LONG TERM RESTORATION PROJECTS

All the latest Long Term Resto news can be found here. The latest news is at the top. Click here to see the first news. Click here to go back to the main Projects page.

Dodge roof insert - Fintan
Sorry i've been so long updating, we've been very busy, over the next few weeks i'll try and get right up to date. Anyway on with the next installment.
the roof on the dodge had been filled with an insert at some time in the past, however it was very badly brazed on and we decided to replace it with a fresh correctly installed insert. the first job was to remove all the previous repair leaving us with four good straight sides to weld to.
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the next stage was to cut a blank from 20 gauge mild steel and form a compound curve on the english wheel to replicate the exact shape required, we knew what shape it had to be without travelling backwards and forwards to the cab, this was done with a set of sweeps. These are a set of 50 five foot long gauges with a very slightly different curve on each one that are all numbered 1-50 number one being the slightest curve, the rest of the curves on the body through the sides had all been a no. 12 so we went with a no. 12 for the roof insert as well. Progress is checked on the english wheel by laying the sweep across the panel until the correct curve is reached.
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once the panel and the hole are very carefully trimmed to give a perfect fit , the panel is then butt welded in using oxy/acetylene. And hammer welded a small section of the roof at a time, after welding is complete there is a lot of distortion present. However because the oxy/acetylene leaves such a soft weld it can be bought out to the correct shape with hammer and dolly work. the finished job is one that posses's the correct shape, leaves almost invisible welds and will require very little prep before refinishing.

Dodge front wings - Fintan
One of the main focal points of the truck is it's front grille and beautifully shaped front wings.the problem we came across with the wings was the badly welded on patches and the(for want of a better word)mashed up metalwork above the patches, both the wings are damaged in the same places, more than likely the result of a rear bumper from another car. There wasn't much to go by when it came to assesing the original shape, but some carefull measuring and a few templates later we had a blank cut for each wing, the double curvature was formed on the wheel and the swage was reproduced on the Jenny with a pair of stepping wheels, also to be taken into account was that these wings have a wired edge on there return lip, once panels were finished the wings were scribed and trimmed back to allow for an oxy/acetylene butt weld. After some hammer and dolly work to correct distortion from welding the heavily creased metal above was dealt with using the same panel beating techniques. these repairs were very time consuming and there was no quick fix, but as you can see from the photos the results were well worth the effort.

33 Dodge - Fintan
One of the job's we were asked to carry out was the fabrication of a completely new and different pick up bed. The old bed was very agricultural looking (angular and boxy), the new bed was to be 5 inches shorter had to have some elegant looking stake pockets a sprinkling of louvres and some round tube tops, also the new bed had to be 1/2 an inch narrower as the tyres were very close to bed sides.
The main construction of the bed was all pretty straightforward using 1 inch box for the base and 16 gauge steel for the panels, capped with 38mm tube on top. the tricky part was the stake pockets, paul sketched a few different styles and Gary (owner) picked the style he liked most.
I started off plasma cutting a piece of 12mm steel to the req'd shape and profile the edges with a 12mm round edge, another piece was then cut 12mm smaller, both pieces were drilled for locating each other. I then cut 8 blanks from 18 gauge steel that were also drilled for location. one at a time the blanks were sandwiched between the 2 formers and with various bits of hardwood and ally the edge was very slowly formed over the radius resulting in 8 blanks exactly the same size and shape, they were then clamped in a fixture and a centre strip was welded in place. They took a while to make but we felt it was worth it as it's little touches like this that make a good looking truck. In the last photo you can also see a new tailgate with hidden hinges and a recessed centre (to be louvered) and a new rear pan with swage lines in the same style as rear wings.

33 Dodge - Fintan
I thought we would show you the build up of one of the latest vehicles for us to take on as it is such a good looking truck. We have been asked to make a shorter more stylish bed for it, and to make good of all metalwork prior to refinishing.
For the age of this truck the bodywork is'nt in to bad a shape, usual rot and stress cracks in all fenders, floors and bottom edges of cab are shot and one or two modifications are required. the truck came to us as in first 2 pictures and is pretty much as it was when it was shipped in from states. Apart from a very nicely designed and installed air bag kit in all four corners with an IFS up front, all work on suspension has been carried out by Wisbech Engineering.please follow as work progress's.

Lancia Aurellia B24 rear arch - Fintan
In the next few photos we will show the replacement of the rear inner and outer arch. As you can see from the first photo the rear arch was made up of 15 little sections all welded together, the shape was all wrong and it lacked the crisp swage line that runs around the arch.


This picture shows the rear arch inner and outer edges removed. The engineers blue is used to highlight the line that we scribed around the new arch to aid accurate trimming so that we end up with a perfectly fitting butt joint.


Here you can see the inner arch has had an edge added all the way around, before this photo was taken the outer arch was pinned in place and a line scribed around the inner prior to trimming.


the new arch was made from a steel blank taken from a template, the arch was rough beaten into shape and then smoothed on the english wheel, the tricky bit was running the swage line around the edge with the beader and then forming the return lip, as the return lip is formed over a T dolly the actual arch radius reduces quite alarmingly, this resulted in the first arch ending in the scrap bin, second time around I made the arch radius larger to compensate for reduction whilst forming took place. The arch is then tack welded in place, final welding will take place once rear valance has been repaired, lower edge of arch has been made too long and will be trimmed at a later date.

Lancia B24 Aurellia - Fintan
This section involves the reshaping of rear light housings. When these cars were made they left the factory with a small elegant rear light unit. However shortly after production they were all recalled to the Lancia dealers and had to have a more bulky unit fitted to comply with new laws stating the sizes of rear lights had to be larger.These lights ruined the lovely flowing lines of the rear wings. The owner of this car managed to get hold of a set of the original light units and asked us to reshape the rear wings to accomodate the smaller units.

We had a couple of photos to use as reference for locating new units. we started by making an accurate backing for the unit and fixing it in place, we then cutaway all metal that would not conform to the shape required.

The work was carried out using 3 pieces of steel. starting with cardboard templates these were transferred onto 20 gauge steel, each piece was roughed to shape using a bossing mallet and a shot bag, after reaching req'd shape they were smoothed out with a planishing hammer and forming head. Then scribed, trimmed and buttwelded in place with a T.I.G welder. this method creates little distortion and leaves a surface that can be metal finished.

Although a relatively small job it req'd planning and continual standing back to ensure all lines flowed into light units.

LANCIA AURELLIA B24 - INTRODUCTION

The Lancia Aurellia B24 Convertible was first produced in 1957 and was handbuilt by the famous pinninfarina factory. It was a two seater convertible with a removeable hardtop.these cars had a 2.6 litre V6 Ally engine fed by a twin body Weber carburetor. The gearbox was located in the back of the body and incorporated the rear axle.The combination of beautifull looks and performance to match made these cars an instant success. The vehicle we are working on is a 1957 model and one of only 176 to leave the factory in that year. when we took delivery of the car the structural condition was an unknown quantity, however as we started to remove many layers of paint and underseal it became apparent what we were up against. The single biggest drawback with restoring these cars is that there is no panels available for them, everything has to be hand fabricated. Please follow along as we rebuild this car.the following chapters run in no particular order.