer and you can't shim it to make it shorter!
.
Torchie
Well-known member
Thanks guys.
No taildragger, no chop, no airbags, no trashy billet trinkets. No big, stupid, ugly wheels with rubber band tires. No door poppers, no power windows, no bullship bling. No fancy, fruitcake, pearl, flip flop glow in the dark paint.
We're looking for a simple, clean, classic Hot Rod to drive on our rough streets and roads. It'll be plenty fast and fun. It'll probably never see a car show, that's not the purpose, so anything more is a waste of time and money!
.
Do you mean like this one.
My 1940 Chevy Coupe. Back when Torchie was a younger man.
[dddOld Torchie.
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Do you mean like this one.
My 1940 Chevy Coupe. Back when Torchie was a younger man.
Old Torchie.
old torchie had the math done on that one!
yep, build what makes you happy and forget the opinions of guys who never will.
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Dr. C, you continue to fascinate me. Keep on tinkering.
Dr Crankenstein
Rocket Surgeon
Thanks again, fellas.
I like your coupe, Torchie, complete with "the lean".
earthman: I don't mean to be a plick. (My apologies if it sounds that way.) The goal is a practical, sensible driver. Ground clearance is an issue in these parts and we might have some things hanging a touch too low already.
.
I like your coupe, Torchie, complete with "the lean".
earthman: I don't mean to be a plick. (My apologies if it sounds that way.) The goal is a practical, sensible driver. Ground clearance is an issue in these parts and we might have some things hanging a touch too low already.
.
earthman
Fascinated by rolling objects!
Thanks for your consideration Doc. It's a pleasure to share this board with you.
Dr Crankenstein
Rocket Surgeon
Thank You, earthman!
We're still messing with the trunk lid. We couldn't get the gaps even and eventually realized, we still have a hinge problem...
So, off with the lid. B-tard moved the hinges through their motions a number of times, while I stood back and eyeballed the situation... sure enough, the passenger side hinge doesn't hang or track quite straight...
We know both hinges are perfectly straight and identical, so we must have an issue where they mount to the body...
Driver side...
Passenger side...
The culprit, up close...
The pictures exaggerate the issue. The wrinkle is quite small and we worked it out quite easily, but the hinge still didn't align well.
We shimmed up a thick bar to replicate the hinge and bolted it tight into the body mount. We then used the bar as a lever and indicator. A couple small tweaks on the heavy bar "tool" provided the desired results.
All this nonsense may seem petty and insignificant, but it's become obvious to me, a sixteenth here and a sixteenth there make a big difference when fitting a panel of this size and shape.
We're creeping up to the perfect fit one small step at a time. Following good advice from many members here, we'll get it as right as we know how before we cut the tailpan out...
.
We're still messing with the trunk lid. We couldn't get the gaps even and eventually realized, we still have a hinge problem...
So, off with the lid. B-tard moved the hinges through their motions a number of times, while I stood back and eyeballed the situation... sure enough, the passenger side hinge doesn't hang or track quite straight...
We know both hinges are perfectly straight and identical, so we must have an issue where they mount to the body...
Driver side...
Passenger side...
The culprit, up close...
The pictures exaggerate the issue. The wrinkle is quite small and we worked it out quite easily, but the hinge still didn't align well.
We shimmed up a thick bar to replicate the hinge and bolted it tight into the body mount. We then used the bar as a lever and indicator. A couple small tweaks on the heavy bar "tool" provided the desired results.
All this nonsense may seem petty and insignificant, but it's become obvious to me, a sixteenth here and a sixteenth there make a big difference when fitting a panel of this size and shape.
We're creeping up to the perfect fit one small step at a time. Following good advice from many members here, we'll get it as right as we know how before we cut the tailpan out...
.
Attachments
Dr Crankenstein
Rocket Surgeon
Still pickin' away when we have time. Settle in, this is gonna be a long one...
A few more hours fussing with the lid and it fits flush with nice, even gaps. (We'll get back to the skin later... much, much later.)
