337 Zephyr build thread

[Lil Red Coupe]

Time to start a build thread on my newly purchased zephyr.

I have copied this over from the Hamb, so some of you may have already seen it, and some of the first pics are already on my "bought a 37 Zephyr " thread. Hope this is ok , just makes it a bit easier to catch up. Could be quite a long running thread if you guys are up for it.



Its a 1937 sedan with a coupe roof part way grafted on. Its in need of quite a bit of work, but its a dream of mine to own one so I'm enjoying every minute.


I have altered and repaired the rear cross member to allow a traditional style drop on the rear. Have cut out the remaining parts of the floors, and removed one rocker today and cleared up the outriggers on one side of the chassis. Also started getting the A pillar ready to fabricate new panels.


I will keep updating as progress continues.


Here's some pics of how I got it and some of the work I have done over the past week.

[Lil Red Coupe]

Few more

[Lil Red Coupe]

Bit more progress today. It took all day but I managed to get one rocker pretty much made up and the second one half prepped.


There's more curves in there than a little. It curves with the contour of the body when looking from above and also curves up from the rear to the front A pillar. This also acts as the door gap so had to be pretty tidy.


It still needs some tidying and has to have the floor panel mounted under it before I can weld the two together to form a box section but you should get the general idea from the pics.


Was an enjoyable day in the shop today, just chilled out working at my leisure and trying to suss out how to best tackle the job with the tools I have.

[Lil Red Coupe]

Time for an update on the progress. Didn't touch it last weekend as I was working on the house. Then just when I got started again during the evenings my welder decided that 14 years of hard use was enough. So one new welder later and a large hole in the bank balance and I was good to go again.
Spent most of the week cleaning up the old rocker on the passenger side and fabricating as much as possible so I could crack on with the welder this weekend.
At close of play tonight and with the help of Bev the bead roller (my dear wife) I have floor pans , both rockers welded in and the rear of the roof welded onto the body. It's looking pretty good now and is a whole load stronger.


Heres some pics.

[Mssr. Bwatoe]

Wow , that is impressive...where did you get the floor pans?

[DSpringer]

Thanks, it makes my challenges seem soooo minor. I will appreciate and admire the progress.

[Lil Red Coupe]

The floor pans are all home made. I looked into buying them but they would have been pretty expensive and being a fabricator I knew I could make them and save that money for other things that I am going to need that maybe I can't make.
They are made from 18 swg mild steel and with the help from Beverly we rolled some beads into them.

[CBoz]

The floor pans are all home made. I looked into buying them but they would have been pretty expensive and being a fabricator I knew I could make them and save that money for other things that I am going to need that maybe I can't make.
They are made from 18 swg mild steel and with the help from Beverly we rolled some beads into them.

Are you planning to put the battery in the engine bay, or under the front seat as original? If the latter, I can help you with measurements.

[47clubcoup]

Boy... You have some talent there guy. Id be afraid to undertakethat big of a job. I love my 47 but it some times seems more than i can manage but with the help of the club im chipping away.

[Lil Red Coupe]

Thanks for all the comments guys.
To be fair I have been messing around with old classics and rods and customs for the last 20 odd years and have been in the sheet metal trade since I left school, so I have picked up a trick or two in that time.
That said none of this so far has been to bad, just a matter of sorting out an order of priority (in my case getting some floors back in and some strength into it so I can get it sand blasted ) and doing one bit at a time.

Cecil, I may well take you up on the offer of measurements. I wasn't sure if they had the battery in the floor or not. Jim posted a link with remade floor pans for sale but they would take a large chunk from my not very large budget. They had a hole stamped out for a battery but my car has what I thought was a battery box in the engine bay at the rear near the bulkhead on the passenger side. I guess this may have been added at some point. As I had no floors left I couldn't see any evidence of a battery tray.

I could do with a measurement so I can position the door pillar correctly (b pillar), I have the front pillar all welded in but because my doors are made up from two doors I'm not sure of the correct width. If somebody could measure the distance say from the bottom hinge to the other pillar then I could weld my pillars back into the rockers. Failing that a true size of the door frame width on a 37 coupe would be good.

Obviously with making my own floors it's not going to be anything like the original, but I plan on getting the body as close as I can. I am going to make my own boot floor and luggage space (behind the seat) and will alter this slightly to suit my needs. I plan to run the zephyr on lpg , as I intend to drive this almost daily (petrol is crazy money over here, and lpg is half that ) so will probably mount the tank in a custom made compartment behind the seat and keep as much boot space as possible.

That leads me to petrol tanks, does anybody make repro ones ? Mine had literally turned to dust.I do have the filler pipe so if worst comes to worst I will make a new one.

Cheers Paul.

