1940 Packard 120 Convertible Restoration

[flashed]

You do amazing metal work ,thanks for taking us along .

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by flashed

You do amazing metal work ,thanks for taking us along .

Thanks!


Made the driver side kick panel patch.







The cowl vent was rusty so I cut it out.




Blasted a spot so I could match up the mesh with new stainless mesh from McMaster Carr.

10 openings per inch.




.020" wire size.




.082" openings.




McMaster didn't have the exact mesh size but it'll be close enough that nobody will notice.

[duallyjams]

A concours judge will deduct .5 of a point for that.

[dantimdad]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

A concours judge will deduct .5 of a point for that.

What strikes me as funny about that is factories used to rig stuff to get them to ship out all the time. Even on expensive cars. So concourse judging is kind of silly because if you rigged it like it was, they would deduct points.

Steven

[duallyjams]

Originally Posted by dantimdad

What strikes me as funny about that is factories used to rig stuff to get them to ship out all the time. Even on expensive cars. So concourse judging is kind of silly because if you rigged it like it was, they would deduct points.

Steven

I was just kidding, John's attention to every detail is amazing.

[dantimdad]

Oh yeah, I figured you were kidding, just pointing out how goofy the "experts" are about judging cars.

My dad's 65 had a big blotch of caulk on the floor board covering up a small hole that had to be done at the factory cause he didn't do it and it was painted over. I have never seen that on any of the other trucks I have owned or seen pictures of.

Just goes to show what can and will be done at an auto plant.



Steven

[theastronaut]

It's been mentioned in the "Factory Correct Restoration Thread" in the 60-66 section that nobody would ever build a '60-66 truck back exactly the way there were originally. Things like seam sealer and brushed on brushed on "black-out" paint were just thrown on to get it down the line quickly. Not to mention that the quality of materials is so much nicer that what was used back then; it would be nearly impossible to replicate every little detail on a 100.00% restoration. It's always worth trying to get as close as possible though!

[theastronaut]

The local Packard guy that landed us the job brought a firewall section to the shop last week to use as patterns. First thing was to make toe boards.


Paper template.




Pattern transferred to metal, bead rolled, and the botom edge bent to match the floor pan.




Other side made, both pieces washed with PPG DX579 Metal Cleaner and DX520 Metal Conditioner.

[theastronaut]

Making the front inner rocker. Laid out the pattern on sheetmetal.






Pre-stretched the bead rolled area in the english wheel using the smallest diameter wheel. The beads will "pull" metal inward causing the metal to distort around the beads so this combats that from the start. Much easier to pre-stretch than it is to try to get the distortion out later.






Half round beads added. You can see that the area around the bead is flat.




After rolling the raised area using offset dies in the bead roller. Some distortion but it's minimal and easy to work out.




After about 5 minutes with a rubber mallet to flatten the panel.






The front corner was a little sharp so I used the tip of a screw driver and tapped it a little rounder. Then ground out the marks and smoothed it with a DA sander. Not really necessary on an inner rocker that no one will ever see...






After bending the top edge 90* and washing with PPG DX.

[theastronaut]

Same process on the rear half of the inner rocker.

[duallyjams]

Just amazing but it's always is amazing.
Hey add my name to the list of if I ever hit the lotto my first call will be to your shop to schedule to drop off my truck.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Just amazing but it's always is amazing.
Hey add my name to the list of if I ever hit the lotto my first call will be to your shop to schedule to drop off my truck.

I think chevyrestoguy and 67ChevyRedneck have you beat on that one.



Started on the braces that attach to or around the inner rocker. This one is the front floor/body mount brace that also goes up the inside of the kick panel. The deep recess with a curve in the middle made it a challenge. I wasn't able to stretch the center enough to make it in once piece so I used two pieces and formed the inner recess over a wooden/bondo buck. I'll make the top part from a separate piece and weld them together.

This is one of the parts that was too far gone to use for patterns. The other side was better but still not 100%.






Ugliest wooden buck in the history of wooden bucks... This was my second attempt at this, the part came out too small the first time. The part has an offset curve to the upper half so I made the buck shaped for one side, made the part, then built the buck back up with body filler and reshaped it to make it fit the other side.