Next, we prepared for the ever popular butt surgery. First, some bracing...
Then the exploratory... this "panel" was nothing more than a loose flap of skin, pop-riveted, brazed, fiberglassed and heavily bondo'd to the emaciated, skeletal remains of the original panel and floor extension...
Almost done with the knife. We saved what was left of the original lower corners, expecting them to be useful in the future...
Last cut... trimmed off the remaining dingle-balls and scar tissue...
Still some brass to grind off on the left side.
Moving along, we tried the new floor extension, which is another EMS piece. It fits poorly, but we understand it's meant to fit their floor pans, not the original stuff. It does match their tailpan quite nicely, so it should work with some modification.
First mockup with the new tailpan...
Looks good from afar, but far from good. I've studied this piece for a couple hours and there are three glaring issues...
1) The gap around the lid.
2) The opening has a soft "rolled" edge, unlike the original, which is sharp and crisp.
3) The lower corners I spoke of earlier. They don't follow the same lines as the original corners and they're not symmetrical, either.
I guess they ship us lowly Canucks their rejects. [S
Before we make any changes to the crap pan, we thought it wise to mount the fenders... because the crap pan needs to align with them as well.
Driver side fender. We fought with it for ten minutes, put it down and thought... what's the problem, here? How many ******* does it take to hang a fender?
We shared some animal crackers, drank a juice box and managed to wiggle a few bolts in... turns out the problem is physical. The fender is "bent", so we stripped it to find out why...
All peckered up with heavy hammer marks and a few good creases...on the positive, no rust, no holes, no rivets, patches or brass! I believe this fender was repaired a few times and on the car, because it fit well before the tear down. I also believe it's a donor, because it had several more layers of paint and primer than other areas we've stripped so far... anyhow, it needs some ironing to work out the pressure, straighten the bowed flange and close this 1/2" gap...
The passenger side fender fit quick and easy, like it should.
That's more than enough for this round!
.
A few more hours fussing with the lid and it fits flush with nice, even gaps. (We'll get back to the skin later... much, much later.)
Next, we prepared for the ever popular butt surgery. First, some bracing...
Then the exploratory... this "panel" was nothing more than a loose flap of skin, pop-riveted, brazed, fiberglassed and heavily bondo'd to the emaciated, skeletal remains of the original panel and floor extension...
Almost done with the knife. We saved what was left of the original lower corners, expecting them to be useful in the future...
Last cut... trimmed off the remaining dingle-balls and scar tissue...
Still some brass to grind off on the left side.
Moving along, we tried the new floor extension, which is another EMS piece. It fits poorly, but we understand it's meant to fit their floor pans, not the original stuff. It does match their tailpan quite nicely, so it should work with some modification.
First mockup with the new tailpan...
Looks good from afar, but far from good. I've studied this piece for a couple hours and there are three glaring issues...
1) The gap around the lid.
2) The opening has a soft "rolled" edge, unlike the original, which is sharp and crisp.
3) The lower corners I spoke of earlier. They don't follow the same lines as the original corners and they're not symmetrical, either.
I guess they ship us lowly Canucks their rejects. [S
Before we make any changes to the crap pan, we thought it wise to mount the fenders... because the crap pan needs to align with them as well.
Driver side fender. We fought with it for ten minutes, put it down and thought... what's the problem, here? How many ******* does it take to hang a fender?
We shared some animal crackers, drank a juice box and managed to wiggle a few bolts in... turns out the problem is physical. The fender is "bent", so we stripped it to find out why...
All peckered up with heavy hammer marks and a few good creases...on the positive, no rust, no holes, no rivets, patches or brass! I believe this fender was repaired a few times and on the car, because it fit well before the tear down. I also believe it's a donor, because it had several more layers of paint and primer than other areas we've stripped so far... anyhow, it needs some ironing to work out the pressure, straighten the bowed flange and close this 1/2" gap...
The passenger side fender fit quick and easy, like it should.
That's more than enough for this round!
.