[CBoz]

"I could do with a measurement so I can position the door pillar correctly (b pillar), I have the front pillar all welded in but because my doors are made up from two doors I'm not sure of the correct width. If somebody could measure the distance say from the bottom hinge to the other pillar then I could weld my pillars back into the rockers. Failing that a true size of the door frame width on a 37 coupe would be good."

Hey, be glad to do it, but I'm not sure what you meant here. Are you trying to get the measure of the *open* space between the bottom hinge and the back? In any case, if you want to make a quick drawing of the measures you want, I'll be glad to take them for you.

[Lil Red Coupe]

Thanks Cecil, I should have put a drawing up to start with to make it more clear. Heres a rough sketch of what I need, Dimension A is the distance/width of the door frame (not the door skin). If you could give me a measurement from both hinges to their opposite points on the frame then I can work from that. Dimensions B and C are the distance from the same places but on the car body and not the door. Hope that makes sense.

[Lil Red Coupe]

It's been almost a month since I did any work on the zephyr, problems with my pond, trying to sort the brakes on Bevs coupe and working on the house have kept me out of the workshop.
Today I had a pretty good day at it and got one screen pillar looking a whole lot better.
Still got work to do on it but as the pics show it's well on its way.
There was loads of lead melted directly onto rusty and badly welded metal. I took all that out and found that the screen pillar under it was also hammered to hell.
I ended up fabricating a whole new pillar and the outer skin. Just got the header panel to finish now and tidy it up a bit more and it should be ready for leading again.

[Lil Red Coupe]

Time for an update, spent the weekend on the Zephyr and got as far as I had planned (eventually), but things didn't all go to plan.
I wanted to get the two panels in to make up the rear quarters, the first one (drivers side) went reasonably well, the second one finally went in in two bits and at the third attempt . the swage line had to be fabricated and it curves two ways (not easy). There wasn't as much good metal left on the roof on the passenger side , which meant that I had to trim it further up. This meant that the panel I made had more metal above the swage which caused problems when I tried to get it to keep shape.
I ended up cutting the panel and remaking the swage part seperately and then welding it back in. This actually turned out pretty good. Just got to finish welding it up and clean the welds off and dress it up a bit and it should be ready for leading.
Apart from one screen pillar that's the roof welded back on completely now.






















Paul

[Lil Red Coupe]

Time for an update, I have done loads more since my last post, but for some reason have not updated on here. I have added a link to the build thread on the hamb to save copy and pasting everything over, (page 3 onwards on the hamb thread carries on from this one ) I will then update as I progress.

37 Zephyr build thread - Page 7 - THE H.A.M.B.

Paul.

[C. Douglas Johnson Jr.]

I am sure so people don't appreciate what you have done but your metal working skills are incredible!!!!

[Steve9]

Awesome work! When I saw the first photos, I figured only a magician could bring this car back. You sir are the man.

[Lil Red Coupe]

Still chipping away at it, got all the seams and any welding seam sealed to stop any future problems.














I have tackled the very bodgy repair on the front crossmember. The spring had forced it's way through at some point the same as the rear had, the repair consisted of several hefty lumps of steel bolted in place to hold the spring.
This ended up raising the front by at least an inch, time all the steel was in place. I have repaired the crossmember and raised the top an inch which should give me another inch drop .












I have also welded up some of the many holes in the firewall, several were original and had the pins in that held the sound proofing and some have been put in over the years by previous owners. Some were drilled right through the swage lines.








I also had to repair the mount that the steering box bolts to on the chassis, when I removed the box there was a crack in the mount, so I v'ed it out and welded it up again.







Paul

[Lil Red Coupe]

Bit more progress done, finally got out in the workshop this afternoon after spending all week suffering man flu.
I bought a 40s ford master cylinder from Duksville and needed to make the brackets to fit it.
I wanted to use the original pedal set up which was for cable brakes. These incorporate the handbrake linkage so they have remained as well.
I have made the bracket so it bolts in using original holes in the chassis, which is a result.
It's all mocked up and looks like it's going to work well, and once painted should look pretty well in keeping with the rest of the chassis.















Paul.

[Aaron65]

I love that you're saving an old car that had no chance at all... Looks great!

[B1rdman]

i always said if you cant fix it you dont deserve to have it.
Ans boy do you deserve to have this car, never let it go,
this car is now a part of you, and it is a big part.
gene

[Lil Red Coupe]

Thanks for the very kind words guys.
Birdman this one is most definitely a keeper. I have wanted a zephyr coupe for years and never thought I would get the chance to own one. Now I have it it's not going anywhere without me in it

I am still chipping away at it. Check out the link below to see the updates.
37 Zephyr build thread - Page 7 - THE H.A.M.B.