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5-29-2012: Today was Vun-Vun day. I got to sit in the car, and go "Vun-Vun." Can't wait 'til I have a steering wheel and pedals to play with!
6 June 2012 - I have ordered the rubber components that we need from Lynn Steele. This will include the little hard rubber bumpers that cushion the door when it closes. These are little half-round pieces that fit in preformed recesses in the door jambs.
20 June 2012 - A few weeks ago, Dan showed me a strange observation. Under the passenger side rear fender, there were some extra holes in the body that weren't mirrored in the driver's side. We concluded that there must have been some kind of reinforcement at each of the locations where the step plates are located for climbing into the rumble seat. I wrote to my friend Andrew Edler in California, owner of several Model PB Plymouths to inquire about these holes. Sure enough, Andrew responded by sending us a tracing of each of two different braces along with the side profile to show how the heavy gauge sheet metal was formed. Then, this weekend, I got to see another Model PB Plymouth sport roadster. There are two braces, one for each step, exactly as Andrew had drawn them:
... and now, in early July, 2012, Dan has acquired the 1/8" steel stock and is fabricating the braces:
And, Voila!!! The pieces are completed and installed.
Shrinking the Rear Fenders
7-5-2012: A few weeks ago when Dan attached the rear fenders to the body, he pointed out to me that previous work had stretched the metal enough to cause a bulge in the beaded edge on both rear fenders. You can see the problem in the image on the right. Dan asked me to be patient while he researched the best way to shrink the steel to bring the edge back into a straight line. At first he thought the best technique might be heating the affected area of the fender to red hot and quenching it with a wet rag. That works but tends to embrittle the metal and can lead to cracking. The technique he finally used was to heat the metal to just shy of red hot and quench it with a blast of compressed air. He repeated this process, occasionally dressing up the surface with a hammer and dolly, until it was straight. It worked! I never cease to be amazed at what these metal artisans can do with a torch and a few simple tools. It's all about knowing how to use them. Here are the results:
This week (7-17-2012), Dan got the windshield assembly aligned and assembled and was able to set the top in place. This is all part of the "pre-assembly" process to make sure everything fits and that no parts are missing. Next, we'll tear it all back down to resume work on the chassis.
Front Fender Adventures...
9-1-2012 As Dan cleaned up the front fenders, it became evident that they required a fair amount of work. The right front fender appeared to have been damaged at the factory, crudely repaired, and leaded over to cover up the damage. It was in the area of complex curvature on the innermost side of the edge where the fender bolts to the running board. The design of that end of the fender is very poor. Looking at the underside of the fender, you can see an ell-shaped flange that was welded to the sheet metal. The problem is that it is fabricated in such a way that it creates a pocket within which dirt and moisture will naturally accumulate. It was an invitation to rust. I had noticed that as I found front fenders over the years, they were always rusty in this area (usually rusted through). And if you look at this picture, it's clear why that happens:
And the whole area near the flange that bolts to the running board had been malformed and required "major surgery." Here, you can see that Dan has cut the fender in a couple of areas and welded a proper patch. He is shrinking the area marked by X's and will subsequently weld the cuts back together. The objective is to have the fender fit the frame accurately where it fastens, fit the running board and align with it, and be free of crude patches and gobs of lead.
You can click on the image to see it in more detail.
And here the fender is finished and remounted on the car. The vertical joint now lines up perfectly with the splash apron and the horizontal flange on the rear of the fender fits exactly to the running board.
In the meantime, Dan has started working on the left front fender to smooth out a few wrinkles. He covers the entire surface with felt tipped magic marker dye. Then, very patiently, he goes over every millimeter of the surface with a flat file or a sanding sheet fastened to a hard flat surface. This reveals any low spots, even those that you wouldn't see until you got a glossy finish on the metal, and then it's too late to fix. Here you can see the left front fender in progress:
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