1958 Ramber American

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Catchup update #7

This post will be about the rear window and the beginning of the trunk floor.



For some reason, I never finished welding the rear window opening into the roof. I focused back on this area for a little bit. Welded the inner structure to the quarter panels inside and trimmed the opening to the roof skin and started welding my way around it.



Here I've welded the "fillet" at the bottom of the window frame to the quarter panels and blended it all in.



Working my way around the window. Tacked every inch or so, eventually fully tig welded.



Passenger half all welded in, ground and cleaned up.



Also the driver's side of the quarter window area that I fabricated early was never finish welded...….that's all done now.



In preparation for the trunk floor, I first fabricated some chassis stand offs for the body mounts. This raised it above the fuel tank to the level that I would eventually need.



Here is the rear trunk floor / body mount brace. The standoffs weld to the top of the rear frame crossmember.



Close up of the stand off, body mount pad (other half inside the floor brace) and the trunk floor brace.



Hard to visualize, but the standoffs are now welded to the top of the rear frame crossmember. I also added doubler plates inside the floor brace and have it bolted into position.



Made a pattern and bent up a trunk floor. I punched some holes for access to the body mounts. Also stepped an edge around the openings for the fuel tank pump & sender for future access panels to be added.



A view looking towards the rear. I broke the floor at the rear of the floor brace. It dives down and attaches to the rear bumper pocket that I built earlier. This helps stiffen up the rear bumper mount area, but most importantly gives me a good area to attach the interior structure to, as obviously I can't attach it to the exterior body skin.



Flared an opening for the fuel neck to pass through.



Now to get rid of the square corner for the wheel tub area and add a rounded corner with the soft radius bend I have on the edge of the floor.



Trimmed the small piece I fabricated and spliced it into the floor.....



All welded and cleaned up.



Here you can see how the radius corner will match the small radius on the wheel tub. I didn't want a 90 deg. wheel tub edge, but also didn't want a big large radius, as that would make upholstery / interior work harder later.



Here you can see the trunk floor how it attaches to the rear bumper pocket (the rear roll pan is removed in this pic) I actually made a separate piece and shrunk / stretched to fit the curve of the bumper pocket and later trimmed and butt welded it to the floor section.

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Catchup update #8

This post will focus around the rear package tray and wheel tubs

Also, so I don't forget....in an upcoming post I'd like to add a couple videos, is there an easy way to do that? Or just a link to a my youtube or such? Any help appreciated.



Following the basic cardboard mockup that I did earlier....I started fabricating a new rear package tray.



A view of the package tray from the inside.

Note: The clear flexible straight edge roughly simulates the shape this rear area behind the seats will have.



One last view from front dead center.



Before I got too ahead of myself with the package tray, I had to backtrack and take care of the trunk jamb opening.

If we remember, I moved the rear window forward like 8"-9", which led to it needing to be widened about 2"-3".



I was able to reuse part of the original. I had to cut it in half, move it out to match the quarter (thus needing to fab a new section in the middle) I also had to make a new 8"-9" lip towards the rear to match up to the existing lip.



The next thing to figure out was tying the roof rails into the wheel tubs / rear body structure. I made these extensions that slide over the rail I made previously. They plug weld around it and have a nice large pad that has plenty of surface area to plug weld the wheel tub to later.



Here is the extension slid on the roof rail.



Starting to fabricate the outer wheel tub side. I first made a 90 deg. flange and shrunk / stretched it to follow the wheel opening on the quarter. Later I trimmed and butt welded it to the panel I made for the wheel tub. (In time the wheel tub edge is then plug welded in the wheel opening lip.



Roughed in the wheel tub.

Note: I couldn't get it in one piece....thus why it is spliced in the front.



A view of the wheel tub from the trunk.



This little panel helps tie the package tray into the wheel tub and stiffened things up nicely.

You can also see how the roof rail extension mates up to the wheel tub.



Now this area needs a little attention.....



I made this panel that ties the roof rail, package tray and rear window structure together. I punched some holes for no other reason than to make it look more interesting for now.



Here is the passenger outer wheel tub panel in the works. I have the bubble insulation between it and the quarter panel to make sure it doesn't rub.



Both wheel tubs roughed in. They are only set in there for now and not welded. The edges are all overlapping, etc. currently.



A view from the inside.



One last look from the front.



For a slight change of pace, and I needed a break from the rear. I decided to see what the false floor would look like when fabricated and installed. I did this so the bottom of the car is smooth and uncluttered, but with the floor braces internal it would be impossible to upholster / carpet. Adding a false floor that can unbolt gives me the opportunity to add sound / heat deadener and insulation between the floor layers, but most importantly gives a perfectly flat smooth floor to carpet over eventually.



Here two panels are fabricated and bolted in place (I didn't do the one under / behind the seat yet)



Here they are with the seat installed. It's a nice soft transition into the door jamb also.

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Dane, I am a big fan of your work! THANK you for taking the time to post.

If your customer ever starts whining about the quality of your work...have him call me.

[jmcglynn]

Amazing work -- The foam mockup for the console looks interesting too!

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Originally Posted by Kerry Pinkerton

Dane, I am a big fan of your work! THANK you for taking the time to post.

If your customer ever starts whining about the quality of your work...have him call me.

