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Reconstruction of a '34 Chevy Master Coupe


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Took that same running board and practised pick & filing, and applied a skim of body filler. It looks blotchy but is as smooth as a baby's bum. I'll take it to the body man and ask him if that's saving him time or whether I'm losing mine. :confused:

He said I was doing OK, that I could have left more filler and left it rougher to provide more grip for the second coat he'll be adding. Says I'm going in the right direction. By doing that to other parts of the body I should save him a bit of time and me a bit of money.

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Not much to report. Started stripping garnish moldings and dash for woodgraining. The dash has some buckshot dimples in it. I'm tempted to leave them in as a conversation piece. :cool:

Photo 5 shows the dash after application of rust converter. My New Zealand glove box door reacted differently.

Received flywheel ring gear. It appears slightly smaller than the one in place on the flywheel. Do they expand that much to slip on or is it too small? :confused:

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Took that same running board and practised pick & filing, and applied a skim of body filler. It looks blotchy but is as smooth as a baby's bum. I'll take it to the body man and ask him if that's saving him time or whether I'm losing mine. :confused:

That is one nice stack of wood there. Did you cut that yourself?

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Hi Pat

I found this thread for the first time today. It is so much like my own project, that I have just read every entry, from the begining, and found it so absorbing. I have a 1935 Buick, Series 40, to restore, in a similar condition as your Chev.I normally go straight to the pre-war Buick thread, which is why I didn't see yours until now. Mine has a limousine style body, by Fisher on it, which I think, was imported into New Zealand, that way, rather than being custom built here.

I have to replace the entire wooden frame, as you have, since my car had been out in the open air, for many years. The woodwork was either rotten, or infested with wood-borer beetle. When I dismantled the car, the wood that was there, crumbled in my hands, so no chance of patterns. I found your photos very interesting, and many of the components look exactly like mine, naturally.

I have been working on the woodwork, for a year and a half now, and found all the curves and bulges extremely challenging, as this is my first restoration. Whenever I get completely stuck, I revert to mechanicals, and so far I have a rolling chassis, with the bottom half of the engine installed.

So that's about where i am at, & I intend going back over all your postings, and I'm sure to pick up some tips. Thanks for posting them.

Cheers

Kevin

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hang in there Kevin. Hopefully you'r young enough so you won't get tired and park the project.I just hope to finish mine before I croak. Be sure to start a thread and show us your work.

As far as the project itself, mine will be on hold for several weeks, months maybe. I spent the last bit cleaning up the yard and getting ready for winter before I leave. I am going to work and hopefully will scrape enough money together to finance the completion.

Received the NOS rods. Took them to the rebuilder. In a short while I should have a short block.

Yesterday, I found the corner blocks for the door windows. Spent a bit if time installing them and installed the garnish moldings over them. Small potatoes but it takes time. :)

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That is one nice stack of wood there. Did you cut that yourself?

That is wood I've been collecting here and there. There's Maple I bought round and had sawn by a friend. There's black ash given to me by my brother in law. There's black walnut I bought from a man who cut a huge old tree in his yard. There's mahogany from several old door jambs. There's two nice blocks of flatcar oak. There's two hand hewn timbers from a building of my grandfather's farm. They were about 50' from my car whwn I picked it up. i believe they're spruce.

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That is wood I've been collecting here and there. There's Maple I bought round and had sawn by a friend. There's black ash given to me by my brother in law. There's black walnut I bought from a man who cut a huge old tree in his yard. There's mahogany from several old door jambs. There's two nice blocks of flatcar oak. There's two hand hewn timbers from a building of my grandfather's farm. They were about 50' from my car whwn I picked it up. i believe they're spruce.

Now am I envious of your car and your woodpile. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

This one is a regress report rather than a progress report. If you go back to posting #80 you'll remember the issue of the front suspension arms being uneven due to a possible mistake by the machine shop.

Well, I took it apart and that is exactly what happened. When he reinserted the splined shaft in the spindle arm he was off by a few degrees, which had for result that the right front was 2 1/2" lower. :mad:

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Hi Pat;

I've taken your advice and am starting to read your restoration blog as well as Bernie's.

I'm glad to hear someone else did their leaf springs the same way I did. I don't really have anybody to bounce ideas off of or to get solutions from. It seems like we're all located out in the boonies and far from the experts, wherever they may be. These restoration forums on the AACA site are fascinating, especially for someone that is doing this kind of work on an old car. I'm jotting down the other restorations you have mentioned and followed on this site and will read them as well.

I thought my '32 Packard was in terrible condition but your 34 Chevy is far worse. I really admire you taking up so challenging a restoration.

By the way, from license plates on the wall you seem to be located in Ontario. I visit London, Ont about once a year. Are you located anywhere near there?

regards,

Howard

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Hi Landman,

You do live way up north, that would be a 24 hr drive from here in southern Indiana. You could vacation on Hudson bay if there were any roads to get you there.

