1940 Packard 120 Convertible Restoration

[tune_1]

What an opportunity. You will learn a lot when you replace what they have done in the lead. Problem solving is when I learn the most. Great work

Dwight

[BlueJeep]

What do you use for blast media and what blaster do you use? Looks VERY nice! And your work just gets better and better, I like it!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I just scrolled thru page 5 and my jaw about hit the floor.... Nuff said?

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by tune_1

What an opportunity. You will learn a lot when you replace what they have done in the lead. Problem solving is when I learn the most. Great work

Dwight

I've been watching "how-to" vids on youtube to get an idea of what to do. I did a couple seams on the firewall and pillar post last Friday; it was easier than I thought it would be. I decided to go with real lead instead of the lead-free version since it has a lower melting point and a much wider elastic working range. The lead-free version has a pretty narrow heat range before it melts and runs off the panel- didn't think that be good to learn with. I will eventually try the lead-free once I get a better feel of working with the lead version.

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

What do you use for blast media and what blaster do you use? Looks VERY nice! And your work just gets better and better, I like it!

Just plain sand, fine/extra fine. We bought a used Volks Air compressor and the blaster came with it. It didn't have any markings on it, not sure who built it.

[theastronaut]

Made a video of the lead work but had to break it up into smaller clips to get it to upload. I'm still trying to get the hang of getting the lead soft but not melted so it's shapeable. The middle section isn't as much of a problem; it heats up pretty evenly. The edges are much more difficult to get the lead heated evenly. The outside "skin" melts and runs off but the inside of the chunks are still hard. I did turn the torch down a bit and that seemed to help.

1940 Packard 120 Convertible Coupe Restoration-...

1940 Packard Convertible Coupe Restoration-...

1940 Packard 120 Convertible Coupe Restoration-...

1940 Packard 120 Convertible Coupe Restoration-...

[theastronaut]

I went over the area to be leaded with a wire brush to make sure it was smooth/clean before applying the solder paste.




After filing the lead flat. This is an odd area to shape, the upper half is slightly concave in both directions so the flat file could only do so much shaping.





So I sanded it with 36 grit to finish shaping it. I know you're not supposed to sand lead, but the 36 grit is so rough that it doesn't make fine dust particles. I was wearing a mask of course.





The 36 grit lead "dust", almost big enough to be called shavings. This isn't small/light enough to float around in the air so I felt ok about sanding with 36 grit.

[theastronaut]

Got most of the lead work done, ran out of lead sticks before I was able to finish the last rear quarter/trunk panel seam.

I melted out the last two spots I had left on for reference and blasted the areas to clean out the rust that was underneath. The top pic shows just how far the edge was pounded in from the factory.






Filled in the driver side quarter seam. I'll have to remove the bracing before I can file it smooth.




Door jambs filled and smoothed.




Shot the body with a couple coats of PPG DP74LF epoxy. I'll get it back on the frame next and start welding in the new panels.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work! How is the vehicle owner holding up?

[swamp rat]

^^ X 2 , ya just don't see lead work much these days..

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work! How is the vehicle owner holding up?

Thanks! He's enjoying the process so far.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

^^ X 2 , ya just don't see lead work much these days..

We couldn't find anyone local that has used it, had hoped to get some pointers before starting. Had to get on youtube and watch what other guys were doing before I attempted it.

[theastronaut]

I cut the jump-seat base out and made a new panel. This was an easy piece to make... the rest of the rear seat area kicked my butt...




Like the middle pans, the only thing I had to go by for the rear pans were the pictures and measurments taken earlier from another car. I made a (really) rough draft of a template to start mapping out the bead lines and body mount areas. The pictures I had were barely adequate to get the measurements correct, so there were a couple areas that all I could do was make the proportions look right. I doubt there will be any show judges crawling on their backs under the car with tape measures. Once I had the rough template in the car I made some corrections and transferred that to translucent paper. That template still needed some fine tuning before I could transfer the pattern to sheetmetal.






The rear pans are mirrored so I can flip the pattern and use it for both sides.




Checking the fit of the right rear pan. It's not in there straight since the outer rear edge needs to be turned down into a flange to fit against the fenderwell. Once that's done it'll slide all the way back into place. I'm 90% finished with the left pan so I can start welding the inner/outer rockers, quarter, and front lower cowl panels in place. The inner/outer rockers sandwich the floor pans so I needed to have all of the pans done before anything else could be welded in for good.

[MP&C]

Nice fabrications.......

[shok]

You could probably have a pretty popular YouTube channel with videos featuring your restoration projects.

[Russell Ashley]

This is going to be he nicest 1940 Packard in existence. The owner must be extremely happy.

[MP&C]

John, saw a nifty little tool online today and thought of you.... may need one for all the floor pan work you're doing..


http://www.allmetalshaping.com/showp...5&postcount=75

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by MP&C

Nice fabrications.......

Originally Posted by shok

You could probably have a pretty popular YouTube channel with videos featuring your restoration projects.

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

This is going to be he nicest 1940 Packard in existence. The owner must be extremely happy.

Thanks dudes, appreciate the comments!

Originally Posted by MP&C

John, saw a nifty little tool online today and thought of you.... may need one for all the floor pan work you're doing..


http://www.allmetalshaping.com/showp...5&postcount=75

I'll have to build one of those! That would be very helpful when I get to the trunk pan. Thanks for posting that!

[theastronaut]

With the floor pans mostly roughed in I turned back to the section under the back seat. I had the center section made but needed to make the side pieces. The left side is fabbed and welded in, just started on the right side last week.



I bent the back edges of the floor pans to fit against the rear seat floor section. Also trimmed the rear seat pan to fit up nicely once it's ready to weld in, and drilled holes for the plug welds.




You can see how the back edge of the floor pan will weld to the inner fenderwell and bottom of the seat pan.




This is looking into the right quarter panel from the inner fenderwell. The fenderwell should be covering this, so you can't see in... I decided to go ahead and cut this area out since it was in such bad shape and the rear seat pan edges needed to weld to the fenderwell.




After cutting out the lower front fenderwell and edge of the seat pan. It's amazing that the car didn't collapse in on itself; this was a body mount area that is completely rotted away.





Made a new seat pan edge.




Blasted and painted the floor braces with Por15.





Made a template for the inner fenderwell skin.

[dantimdad]

Unreal!!!

As my dad would have said "Jack up the radiator cap and throw a whole new car under it!"



Steven

[flashed]

Im still amazed at every update on this project ,looks great.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by dantimdad

Unreal!!!

As my dad would have said "Jack up the radiator cap and throw a whole new car under it!"



Steven

That's pretty accurate!

Originally Posted by flashed

Im still amazed at every update on this project ,looks great.

Appreciate it!!

[theastronaut]

I have the right inner fender bottom welded in, and the rear seat pan welded in on the areas that I can get to. I'll have to flip it on the rotisserie to finish welding the middle section, there is about 16" in the middle that I can't reach from the top side.









With the seat pan in I mocked up the inner/outer rockers and floor pans so I could start on the inner B-pillar brace and finish the outer B-pillar section.





Bottom half of brace made.

[Advanced Design]

Continued nice work! Really enjoying following along.

[Russell Ashley]

Amazing. That's he only word I can think of to describe this build.

[Low Elco]

Awesome! I'm enjoying following.

[Ol Blue K20]

Simply put REMARKABLE !!!

[Bomp]

Every time I stop to check up on your progress I end up looking at the pics for 45 minutes or so.
Great job.
Keeps me on point with my little attempts.