Thread: One way to build a '32 sedan

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wingman9- Nice car, do you go to any of the local shows?

I got to spend a little time on the sedan, I wanted to get some more of the strength back in the body after removing all the wood. I used 1"x 2" .065 rectangular tubing to tie the A pillar to the B pillar, then 1 1/2"x3/4x.065 that slips inside the 1"x2" from the B pillar down to the wheel well tub.
I don't have a rectangular tubing bender so I made 9 pie cut slits in the tubing then bent it 90 degrees to form it, then welded up the cuts. made some 3/16" bungs and welded them inside the tubing so I could mount the panel for the window regulators.
starting on filling the roof next week.
Ken

That should strenthen the heck out of the C-dan, Ken!!! Neat work, as always.

Well thought out. It has to be nice to find some time to spend on your sedan. This is going to be a very nice car. Thanks for posting Ken.

Hi Ken i've only just come across this thread and must say its nice to see how others tackle jobs differently, Very nice work so far. I'm now off to read the other pages as i've only read 5 so far.

Ken, I've been reading all your builds and they are fantastic! I really love the look you have - stance is perfect.

I bend square tube by cutting slits like that for the signs that I fabricate all the time. One thing to speed it up a bit and use less filler is to put the cuts on the inside. Another thing that makes it quick to determine the distance between the cuts is to lay out the curve on the table and lay a tape measure on it - whatever increment lays on the 'flat' of the curve is the spacing for the cuts.
keep up the great work!
Mike

Dave Severson - Thanks, Dave. I'm going to add two more pieces in parallel going around the back from side to side. The gas tank will be mounted to those. Trying to give some collision strength back there, so I don't turn into a Pinto if some one rear ends me .


deuce4papa - Yes, I have missed working on it. Next is filling the roof and finishing the steering.


roadster32 - Thanks, there is a million ways to do this stuff. I enjoy seeing how other people approach problems on there builds.
Ken

Mike - Thanks, I cut mine on the inside it just doesn't look like it in the photo. Great suggestion on how to lay your cuts out.
Ken

Ken - I had about given up hope of more on this build. Phew

Oh yeah, bending square/rectangular tubing - I just used regular (conduit) tubing benders for 1/2 and 3/4 inch. It took a while so it wouldn't kink, but I really didn't want to weld up those cuts which was my other option. This is my in process (currently unused) top frame which was 'bent up' with that bender, tho only 1/2" on that:

Dave,
I never thought of trying that. I will give that a try, I still have to bend a few more pieces.
Your top came out really nice.
Ken

Dave,

Does your tubing bender put a crease on the inside of the bend? I only ask because all of the commercial products i've seen with rec./square tubing had that crease on the inside bend.

Jack.

I just read an article in one of the rod magazines that describes bending square tubing using your regular round tubing bender. As Jack mentions, they put a curved piece of small diameter solid stock into the deep part of the shoe so that when you bend square tubing it puts this depression in there and shrinks up the inner part of the curve so the outer part just folds around smoothly.

The way they do it the bend ends up looking like what you see on office chairs that have square tubing legs..........there is that "smashed in" section on the inside part of the curve which allows the outside to be smooth. As they said in the article, the tubing might not end up nice enough looking for something that shows, but for framing a door or body it is perfect as it is hidden.

Really glad to see you making progress on it again Ken. BTW, what is happening with the one roadster? Last we heard it was going in for paint, if I remember correctly.

Don

What I used was a 1/2" bender for the 1/2" and a 1" bender for the 3/4" simply because that's what I have for conduit benders. I did not have creases because it's fairly thin wall tubing and I moved the bender many, many times to get a smooth radius on my bends to match my template which was a routered groove in a piece of plywood. As far as a depressed (inner) side and a raised (outer) side of the radius - mine, again a minimal amount.

Now - if I could only find a local guy who was interested in covering that framework. I've temporarily given up and had a conventional type soft top made with standard Ford repro hardware in the same cover outline as a Bebop's.

Don - A while back I took it to the dyno shop and found I needed to make some changes in the air inlet to get it tuned properly. I haven't done that yet. I don't want to take it apart in case their is something else I need to change.


Dave - To bad you weren't able to get that upholstered, looks like a lot of work.
Ken

Originally Posted by Ken Thurm

Dave - To bad you weren't able to get that upholstered, looks like a lot of work.
Ken

It's in a storage room (we're moving South) and WILL eventually be upholstered. By the time I finished, and the photo posted, it was only about half done my guess is 40-50 hours or more of assembly time.

I had to stop at that storage facility this morning for another reason - I checked - there are no kinks or depressed or significantly raised metal in the bends. Possibly I was lucky, but it was just conventional welded seam cold rolled tubing Korean made (Posco Steel)purchased from Metal Supermarket.

Worked on my steering, all day. This stuff takes for ever But the lower part, I don't know what to call it, is almost done. All I have to do is the two idlers for the chain tensioner. Here are some shots of it.
The gear was way to wide so I had to take of about 3/8" then cut a key way in the shaft. This is the shaft I took out of the original box, and just shortened it so I wouldn't have to cut splines on it. Then put some snap ring grooves in it. Made a spacer to get everything in it's right spot then pressed the two bearings on and pressed it into the housing.
Ken