Scroungers T

[rebstew]

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Cleaning up is done with 36 gritt disk. Not to take away from the weld but just to feather the edges out some. If you are a really good welder I'd leave the welds alone and show them off. I'm not that good but I wanted a smooth look anyway so I would have cleaned even super nice welds up.

 

[rebstew]

My fancy JC Penny tires.

Added some gussets. Something to be different more than anything.

I welded on the bracket and stuck a gusset up to it. I welded two of them on and rolled them over the top of it.

 

[rebstew]

I sanded all the rust off of it.

I've seen these funny looking disk for rust but never figured they would work. A little pricy at 10 bucks a pop but I'm hooked now. These takes the rust and scale away and hardly messes with the good metal. When working on this old rusty junk you need to try to save as much good tin as you can. The sanding disk are a thing of the past for me on this pitted rusty stuff. If you get a chance to try one let me know what you think.

I put my sand blasting cabinet in the garage yesterday and today blasted some small brackets and such.
I also went to Lowes and bought another hole saw. I managed to get both of my Bones drill out like I want them. Doing this was as simple as 6 quarters spaced out 2 1/2 inches from each other and spray the bones with a spray can. Let dry, yank off your painted coins and take it to the drill press. I used what was left of that rust remover disk to clean up this bone.

 

[rebstew]

Slow working the last few days. I did get a few things done. I figured out where my trans was going to sit so I started on the firewall.
Trim, trim and more trimming.

I like my oil cans but it was the perfect size. It was dented on the bottom anyways.

 

[rebstew]

More templates were made out of paper for the lower part of the firewall.

There was also 7 or 8 small holes in the firewall that needed filled in. For the ones that don't know it is easy to do with a little help.

How to to it: Get someone to help you if it's in a spot you can't reach. I use a piece of copper pipe with a cap on the end of it. Same stuff you have in your house for water lines. The wire from the welder will not stick to copper so push the copper plug against the hole from the inside and weld up the hole from the outside. The copper will hold the wire and arc it to start the weld and hold it in the hole. After the weld while it's cherry red take you body hammer and give it a light tap while the other guy still has the pipe against the weld. It will smooth out the weld and keep the firewall from getting warped.

 

[rebstew]

I did some more to the bones.
Here was a pic after I had drilled holes in them.

Some guys back in the day left them like this. I've seen a few bend without holes and I didn't want to take any chances so out came the pipe and 6 pieces were welded in and ground down.

Finished one over the undone one.
It still needs cleaned up some and more metal prep but you get the idea.

 

[rebstew]

The rust converter has dried and turned dark. Time for the epoxy primer over the pits.

My new windshield and frame from a friend. It doesn't fit but we will fix that.

My new Ebay find that I may use in the T. Yeah it run backwards.

 

[rebstew]

Progress has slowed some. I'm at the point where there are alot of small time consuming things I need to do. As it happens some times I took one step forward and two steps back.
Remember I cut the winshield post down? Well I was going to make a windshield frame and have some glass cut for it. Jim brought down that windshield frame and no one knows what it fits but it's close to what I needed. I thought about it and I figured the best way to do it would be to keep this winshield frame and shape the car around it.
Too nice of a windshield to not use it.

As you can see it's too narrow, too tall and the arch on the bottom is off.

 

[rebstew]

I had to take the windshield and the top post in a use the kitchen table to mark the many bolt holes across the hinge. There must be 40 of them. That is fine. I know it won't come off at speed.

The hardest part of this is for me to get the arch right on the bottom. That is one reason I wanted another dash from a 40's or 50's car. Doug came through with a 55 56 Merc dash. The dash work and windshield work is all being done at the same time. It all has to form together.

 

[rebstew]

The dash was a little too big.

13" was hacked out of the middle.

 

[rebstew]

These little welding clamps come in handy.

 

[rebstew]

These look like the same pic but what I was doing was trimming top of the dash as much as I could to get it as close to the contour of the winshield. Better to trim a few time than to cut too much off.

 

[rebstew]

I may have been better off finding a 40's dash to work better but I like the idea of using stuff I get off my friends. The dash is a cool dash too. I like the idea of the sides rapping around the inner door panel and on top of truck. It was a little harder than I thought to get the corners the way I wanted them. The Merc dash had the ends up and out and every which way but the way it needed to be. Lots of pie cuts.

 

[rebstew]

This was a pain. Getting the arch right was a big deal so I had to keep the windshield in the truck so I could see how close I was. Remember sparks and welding will screw up glass faster than a 5 year old with dress shoes standing on ice holding it.
Measure, wrap the galss in the welding blacket and raise it up as hi as I could. Doesn't sound that bad but do it 30 times having to wrap and unwrap every time.
Getting the shape close.

 

[rebstew]

You can see how wavy it is. Putting the first spot weld in a spot that is where it goes will hold it so you can work the metal as you tack it on.

I wasn't going to post any of this until it was done but I was getting loaded up on pics. Just remember there is alot more metal shaping to do, The top will be rounded off so it's not so square and alot more welding and trimming.

 

[rebstew]

I was going to take a few days off but I was bored late at night and was wondering how to smooth out the pits in the cowl. I loaded up the primer and started playing around and sanding and sanding and ..............................

Extra primer I had left over I was shooting on the frame. One thing to another and I got the frame pretty close to where I wanted it. Few more coats and I was ready for the black paint.
Firewall pits won't be an issue either. I have most of them blocked out and I bought some glaze today. First time I have bought any. Some people swear by it. I'll see....

 

[rebstew]

I got my headers today and wanted to see how they looked and if the steering rod was going to get past them. While I was at it I tossed on a couple intakes.
Which one do you guys think I should run???
Low profile 2X4 set up. You have to look over the one breather.

 

[rebstew]

cross ram set up.

 

[rebstew]

Or the tunnel ram.

 

[rebstew]

So as of today 11/19/09 this is where I'm at on the project. I've been on it for just a little over 2 months. If it is something you guys want to follow let me know.

Steering looks like it will clear too.