1950 Austin Devon

[Antoine_P]

You really made great progress on this car, thanks for sharing!

Antoine

[crystallographic]

Nice progress, up there in the high desert.
I am seeing some smooth welding, too.
I know this is late in the game to mention - but another cool way to fill in big old belt molding holes - by not welding .... I learnt a trick from a 1930's-vintage metalguy - making brass or galvanized back-up discs, tinning one side of those and the back side of the panel holes, and then sweat-soldering them in. No distortion and takes 5-10 min per.
You keep on steaming right along ....

[Reno]

I still have a door to fill, so maybe I'll experiment with the old door skins. Was the trim hole leaded after the brass backing?

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by Reno

I still have a door to fill, so maybe I'll experiment with the old door skins. Was the trim hole leaded after the brass backing?

Yes - I used a 275W electric stick iron for that.

[Reno]

Kent, thanks for the tip.
I pulled a 300 watt iron in from E Bay, and experimented with it today. The best results were with .010" brass large enough so it didn't de-solder when filling the hole. I had good luck holding it in place with a high temperature magnet. I ground a slight bevel on the outer edge and tinned it, then soldered the piece and filled the hole. Struck it off with a Vixen . Absolutely no distortion on the panel. I fired up the soldering gun and was able to clean up the margin of #1 after I took the last shot. The lower wattage allows pinpoint repair.

[Reno]

I chickened out on using the 3.6 V6 from the Camaro due to my inexperience with the computer and CAN/BUS. When I find time I may still attempt to construct a stand alone harness that would control the engine and transmission.
For now I decided to go with an old school 350 with a 700R4 since the Jag IRS is a 3.54. Anyway I widened the space between the original "X" member and added the transmission mount which will also carry the radius rods from the IRS wishbone.

[Reno]

I mentioned using a laser to line up the anchor points of the radius rods on the XKE rear end in Chris's 41 Chevy build and a modification was needed. I made the mounts and bushings and was able to line up the rearmost hole, but had to use a piece of drill rod to true the bracket so it aligned with the wishbone pivot bolt.



Then bent the tubing and welded it in place.

[Reno]

Then I moved on to the exhaust. The Mechammer came in handy to correct the slight difference in diameter of the mandrel bends and the straight tube. This is 2.25" 18 gauge and with an anvil that matches the ID brings the pipe to the same size quickly.







I was able to fit the mufflers by angling them down to clear the driveshaft and since it doesn't move vertically there is no conflict.



The aluminum tube represents the anti sway bar position since I had to mount the arms inboard of the frame rails because the links mount on the radius rods at the wishbone connector.

[chrisnz]

Good job on the control arms and the laser idea.... Brilliant. I just didn't have one lying around
Chris

[Reno]

I lost too much foot space with engine position I had, so I moved it forward three inches and formed the distributor relief in the firewall.



Then I started on the floor. This is a sample wide bead formed with the Mechammer to match the existing underseat bead.



And then welded in place.



I moved back to the rear underseat floor and since I was hoping to use the Camaro rear seat I thought I should make provision for it while I was there. I found that I needed four inches of height at the front since it is foam rather than the original spring cushion, so I raised the face and spot welded it in.





Then I formed one end of the seat bottom and fit it to the driverside fenderwell.