All MetalShaping

Go Back   All MetalShaping > Metal Shaping Projects > Automotive Projects
  Today's Posts Posts for Last 7 Days Posts for Last 14 Days  

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-17-2023, 02:58 PM
MrRumfoord MrRumfoord is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2023
Location: St Paul, MN
Posts: 5
Default 1955 Ford Thunderbird

Hi everyone,
This is my 1955 Ford Thunderbird. I've had it since I was a teenager, and it has been deteriorating since then. 21 years later and I'm finally in a good enough place in life that I can restore it to its original glory. My grandpa bought the car new and gave it to my uncle when he upgraded to another T-bird in the 60s. Then my uncle smashed up the front driver's side, so grandpa reconsidered and gave it to my dad instead, who passed it along to me. I've been riding around in this thing as far back as I can remember, so I really want to get it right, no corners cut.
Name:  tbird1.jpg
Views: 460
Size:  132.3 KB

Earlier this year, I finished pulling most of everything off the car and started stripping the paint to get an idea of how much work I am in for. I knew the front floors and kick panels were toast, and I suspected the door posts were not much better. I decided to start on the passenger side, where I noticed a little pinhole under the windshield frame. I started picking at that...
Name:  hole1.jpg
Views: 452
Size:  89.4 KB

Then moved my way down to find another surprise. This is the point where I started researching metal shaping and discovered this forum. Seeing all the awesome work on here has been an excellent source of motivation to keep moving forward, even as each step uncovers more work!
Name:  patch1.jpg
Views: 455
Size:  99.0 KB

Here's the fender mostly stripped. I've been using citri-strip to avoid getting lead dust everywhere. I tried a few other chemical strippers, which worked a little bit better, but not enough to justify wearing enough PPE to avoid burning nose hairs and watery eyes. I don't mind slathering it on and waiting 24 hours. I did consider getting it blasted, but I've read horror stories about panels being warped by people who don't know what they're doing.
The middle of the fender has a couple dings, but overall it's in pretty nice shape. The rear has been horrifically mangled to access and 'repair' the door post at some point in the past (more on that shortly).
Name:  fender1.jpg
Views: 456
Size:  89.4 KB

The park light was apparently held in place by 50% rust and 50% filler.
Name:  fender2.jpg
Views: 454
Size:  100.2 KB

I stripped the nose panel too. Here's some of the evidence of the crash it was in. The filler on the right half is still covering up a lot of the carnage. The driver's fender is fiberglass, which I plan to replace with metal. I've seen fenders listed on ebay, and I've heard of one parts company specializing in Thunderbirds that supposedly has a good selection of NOS and used parts, so maybe I'll get lucky. A part of me is really excited about trying to make it myself.
Name:  nose1.jpg
Views: 456
Size:  93.2 KB

The door post is worse than I thought. The previous repair leaves a bit to be desired. What were you thinking, dad!?
Name:  doorpost1.jpg
Views: 452
Size:  108.0 KB

Name:  doorpost2.jpg
Views: 456
Size:  113.4 KB

And here is where it is at now. I've made some progress on a replacement for the front section of the door post, which I'll show in a second comment.
Name:  doorpost3.jpg
Views: 457
Size:  109.7 KB

Name:  currentstate.jpg
Views: 454
Size:  123.9 KB
__________________
Andrew
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-17-2023, 03:33 PM
MrRumfoord MrRumfoord is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2023
Location: St Paul, MN
Posts: 5
Default

I made a replacement front door post panel using a hammer form to fold down the flanges, and then welded an extra ~1.5 inch strip to widen the curved flange. It took me two tries, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result, though there are a few improvements that could be made with another attempt.

Here are a few newb lessons I learned:
1. Framing lumber is not hard enough. Thus the steel faces I added to each side.
2. Because there are flanges on all sides of the form, I probably didn't need to drill a bunch of holes to keep the panel from shifting around. I could have used the flanges themselves along with strong clamps to keep everything in place.
3. It was really hard to get the bottom curved flange to shrink. It kept flattening itself back out and deflecting the face of the panel. I didn't have the same problem with the top curved part, so I think I could have avoided it on the bottom by starting with extra metal extending the flange further in a straight line and then cut that off once the shrinking was done. Also, it would have helped if I had a torch. That's on the to-do list, in the meantime I used my tig to heat it up.

I didn't take a lot of progress pics. This one is actually the first attempt that I abandoned. Part of the problem was that I tried to make the curved flange too wide. That, and I was excessively enthusiastic with the hammer.
Name:  templateandform.jpg
Views: 439
Size:  48.7 KB

I started this panel in May and didn't get to welding it until recently because I am as new to welding as I am to metal shaping. (That, and I have a 15 month old). I'm at the point where I usually don't blow holes and I can shift some focus from my torch hand to my filler hand. I welded this in short sections, with a piece of aluminum as backing, as I found I get a lot less of a groove on the back side with that.