Rear brace for the inner rocker. This ties the inner rocker to the fenderwell and floor.




Probably the most challenging part of the whole car. This brace goes inside the inner rocker under the hydraulic ram for the convertible top.

[theastronaut]

This should give you an idea of how big this car is. The inner rocker is 2-3" longer than the running boards on the '55 International with a 8' bed.

[flashed]

Wow ,I am constantly amazed at the parts you are able to make as needed .You should engineer replacement parts for for our old cars and trucks ,I bet they would fit better than the current repops .As always thanks for taking us along for the ride.

[nds1968]

Your bringing this car back from the dead, one piece at a time. Very nice work you do

[plainred65]

I'll be tuned in on this one too, seems nothing is beyond hope when it comes to your shop.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by flashed

Wow ,I am constantly amazed at the parts you are able to make as needed .You should engineer replacement parts for for our old cars and trucks ,I bet they would fit better than the current repops .As always thanks for taking us along for the ride.

Originally Posted by nds1968

Your bringing this car back from the dead, one piece at a time. Very nice work you do

Originally Posted by plainred65

I'll be tuned in on this one too, seems nothing is beyond hope when it comes to your shop.

Thanks dudes!! It really was almost dead, it's a wonder that the car didn't cave in back when they were driving it. The body mount areas are 80% gone, there wasn't much holding it to the frame.

[theastronaut]

Finished the left side curved/cupped front body mount/kick panel brace.




Test fitting the inner rocker and b-pillar piece for the first time.




Started building the outer rocker. I made this in two halves, upper and lower. The door jamb area had straight 90* bends that were easy to make in the brake but the outer part was curved to match the door's shape. I bent the inner bends first, then trimmed a straight curved outer edge with an extra 3/4" on the edge. We bought a set of 90* dies for the bead roller to make curved edges so that set of dies worked well to create the curved 90* edge. The bottom half was made the same way.




After trimming welding the two halves together. Still needs to be trimmed to the correct length and the jamb ends need to be shaped to blend into the a/b pillar bottoms.

[theastronaut]

I had already made the toe board repair panels so I welded the left side to the original panel.




Trimmed/clamped.




After welding and smoothing.




I knocked down the biggest part of the weld bead with three 4" cut off wheels stacked together to keep them from digging in. Then used the 3" 90* air grinder with a 36 grit disc, then an 80 grit disc to take out the deep grinding marks. Finished up with 60 grit on a DA sander.

[Clyde65]

Wow! I have a hard time wrapping my head around how you can visualize and then build these parts! My dad rebuilt a 1930 Chevy 2-door Coach a few years back and that was mostly wood we replaced, nothing like creating 36" of metal from a 2" original!

[skoolbusyeller72]

Amazing work as always ...

[NONHOG]

Love the work you do and........the crazy table and chair set!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

Wow! I have a hard time wrapping my head around how you can visualize and then build these parts! My dad rebuilt a 1930 Chevy 2-door Coach a few years back and that was mostly wood we replaced, nothing like creating 36" of metal from a 2" original!

That's one of the things that takes some time... figuring out the order the panels were assembled at the factory so they can be removed in the reverse order. Then visualizing how to make each piece; where to shrink/stretch, which bend needs to be done first so the next bend will fit in the brake, etc.

Originally Posted by skoolbusyeller72

Amazing work as always ...

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Love the work you do and........the crazy table and chair set!

We had a guy pull up in a Chevy work van a few years ago that needed a window regulator and the table set was in the back. They had taken it out of their beach house and was about to put it in storage. Ended up trading the regulator job for the table. It's from 1953. At one point we had an early 50's stove, fridge, and cabinet in the "kitchen" area of the shop that went perfectly with the table.

[theastronaut]

Got the toe board finished up. Had to make the gas pedal mount area and weld it in, patch the lower right side with the panel I made earlier, then weld the left and right sections together. Got it blasted and shot with epoxy this morning. The original primer color on the car was red oxide so I used DP74LF to match that.

[dantimdad]

Nice work!

I love mid century modern furniture. I build some when I get time.

Steven