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Prologue The Perfect Spitfire Paint Job Well as you may or may not know, Sue and I sort of had a Hiatus from riding to events in our Spit: been seen "ridin our clapped" YUGO. I all started Mid-June 06 with a quickie paint job for the Texas VTR Convention. The best way to describe working on a car body with rust, is to describe an iceberg. The rust you see at the beginning, is merely the tip of that iceberg. It's once you start grinding and sanding a car body, the rust holes bloom: quicker than Michigan potholes after a killer frost. Dream Cruise Saturday 07-18-07 Recap; Dream Cruise Saturday 07-18-07 Dream Cruise Saturday eve 07-18-07 Well what can I say, after many hours of welding, grinding, sanding, painting, the Spitfire is drivable and on the road. Without future adieu, First an old shot of the car as was:
After the extreme makeover: some side profile shots:
Then some front and rear shots:
82 Corvette Taillights, anyone
The Day before the spit got on the road; a shot of our Yugo (so un-Cool, it's Cool) and Daryl's Camaro ( my son-in law ) at Woodward just north of 13 mile road for a Wednesday non-official Pre-Dream Cruise. Daryl deserves many, many thanks, his help and spirit of energy, made the painting operation fun and painless. (below)
The next day Thursday the spit was mobile, packed Sue, and Skippy (our wonder dog ) and headed out to christen the car at the Berkley A&W. While there; met and talked to a couple that from Ohio; Pre-Dream cruising also with their 32 Ford Flathead Hi-Boy Roaster (and What a nice ride it was). As we chatted I came to realized that at the core, no matter what your ride car people appreciate and love--- Well cars--- at heart; we never ran out of fun things to discuss.
The Spitfire rehabilitation and paint job stage are posted with the hopes of helping others. A side note: many, many thanks to all at the people at the Jim and Sue Watches Saturday dream Cruise party, your kind and generous words of approval of the spit rehab, only highlighted the generous and great spirit of the Detroit Triumph Sportscar Club. The car eventually will be painted a GM European color called: Fireglow Red. It is very close to spitfire colors Pimento and Flamenco Red. But painting is only 10% ( maybe even 5%) of the job, and with this in mind on to some pictures of the car being prepped. Here are some shots of the car just prior to the sanding ( still removing parts).
The Bonnet (Hood) and Rear quarter doesn't look to bad.
The Boot lid (Deck lid) and Tail panel are a bit tatty. Now starting to get serious:
The rocker panels is where it gets a little rough, this is the passenger side. The inner sill , and inner rocker (what was left of them ) have been cut away, as well as rotten sections of the floor and the cross brace. Yes; Maude, what you see clear through is the inside of the outer rocker panel. the drivers side of the car is just as interesting.
Two pictures of stuff that was INSIDE the rocker panels, the front Pass side rocker shelf, plenty of fresh air there. The outer rocker panels will be replaced with new ones from (three guesses): J.C. Whitney, $40.00 per side. Still waiting for them to arrive by mail. What will be interesting is to see just how good (or bad ) these mail order panels will be: stay tuned!! On the Mend;
A shot of the shelf patch, Juiced up with rust pickle stuff, bedded-in with bondo, waiting for the final overlay. Well that's it for right now, there are more pictures, but not today: check back in a few days, Have a good Labor Day, Larry Well here is the latest installment; Am contemplating a few custom changes to the car: these great changes will only enhance an already timeless body design. Change #1 Putting a hood side cooling vent in the fender, remember what you see in the pictures is the raw opening;
louvers fabbed from part of a spit grille, placed along the same Parallel line as the leading and trailing edge will complete the look: just close your eyes and you'll see what I'm talking about: a clean and simple style that will compliment the side marker light that goes in the hole just to the rear of the cutout. And Lastly a near shot:
Change #2 Always have been a great admirer of the corvette dual taillights, styling at it's best. Well; such things can spit too. The lights are just loosely taped on ( and not-very, should be straight) ; just to get an idea of the finished look;
And a left rear shot: NOW is the time while the car is in primer: to do such things !! Still am waiting impatiently for my JC Whitney rocker panels to arrive, they where scheduled to be sent 9-14-06. Just have to call them (again) to find out the deal. Really want to try these particular panels, they are advertised as being able to be put on the car without removing the old rockers: just gotta see how they do it. However that said proceeded to move in "more better" into the new garage. The first order of business is to get some sort of winter heat in the building. Already had the gas pipe laid from the house to garage, so is was a matter of hooking up the details. A infrared heater seemed the most practical, 100% efficient, minimum odor, ducting not necessary. The heater is compact, mounts on wall, and puts out decent heat 25,000 BTU.
