Another Build Thread - My '32

[stovens]

Looking very Nice Jim. The red frame looks fantastic!

[J. Robinson]

The weather forecast changed (better) for Monday, so I jumped on the opportunity and painted the firewall. Today (Tuesday) I put the body back on the frame. HOORAY! Everything went pretty well. When I tightened the body bolts down both doors dropped slightly when opened. I loosened all the bolts, did some shimming on the body mounts at the rear of the doors, tightened everything down again and got everything dialed in so the doors open and close with almost no effort. So far, so good...

[v8nutz]

That is looking like a car all of a sudden, coming together nicely!

[34_40]

What he said... NICE!

[rspears]

Looking really good, Jim!

[J. Robinson]

Thank you all.

I took the body off the frame last August and it seems like it's been forever. Every time I have thought it was almost time to put it back on I would think of something else I needed to do first. Then I have had multiple interruptions, too. FINALLY maybe I can make some good progress. Today (Wednesday) I carved the hole in the floor for the brake pedal and mounted the steering column. I'm waiting on another piece before I connect the shaft, so I'll work on other things - mounting the seats, mounting and plumbing the fuel cell, begin some of the wiring - it's a long list...

[Hotrod46]

Yes, it's looking very nice indeed! That's going to be a fun car, especially with the big block. You might need slicks on the rear!

[J. Robinson]

I neglected to take pictures of the steering column/shaft while i was working on it, so I was unable to post anything. Suffice it to say that the S.O.B. fought me every way possible. Let me digress... I had the steering column installed and the connecting shaft in place before i ever pulled the body off the frame. It was close, but everything fit and worked nicely. Now, when I put the body back on the frame, I wanted to "finish" the hole where the column comes through the firewall, so I bought one of these nifty looking ball and socket escutcheons for it. And that's where the problems started... These things aren't intended for as steep of an angle as is presented by a '32 Ford! I had to modify it for clearance. I had the darn thing on and off the column at least 20 times. That wouldn't be so bad, but each time the column had to be pulled back through the firewall, parts ground and filed, and the column re-inserted through the firewall for another trial fit. Installing the escutcheon should be a 2 or 3 hour job, tops, but I screwed with it for 3 days! I called it every name I could think of multiple times and threatened to do it bodily harm. Didn't matter - the stupid thing wasn't afraid of me at all - it just kept on frustrating me. I finally prevailed, though, and it turned out pretty nice.

It's not visible in the pictures, but the double-D shaft clears the header collector by less than 1/16th inch. As an old friend used to say - "A fraction of an inch is as good as a mile as long as it clears." I also got the brake pedal installed and its location is nearly perfect.

[J. Robinson]

Since the last posting I mounted the fuel cell. If you've read this thread from the beginning you know I made the mounts and straps for it some time ago before I took the body off the frame. Before I put the cell in place this time I put the Kilmat sound and heat insulation on the floor under it. I also put some rubber strips on the mounts and under the straps. The rubber straps are actually bicycle inner tubes; I have several punctured ones from my Electrathon racing.

With the fuel cell in place and bolted down, the next piece is the shelf for the battery. Using the pattern from the fuel cell mounts and some scrap 1/2 inch plywood, I made a pair of supports and a 8 1/2 x 12 shelf that the battery tray or box will sit on. I discovered many years ago that ordinary body filler is actually a very good multi-purpose adhesive as long as appearance isn't an issue. Think about it - it's made to stick to metal and plastic (fiberglass); well, it sticks very securely to wood also! I mixed up a bit of it and stuck the supports to the shelf. In about 15 minutes it was solid, so I gave it a coat of spray-can primer to help seal it. Then I mixed another bit of body filler and stuck the shelf permanently in place next to the fuel cell.

The next thing on the list was mounting the grille shell to the radiator. I have a new hood coming from Rootlieb, so I'll need the shell in place to build the mounts when it arrives. It was just a matter of clamping it in position and drilling the appropriate holes in the tabs on the radiator. Four 1/4-20 bolts and nylock nuts hold it in place. I stuck the headlight buckets in place just to get them off the workbench and out of the way for now. Last thing today, I drilled the holes in the trunk floor for the battery cable and fuel line to pass through (no pic of that).

