1931 Ford Restoration Diary

I installed the new polyurethane tack strips above the doors.   On each side there are upper and lower strips, and I decided to replace only the lower ones. Then I started installing the headliner. This is very tricky, since it has to be smooth and tight, without any bumps, dips, or wrinkles. Part way through, I decided that I could not trust the original upper tack strips above the doors to hold it in place. So I made some more plastic ones and installed them.  Then I realized that I really ought to install mounting points for front shoulder harnesses, since it would be much harder to do after installing the interior panels.  I made some reinforcing places from steel strips, with a mounting nut welded to them.  These were fitted on either side, above the rear doors, just behind the B-pillar.  On more modern cars the mounting point would be on the pillar itself, but on my car the front seat is too far back for this to be an effective location.  Once all this prep work was done, I finished stretching and stapling the headliner all the way around.

The next step is to start fitting the interior panels, and the windlace around the door openings.  Some of the panels are a little bit too large, and I will first have to peel away the fabric from the back surface, cut off a bit (1/8″) of the cardboard all along the edge, and glue the fabric down again.  I started doing this; it is tedious and requires a lot of care to avoid messing up the fabric.

I got the rear seat base all upholstered, and the seat back about half done, before running out of hog rings. I also assembled the armrests on the panels that go on either side of the back seat. I had to take apart the crumbling original side panels, remove the wooden forms for the armrests, attach them to the new panels, and pad and cover them. Fortunately the wooden pieces were in excellent condition.

I also cut several strips of polyethylene for replacing the tack strips that run above the doors. I used a wood plane to carve them into a semi-circular cross section, so they would fit into the channels in the body sheetmetal above the doors.

Spring is finally here!  Soon I should be able to resume body work, such as getting the splash shields sandblasted, repaired, and repainted.

I repaired both rear seat springs. I had to remove some of the damaged wire pieces, bend replacements from the new wire, and use the special metal clips to put everything back together. To do an accurate job of bending the wire, I made a couple of little jigs from bits of scrap metal.

I painted the seat base spring, attached it to the wooden frame I made a couple of weeks ago, and began the process of upholstering it.

Over the last couple of weekends I built a new wooden frame for the rear seat base. The old base was a lot like the old front seat base: It had been somewhat crudely rebuilt by a previous owner, with about half the original wood left. I used the same techniques (and special jig) that I used last year to make a new front seat base. The new base is made of oak, and has all the same joints and dimensions as an original.

I also got some of the correct spring wire and metal clips for fixing up the rear seat springs. They are mostly OK, but some of the wires have corroded or worn spots, and could break at any time.  After the springs are fixed up, I can upholster the seat base and repeat the process for the rear seat back.  Fortunately, the original rear seat back wood is in excellent condition.

I installed a nice electronic voltage regulator in the generator. It allows the battery to always get a proper charge rate without having to manually adjust the generator output current. It’s also totally invisible inside the generator.

For myself, I bought a fairly decent TIG welder from Harbor Freight, which will hopefully allow me to do a better job fixing up the fenders. So far, I’ve just been playing with it on scrap bits of metal.

I’ve done essentially nothing in the last month. Lots of other things to be done over the holidays, and it’s freezing in the garage. Maybe I will start upholstering the rear seat, which I can do inside the house.

Over the weekend I painted the shock arms, parkerized the mounting bolts, and installed the rebuilt front shocks. I went for a drive on some bumpy and potholed roads, and I was quite pleased with how the car no longer bounced around. Eventually I’ll have to get rear shocks, too.

I finished welding the mounting and reinforcing brackets to the replacement running board. I still need to finish de-warping the other board before I can sandblast and paint them.

I installed the kick panels on either side under the dashboard.  Now the front interior of the car looks more respectable.

I also made and installed a pair of brackets for attaching the rear seat shoulder harnesses. I cut them out of a piece of angle iron I had lying around, welded on nuts for the harness mounting bolts, painted them, and bolted them to the interior of the body just above the rear seat.

My rebuilt shock absorbers arrived today, and I bead-blasted the shock arms and mounting bolts. Tomorrow I will paint them, and I will be able to drive the car with working front shocks.

I decided to repair a rusted-out mounting bracket on the left-hand running board by transplanting a bracket (and the surrounding sheet metal) from the other board, which is too messed up to be worth restoring. I cut away the bad part, and trimmed the donor piece to fit perfectly in its place. Then I welded it in place. The welding caused the board to warp a bit, which I will have to fix by un-shrinking the weld beads.

To replace the unusable right-hand board, I am using an old repro board that is missing its mounting brackets.  I made a new pair of brackets from some U-shaped metal channel, and drilled and filed the keyhole-shaped holes for the bolts that attach them to the car’s frame.  In the next few days I will weld the new brackets to the board, and add some additional bracing to compensate for the fact that the repro board was made from thinner sheet metal than the originals.  Then I will be able to sandblast and paint both boards, mount the rubber sheeting to their top surfaces, and put them on the car.

I got the seat belts fully installed. Now I can drive with less fear of getting killed. I also figured out a good way to make shoulder harness mounting points for the front and rear seats. Those would have to be installed before the interior panels, even if the shoulder harnesses don’t get added until much later.   I also installed sound-deadening material on the insides of the cowl panels.
Somebody gave me an old set of repro running boards. They are missing the mounting brackets and some reinforcing strips, but I will probably use the right hand one, since the original right-hand running board is beyond repair.