Thread: I couldn't build it for $3 K either!

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In this picture you can see I've added the radiator support rods. These are from a 32 Ford. I had to cut them down some, but I think the A model rods would have been too short. I stuck the 3 duece setup on to check clearance. It's tight on the front air cleaner. I want to use the helmet style air cleaners and I hope they will fit. The open style will work with no problem though if I have to use them.

I've also been kicking around the idea of using a generator instead of an alternator. I think it fits with the look of the car. It's only 30 amps but since most of the time(daytime) I'm only going to be pulling an electric fuel pump and possibly a MSD box, I think it will work. The Carter fuel pump shouldn't pull more than 5-7 amps and MSD claims that their 6A boxes only draw 1 amp for every 1000 RPM's(seems low to me, anybody have any real world info?). Two 60 watt headlights should draw about 10 amps and I'm going to use LED taillights, which shouldn't draw much at all. That should leave me with about 10 amps to spare( I hope). The only real unknown is the MSD box and I can ditch that if I have to and just run the points. Of course there's always Pertronix

I thought it was about time to get the door hung and latched. Notice I still haven't fixed the windshield.

This body was setup for a fiberglass interior unit that gets epoxied into place and stiffens the whole unit up. You're not supposed to need wood or other reinforcement. Well maybe not, but the more I fooled with it, the more I thought it could use a little added support.

One area was the door. The original setup had the hinges screwed to the fiberglass door frame and relied on the box structure formed by the interior to hold everything aligned. If the hinges ever needed serviceing, you were just out of luck. Once that interior section gets glued in, it ain't comin' back out in one piece.

I fabbed up an inner door post out of 3/4" square tube and a peice of angle iron heavy enough that it could be tapped for the hinge bolts(1 x 1 x 1/4", I think). Luckily I had room to squeeze it in between the body and interior unit. It ties into the cowl bar at the top. At the bottom, I added a bolt-on bracket to the side of the chassis and the door post bolts through the floor to that. The door hinge support is now as solid as the car frame and independent of the body for the most part. If the hinges ever need to be removed, I will still need to cut an access hole in the kick panel area, but it's not going to weaken the door support or throw it out of alignment.

I also had to reinforce the hinges. They were made of 1/8" material and were already starting to bend, as you can see in the picture. I just added another piece of 1/8" flatbar and now they're pretty solid.

Another peculiar thing about the door frame was that there was no door stop. My first thought was to build an inner ridge all the way around the door. About halfway through the build I realized that this was a bad idea and would just give me something to trip on when getting in or out. So I cut it down to just the latch side.

I started by making a template of the door opening out of paper and transfering that to 1/2" plywood. The inner wood form was just as important as the opening as it gave me something to form the metal around. The stop is made of 1/2" square tube with a 16 gage wall. The gentle bends were made by hand in the vise, working just a little at a time. The tight curve at the bottom was made by slotting the tube, clamping it to the form and tacking the slots back together. Once I had the shape, I welded the slots and ground it all back down.

The tabs that are welded to the piece in the pictures were there just to clamp it in place. After it was fitted, they were removed.

A piece of 3/8" keystock was ground down until it would just slide inside the top of the tube. This was welded in with a couple of rosette welds and gave me something to drill and tap for the door latch(striker?).

The whole thing got a coat of paint and was attached to the door frame with epoxy and 3/16" pop rivets about every 2". The rivets were reinforced with fender washers.

That's really looking great Mike, and the way you did the door is pretty smart. We've all seen glass T's and such with sagging doors, you won't be having that problem.

What you might be able to do is give those radiator support rods a little kick to the outside with just a little bend to clear your aircleaner. I've seen some cars done that way and it looks fine.

Keep up the good work, it's coming along nicely.

Don

Thanks, Don.

That original hinge setup was not very confidence inspiring.

I might have give the "bent rod" idea a try. I do like the look of the helmet type of air cleaner a lot better than the open kind.

I've got some more to post tonight. I'm at work right now and can't post pics. Hope I don't run out of pictures before I run out of story. I got a little lax on taking them after a while.