1932 Ford Coupe Project Thread

[34_40]

I will be posting a lot now with updates. Stay tuned

With a BBF in a Ford.. you can bet I'll stay tuned!

[Dave Severson]

Sure is great seeing you have the coupe home now Pat, makes getting work done on it a whole lot easier!!!!! Anxious to see progress on it again!!!

[stovens]

Nice coupe for sure. Summer is near or hear, good time to work on our projects.

[patfromjersey]

Thanks to all my friends here. Here's a garage update first, and then I will resize some stuff for the car. Busy week this week, so I'm glad I'm at least trying to get my body off the chassis.

I have an I-beam with a chain hoist in my garage, that the previous owner installed. I found out today, that he has steel beams that built the Empire State Building (j/k), but the trolley was only rated for a 1/4 ton. I bought a 1 ton trolley today, and made a bracket to adapt it to a Chinese Warehouse (Harbor Freight) electric hoist. I bought all of this to hopefully lift the 1932 body off the chassis, but as of 2200 tonight, I had to give up. At least the hoist is in place.

I finally bought a bench vise to work with.



Electric grinding wheel and wire wheel too...



Here's the old 1/4 ton trolley that was up there. To think I lifted my car trailer up with this.



Here's my new 1 ton Chinese Warehouse trolley. Can't use that hook attachment though....



Chinese Warehouse electric hoist. For $169, you can't go wrong, unless it fails.



Steel plates for new bracket. Have to make it a two piece deal, so I could hang it back on the trolley. You'll see.



Had to make 1 1/4" holes in vertical pieces to put the shaft from the trolley in.



I'm glad I have an 1 1/4" hole saw.



The drill press I bought for $50 back in 1995 works great for this.



These magnets work great for holding steel for tack welding.



I used a big C-clamp to hole the trolley together while I took off the nuts and some washers.





Here's the new brackets installed that I need for clearance and to mate the hoist and trolley. I don't think you can buy this off the shelf, so I'm glad I have a welder.



I'm trying to lift this body off with the hoist, but I finally gave up tonight. I will be on it tomorrow afternoon again. I'm going to let the air out of the tires to give me more room or even take the wheels off and set the rotors/drums on moving dollies I have. When I raise the hoist, there's too much slack in the straps and it hits the safety stop before lifting. Oh well, this is Hot Rodding!!!

[patfromjersey]

This week I finally installed the seat belts, dual Optima batteries, and then stripped the body to get pulled off to mount on the dolly. I can then disassemble everything to blast and paint. I was hoping to have this done like Friday. hahaha

Here's my test piece for painting, on the fiberglass cover for the gas tank, which I won't be using. Since I'm going to paint it myself in my garage, I bought the TP Tool HVLP turbine system, and I love it. There is literally NO overspray and the garage was clean after all the spraying I did. I did wear a respirator, but no blue was in the filters. It was my first time ever spraying. I eventually sanded it down and did it over, but I was glad that first time spraying went okay. I love this color I'm going to be painting the Coupe. It's called Norsea Blue, and it's a Ford color. My 2008 Crown Vic is this color. This is a one stage Urethane with no added clearcoat. I love it!!!!

[patfromjersey]

BTW, I bought this awesome Optima battery charger and it worked great on my old batteries.

[34_40]

Hey, thanks for all the updates! New tools/equipment for the garage and made progress on the coupe, life is good! LOL..

It looks like your rear window operates up/down.. does it??? I have mine operable in my coupe and love it!

[rspears]

On the body lift, you can gain a bit of room by taking off the sheaved pulley and hooking it direct, but you're rated for 1320# double line connection. That means the hoist is 1/2 that hooked up direct, so the motor's good for ~650# which is about what you'll be lifting. You might try using a big ratchet strap, like you use for tying down on the trailer, with the strap running outside over your sheaved pulley hook and the ratchet inside the coupe (or in the door opening?). Pad the top to protect it from scratches, and you can snug up your strap to eliminate all the slack. There are several pictures of lifting rigs guys have used hiding in other build threads. Scroll down from this one and you'll see at least two more - Followed Me Home, '33 Build

[DA34GUY]

