1930 Roadster Volkster

[markh]

Missing photos.

[markh]

Got the header bow shaped and installed.


Still working on the front latch system.

Volksrodder Mundo stopped by to check progress this past Sunday and we brainstormed some ideas on the latching system and tack strips and overall head room.

With all the tubing done, also got the chicken wire stretched over the new frame:



Will be shaping some oak tack strips for the back edge and around the window frames. Following will be some padding to soften the shape. Following the tack strips, I just might stop there and hand it off to a top shop to have it padded and wrapped? That's something beyond my skill set.

[markh]

Ok, the lower edge tack strips are attached to the top but need some shaping. Also cranked out some really cool brackets to hold the top to the back edge to the deck.




After some clean up and final shaping, they will be attached to the top and go something like this:

[markh]

Missing photos.

[markh]

Missing photos.

[markh]

Missing photos.

[markh]

Ok, so pulled the motor out and yanked off the tins for cleaning and detailing. The shroud had a couple of holes so filled them in and sanded it down.
There is a push rod tube pretty dented so I'll pull the heads and swap those for fun. Also got a new clutch plate installed. The plan is to color match all the tins so not much chrome on this one.


With the motor out, I got to work on relocating the actuators to the top of the shock towers.
motor out:


Because I don't have clearance to drill in to the cross brace, I bent up some brackets to mount the bracket.


When I was doing a rough guess on the further back actuator location, I guesstimated on the length and general shape of the deck/trunk lid mounts.

Feeling confident, I cut out 4 new plates:


Using the original mount, I fitted a side up:


Completely wrong. So cut them apart and reposition:

Now my starting point was with the actuator fully retracted and the trunk lid closed. To the left of the bracket you see two black pen marks. This is where the bracket "should" go. With the actuator fully extended, this is where the brackets end up. Oops!
The limitation is the actuator arm hits the edge of the trunk lid being higher up and at such an angle that the bracket will not go on those two black marks.

Four hours shot.

My choices are to leave them in their current working location OR re-take Geometry or some form of mechanical engineering. The current location looks great...that was a dumb idea MUNDO!

With the motor out, I've also been working on the rear cooling seal that wraps up and around. Been bending metal tracks that will be added here shortly.

[markh]

Well, didn't give up on the repositioned actuator. Tried a number of things and still couldn't get it to work so...went on with bodywork. Got another quick coat of primer shot. Everything is still a little wet but at least now I can start looking for spots I missed or waves or whatever...


All this sanding is starting to pay off. The fan shroud in the back had some holes filled and also a shot of primer.


The front quarter panels turned out better than expected.


There are a million little detailed spots that need a quick sand or more attention. Those will get worked out over the next couple of weeks.

A little dark:

[markh]

Taking a break from block sanding, turned attention to the headlight mounts. Wasn't real happy with the previous mounts, so made a couple mounts that attach permanently to the body.



Lots of grinding work to go.


Not sure what went wrong, but after measuring a dozen times in different directions and duplicate patterns of the one completed side, one side is off. With everything in the "proper" place, the passenger side headlight is a shy under a 1/2" closer to the hood. Same height at the mount, same spacing between the shock towers, the passenger side was just a 1/2" too close to the quarter panel. Oh well, close enough. At least the height matches!

[markh]

There has been progress in bodywork since last post. Nothing exciting. Before leaving for a three week family vacation I was working on the upper driver side door hinge pin. Well, it broke in half inside the hinge so smashed the hinge with a big hammer.

Now I'm needing an upper door hinge.


Got the front headlight mounts smoothed out and shot in high-build:


Also got around to making a battery box:

It attaches to the cross brace so when I get to wiring, I can find a sweet spot and screw it to it.

Got the dash all shaped and the underside transition all smoothed out.


This is where I left off for the weekend. One more good session of block sanding and it will be ready for paint.


Oh, I also found out the little single port motor is shot. It has a mile of crank end play....This issue could very well delay completion. So if someone is reading along and has an upper driver side door hinge with a good pin or no pin, send me a message.

[markh]

Got the new door hinge and a vast majority of the block sanding done. Those photos are the come.

BUT - I got anxious and picked up some color. The car will be rootbeer brown on top of the bodyline and Champagne below.

The engine bay, interior, under the front hood will all be rootbeer. The engine tins will be Champagne as well.

Because it has been a while since I shot paint, I wanted to shoot a couple areas that were less visible and less important. Started with the engine bay, then the underside of the engine decklid/trunk lid, then the rear valance.

So out of sequence are the photos below, but as I became more confident in the way the paint was going, I got to the rear valance.

Shot two coats of clear. Aside from some dirty bits I am pleased with my garage job.

On with photos.





Rear valance


The underside of the '29 trunk lid.


