Duncan's (sort of) project - 1940 Ford

[Duncan]

9 hours ago, ]2eDeYe said:

Look at it and say, "That's cool" and store it back away til next time? lol

 

I do like it, but I'm seriously getting old and my health is a bit "ropey" just like the clock.  My wife wouldn't have a clue what to do with it if something happened to me.  I've been gifting some stuff to my friends and putting up some guitars for sale.  Lately, I've been thinking about guitars, and this thread made me remember the other stuff I have.  I have 1-off jackets, shirts, framed pics, cookie jars, lunch boxes, and the list goes on and on.  I also have a closet full of old, very collectible pedals, as well..

 

For not being a collector, I just worked where it was easy to accumulate swag that's pretty cool.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Duncan

[Duncan]

And speaking of moving stuff, the Telecaster in this pic left with a new owner yesterday.  Not '40 Ford related, but I figure I can go a bit off-topic in my own thread now and then. 🙂

 

[Duncan]

Well, hell.  After watching it keep great time, I decided to throw the working clock in the car.  4 screws and two quick electrical connections is easy to change out if I like.

 

 

Here's the two.  The hands on the original are much better shaped, but it's hardly noticable unless you're about this close.

 

 

Installed in the glove box door.  If you look at the 1st picture and the last one of the clock, you can see the install took me about 20 minutes this afternoon 🙂

 

 

The bracket with the velcro back piece that removes to get to the battery compartment and time adjuster wheel.  The wires are for the internal light that comes on with the headlights. 

 

 

I also received my repro 1940 Ford steering wheel.  This one is scaled down slightly to 16" diameter.  I think the original is 18" diameter.  This one also has a center section that mounts to a GM column.  This thing is beautiful, and the pic does it no justice at all.

 

I'd install it, but I'm waiting on some new levers and knobs for my steering column.  They are due mid-March, and the steering wheel has to come off to change them out.

 

I'm impatiently waiting until then.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Duncan

[Duncan]

Jumped in the Ford this morning to head over to a local Cars and Coffee, and I looked over and noticed the clock was dead 🙂

 

My wife buys batteries in huge quantities, and I'm thinking the "new" battery I put in it may have died.  If not, no big deal..

 

 

 

[Duncan]

On 4/2/2023 at 3:38 PM, Duncan said:

Jumped in the Ford this morning to head over to a local Cars and Coffee, and I looked over and noticed the clock was dead 🙂

 

Found out that if I shut the glove box door "normally" the battery would come loose from it's housing.  Once I realized that gently closing the door was the way to go, it's been working fine since then..

 

 

[Duncan]

After scouring ads for what seemed like forever, I finally found a '40 Ford seat!

 

 

The seat that is in there, has a small mechanical problem.  I need to remove it and disassemble it to see if I can fix it.  I love driving this car, so I didn't want it to be inoperable, so I have been looking for something to put in there.  I wanted the optional split-back factory bench seat, and they are rare as hell, usually worn out and rusted, and expensive. 

 

As per my usual, I looked and looked and found a great deal on this one.  I had to drive 100 miles each way to get it, but considering how hard these are to find, it was worth it.

 

So now I have a test mule to get my seat upholstery chops up to speed.  Once I get it covered decent enough, I've got a nice seat to throw in the Coupe so I can remove and fix the existing one.  Or maybe not, depending if it's repairable or not.

 

I've also got my stock gauges back from the shop and ready to go in.  I've got some minor mechanical things to get sorted out first.

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Duncan

[Duncan]

Been a while since I've made any headway on this.  A very dear friend passed away about a month ago very unexpectedly, and I've been busy helping his wife.  He had a very large guitar, amp, and recording gear collection.  I knew had had some stuff, but was kind of shocked when I realized how much he had accumulated.  I got it all photographed and cataloged for his wife so she can get it up for sale.  Lots of work AND driving since he lived about 100 miles each way from me..

 

Didn't take many pics, but when I disassembled the seat I found that they just piled on a bunch of dacron padding and recovered right over the original upholstery.   I suspect someone took it to Tijuana and told them to do it as cheap as possible. I suspect it might have been a Datsun enthusiast at heart 🙂  I proudly fly that flag, as you know, also.

