SHOP UPDATE: Making some progress on John's 31 Delivery

Let me introduce you to John's 31 Ford Deluxe Delivery. This is a rare car for sure. 3000 or so were built. All were built by coach builders. This car had a wooden skeleton with tin skin on the outside. My job now is the replace all that wood with a one off steel structure.

 I already replaced the lower sub-rails with steel 2 door sedan rails so I have a solid base to work my way up from. I decided to frame in the front doors first. So here goes. This photo shows the rear door opening before I got started.

 Lots of measuring and cutting paper templates went into this final steel pattern.

 Here is my pattern trimmed to final size and I put a step in the back side to help stiffen the panel a bit.

 this is the step in the back. I will do a similar step in the front so the lip on the skin fits flush into the new lower door post.

 Here is the panel folded into the shape I want for the door post.

 I needed to put a dog leg in the post to follow the  edge so The wind-lace seal will seal the door when we are finished. I took a pie cut so I could fold the post. I will weld the cut once I an happy with the posts.

 Here is the first of 2 posts. Drivers first, then move to the passenger side.

 Notice the post follows the shape of the door. That is needed for the type of seal used in early Fords

Passenger side lower post is complete as well. Tomorrow I should get the upper posts and start above the doors.

SHOP TRUCK: Susi is killing it in the shop

 I just wanted to see what it looks like outside from a distance. Stance is just right for my tastes

 So, the last few days Susi and I have worked on the 40 I have given her a project. Simple discription of what I want and turned her loose. This is her first task. Build the rails that span the box under the seat that I will mount the seat tracks to for the new seat. Absolutely perfect. She cut, bent and drilled by herself. Exactly what I was hoping for.

 Next task, Build the upper grill panel for the new hood latch assembly. Here she is cleaning up the cut out part.

 There she is checking the fit before we drill and mount it

 Perfect for sure. Looks like it belongs there. I could not be more proud of her. Her skills in the shop are getting better every day.

I spent the last part of the evening building the upper panel. Next round I will get the latch installed and move to the next project.

SHOP UPDATE: Bill's roadster

 Well, we got the body on and started the next phase

 Battery in the trunk

 Susi started the Dynamat throughout the car

 I mounted the fuse box and started pulling wires

 I assembled the dash and wired the back side

 Dash is in and all gauges are wired

 I made some battery cables and powered up the roadster

 The rear of the car is wired. The brake system is complete and we have been bleeding the brakes

 Did a little more paint work on some of the final parts

 Did another round of paint. Almost finished painting roadster parts

 We installed the trunk lid

 We finished installing the rear fenders, bumper and tail lights

 We installed the radiator and trans cooler lines along with the shifter and E brake

Susi sanding a few more parts so I can get them buffed and installed. We are just about caught up on the roadster. I am waiting on a few engine parts from the powder coater and the polisher. Once they arrive we will finish the assembly and get it running.

SHOP TRUCK: Made some great progress on the 40 this weekend

 Susi cut out the tiny patches to fill all the holes in the dash so I could weld them up.

 Here she is grinding out the welded patches so we can locate the holes for the new switches

 I am finish welding the firewall while Susi is grinding things up

 Dash, floor and firewall are finished

 That is the finished firewall

 We installed the front sheet metal so I can modify the car fenders to get the fit I want to the cowl before we start the body work on the cowl. I have to replace the rocker panels on the cab and the metal work is complete and it can get primed and body worked.

Its shaping up nicely, gonna be a nice looking truck