Engine Bay

[markh]

When I picked up thee door hinge I got to talking to the guy and he rebuilds motors. Bonus.
He and I are going to do a partial swap and for a little bit of cash and some extra tins. He is going to deliver a good compression, no crank end play 1600 SP long block. So to prepare, I needed to get the tins ready. So paint all the tins I did. Was hoping for more a lighter Champaign color however, a little more gold, I think it works well with the Root beer. What will change is the color of the pinstripe and wheel color. Looks like those are going white. The interior and carson top will also be white.







Next up interior, front trunk, and the rest of the car. Should be done with painting early May. Then the fun part begins.....reassembly!

[markh]

To get the junk motor out of the way until I get it swapped out with a good one, threw the tins on and shoved it in the trunk.



To see what the rear will look like with the rear valance and taillights installed, quickly bolted that on.





With the underside of the trunk lid and engine compartment done, I'll re-install the trunk and mask the engine compartment so I can start shooting the outside.

[markh]

Ok, so you know how on those shows where they crank out hotrods in a couple of days and the bodywork takes, what seems less than 30 minutes??? I call bull. In my case, that is certainly not happening here.

So if anyone noticed the previous photo, more specifically the driver side door:


Did you notice how the bottom edge and how it didn't align well with the quarter panel?

To zero in, here is a closer look:


I tried once to suck it in but the misalignment still remained. Thought through the magic of TV, it would go away...well, it didn't and started to keep me awake at night. That is until today.

Today, I found a way to relief cut the inside frame and pinch it together.

Now we have:


That makes me happy. A little more filler work, a new coat of primer and I'll give up. Paint will be flying next. Stupid bodywork!

Speaking of paint, because of the dark root beer and champagne color, the wife mentioned that a white wheel and white pin stripe will tie the colors together rather than the black wheels.


Changing wheel color is cheap. We'll see if she is right.

[markh]

After blocking out the bottom of the door and the quarter panel yet again, I must have found a dozen other little details to "icing" over. Then again a thin coat of primer blocked out to 320, wiped down and started shooting some color.

Ok, this took me 6 hours in the garage. The front quarters, inner fender well, the inside front door jamb and the front hood color break.



With those hard to reach areas and jambs done, when I go to shoot the entire outside, this will make it a lot easier.

Also got the doors done.




I ran out of paint.
Lots of orange peel to cut.
Happy to report no runs in the color and only a small run in the clear on the passenger side below the door.

However, once the clear is cut, the tops of the doors will need another dusting of paint and re-cleared. Again, ran out of paint. I have probably the worst lighting set up in the world. Or it could be the painter? I'll blame it on lighting.

With that said, these were the best of the series of photos. What you don't see in the doors and the front quarters is the striping I got in the color coat. Basically, the entire sides of the car will need another dusting and re-cleared.
Even with the striping in the color, nothing ran!



There will be a small rootbeer pin stripe just under the body line. A large white pinstripe will break up the top of the doors and the pin stripe. A smaller thin pinstripe will be to the bottom of the small root beer pinstripe.

Later.

[markh]

Finally, the car is painted. What an exhausting 15 hours. The time killer was taping and masking the two-tone over and over and over.

Anyway, here we go:







Above, you can see the super fine pinstripe on the door.






Keep in mind, this is a garage paint job with bargain equipment. I have two manageable runs and an orchard of orange peel to cut.

There are a couple thin spots and a touch of overspray in the door jambs, but all in all, it will be just fine.

The BC/CC system I used was Wanda, made by Sikkens. Very forgiving product that worked just fine with my equipment and "booth."

Will get the pan seal in and affix the body, then start re-wiring as the paint cures.

[markh]

After a good day of rest, started back at it with cutting down the 45 year old windshield. The cut went well, the install...not so well.
A little too big for the opening. Lesson learned:


Next one, just a tad smaller.

You can see the fog in the glass. It also had scratches from the wiper blades. Don't feel bad about breaking it.


Got the body bolted to the pan and all of the underside stuff done. Threw it back on the ground and started sorting the wiring and steering.


Also started in on the heavy clear issues with some 600 then 1000. Final will be at 1200 before buffing.


More color sanding to go!


Also have interior panels to start sorting out.

[markh]

Starting buffing out the clear. Still have polish to go, but I'm happy with my garage paint job. I could go further and nip out more of the orange peel along the bodylines on the hood and sides, but I'll save that for a rainy day.



Finished the wiring. Even got the turn signals to work! Have a few more wires to tuck away and looms to zip tie and secure, but the wiring is done.

The brown carpet kit arrived. Just waiting until all the polishing is done.

Also picked up some off white marine vinyl for the upholstery.



Have an alignment needing done and the new windshield cut and installed.

Need the white pinstripes for the bodyline. I might try one of those tape stripes and see if that works? If not, I'll paint a line. Still undecided. The top will be white and the pinstripe should pull it all together with the wheels.



The front suspension could use a fresh coat of paint.

The rear shocks are once again connected. Thanks Ray for coming over on Saturday and helping out!



Overall though...pretty happy.





Next update should be interior, top and a running motor. Hopefully...