Thank you and everyone for the nice compliments. Luckily this is a great customer, and in fact a repeat customer!

Catchup update #9

This post is a bit out of sequence, but it was a fun little "side track" project that I worked on a bit back. It involves an idea I had for actuating the taillight in some manner to gain access to a hidden fuel fill.

The reason I did this now, was so I could have the mechanism done and in place when the time came to fabricate all the inner truck / quarter panel structure. Easier to plan ahead now, rather than backtrack later.

I came up with this idea in my head, designed it all on my computer in 3D and then machined it all out. In the end it worked out better than I could have hoped!

Hopefully I can make sense of the mechanism / actuator. I'll try to explain it as best as I can. The first post I'll show the computer designs I drew up.



I'll refer to this part as the outer housing. This (the open end) will eventually bolt to the tail light opening in the quarter panel. I machined it with a step in the middle that some oil bronze bushings pressed up against.



This screen shot shows how the oil bushings press into the housing and against the internal step.



Inside the outer housing is an inner shaft. This shaft is what the actual tail light will attach to. In the simplest explanation...this shaft just slides in and out of the outer housing.



Here's where it may get a bit confusing....

Inside the bore of the inner shaft is a linear actuator, it is attached to the cap of the outer housing as well. This actuator just pushes and pulls the inner shaft in or out of the outer housing.



Here is a more rendered view of the design. (Not the stand in for the tail light housing, is generic)

The one thing to note is the "helical slot" in the outer housing. As the linear actuator pushes or pulls, the inner shaft follows this slot and rotates the tail light accordingly.



Here is the assembly with the outer shaft not visible. There are small shoulder bolts with small brass bushings that slide in the helical slots in the outer housing.



Here is the same assembly with the inner shaft hidden as well.



This close up shows the connection of the linear actuator to the outer housing end cap. Obviously since the actuator is attached to the inner shaft, when it rotates it also needs to freely rotate on the point it's attached to the outer housing. A pair of thrust bearings on each side of the end cap allow this to happen.



Some of the raw materials I started with for the project.

Note the custom tail lights that the customer had designed and built (not by myself)



This is the start of the outer housing. 3" solid aluminum



Here is the linear actuator used.

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Catchup update #10

This will focus on the start of the machine work for the above tail light mechanism. I will also try to add a video of the initial test. (There are 2 video links in this post)



The first pass on the lathe to true up the aluminum stock used for the outer housing.



The profile of the outer housing machined to finished size.



Here is a video as I'm boring out the outer housing to the correct internal diameter.

https://youtu.be/azPMRuNd7k8

Pressing the oil bushings into the outer housing. If you look, you can see the internal "step" that will locate it.



Here the oil bushing is pressed all the way to the internal step.



Outer housing machining finished externally and internally.



Here is the start of the inner shaft. The end with the "lip" is the end opposite of the tail light. The lip is a bigger diameter than the oil bronze bushing....thus allowing it not to accidently slide out of the outer housing if the linear actuator had a problem.



I machined a "disc" to slide inside the bore of the inner shaft. This will eventually be the internal mount for the linear actuator. If you look close, the holes in the disc line up with a hole on the inner shaft. A pin slides through them and the linear actuator holding them all in place.



Here the top of the disc was cut away. This also shows how the pin holds everything in place.



Here is the disc without the actuator slid into the bore of the inner shaft. I made it a disc, so it drops down inside, I can put the actuator in and rotate it all until the pin lines everything up. Really easy.



One more showing how the actuator fits inside the bore of the inner shaft.



Here is the end cap for the outer housing. Also I machined an adapter up that screws into the end of the linear actuator.(the tapered aluminum part) The thrust bearings and washers slide onto the shaft of the adapter and through the center hole of the housing end cap.



Here the adapter is threaded into the linear actuator.



The assembly all put together. This will now slide into the outer housing and the end cap can get bolted on.

Here is a video testing this setup (without the rotation operation yet)

https://youtu.be/MQhysFXhjtY

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Catchup update #11

This update will focus on the process to attach the tail light to the previous mechanism as well as the testing of it (1 video link) before fitting inside the quarter panel (next update)



The small shoulder bolts and the bronze bushings I machined to run in the helical slots to rotate the taillight as it travels out.



Attached to the inner shaft (the bushings are free to rotate on the shoulder bolts)



Machining a slot in the end of the inner shaft for the tail light mount to "key" into.



The "keyed" inner shaft. The shorter shaft will attach to the tail light.



Fit together (no bolts yet)



Here two bolts (one on each side) are machined and bored into the shafts to hold them together.



An aluminum plate was cut to fit inside the tail light housing. It was welded to the short section of inner shaft.



Bolted together with the tail light housing.



The completed assembly all ready for some testing! Video below

https://youtu.be/EVGD8EO9eLw

Note: I have the assembly extend straight out a bit before it rotates. This is so the tail light will for sure clear the painted quarter panel without possibly hitting it.

[dwmh]

Incredible work, thanks for sharing. I hope your customer appreciates the skill and fine craftsmanship that has gone into this project.

[123pugsy]

Wow, Zane. Outstanding work.



Sorry, I missed the part of why you have a rotating tail light?

[Jon Thompson]

Very nice!!