Another 1928 Tudor A-Bone

[Skip]

Well, here we go. Sitting on an idea for a couple weeks can make a fella change his mind and turn the idea completely upside down. The new visor idea. It will get a bit more sculpting on the leading edge, but I think this is the way it will be.

 

[Skip]

I have also found a few other pieces of the puzzle. Mostly little stuff. The little stuff that costs an arm and a leg most often. As I do not want to have a gas tank sitting right in my lap, I was going to cut the original tank. But on inspection, it is so nice, I just couldn't do it. Some restorer will want it. Thus, when another less than perfect tank showed up on CL less than an hour away, I was on it. Lucky for me, the gentleman that was selling it is working on a couple 30/31 model As. A Vicky and a Coupe. So, we made a trade. His tank for the NOS windshield side trim pieces that I got on eBay with the ones i needed for my sedan. We were both happy and parted feeling like we got the best part of the deal. The tank was really heavy. Way heavier than it should have been. When I took the cutting wheel to it, it stank like dead critters. Turned out if was half full of a rodent next. Anyway, it cleaned up real nice.


Next (well soon anyway) will be designing a dash that will hold two 3-1/8 inch gauges, and six 2-inch gauges. And it can not look like a 32 dash. And preferably, it will not look like anyone else's dash. But it will rock! I have a couple ideas churning in my little pea brain. This train of thought is due to a killer deal on eBay for the tach that matches the set I already have. I had pretty much written off having a tach, just because the matching unit was over $160, and I really don't need a tach. But they are cool.

 

[Old Iron]

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[Torchie]

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^^^^^^^X’s 2 ^^^^^^
Torchie

 

[Skip]

There has to be something wrong here. Ten feet away from this pile of rust is a nice insulated shop with almost everything a feller would like or need to work on this project, yet here I am working outside under a tree. [S

Anyhoo, I scored a hood Tuesday afternoon. so I had to try it on to see if I even liked the look. The hood is rough, which is appropriate for the project. wouldn't want to waste any nice parts on it. Right? But it is very fixable. It cost too much money for something that would have gone to the scrap pile a few short decades ago. Such is the way of the hobby.

i also pulled out the grilles I bought on on eBay. A Speedway 28, and a 32 from some upstart company. I tried them both on. Now i have no doubt which grill I will use.

This thing sure got "long" with a hood and grille on it.

 

[05snopro440]

There has to be something wrong here. Ten feet away from this pile of rust is a nice insulated shop with almost everything a feller would like or need to work on this project, yet here I am working outside under a tree. [S

Anyhoo, I scored a hood Tuesday afternoon. so I had to try it on to see if I even liked the look. The hood is rough, which is appropriate for the project. wouldn't want to waste any nice parts on it. Right? But it is very fixable. It cost too much money for something that would have gone to the scrap pile a few short decades ago. Such is the way of the hobby.

i also pulled out the grilles I bought on on eBay. A Speedway 28, and a 32 from some upstart company. I tried them both on. Now i have no doubt which grill I will use.

This thing sure got "long" with a hood and grille on it.

28-29's just look wrong with a 32 grille, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Torchie]

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[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[Skip]

28-29's just look wrong with a 32 grille, but that's just my opinion.

Well, Sir, that makes three of us that agree on this matter. You, me, and the Good Doctor.

I got two of the hood hinge pins out this afternoon. WD and a long 1/4-inch stainless rod. The center pin is a tube, and I am still trying to figure out how to get it out. In the mean time, I'm letting the WD do its thing. Funny part was that after I drove the first pin out, I couldn't figure out why the parts didn't come apart. [S Then I noticed the drive pin. After I removed the "tool" the side came right off no problem.


Does anyone have experience with the center hinge pin on a 28/29 hood?

 

[Skip]

I ended up making a tool to fit inside the center hinge pin tube. Then I clamped onto it with a pair of vice grips and beat it out. No harm to the hood panels. The pin isn't much worse off than it already was. [ddd I can order new pins if I decide to use all or part of the hood.

I've been hunting for window frame pieces, and have come to the conclusion that to get all the little pieces will cost more than I am willing to invest. Some I can make, but the real question is, do I really need them to start with? What else can I do? Now I really love panel trucks, and sedan deliveries. So, I looked at a bunch of real ones, and different conversions on Google. So many variations. Some nice, some just look like no real thinking was involved. Then there is the issue of me sitting essentially behind the B-pillar when I am wedged into the beast. So, how about a smallish window and fill the rest of the side panels. I played around in PhotoChop for a while, and it looks like it will work. If I can decide which part of the belt line and "hook" behind the quarter window to move, and where. More options. I was also having trouble deciding on how big the little quarter window should be, and how to shape it. Well maybe that is sorted out. I just bid too much on a pair of window garnish molding for a 28/9 coupe. If I win, I will know the shape and size of the new quarter windows. [clThe other window that needs addressing is the back window. The garnish for the back is more than I just bid on the two quarter window pieces. But, over in the parts bin is a very nice 38 ford PU window garnish, and the cab out in the yard is scheduled to be turned onto a RPU, so there is the outer skin. Its a little wider, and a lot shorter, and not what everyone else has. That has great appeal to me.

When I wake up Monday morning, I'll know if coupe windows are the new order of the day.