 

 

 

I had to sand the springs down as they had quite a bit of surface rust, but they cleaned up nicely.  I had a bit of welding to fix some of the broken ones, but they weren't that bad, actually.  I used a rust converter and then primed and painted them. 

 

I sanded the wood base as it was decrepid. I literally spent an entire day removing old staples out of it.  By the time I was nearly finished, I got pretty good at getting them out.

 

I have two layers of 1" foam on here.  The bottom piece is low to medium firmness, and the top is noticably firmer.  I still need to smooth out the passenger side front corner a bit more.  Like most everyone else in the country, it's "hot as balls" and i ran out of gas for the day.

 

Like everything else I have learned, there's a lot more to doing upholstery than I realized.  I also had to buy quite a few specialty tools.  Fortunately, nothing has been terribly expensive, and I can get by using Harbor Freight stuff since it's just a hobby and not a profession.

 

And my wife just loves having the seat in our enclosed entry way patio!

 

Actually, my wife is really cool, and it's no problem.   🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan]

Making some progress, but that means making mistakes, too.  Every time I do something again, it always gets better than the previous attempt.

 

 

 

The usual way to learning how to upholster seats is to remove the covers, remove the stitches and copy the patterns to make a new cover.  This seat needed everything redone, so effectively, I'm doing a double back flip off the high-dive board into the deep end.

 

I have the seat all patterned out and this top piece of the bottom cushion was the most intricate, so I did this first.  I hope to get the boxing (sides) cut out and possibly sewn up tomorrow.

 

The concepts of doing this seems relatively easy, but the sewing seems to be the most difficult.

 

I keep crapping in my hat, but I'm a determined old bastard 🙂

 

 

 

 

[Duncan]

First seat cover sewn up.  It's not good enough yet, but at least I know where my mistakes are..

 

 

[Rustbin]

Too bad you don't live within a hundred miles of me because I could loan you my industrial sewing machine as well as staple pickers and other hand tools. I also have tips and tricks that I've learned over the years that I would share. I wouldn't recommend welding the springs, it hardens the spot and they tend to brake again more easily, best to replace them. Coil springs were used in better quality old couches, just measure the height in inches. I recovered a 38 Ford and found that the quilting stitch lines did not line up from the back down across the seat and every restored old Ford of that era was the same, they must have come that way from the factory. Good luck with it, you get a good sense of pride when you can do it yourself.

 

[Duncan]

On 9/24/2023 at 7:48 PM, Rustbin said:

Too bad you don't live within a hundred miles of me because I could loan you my industrial sewing machine as well as staple pickers and other hand tools. I also have tips and tricks that I've learned over the years that I would share. I wouldn't recommend welding the springs, it hardens the spot and they tend to brake again more easily, best to replace them. Coil springs were used in better quality old couches, just measure the height in inches. I recovered a 38 Ford and found that the quilting stitch lines did not line up from the back down across the seat and every restored old Ford of that era was the same, they must have come that way from the factory. Good luck with it, you get a good sense of pride when you can do it yourself.

 

 

When I say I welded the springs, I welded a few of the broken supports that run along the top that keep the springs aligned.  The supports were 1/8" spring steel round bar, and the springs attach to that with hog rings.   The springs themselves were in surprisingly good shape.  Welding kind of overstates it.  It was more of a quick, hot tack

 

I actually have a very nice Consew 206RB5 walking foot machine.  I got it from an older couple who only used it on one project, and then I bought it for less than half of what they paid for it.  It was literally in brand new condition.  The machine is really great, it is the operator that is the problem currently 🙂

 

Much respect to you folks that do this so well. Getting that big cover manuevered around to go through the machine, while keeping the seam straight, and all while keeping the alignment marks on track is quite a juggling act. 

 

"The Beast"

 

 

And thanks for your post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Duncan

[Rustbin]

It still looks brand new! I guess you'll just have to get a feel for when you need to gather or stretch and that varies with every different fabric.  Scrunching and rolling your work piece to get it under the arm of the machine is also an art. While those you tube videos are helpful I've seen guys mess up then edit out how they fixed it. I put a lot of emphasis making sure I line up the centers so if I'm off it's the same on each side. I won't be getting to my car seats for a while on my build though. Take care.

