1939 Plymouth Coupe P8

[1952B3b23]

I've been plugging away at some metal work that needs to be done on the car. The first area i tackled was the drivers side lower cowl where the front fender bolts onto the car (Pic 1). This spot is badly rusted/rotted so i decided to replace a good portion of it. I crafted the patch panel seen in pics 2-6, in two pieces, then TIG welded them together and metal finished it so that the seam has become practically invisible. To make the patch panel i used a leather beater bag, shaping mallet, and my english wheel. I then used some sheet metal screws to fasten the patch panel to the car and outline where i needed to cut. I trimmed everything out and went ahead and tacked the panel in using MIG. I was then able to fully weld the top and right side (door side) of the patch panel with TIG. Unfortunately i had to use the MIG welder for the left side seam of the panel, it was to awkward of a position for me to TIG weld. I still have to finish the radiused portion of the panel (which is the part that's completely missing right now). I already have that piece made but it needs to be tuned up to fit the opening better. I also have not finished dressing all the welds yet to make them look better, they just got a quick round of grinding while i waited for other areas of the panels to cool. I'm not sure how far i will go with the weld dressing since a good portion of the panel is hidden behind the fender and i have a bunch of other areas on the car that need metal work.

I also patched up the hole that was in the top of the cowl from an arrow that someone had shot at the car (Pic 7,8).

Stay tuned for more metal work, and thanks for looking,

-Chris

 

[1952B3b23]

I got a little more patching done, the radiused portion of the patch panel is in.

Pic 1 - Before

Pic 2 - After

-Chris

 

[Torchie]

Great job on the patch panel. It is really fun to see people make their own.[cl[cl
That must have been one heck of an arrow.[ddd
Torchie

 

[supersmitty]

Nice body work. Very cool car.

 

[1952B3b23]

Great job on the patch panel. It is really fun to see people make their own.[cl[cl
That must have been one heck of an arrow.[ddd
Torchie

Thanks Torchie. The arrow head was one of those practice arrows with the sort of blunt tip on it. I found it broken off in the car behind the kick panel. I think i have a picture of it somewhere.

Nice body work. Very cool car.

Thanks a lot. The car needs a bit of rust fixing so stay tuned for more.

-Chris

 

[1952B3b23]

A little bit more progress, im finally done with the passenger side lower cowl repair. This is the area where the front fenders bolt to the car and it has certainly seen better days. I've attached before and after pics. If anyone is wondering all the patch panels are hand made by me.

Thanks for looking,

-Chris

 

[I-R-POPS]

Nice work. Keep beating on it.

 

[sgtpontiac]

Very nice man.....

Nice work on the panels.....forward progress is always good.......[P

 

[Torchie]

[cl [cl [cl [P
Torchie

 

[1952B3b23]

Thanks a lot guys! Slowly but surely she's getting done. I hope to have it back on the road by mid summer.

Thanks for taking time to look and post,

-Chris

 

[1952B3b23]

I've been chipping away at the car. I started the process of removing the king pins and currently have the front spindles off to a machine shop to ream the bushings to size. I will hopefully have these back this week and can reassemble that. I also replaced the 4 tie rod ends on the long and short tie rods, not the most exciting stuff but it definitely needed it. Every tie rod end was completely busted.

I also fabbed up some upper shock mounts to improve the handling of the car. The upper mount is now attached to the frame where it should have been from factory. I made the mounts from 3/8" plate with a 5/8" bolt to mount the shock. I first drew a paper template (kinda looks like the lock-ness monster haha) then cut that out of 18 ga sheet. I was then able to use the sheet metal template as a guide to cut the pieces with the plasma cutter. This was much easier and neater than free handing it and having to go back and grind a ton to get it to a nice smooth shape. They're now welded to the frame and looking pretty good. The shocks im running are just a NAPA brand, part number 94038 and where about $26 each.

Thanks for looking,

-Chris

 

[1952B3b23]

I finally had some time to make some progress on the coupe. I have started work on the passenger side front fender. As you can see in the pictures the bottom portion of the fender that attaches to the running board is pretty well shot. I was able to make up new pieces out of 18 ga steel. The patterns where taken off of an old front fender i picked up at a local swap meet. That fender has its own set of rust issues but luckily the parts i needed patterns of where clean and intact. I tacked the new pieces on and started TIG welding them, it's coming out pretty well. Hopefully sometime this week i can get some more welding in.

Also the previous owner must of driven through some fresh "oil and stone" or asphalt material cause the inside of the fenders where completely coated. I took sometime with a little plumbers torch and heated/scraped all the junk off. The pile after i was done had to be close to 10 lbs. There was also a big mound of it stuck on top of the headlight bucket.


-Chris

 

[Bamamav]

Maybe an early attempt at undercoating? My Lincoln has a substance all on the underside, even under the hood bottom. What ever it is saved the bottom of my car from rusting away. It even kept my gas tank from leaking from a couple of pinholes for no telling how many years until gas finally melted it away.

Car is looking great. Still going to have it running this summer?

 

[1952B3b23]

Maybe an early attempt at undercoating? My Lincoln has a substance all on the underside, even under the hood bottom. What ever it is saved the bottom of my car from rusting away. It even kept my gas tank from leaking from a couple of pinholes for no telling how many years until gas finally melted it away.

Car is looking great. Still going to have it running this summer?

I'm pretty sure that this stuff was not intentionally put there as an undercoating. Before scarping it off i could see that it was much thicker on the areas where the tires would kick it up. The part of the front fender that bolts to the running board forms a small shelf inside the wheel well. This did a great job of catching the material, in some spots it was 2-3 inches thick.

That's interesting about your Lincoln though. I wonder what type of stuff they used? Seems like it worked pretty good.

Unfortunately the car wont be back on the road this summer. I've been so busy with life that it's left zero time for the car. I think it's going to take another winter to have it ready for paint.

Thanks for the compliment,

-Chris

 

[Torchie]

Great job on the shock mounts.
I had the same type of stuff up under parts of my 41 fenders as well.. Almost looked like packed in asphalt.
My HS girlfriends father use to tell me that efore the war when he bought his new 1940 Ford he took it home and jacked it up and brushed roofing tar under the whole thing.
Could be like Bama's Lincoln.
Hang in there.....
Torchie

 

[DJ3100]

My 55 Ford Ranch Wagon had similar stuff inside the doors and on the front wheel wells. It seemed like it was asphalt, but inside the doors had to be put there by the factory.

Looking good.

 

[1952B3b23]

Thanks for the comments Torchie and DJ3100.

I don't know if that stuff was put under the car on purpose or not but one thing is for sure, its a pain in the ass to scrape off without using some heat.

-Chris

 

[earthman]

..............................[P

 

[1952B3b23]

I had a bit of time to do some more work on the fender this weekend. This is a continuation of the last post. I finished TIG welding the bottom of the fender and ground the welds smooth. I'm so happy i learned how to TIG weld, working them is so much easier than MIG. I then spent time filling a bunch of swiss cheese holes i found on the fender. I didn't take pics of that, got to caught up actually doing the work. All in all im happy with the way it's turning out. Another day or so on this fender and its on the the drivers side one.

-Chris

 

[smallfoot]

Looking good!