February 2005

 

Last month was supposed to see all the front sheet metal all repaired and under primer. Seems things have been working against me. The latest obstacle was the motor on my compressor burning out on the last sections of the guards. Oh well, I have bought a new motor with a higher duty cycle than what came with the compressor. Even though the one that was on it should have been able to cope with the demands I expected. It is a cheap and nasty product so I should have expected it to happen. Just like every other product this company makes...I won't mention their name, but it just has 3 letters.

 

This is as far as I got with the guards. The jitterbug sander on top is what pushed the 12 cfm compressor to the brink. While I'm on the subject of sanding, I have been asked why I primer panels just to re work them. Well it's simple. I get to the stage where I can't visibly see, or feel, any highs or lows. When I primer them, a lot more is visible. It's like a guide coat. . I use 80 grit paper and replace it quite often. The weight of the jitterbug sander alone is good enough to take the right amount off in an even manner. This will show up things a lot clearer. I sand in a star pattern, trying to come at different angles is important. Especially on large curved section like the guards. Next phase will be primer again and then a guide coat of flat black. Any imperfection at this stage will be fairly minor.  

  The next pic is a diversion while the compressor is U/S. I ordered some gas struts ( springs ) to hold the bonnet open. I calculated that the same units I have in  the boot will work OK here as well. I made some measurements and fabricated a pair of brackets to fit under each lip on each side. I copied the same method as the original bonnet stay had. 

It fits neatly under the lip. The next pic is after I miged the bracket into place via some 3/16" hole I drilled into the lip, and a few more on the edge.

This is the completed job. There is, however, a problem that I did not for see. The hinges on these old cars allows the bonnet to push up when closed, under the gas strut pressure. The units I have are 200N capacity, which is about twice as much as I need. I will replace them with 100N units and see if that helps. Failing that, I've heard that there are units that have a valve that cuts the pressure off when the bonnet is near closed. I'll hunt them out.

  I decided to drag the radiator out from hiding, as I will need to make up some sort of upper mounting bracket to keep it from vibrating. I believe its a Commodore unit ( 4 core ) mounted vertically. Note the "V" notches in the tank so it can be pushed further forward into the grill. It required about 7 cores to be blocked off. It seemed to cope OK  cooling the blown 327 Chevy, so I think the Cleveland should be OK as well. 

I have about 3/4" between the front of the water pump and the radiator. That should be OK, but since I won't be running a mechanical fan, I can trim a bit off the pump which should be ample. Here it is from the front. I will make some sort of panel to force the air  through the radiator. There will be a huge thermo fan in the front. You can faintly see the outline where it used to sit. I am missing a lot of brackets that was taken off during its life, so I will take a trip with my camera to a rodder I know with a complete 37. I know I won't be able to use a lot of the original brackets, but I will be able to see what I can do to strengthen up the front. I have an idea for the upper radiator support as well.

I fitted the motor to my compressor and decided to finish off the front guards up to the block sanding stage. I am pleased with how well they turned out. I know I will find a few small imperfections when I block rub  but I know they will be  minor. I generally rub down with 180 wet to remove the flat black. If I find any high spots I can get them down fairly well with the 180 and a cork block. Lows are another story. The primer is relatively thick and can sand down and feathered slightly but generally it will need to be filled. Once I get the flat black off, I use 320 wet to get the whole lot smooth for top coat. If I find any pin holes or scratches at this stage, I use some spot putty. I get asked what primer I use. Since I'm happy with this product, it gets a mention. It's called Regal Universal Primer, 3000. It's self etching over steel and aluminium, high build and able to be reduced with general purpose thinners. Its also suitable to be sprayed over, or on, Acrylic or 2K. It has to be wet rubbed but if its well and truly cured, it can be lightly sanded dry. I primered under the guards as well. I will used some seam sealer to seal the lip and flanges. There are many water traps in theses old cars and prevention is better than cure. The rust I cut out is a classic example. I will primer over the seam sealer when it's cured.

Next pic is back to the bonnet and the gas springs. For anyone contemplating doing this I will highlight some pit falls that I didn't for see. The first one is that the brackets need to made so the strut mounting bolt can clear the side skirt when its near closed. Luckily, I had made mine wide enough to just miss after a slight bending

The next obstacle was how much pressure do the struts need to be?. Originally, I estimated 200N each. I had to get them re done to 120N, they were just too strong. They are about 20" when extended. They mount about 7" up the cowl seam and about 15" from the back of the bonnet. You can achieve a higher or lower lift if you play around with the positions. If you make the angle to acute, then the struts will not have enough force lift or hold the bonnet. Make the angle less and the pressure will be to much when closing. It's kind of a happy medium that has to be struck. The important aspect is positioning them so they don't bottom out before the bonnet is completely closed.

Another problem when converting to gas struts (springs) is the hinges will rise up when the bonnet is closed. This is the after shot, I forgot to take a before. After spending about 2 days jigging things around I wasn't about to put it back to normal for a before shot:-).The gap is slightly larger than I would have liked, but at least its flush and will seal OK.

The way to get the hinge right is fairly simple once you are aware of what has to happen. The front 2 mounting holes can be left alone, but the rear needs to be elongated down about 1/4". You will then loosen the screws and raise the hinge at the front and drop it down at the rear. That will seem odd, but believe me, that is the way to do it. The next thing to consider is the side skirt mounting flange (on the rear of the hinge) will then need to be raised up. I cut and welded but you could use spacers. The second pic shows 2 pencil marks I made on the skirt to indicate how much the flange  needs to be moved. The lower mark shows how far the hinge was moved down to get the bonnet to close flush..

The gap when the bonnet is closed is good and even. The gap at the side skirts is OK but I would have liked them narrower, at least its the same as the bonnet. I will still need to do something about the bonnet curve on the rear where it meets the cowl. I will also make a trip to the wrecker and source out some sort of bonnet latch. I have a plan for that as well. I might use a tail gate latch with an auxiliary latch from a small car. There's not a lot of mounting options on 37 Fords.

This is what I came back with from my little adventure to the wreckers. It's a tail gate latch, off I think, an early Holden Apolo. It has 2 positions like the door latches, so I may be able to avoid using a secondary latch, which would take a fair bit of time getting fabricated and fitted. The second pic is after I cut the original mounting flanges off and welded on  tabs on each side. That had to be welded slowly, as the plastic part of the latch were objecting to the heat. I also welded on the mounting nuts.

The only modification I had to make to the original grill shell was 2 cuts from the original locking pin position back and down. That is to create a slot for the latch U bracket. The latch U bracket needed only a bit of grinding so it could sit in the correct position on the bonnet. 

This is the view of the latching mechanism bolted in position. The bonnet closes fairly well, but I will have to make the U latch longer as it's only latching on the first position. That is a fairly minor problem, considering how easy it was getting this far. I will make a means of attaching  a cable and also fit a return spring to help prevent accidental operation. The whole set up looks a lot cleaner than the original mechanism and has only taken a couple of hours to modify and fit.

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