[Duncan]

22 hours ago, Rustbin said:

It still looks brand new! I guess you'll just have to get a feel for when you need to gather or stretch and that varies with every different fabric.  Scrunching and rolling your work piece to get it under the arm of the machine is also an art.

 

The machine really only had a few hours on it.  Fortunately, I saw the ad right as it was posted and I had the cash on me.  I was there (on a sunday, no less) in an hour after it was posted and bought it on the spot.

 

I'm doing okay, mostly.  I know in theory how to do some foam work, making patterns, alignment marks, etc, etc.  I know it just takes a while to pick the the techniques.  I went through it with welding, bodywork, and painting, so no surprises there.  Thanks for jumping in.  Advice and/or comments are always appreciated.

 

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

There are two things I don't do - paint and upholstery. You guys are brave.

[Duncan]

9 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

There are two things I don't do - paint and upholstery. You guys are brave.

 

I started painting because when I was around 17 or so, I paid a shop quite a bit of money to paint a panel truck I had.  They took forever, and charged quite a bit if money.  When I got the truck back, I was pretty disappointed with the result.

 

I had a RHD wagon I imported from Australia and fully restored it. The only outside help I needed was from an upholsterer.  (I did need a machine shop for head work, chrome work, etc, etc) I bought the carpet myself, and the lowest price I got was $800 with my carpet.  I actually went to a guy I found, and paid a bit more. He did a great job, but it took him a day and a half, and his only expense was glue.  I don't begrudge anyone needing their business to be profitable, but I know I can learn it. 

 

I did all the interior panels and made all new trunk panels in my '40, plus I did all the carpet.  It has already saved me twice what I paid for the machine, plus I hope to never have a car in "paint jail" or "upholstery jail" again.  I also get a great deal of satisfaction knowing I did all this myself. 

 

Here's the wags I restored.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Duncan

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Clean wagon, and great color. Do you remember the name of the color?

 

So if the upholstery guy had let it sit for a week, you would have felt better...?

[Duncan]

6 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Clean wagon, and great color. Do you remember the name of the color?

 

So if the upholstery guy had let it sit for a week, you would have felt better...?

 

No.  I liked the guy, and he was a 1-man, 1-car at a time shop. He was a very young family guy, super nice to deal with, and had a good work ethic. I never felt bad about having it done. I just decided it was time for me to give it a spin. 

 

The color was from PPG, and it was listed in the International Harvester section.  I believe it was a semi-truck color.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not, but I documented that LONG resto here on Ratsun, and the feedback on it was very positive.  

 

There was a story behind arriving at that color, but I won't bore you with it.

 

 

 

 

 

   

Edited September 29, 2023 by Duncan

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

18 hours ago, Duncan said:

There was a story behind arriving at that color, but I won't bore you with it.

I like stories.

[Duncan]

13 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

I like stories.

 

Okay, be sure to get comfy 🙂

 

Years and years ago, I restored this..and being a '55, I did a 55 Telecaster to match it.  I'm silly that way.

 

I had originally wanted to paint the wagon '69-'70 Chevrolet Hugger Orange.  I spent about two years of working on it before I even considered getting serious about paint. In the two years that passed, two Datsun 510 wagons showed up and both were hugger orange.  That pretty much killed that idea.  I kept moving forward on it, and always keeping an eye out for an interesting color that was non-metallic, and somewhat in the ballpark of what an era-correct 510 would be.  

 

I have a shed out back, and I have a lot of used, but still good paint cans.  I was going through it, and I spotted that blue.  I had some interior metal pieces on the '55 Caddie that I used this color on.  I grabbed it and showed to my wife.  She said it looked good, and she asked me to paint her a sample.  (My wife is the arbiter of good taste in our household, and I generally take her advice on things of this matter.)  There is a small filler panel that goes between the body and the rear bumper.  That piece was at the house and currently getting straightened, so I got that done, painted it, color sanded, and buffed it out.