I notice you have varnished your wood. That is what I did as well. Originally Packard painted the wood a dull light green but I just couldn't see doing that to the beautiful new ash on my '32. It's not visible anyway.

That ring gear has to be heated to expand it to get it off and back on the flywheel. It will take some pounding to do that. If it's much smaller than the original it may not go on easily. I guess the only thing to do is give it a try. You might make an accurate measurement of both diameters to compare them.

Too bad you have to go back to work to earn money to continue. I can't believe how expensive these restorations are even though we do most of the work ourselves.

I sure wish I had your welding skills. It's amazing how you were able to piece that body back together.

I would like to do a coupe like you are doing, something from the 35-40 era, more roadworthy and a non classic that wouldn't be so expensive to find parts for. I think the coupes have very nice lines. You're going to have a beautiful car .

I have caught up with your posts and can now read them in "real time".

Howard

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Hi Landman,

You do live way up north, that would be a 24 hr drive from here in southern Indiana. You could vacation on Hudson bay if there were any roads to get you there.

I notice you have varnished your wood. That is what I did as well. Originally Packard painted the wood a dull light green but I just couldn't see doing that to the beautiful new ash on my '32. It's not visible anyway.

That ring gear has to be heated to expand it to get it off and back on the flywheel. It will take some pounding to do that. If it's much smaller than the original it may not go on easily. I guess the only thing to do is give it a try. You might make an accurate measurement of both diameters to compare them.

Too bad you have to go back to work to earn money to continue. I can't believe how expensive these restorations are even though we do most of the work ourselves.

I sure wish I had your welding skills. It's amazing how you were able to piece that body back together.

I would like to do a coupe like you are doing, something from the 35-40 era, more roadworthy and a non classic that wouldn't be so expensive to find parts for. I think the coupes have very nice lines. You're going to have a beautiful car .

I have caught up with your posts and can now read them in "real time".

Howard

What passes for "way up North" in Ontario is "way down South" in other areas of the country. We are on the 49th parallel which is the US border out west. So we are South of Winnipeg, Regina Calgary & everything else out West.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I set out to install the dippers on the bottom of the rods last Saturday I noticed the rods had been installed backwards. There is a bolt holding the small end to the piston pin. That bolt has to face the cam side and it didn't. My initial reaction was to turn one around but that made the piston backward. So I took it back and asked them to redo all the rod/piston/dippers installation and to recheck the clearances.

Went to the other machine shop to check on the front suspension part I had taken there to get the splined shaft turned a few degrees to the correct position. Still not done.

Ah well!! Supposed to be fun.....

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Stumbled on this thread for the first time today. All I can say is WOW! I am blown away by what you've done.

Hi Landman,

I'm restoring a 1934 Dodge which also has a timber roof. Could you supply a few more photos of the timber frame. Mine really dosn't exist and I'd like to compare the position of yours against the profile where mine sits.

Keep up the posts, I enjoy reading all your info.

Ian

Chrysler products in the early 1930s have a wood frame that the top material is attached to first, then the whole thing is pressed into the body. See 1933 Plymouth Roof Installation

N/C Industries in Sayre, PA has the wood frames for Plymouths and I would not be surprised with Chrysler badge engineering if the equivalent year Dodge used the same part numbers.

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When I set out to install the dippers on the bottom of the rods last Saturday I noticed the rods had been installed backwards. There is a bolt holding the small end to the piston pin. That bolt has to face the cam side and it didn't. My initial reaction was to turn one around but that made the piston backward. So I took it back and asked them to redo all the rod/piston/dippers installation and to recheck the clearances.

Went to the other machine shop to check on the front suspension part I had taken there to get the splined shaft turned a few degrees to the correct position. Still not done.

Ah well!! Supposed to be fun.....

Motor's back. Everything pointing in the right direction. So over the next while on my rare days off, I'll put parts back on 'er. :rolleyes:

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Pat, I'm kicking myself for not looking at this site before today. I have all the wood (good) for a 34 Master 5W coupe that I replaced with metal about 4 or 5 years ago. You would have been welcome to it but the work you have done is very good indeed. I am street rodding mine but always like to save good original parts for the resto guys. If any of your parts cars or your car has a good ID plate on the firewall I would be glad to pay you for a picture of the plate---you could tape over the numbers for ease of mind. I have my plate but the sandblaster obliterated all but the stamped in numbers. A local trophy shop can make a plate that will prevent the DMV from giving me a hard time if I can provide them with the design.

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Did the machine shop use a pan target to set the oil squirt tubes? If set with the target tool the oil will hit directly in the middle of the dippers. Chevy's of the 40's rent them or I will let you use mine. If I recall the 34 engine was a 207(?) and my target is for a 216. Someone at the VCCA would know if the tool works on both engines.

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