The mini-mill is set up and ready to go to work, so I believe I will make some door hinge parts. All I need now is some accurate measurements. These are the towers that attach to the side of the A-pillar. It looks like the two top hinge pieces are the same "height" (actually, the distance from the A-pillar to the outside end of the hinge). So I have an example for the center hinge. Does anyone have a 28/9 sitting around that they can take a measurement of the bottom hinge for me? It would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Torchie]

Where’s the pics of your photochop ideas? We want to all add our 2 cents.
I feel your pain on the window frames, Skip.
Pieces like that really drive up the costs of a build.
My car came with most of the belt line trim missing. I have the ones for the doors but the two piece trim that wraps around under the rear window and up to the door openings is missing.
I found one on eBay. $400 plus shipping. Ouch. I will use the one from my donor 4 door and add to the length with the ones from it’s rear doors.
I will make a wedding band to cover the seems.
Torchie

 

[Skip]

I often slice and dice pics in PhotoChop then delete them If I am not happy with the result. That happened this time. Here is one from playing with chalk in the back yard. I tried moving the "hook" behind the window forward and back for different looks, as well as reducing the length of the window, and filling in the remaining space. If I win the coupe window pieces, then I will have a better idea of where things should go.


By the way, I reread your comment about chopping the top. I like the idea of a forward leaning channeling. Just a couple-three inches maybe. The first time I read it I thought you meant a tapered chop. That would be rather complicated with straight pillars. I didn't say impossible, mind you, just complicated.

 

[Torchie]

Lol. They both more or less accomplish the same thing as far as the eye can tell, Skip.
GiveS it a bit of the early 60’ show car/ California look I do love on model A sedans.
You can do a tapered chop with out too much more work then a regular one on less you get crazy with the taper.
I just do the forward channel.
I’ve always wanted to get my paws on a T coupe or a 2 door and do a crazy show car type build on it.
Perhaps some day.....
Torchie

 

[Skip]

Lol. They both more or less accomplish the same thing as far as the eye can tell, Skip.
GiveS it a bit of the early 60’ show car/ California look I do love on model A sedans.
You can do a tapered chop with out too much more work then a regular one on less you get crazy with the taper.
I just do the forward channel.
I’ve always wanted to get my paws on a T coupe or a 2 door and do a crazy show car type build on it.
Perhaps some day.....
Torchie

You have got the gears turning in my idea factory. Maybe a little off the top AND some sneaky "channeling", without cutting up the original sub-floor structure, which is solid. I could get body "slope" with different thickness or positioning of body mounts, or I could get creative with the frame design.


Just in: I won the coupe quarter window garnishes, so that is now the direction I am headed. Pictures when the mew parts get here.

 

[Torchie]

You could do that Skip.
I’d get some white oak( very rot resistant) and rip a length from zero to what ever thickness you want the rear of the body to kick up.
That way you wouldn’t have to touch the sub frames.
That and a nice chop and Bobs your uncle as bob w likes to say.
Torchie

 

[Bamamav]

Skip, I saw a 40 sedan deliverly with 40 coupe quarter windows in it one time. They painted it so it looked like a coupe from the side. llrc, the coupe part was bright red and the sedan deliverly part was flat black. It was in one of the magazines back in the 80's.

 

[MercuryMac]

Skip, I have some measurements for you. And some advice. See if you can buy new hinges.
The pedestal that bolts onto the A pillar/ cowell is 2" long [sticking out from the car] and 1 3/4" wide.
The door half of the hinge is 4 1/2" in full length. It is rounded at the hinge end. It is also 1 3/4" wide.
The second picture is from inside the car; the way that the pedestal is bolted on. The last picture is the actual car, a '29 Model A.

 

[Skip]

You could do that Skip.
I’d get some white oak( very rot resistant) and rip a length from zero to what ever thickness you want the rear of the body to kick up.
That way you wouldn’t have to touch the sub frames.
That and a nice chop and Bobs your uncle as bob w likes to say.
Torchie

I like this idea, too. A big wedge. Likely more stable than just different thickness hockey pucks for body mounts.

Skip, I saw a 40 sedan deliverly with 40 coupe quarter windows in it one time. They painted it so it looked like a coupe from the side. llrc, the coupe part was bright red and the sedan deliverly part was flat black. It was in one of the magazines back in the 80's.

I remember paint jobs like that. My paint scheme so far is still multi-tone rust.

Skip, I have some measurements for you. And some advice. See if you can buy new hinges.
The pedestal that bolts onto the A pillar/ cowell is 2" long [sticking out from the car] and 1 3/4" wide.
The door half of the hinge is 4 1/2" in full length. It is rounded at the hinge end. It is also 1 3/4" wide.
The second picture is from inside the car; the way that the pedestal is bolted on. The last picture is the actual car, a '29 Model A.

Thank you, good Sir. You are my hero. I will be making the hinge parts that connect to the A-pillar. I have the parts that go on the doors. The price of the hinge s is crazy expensive, and It will be fun to make them on my shiny new HF mini mill.

 

[MercuryMac]

You are welcome, Skip.
I thought you were just going to make them to save money, [which you will find out, is crazy], but if you're going to make them for fun, well then, you may not be crazy. Keep on tinkering.

 

[Skip]

You are welcome, Skip.
I thought you were just going to make them to save money, [which you will find out, is crazy], but if you're going to make them for fun, well then, you may not be crazy. Keep on tinkering.

Its both. The best price I have found is to buy a A-pillar "frame", with all six pieces, for about $400, plus shipping from Texas. Repops are $107 per hinge. They are complete, cast bronze. Nice, but not in the cards. Making them will cost about $5 worth of steel and some time that I have no shortage of. I will be sure to share the adventure.

 

[Skip]

The coupe quarter window garnishes arrived today. This is going to work. [cl
Pictures at 11:00. I gotta go shoot some pool.