I think I probably need to use more filler. How do you guys avoid getting a groove in the underside of the weld, or undercuts on either side of the top? Is that just something to be minimized and hammered out as best you can later?
Name:  weldoutside.jpg
Views: 435
Size:  70.3 KB

Name:  weldinside.jpg
Views: 444
Size:  65.6 KB

Here's the nearly finished piece.
Name:  finishedoutside.jpg
Views: 443
Size:  55.4 KB

Name:  finished-ish inside.jpg
Views: 441
Size:  68.7 KB

Name:  sidebyside.jpg
Views: 438
Size:  98.2 KB
__________________
Andrew
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-17-2023, 04:21 PM
gt alex gt alex is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2023
Location: Cedar Vale, Queensland, Australia
Posts: 7
Default

Great work.
I am also newish (2yrs)to this body work stuff and although I weld my own stuff and I struggle and I use gasless mig so not sure what others would do about the grove, I always weld on the outside of corners and grind back.
I think the grove is from lack of penetration so can go bit slower and risk warpage or better up amps a bit (like I said I'm learning too)

A wonderful project I look forward to seeing more.
__________________
Alex
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-17-2023, 05:13 PM
Hotflint Hotflint is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 91
Default

looking good so far! I will be watching this one
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-17-2023, 06:38 PM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Narrogin, Western Australia
Posts: 579
Default

Nice work Andrew!

You look to have achieved excellent weld-penetration on your part and that is 99% of doing it well. How the weld looks is much less important.

Pretty car!

Cheers Charlie
__________________
Why does dust stick to everything, but nothing sticks to dust?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-17-2023, 08:29 PM
show car builder show car builder is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Webster, NY
Posts: 10
Default

I feel you have done a great job!!! You can an old pallet for wood. It is a hard wood. Usually oak. Much harder than framing lumber and easy to come by.
__________________
Dave
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 10-18-2023, 07:41 AM
MrRumfoord MrRumfoord is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2023
Location: St Paul, MN
Posts: 5
Default

Thanks guys!

Dave, your tip came just in time, I was about to throw out the pallet from my new compressor. I'll keep it around and see if I can make it useful.

Alex, thanks for the suggestions. I did get decent penetration for most of the weld, though I had to touch up one or two spots. From my earlier practice it actually seemed like the back side groove was worst when I moved too slowly for whatever amps setting I was at. I'll keep experimenting with settings and speeds. I suspect things will improve as I get better at feeding filler. And I'm going to try switching from a 1/16 tungsten to .040 to see if that makes any difference.
__________________
Andrew
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 10-18-2023, 11:03 AM
rustreapers rustreapers is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 132
Default

You are off to a very fine start!
__________________
John Phillips "bustin rust and eating dust"

Last edited by Steve Hamilton; 10-18-2023 at 06:43 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 10-18-2023, 07:44 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
MetalShaper of the Month January 2020, March 2022
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Spartanburg, SC
Posts: 2,845
Default

It’s great to see you working on a “member of the family” project. I’ve got a similar long term family car project that I would like to do that will need a lot of rust repair. I’ll be watching your project as it progresses. Thanks for posting.
__________________
AC Button II
http://CarolinaSculptureStudio.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzSYaYdis55gE-vqifzjA6A Carolina Sculpture Studio Channel
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 10-18-2023, 10:30 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
MetalShaper of the Month October '14 , April '16, July 2020, Jan 2023
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Western Sierra Nevadas, Badger Hill, CA
Posts: 4,388
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRumfoord View Post
Thanks guys!

Dave, your tip came just in time, I was about to throw out the pallet from my new compressor. I'll keep it around and see if I can make it useful.

Alex, thanks for the suggestions. I did get decent penetration for most of the weld, though I had to touch up one or two spots. From my earlier practice it actually seemed like the back side groove was worst when I moved too slowly for whatever amps setting I was at. I'll keep experimenting with settings and speeds. I suspect things will improve as I get better at feeding filler. And I'm going to try switching from a 1/16 tungsten to .040 to see if that makes any difference.
Looks like you are off to a very good start.
Copper backups help hold your hot filler in place.
You made the right move with that wide flange - turn the edge 3/8" or so, and then weld on the wide flap, and smooth it out. That turned out Nice.

There are little adjustments when tigging butt seams on .040" steel sheet.
Thin tung and run it hot and fast - it will waggle in the white heat as you go.
__________________
Kent

http://www.tinmantech.com

"All it takes is a little practical experience to blow the he!! out of a perfectly good theory." --- Lloyd Rosenquist, charter member AWS, 1919.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:44 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.