[markh]

Working on interior panels. Picked up some 3/8 board, some really thin dense padding and glue.
Put it all together:


Squish it:


Trim, pull, tuck and glue the back edges and door panels and quarter panels done.


The little paint stick that has made it in the previous photos has a rounded edge. I used the stick to press the vinyl into the grooves and around the padding underneath.

Those are the quarter panels, here are the door panels mounted:


Have the passenger side arm rest to paint and the driver side needs another coat before called done.


Also decided to wrap the rear firewall panel with vinyl. This is Marine grade vinyl in sort of a slight white.

The firewall is obviously behind the seat and no one will really see it until the seat is pushed forward. So made a little design and done.



Since the rear is actually '29 Ford quarters and not '30, I went ahead and stuck a little raised '29 just for fun.



The rear panel is not screwed in. It will move up a half inch or so once permanently attached. The other side of the firewall panel got that aluminum backed sound deadening material. There wont be much heat at the firewall so not too concerned about the vinyl.

Still have seat and top to have done professionally. Those are beyond my skill set.

NO motor yet. Still looking....

[markh]

Still clipping away at little bits. Installed some seat belts and secured the gas tank. Still in the market for a replacement motor and I still need to finish the windshield cut.

Otherwise, goofing around today and thought I would try and chop a scrap door and do the wing window thing.

Went about and chopped the door down and figured where everything had to go:





And the frame is done.

Never mind the welds...ran out of gas long before I decided to do this so I knew the welds would look awesome.

Anyway:



Rolled the window down 4" and started putting the pieces back on. Since the door doesn't need to fit anything, I just needed the door frame to work so I could try the wing vent.

I used all the old stuff to see how it would reassemble



Kind of works.. The "glass" you see is a really flimsy piece of plexi.

Back to the "kind of works" statement. I say that because the top pivot is not mounted to the frame!

Stupid details. It made sense when I started but it stopped after reinstalling the frame.



Lesson learned:
Retaining the wing vent is a little more challenging than one might expect.

If you are feeling ambitious or distracted with your current project and have a spare 4 or 5 hours of nothing to do on a rainy day....give it a shot!

[markh]

Been thinking about that gap between the bench seat and the rear deck. Decided to build a deck to fill it in. Don't know if you would call it a deck but more of a filler panel.


With the bench seat back in, it does the job.




The side notches allow for the shoulder belts and the rear big notches are for the carson top hooks. I will make some aluminum trim pieces to cap off the holes and give the hooks a resting place as the carson top is lowered on to the car.


The only drawback is all the time spent upholstering the rear firewall and now you will never see it.

[markh]

Got around to wrapping the rear "PARCEL TRAY" thing in marine vinyl. Pretty sure that's what it's called anyway...



The stainless L-channel (shaped like a U) going around the carson top receiver holes need fastened but that's no big deal.





Still have seat and top to upholster. I should be getting around to putting that windshield in sometime this winter.

[markh]

Been a while but I finally got the new windshield cut and installed. Only broke one this time around so getting better at this glass cutting thing.

First attempt:


Also pulled out the old motor and found a really great deal on a newer 1600DP which I couldn't leave alone so dressed it up.

Old:


Dressed up new:


Mundo came over last weekend and helped me get it stabbed back in. Hooked up all the stuff and had distributor issues. Working to make it run.

Meanwhile, the seat and top are out at the upholsters. Should have those back for a new update by the end of March. Hopefully get it out on the open road for a little testing and needed adjusting. Hopefully nothing will fall off.

[markh]

Got the motor installed. Ran in to a couple of issues:
1) The firing order was 180 degrees out so wired it accordingly and it runs. Definitely needs timed, valves and carb adjusted.

2) The carb height for air cleaner. When I was mocking everything up, I was using a single port with a 30 pict carb on a single port intake.
With the dual port I had to install that adapter for the intake to 30 pict carb. Just one extra inch in height would squash the air cleaner.

So...after a couple of different filters and more research, found a couple bus air intake tubes. Not one, but sacrificed two to make this:

There is just enough room for the '29 trunk lid to close.



Believe it or not, the flat spot directly over the carb is necessary or the trunk lid hits it.

Plan to bodywork it and paint it.

Talked to my interior guy today and he should have the seat back to me by the 1st. He may also have the top done by then but we'll see.

[markh]

The seat came back from the upholsterer. A couple days later than expected but at least it's in. He did exactly what I asked for in design with the big bolster under the knees and in the center. The seat sort of cuddles you and it's comfortable so that is great. The only issue now is the added padding in the seat has raised the seat enough that it will cause problems when the top is on. Will most likely need to modify the seat mounting points to bring the seat down another inch to give enough head room. Has plenty of leg room and seat travel for sure. Oh boy...

Photos are a little dark but you get the idea. This is with the seat pushed all the way back. As it sits, it's a little hard to reach the pedals:





The top is suppose to be done today...Maybe. . He said the top will be much easier than the seat job so we'll see soon enough.