The next item on the menu was to have some sort of setup for covering the roof vent holes, we have three installed, and the way I looked at it was like having three chimneys installed, not only would they vent (heat) but would vent even faster as the air warmed up. Success, the installed Flapper, Fan, Vent Gizmo: two more to go.
And lastly, while flying in the garage on the ladder, noticed that the 15 foot high ceiling was notably warmer that the floor; could see that a ceiling fan was not just an option. Purchased a 52 inch span ceiling fan on sale for under $30.00 (including light kit). Actually wanted a larger swing so made up some 5 inch extensions for the blades, making for a very nice 62 inch swing. Also had some auto related bumper sticker collected during a trade show; used em on the blades, it is so cool. (Still have to install the light kit)
And an addendum to this folly. Couldn't use the spit (being painted) to haul the Scaffolding so the YUGO was commissioned. Loading her up: Trunk full:
So off into the sunset; until the next time . Well; the JC Whitney Spitfire rocker panels arrived on the Nov 10, a mere two months after ordering.
While we can discount Speed in this equation. And the fact panels are made of a good heavy gage of phosphor coated steel is a good thing. Having panels that fit are what it's all about... AND!! ( your Saying do they): the answer is well.. sort of...
above: Please note the ( not so ) curvature of the rockers.. might fit a 1936 Chevy pretty good, above: Notice the snug fit, the accurate spacing of the bend break lines. The panels where advertised in the catalog as being able to fit over the old rockers, without having to remove them (must be that 1936 Chevy).
However all was not lost: The overall length was pretty good, they nailed it, above So the "sort of fit" mentioned earlier is to try to make the best of it, to make, modify, whole or in part, the rocker panels work. Have some more pictures of the way cool ceiling fan: Put the light kit in, it consists of three spot lamps, around a lighted center dome
The dome has a blue bulb in it: for proper garage ambiance ya know.
And Lastly: As part of still moving into the garage, The garage was built with a side pass door, and with the cold weather approaching wanted to start using it, to save garage heat by not using the big front door. A platform or pad for the door was needed, and also wanted to have some sort of a windbreak, along with a storm door.
A few flagstones to keep the mud away, above Garage shelves and organization (to a little higher degree) are finally out of the way. First a recap of what the rockers situation is, is (re, B. Clinton): Below the passenger side, the inner sill and inner rocker have been cut away, and what you see clear through from the inside of the car, is the inside of the outer rocker panel.
Below: the driver side is pretty much the same:
Below: the back corner (by drivers seat back) of nastiness (white lines indicate where metal should be);
Below: looking forward from under front of rear wheel well, same area; nasty, nasty, nasty;
Below: The inner rocker panels seems like a logical place to start. First the angle and width of the inner rocker was established. A good old trusty vice, a bevel gage, some careful bending--wall-la custom fit inners.
Below: the floor/rocker panel bottom flange was slit along the total length to allow the new inner panels to be slipped into place. The end of the pen shows the slit. the shot below that shows a trial fitting of the inner inn the car.
Because of future V8 plans would like to add extra bracing to the inner rockers, and to the ends: thinking of a channel fastened to the entire length of the inside of the inner rocker, at a slight diagonal (to add torsional stiffness). The ends will (A post, Door Pillar, Suspension arm mount area) receive also appropriate stiffness stuff, stay tuned. Below: as luck would have it, won't have to replace the whole outer rockers on either side. The driver side a few small patches will do. The passenger side only needs a portion towards the rear to be replaced. For this passenger rear outer rocker area, the metal needs to have the rocker curve (remember the JC Whitney replacement spitfire rocker panels, must be for a spitfire on Mars) . With a finger pin gage, scabbed the rocker curvature, then copied to a piece of clear template acetate, finessed to fit. The template was transferred to a block of wood, band sawed to shape: a little sanding, lo and behold a forming block.
That's it for awhile, will be back at it through the weekend, do an update next Wednesday, You are Heartily welcomed and invited to visit back. As was mentioned in the last installment, wanted to improve the whole body/frame stiffness. And having unlimited access to the rocker area (O' thank you rust God) got the wheels turning. How about some additional stiffening in an area that could use it. Some additional torsional support inside the Rockers. After some consultation with a trusty Machinery Handbook, came up with this. The inner rocker side beams will be tubular (greatest torsional stiffness) and will be thus; 1 1/2" OD .090 wall tube running the entire length ( from front frame mount to rear frame mount) welded to two shear plates on the ends made of .060 CRS. the shear plates will be in turn riveted thru to the body frame mounting trusses (front and rear). Additional stiffness along the entire
tube length will be provided by integrating the tube and inner rocker. The A
pillar will also run supports to the tube: offering superior support for the
cowl door area.