[Hotrod46]

Jim, how well does the Kilmat work as heat insulation? I'm nearing the point where I will be needing to do the same thing. I've never used any of these types of insulation before and trying to figure out what to get. My car was pretty hot in the footwell area and I want to get that down as much as I can.

BTW - As to using the Bondo as glue. When I built my house, the guy that installed the fake marble tub surround used Bondo to glue the corner shelves in. I wondered if it would hold up since it seemed strange to me, but it has been holding for over 15 years. Must work pretty good.

[J. Robinson]

Actually, Mike, I don't know how well it works. A friend of mine recommended the Kilmat because he has used it and likes it. Roger Spears used some stuff called EZ Cool in his '33 and says it's good. It has the foil on both sides of closed-cell foam. Maybe some other folks on here can give you better guidance than me. You are probably going to need something before I get on the road and able to say good or bad on this stuff.

Body filler is good for filling countersunk screw holes in wood, too. Sink the screws, spackle the holes with body filler, sand and paint. The screws will never back out of the holes!

[shine]

this is pretty good stuff. i use lizardskin but this is good for inside doors and firewalls .

http://www.insulation4less.com/Insul...l-72-Inch.aspx

[J. Robinson]

I finished the battery cable installation Sunday afternoon and moved on to mounting the seats. I am using the power seats from a 2004 Nissan Maxima. I explained last year how the outside back leg on each seat was modified to sit on the flat floor. With a battery to manipulate the seats, I adjusted them as necessary, then located and drilled the holes in the floor. I didn't bolt them down yet, though.

Monday I made a trip to the local Home Depot to pick up a piece of 1/4 inch underlayment plywood to make the panel that separates the cab from the trunk. No big revelations there; it was just a matter of measure, cut, and fit. Before I screwed it in place I put the Kilmat on the floor in that area. After I screwed the panel in place I continued the Kilmat past the seat mount holes. I will Kilmat the remainder of the floor later, but I have other work to do in the front area first. Finally, I removed the headrests and put the seats in place then put the bolts in the holes. Before I put nuts on the bottom, however, I have a couple of things to do underneath. I'll explain that later when I do it.

[J. Robinson]

Today started out OK. I determined that the brake pedal was crowding the space where I needed to put the gas pedal and I needed to move it. The lever part of the pedal needed to stay put, but it was made so the pedal pad bolted onto a tab about an inch to the right of the lever. I could have cut it off, repositioned it, and welded it back together, but I decided it would be easier to just make a new tab and weld it to the existing one. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of it! I found a heavy-duty nut with the same threads (1/2-13) as the tab and I just welded it solidly in place. The result is the pedal is an inch to the left and about 1/4 inch higher than its original location. Yes, it clears the steering column enough that I can easily step on it, even in work boots.

Next I positioned the gas pedal, marked the bolt holes, and drilled the firewall. I used stainless steel bolts, washers, and acorn nuts to bolt the gas pedal in place. (Pic below)

Now the trouble began. I thought it might be advantageous at this point to get the A/C evaporator mounted under the dash so I could figure out the location of some other things. I got the evap out of the box for the first time and discovered... it won't fit! There is no position that will work; it is just simply too big. The bad news is I bought it last year before I took the body off the frame, so the odds of sending it back are slim to none... and Slim has already left town. So, another learning experience - I should have trial fit this thing as soon as I got it. DUH! Well, tomorrow I will do some more in-depth measuring and some more research online. It looks like Speedway has an under-dash unit from Vintage Air that might be the answer. Time will tell.

I said I would report my progress here, warts and all. This is a big wart! Learn from my mistakes, folks.

[J. Robinson]

I was busy elsewhere today, so I didn't get to work on the '32. The good news is "the Fed" delivered a big package from Rootlieb.

I was given a one-piece fiberglass hood back when I picked up the body. I don't know who made it, but it was a warped, twisted piece of $#!+ that doesn't come close to fitting the contour of the grille shell. I put a clamp across the front of it months ago and left it sit in the heat for weeks, but it made no difference. Last week I ordered a steel repro hood from Rootlieb.

After everything else was done today, I took a few minutes to see how my new hood fit. Yes, it does, beautifully. I still have to build the radiator-to-firewall struts and install the latches, so I used some 2-inch masking tape to hold it in place for now. It's nice to have a quality piece to work with.