What's in the shop

[MP&C]

Well, doing some final touches to the tailgate. One thing I didn't care for was how the corners folded when putting on the skin.





So I unfolded the corners and thought I'd make a tool that would give me a nice "anvil" for forming a small radius. As the inner was rather close on the bottom corners my tool would need a relief so it would rest against the inside of the skin. Here's what I came up with, drilled a hole in the end of the punch, slightly offset from center, and cleaned away two sides for a nice corner tool...



In use, and the result...







Also had issue folding the top seam with the "standard" door skin hammer..



So as I had a spare, the hammer was refaced a steeper angle and dressed to a mirror finish..



For a better fit...



Comparing the angle between the two..



All the corners were then finished off with a file, for a nice radiused corner.

[jlrussell4]

The details make all the difference in jobs. Nice detail work Robert.

[MP&C]

Finally got off my duff today and fired up the South Bend. I had picked up some used skateboard wheels from the San Diego flea market last time I visited. As Jim Stabe can probably attest, that has been awhile and if it weren't for them being in a plastic bag, I would have needed to dust them off.





I had three of these, and the first order of business was to open the bearing pockets up to .94 to fit to the bead roller...





One was left flat, two were given a v-groove, different depths








Trial run......















Yeah, I think I'm gonna like these....

[MP&C]

As a follow up to Post 162, I have another School Bus coming in for repair, so I'll use the opportunity to paint the repaired door as well. I scuffed the door and applied some Evercoat 416 glazing for the remaining minor defects. The minimal amount shown here indicates how well the aluminum skin responded to the donut dolly shrinking.








A bit more time spent and it could easily have been 100% metal finished. But this is afterall, a school bus.....one that will likely be back again

[MP&C]

Not much to show but the truck did get some "new" shoes this weekend (and I swept the floor! ). I picked up four used RV tires for setup/fitment purpose so I can get the front and rear axles squared away. I plan on using 255/70R22.5's (eventually) but at about 400+ per tire new, these will fit the bill while finishing the project. Where these are 235/80's, the diameter is close enough to get all the suspensions set up.

[MP&C]

Tying up some loose ends on the wagon, Door gaps tonight....

Pulled the door off again to fold the leading edge of the door skin. I had neglected it earlier as the fender was not installed. I prefer to compare between the two for better gaps.



As the gaps looked close, I used the existing fold and wrapped tight up to where the radius up top starts. The flange there is almost left straight, so it's hard to judge while on the car, as it hits the fender. I folded that one partially so it could be adjusted again, if need be.







Once installed again, with the upper flange not sticking straight forward and hitting the fender you can better judge the gap. Here I'll use a compass the add a parallel line on the front edge of the door. Keep in mind as you get higher on the door, keep the compass paralled with the side of the car, and not perpendicular to the fender edge, or the mark will get wider for an incorrect gap..





The compass mark will help to realign the fold for a more precise gap.. There was a widening at about the center of the radius, so some vice grips were used to "tweak" the flange around, until the compass mark is parallel to the new flange crease...







For the finished door gaps...





Now the typical tight area on these cars, the door to windshield post. These are too close at the top and will risk paint chips.



Time to use the compass again...





And a 4-1/2 sander trims it down to the line, also opening up the flange seam....



The seam is pinched together as it's welded...









The front and rear is sanded first to get rid of the bulk of the weld, then the edge is dressed up a bit..





Dressed, it will need one more weld bead down the edge and clean up again. Getting late this evening, so we'll save that for another day..

[Carbuilder]

Robert great tip on using the vise grip to pull the edge lip out for a better gap.

[MP&C]

Danny, I had left that part of the fold at a 90 as I knew it was going to be a trouble spot. The 90 bend allowed the fender to fit in close for marking the gap and made easier work of moving the bend..

[MP&C]

One of the local Studebaker owners needed some panels made for the dash of his truck (1947 M5), he's revamping the dash gauge/radio arrangement and needed some fresh metal to work with. Here's the existing:





Where the factory panel has a recess, and since he has plans for installing a couple gauges in that panel, the new will be made without the recess. The flat panel above for the DIN radio will be replaced as well, with the sides tipped for uniformity.


The old panel has seen some previous holes, for whatever reason.











Where the rubber tire on top of the e-wheel does a nice job of forming a radius across a panel, the upper portion of the panel was a bit tighter than the 3" radius anvil will provide.





Having just set up my bead roller with the skateboard wheel for tipping, I thought to use this with a beading die to form the tighter radius.





Here's the results of "rolling" the panel








The panel has about an 1/8" lip around the perimeter, so the radius die was changed out to one for tipping.





With only just over 1/8 of extra to tip the flange, this process was not that effective. Hindsight, about 1/4 left over and trimmed afterwards would have been more effective. But since the panel matched so well, lets try other persuasive devices.








The tipping wheel did do an adequate job of marking the crease location....








And the "vice anvil" and a slapper was used to fold the straight lip over to a 90....





A different anvil was chosen for tipping the radiused edges...











And a punch used to form the 4 corner radiuses...











And once complete, the comparison.........








Then the same process was used for the upper plate. The folded edges on this will make it match the lower panel a bit better and make it look more as an original piece...











And the two together...





For now, we are leaving the mounting holes out. It may even get some studs welded on the back side, for a clean look. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

[GARAGEMSANTOS]

After reading over 11 pages i have to say that you are a very talented person!!
I apreciate everything about your posts!!!

Thank you!