 

I thought it looked pretty good, but I wasn't totally knocked about about it.  My wife said it was perfect for that car, and I was surprised how insistent she was on the color.  So I bought some, and started painting pieces like the doors, hood, hatch, etc, etc.  I liked the color still, but after working so much on every panel, you kind of lose perspective and get tired shooting the same color over and over.

 

I finally got that done and shot the bare shell.  Due to California always changing paint laws, the shell color didn't quite match all the other parts.  I ended up sanding and painting the bare shell three times before it was correct.  By then, I was really tired of the color, and I just wanted to put the damn thing together.   

 

Once I started putting the car together and seeing it starting to look like a car, my friend who owns the shop where I worked on it starting telling me that nearly everyone who visited the shop commented on how much they liked the color.              

 

It really wasn't until the first drive and I parked outside the shop in the sun that I was really convinced it was the right choice.  Nearly every time someone came up and asked me anything about the wagon, the first thing they would usually say is how much they liked the color. 

 

The short version of this story:  I initially wasn't sure of the color, and my wife assured me it was the one.  Got the car painted, and my wife was right all along. The wife has very good taste.  Me, maybe not so much.. 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Duncan

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Good story. Cool cars (and guitars).

 

The color is very German. Like from war-time BMW or even VW. It's muddy yet bright at the same time.

 

All car people have paint remorse. It happens. Every single time. There's the thought that you could have missed out on another color. I'm going through that right now with a Land Cruiser project. I've chosen three blues, which are all very similar to your wagon blue. Two of them are modern, one being Toyota and the other the new Bronco blue, but the third is a classic SII Land Rover RAF (royal air force) blue. I've pulled the trigger on the RAF blue and can't wait for it to be painted so I can stop worrying about it.

[Duncan]

I'd like to see it when it's painted,  If you don't want to start a "Non Datsun" thread, feel free to post a pic in this one..

 

 

[Duncan]

Well shit.  I went to put a new spin-on oil filter adapter on the Ford a while back, and my vertigo has gotten a bit worse. I struggled for way too long to install 2 bolts.   I can't really lay on my back and look up these days. I get REAL dizzy when that happens.

 

I've gotten some recommendations from a few people, and I need to get around to making some appointments to talk to a few hot rod shops.  I was planning on doing my gauge swap at my friend's shop in San Diego, but that's become a big logistical problem as of late.  (and the vertigo thing is also a real problem, as well)  I have also decided to put a repro vintage steering column back into the Ford.  Limeworks makes a very nice one, and it has provisions for the auto trans with an Art Deco gear indicator for the 4 spd auto I have in the car.  All the knobs are accurate repros, and match the exact ones in the car.  With the stock 40 steering wheel, it should look hell of snazzy...

 

Dealing with my friend's passing, and fooling around with the upholstery has taken up a lot of time.  Every time I get into the car, I see the billet gauges and modern steering column and I've been cringing over them long enough.. I threw up this pic for some self motivation.

 

 

 

 

   

[Ooph!]

I'm not a Doctor and never played one on TV but have you ever tried the Epley maneuver for vertigo?

[Duncan]

7 hours ago, Ooph! said:

I'm not a Doctor and never played one on TV but have you ever tried the Epley maneuver for vertigo?

 

Yep, like 9 years ago.  I have Menears type vertigo.  Huey Lewis and I share that same prognosis.  It's neurological instead of my ears or heart.  Fortunately, my case doesn't seem nearly as severe as his.  Luckily, I can still mostly do stuff with few problems.  The looking up thing has only been in the last couple of months.

 

Despite this inconvenience, I consider myself lucky that I'm still around and can still do stuff I enjoy.  Every day on this side of the dirt is a very good day, indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan]

Well, it's got a few warts, but I finished my first cover.  This was my first attempt, and it was on a piece that I sewed and then ripped the stitches out of to use as a test mule to try different things.  It's not the final keeper, but I'm pretty chuffed how it turned out considering I've never done it before, and I had to do a completely custom cover from scratch. 

 

I could pull it tight and anchor it down, and then use my steamer to get it looking much better, but I can do a better one next time.  I will also put this one up for sale after I'm done with it.