The first order of the day was to fabricate the shear plates Although the metal pieces have already been cut and bent, here are some pictures of the cardboard templates that where developed:
First picture (above left) the front plate. Second picture (above right) the rear plate But: Whoa one minute--- before any plates or tubes, the floors have to be mended.
Sooo, new patches with flanges where fabricated and cut and stuck on. And NO... didn't use (thin .015) furnace ducting, it's .032" Galvanized; EH !!
This last shot is the most dramatic: First the patched rear corner, then a shot of BEFORE
Well that just about does it for this installment; what's left besides the floors and rockers. not much. The doors, deck lid, Hood, rear quarters, rear valence are ready to be finessed with primer, 320, and spot putty. The front valences need to be looked at but should go quick. And maybe work the Corvette Taillights up. Am shooting (pun intended) to paint 2nd week of May. Apologize for the delay in updating the site, but have really been putting all effort to getting the Spit back on the road. Let's see where do we start---- So after deciding on the tubes, the next step was cutting away the bad part (lower Half) of the outer rocker, inner rocker, and inside sill panels; Below; Driver side;
Below, Passenger side;
Yes, it was spooky alright seeing that little sliver of metal connecting front and rear of the car. Cutting away allowed access to install and tubes, tube shear plates: and the ability to weld the whole thing together all the way around. Unfortunately the pictures of the tube install; got lost, so can't show ya anything. Getting some replacement lower outer rockers worked up was next. In a previous installment showed a wooden pattern that was made of the rocker profile; So Below, using the pattern, started shaping and flanging: once the flanges where set the shape was carefully hammer formed on the bench with the pattern.
Once the bottom half rockers where shaped; they where welded to the top half of the old rocker (an air flanging tool was used which allowed the new panels to sit flush): Below,
The rear eyebrows where next; The lower fronts (both sides of car) of the rear eyebrows where pretty well vaporized along with any attaching structure. Below; this shot shows the finished (yet to be smoothed) Left rear eyebrow. The new lower half of the rockers are visible, along with the eyebrow patch above it, the fabricated flange, and the new inner supporting structure.
The next shot shows developing the RH flange template, and the LH flange cut and ready to go;
Back to the interior of the car: The floor channels (between the seats and toepan, both sides of car) where rotted on the bottoms, and in the way of fixing the floor sections. they where removed, bad parts where zipped off, and remaining parts of the channels recycled. although not shown the channels once installed where directly attached to the tube also. Below: installing the channels
In the channel, where it attaches to
the frame, developed and installed some plugs to seal the channel insides; they
where pop riveted into place and further sealed with epoxy putty.
Inner rockers where welded to the tube, and the whole shebang painted with rust proofing; Below
The Inner sills where welded; Below,
The A-Pillars where also attached to the tube on three sides: Below the (two) front, rear supports. Below that the side support template and finished install (the black you see is the rust proofing, liberally applied inside the pillar boxes). The hardtop was also put on, so everything should be lined up OK.
And I guess the final pic for tonight the the lower rocker, inner rocker, sill and floor flange all pop riveted together, Below.
There are many little jobs to pick up in the floors and interior, but by and large the car is ready to move into the exterior shaping and filling stage: My son-in law and I should make quick work of it: Paint is only two weeks away. Have already been working on the corvette taillight mountings. And a recap of where we started: Dream Cruise Saturday 07-18-07
Well what can I say, after many hours of welding, grinding, sanding, painting, the Spitfire is drivable and on the road. Without future adieu, First an old shot of the car as was:
some side profile shots:
After the extreme makeover:
Then some front and rear shots:
82 Corvette Taillights, anyone
The Day before the spit got on the road; a shot of our Yugo (so un-Cool, it's Cool) and Daryl's Camaro ( my son-in law ) at Woodward just north of 13 mile road for a Wednesday non-official Pre-Dream Cruise. Daryl deserves many, many thanks, his help and spirit of energy, made the painting operation fun and painless. (below)
The next day Thursday the spit was mobile, packed Sue, and Skippy (our wonder dog ) and headed out to christen the car at the Berkley A&W. While there; met and talked to a couple that from Ohio; Pre-Dream cruising also with their 32 Ford Flathead Hi-Boy Roaster (and What a nice ride it was). As we chatted I came to realized that at the core, no matter what your ride car people appreciate and love--- Well cars--- at heart; we never ran out of fun things to discuss.
The Spitfire rehabilitation and paint job stages are posted: you never know who will read this and help. Again a side note: many, many thanks to all at the people at the Jim and Sue Watches Saturday dream Cruise party, your kind and generous words of approval of the spit rehab, only highlighted the generous and great spirit of the Detroit Triumph Sportscar Club. |
