1931 Ford Restoration Diary

Over the last three weeks I did a bunch of things:

1. I cleaned up the garage and put away the painting tent.
2. I bead-blasted, painted, and installed the hood latches. I used epoxy paint from a spray can, which for smaller jobs is 100x easier than using a spray gun.
3. I bead-blasted and painted the body bolts, the same way I did the latches. Almost all of the original bolts and nuts were OK. I replaced just a couple.
4. I cut a few new body shims from a sturdy piece of 1/8″ neoprene rubber.
5. I figured out the right amount of shims for each body bolt, and got the body bolted to the frame. The goal was to make sure the doors were evenly aligned with their openings, and I had to add and remove shims from certain spots, loosening and tightening the bolts each time, until everything was lined up. Now the body is permanently attached to the frame.
6. I got some nicely-made trim strips for the running boards, in zinc like the originals. I attached them to the running boards, and I used contact cement to attach the rubber mats to the running boards. Finally, I bolted the nice-looking running boards to the body.
7. I bought a new wiring harness that gives the car turn signals.  It has a nice retro-style turn signal switch that attaches to the steering column, and it uses the existing cowl lights and brake lights as turn signals (and emergency flashers) without affecting their normal function.  All the wiring is correct original cloth-covered style, and the entire setup looks just like an aftermarket accessory from when the car was made.  The only thing I have to do to actually use it is to temporarily install the right rear fender, so there will be a place to attach the right taillight. (The Model A was built with only a left taillight, but a second taillight and turn signals will make it a lot safer to drive in modern traffic.)

I’m essentially done with all the work I planned to do over the summer (just a few weeks before winter…) I might temporarily bolt on my best front fenders, so that I can drive the car around without it looking too strange.  But once we start getting snow (and road salt!) I’ll be done messing with it for the winter.

I painted the hood pieces, and a day later I masked off and painted the black strip on each side.  Then I installed the rubber bumpers and leather corner protector on each side.  Finally I assembled all the pieces with stainless steel hinge rods, and put the hood on the car.  There was a suspenseful moment when I realized that the hinge on one side was bent out of alignment.  I had never noticed before, since the individual pieces each looked fine, and the problem was only visible when they were mated up to each other.  Fortunately I was able to bend everything back to the correct shape without affecting the nice new paint.  The hood lines up really nicely with the body and radiator shell, which tells me that the frame is straight and square.  I won’t have to spend too much time messing with shimming the body to get everything lined up.

The next step is to put away all the painting stuff and tidy up the garage a bit.  Then I will re-paint and install the hood latches and finish working on the running boards.  The rubber matting and trim strips need to be installed on them.  After that I can get the body permanently bolted to the frame.

I sprayed the outside of the hood pieces with urethane surfacer and wet-sanded them. It took quite a while to sand around all the louvers! I did it outside, since it was a messy job. Then I sprayed an epoxy sealer coat on the inside, followed by a couple of coats of semi-gloss maroon paint. Once the mess from the snowstorm is cleaned up, I’ll paint the outside, and the hood will be just about done.

Over the last week or so, I finished bead-blasting the hood pieces (actually used garnet on the top pieces, since they had some rust). I spray epoxy primer on the top pieces, and then a thin coat of sprayable polyester filler. I sanded down the filler (a dusty job!) and test-fitted the top pieces to the car. Finally I primered the side pieces. They have no significant rust or dings, so they don’t need any filler.
In the next day or two I’ll spray the outside of all four pieces with urethane surfacer and wet-sand them. Then they will be ready for the finish coat.

Over the weekend I repaired some damaged spots on the rolled bottom edge of the hood side pieces, where they had rubbed against the hold-down clamps. To do this I cut away the damaged areas, cut some matching bits from a piece of 1/4″ brake line tubing, and welded them in place. Then I used Easy-Off oven cleaner to remove some baked-on oil/dirt crud from the inside surface of the hood pieces. As a bonus, this removed most of the paint. For some type of paint, Easy-Off is an excellent paint stripper, because you can just wash it off with water. Finally, I bead blasted one of the four hood pieces.

Over the next few days I need to bead-blast the rest of the hood, do a couple of small repairs on the top pieces, and get them all primered.

I went to Hershey on Thursday and got lots of nice goodies.  I left the house at 4, and got there by 7.  I walked around for about 10 hours before heading home. The best acquisition was a set of specially-made reproduction running board trim strips.  And they were a gift!  I also got a new headlight bar, which was less expensive than I expected.  I spent years pondering how the existing bar got bent into such a funny shape, and how I could successfully straighten it out again.  Now I don’t have to worry about that any more.  I also found a nice front splash shield, for a very reasonable price.  The existing one is quite beat up, with lots of dents and several cracks that had been crudely welded up.  A very unusual find was a pair of inner rear fender skirts.  These are usually the first part of a fender to rust out, but the ones I got had been carefully removed from their fenders and were in excellent shape.  Finally, I got a slightly used set of repro engine pans for about 1/4 the price of a new set.  These last three items were not on my shopping list, but when I saw them, I knew I had to get them.  I was very close to buying yet another front fender, but I resisted the temptation.  I have enough already.

The running boards are mostly done. I finished welding a couple of little cracks, then started bead-blasting them. (Actually I used garnet instead of glass beads, which cuts faster through rust.) The blasting took a while, but the garnet worked well. Then I applied a primer coat and a topcoat of semi-gloss black enamel (Valspar Tractor and Implement brand). I did not use fancy auto paint, because all the exposed parts will be covered by the rubber mat or trim strips. I added some special enamel hardener to the topcoat, which worked well. the primer took a couple of days to dry, and the topcoat reached the same level of dryness in about 6 hours. The boards are ready to be bolted into place, but it might be easier to install the rubber mat and trim strips first. I’m planning to re-use the rubber mats that were on the boards when I got the car. The were virtually new, and all I had to do was remove the sticky adhesive from the back (with Goo-Gone) and give them a good cleaning.
Meanwhile I’ve started work on the hood. I got the side pieces down from the attic and removed some rivets that held some long-gone rubber bumpers in place.  Over the weekend I’ll clean off the dirt and crud, and start bead-blasting them.

I installed the splash shields on the car, which involved undoing all the body bolts and jacking up the body about a half inch, so the shields could fit between the body and the frame. Before I can bolt the body down again, I’ll need to temporarily install the front fenders to make sure the splash shields properly mate up to them. I also installed the rear bumper cross brace that I just painted.

During the last three or so weeks, I managed to get the splash shields all done.  First I sprayed a coat of polyester filler on the splash shields and then spend a lot of time sanding most of it off.  Once the filler work was done, I sprayed on a coat of acrylic urethane filler-surfacer, and wet-sanded it smooth.  Finally I sprayed on a sealer coat and the black finish coat. Now the splash shields are ready to install! It took just about the entire summer, though.  While I was painting the splash shields, I also did the rear bumper cross brace, which I had gotten ready to paint last fall.

I finished the repair work on the splash shields, and gave them a coat of epoxy primer. In the next few days I’ll apply some filler to deal with a bit of rust pitting and the residual dents, and they will be ready to paint.