2 neighbors/ buddy's and a 12 pack has always worked 4 me !
Why does everyone overthink a small problem ??????
Have built over 45 32's in my days and it ain't no big deal pullin a body

[rspears]

2 neighbors/ buddy's and a 12 pack has always worked 4 me !
Why does everyone overthink a small problem ??????
Have built over 45 32's in my days and it ain't no big deal pullin a body

Well for me figuring out how to get things done without calling for help is part of the fun, and my "body lift rig" cost me one six foot length of 2x6 lumber but I guess the time figuring out how to do it was wasted? Pat's figuring out how to get it done with what he has on hand, and that's OK for me.

By the way, "my" approach was not original thought, but a suggestion from Duane at N&N and is the method he uses to lift every body they handle at their shop. He considers it the "easy way". Credit where credit's due.

[34_40]

2 neighbors/ buddy's and a 12 pack has always worked 4 me !
Why does everyone overthink a small problem ??????
Have built over 45 32's in my days and it ain't no big deal pullin a body

Fella moves into a new state, new neighborhood.. I'm sure he's got buddy's all over the place waiting to lift off his coupe body! As always, thanks for being so understanding! I'm glad you here to share! Yeah, right! With all your experience(s) I'm positive you just snap your fingers and they assemble themselves!

[patfromjersey]

Roger, thanks again for the tip. I didn't even think of using my trailer tie downs, to eliminate the stretch of the straps I'm using now.

DA34GUY - I had 3 co-workers over last Wednesday for a cookout and checking the project out for the first time, and I'm sure they would come over anytime I need them to lift a body off. I didn't finish the battery and seat belts then, so I wasn't ready yet. I've had people back in Jersey that helped my Dad and I take it on and off as well. This is my first '32 and first time trying on my own. I'll get it today after Church. I'm not really over thinking anything. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to put people out, so I want to be able to do this by myself in my little garage, anytime I need to.

34_40 - Thanks for the support. I have two really nice neighbors since I moved here that can help too. The guy next to me helped me take my sandblast cabinet out of my truck after seeing me struggle through his window. There's more nice neighbors around me too, but it's an older neighborhood with alot of elderly ladies. I don't think they are strong enough to lift the body.

I will post some more updates later. I can't believe my week of vacation is almost over. I loved spending it in my garage. I need a day just to clean it up!

[jerry clayton]

A single thought to pass on----------------It isn't just being able to get the body off the chassis, but back on after its painted------------------

[stovens]

Wish I had the ceiling clearance to do what you are doing. I think one of those lifts would really come in handy for all sorts of stuff including engine pulling! Keep posting the progress, and could you elaborate on the sprayer setup as I'm thinking before I die I might paint my truck! Thanks Steve!

[patfromjersey]

A single thought to pass on----------------It isn't just being able to get the body off the chassis, but back on after its painted------------------

Thank you Jerry. I remembered your words as I was working today.

Steve, go to the TP Tools website and you can get all the professional information on the paint system. I will give my amatuer experience when I paint a little more. The one I bought is this... Showtime 90 HVLP Turbine Unit with ProLine Paint Spray Guns - TP Tools & Equipment

Big update for today. I have the body off the chassis!!! It wasn't too hard at all, after Roger's awesome advice of using locking straps. When I use these, I set them so my hook from the hoist was very low to the roof, and it would start lifting right away. Here's some pictures to show how I did. I'm so happy tonight. Thank you Roger!!!

The Coupe spins around nice on those moving dollies!





A quick hello from me with the timer function on the camera.









If anyone has a New Age Motorsports Coupe, here's the locations I put my straps.









I had to remove the rear wheels and set the drums and rear shock bottom mounts on moving dollies to clear the body. I had to strap it down because it started to move when I pushed it forward.











After all that, I finally cooked a rib eye steak that I've been marinating for 4 days. It was so tender and delicious!



I'm taking everything off now.



Garage looks great with everything back inside now. The neighbors loved this thing and kept coming over asking about it.





I can't wait until I start taking everything off the chassis to sandblast and paint. Great week for vacation I have to cut my lawn tomorrow and clean my gutters.