38 Opera coupe Running board repair

[Guest locoincolo]

As I put together some of the parts for my 38 Opera coupe I find that ... well, previous work is under par for even a driver. The passenger running board is a good case in point. It has clearly been bumped.

Rather than reshape the metal, the PO used a good 1/2" thick bondo wad to get the general shape.

Well. That is no good.

So, I fabbed up a piece of 18 g mild steel to repair the crunched front edge.

Using the driver side running board for a gauge, and guessing... I put a 1/2" radius and a 1/2" hem on the bottom side.

Of course the purists will recoil when I cover this thing in some ribbed matting from Bob's - but hey - again, it's a driver.

Here's the new piece as I'm tack welding it onto the running board.

Here is the profile of the new piece up close

And finally, a shot after welding it on, shaping the front and back , but not quite finished yet as you can tell.

[Guest Grant Magrath]

Nice work!

Cheers

Grant

[Guest locoincolo]

Thanks Grant.

Thank goodness I can cover my ugly welding job with a big fat rubber mat.

At least the overall shape will be correct, and that's what I'm after.

Plus it's nice to know you're stepping on steel, and not some gigantic gob of unreinforced polyester resin.

Hey Grant - do you have a Still? I mean, in NZ you can, right?

[Guest Grant Magrath]

A still for making liquor? Not personally, but I have a friend who does. He has some pretty cool cocktail parties! As far as I know, it's legal. Same for brewing beer. And for all the Texans out there, gun silencers are legal as well. My uncle runs hunting tours down south and said they're quite a popular "export"!

Cheers

Grant

[Guest locoincolo]

Grant - more reasons for me to come for a visit to NZ!

I ask, because I'm starting a distillery - legally permitted, of course,

here in Lyons, CO. I've learned alot from home "distillers" posts from NZ.

SO Cheers, and clear skies!

[FLYER15015]

Loco,

Running board work looks good.

When you trial fit it back on the car, check the support brackets underneath.

If your car came from back east, they are most likely rusted, and not as strong as they used to be.

Mine were "swayed" a bit from 70 years of getting in and out. Particularly on the drivers side.

I straightened them out with a floor jack and a 2x4. But my car lived it's whole life in Cheyene Wy. so the support metal was in good shape, just bent.

Mike in colorado

[JoelsBuicks]

That is very nicely done! So how do you get pieces like this made? Do you just go to a machine shop with a drawing and some metal and tell them what you want or do you have to know somebody somewhere that has access to those kinds of tools? I've got to do exactly the same thing for my '36 Roadmaster. Did you do the welding with a mig or oxy/acet torch? How did you keep things straight and without all the warping that comes with the welding? It's very impressive and thank you for sharing.

[Guest dkhunt]

Grant- silencers (suppressors) are legal in most US states. I have one on my H&K .45 USP Tactical pistol. Nothing like shooting a .45 ACP round without hearing protection. It's a common misconception that they are illegal... but you just have to jump through a few hoops with the ATF. They've even passed some laws here in Louisiana making it legal to use them during certain types of hunting.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest outlaw car man]

Grant - more reasons for me to come for a visit to NZ!

I ask, because I'm starting a distillery - legally permitted, of course,

here in Lyons, CO. I've learned alot from home "distillers" posts from NZ.

SO Cheers, and clear skies!

Must be something in the Colorado air with Buicks, bootlegging & brewing !

Always wanted to be a distiller. Good for you.

OCM

Fort Collins

[Guest Grant Magrath]

Pure air and clean water? Colorado sure looks beautiful in the pictures, as does your car Sandy! Actually, while the coupe is a California car, the guy that we bought it off was living in Lakewood at the time, so I suppose there's a little bit of CO here in NZ!

Cheers

Grant

[Guest outlaw car man]

Pure air and clean water? Colorado sure looks beautiful in the pictures, as does your car Sandy! Actually, while the coupe is a California car, the guy that we bought it off was living in Lakewood at the time, so I suppose there's a little bit of CO here in NZ!

Cheers

Grant

NZ has better trout fishing. Yes, Lakewood is Denver, so a mile high car.

I think my Marvels are working too, Grant. Damn things anyway-

As always in the past, thanks for your help on my various 1933 Buick projects- I hope I've said that before.

Sandy

[Guest locoincolo]

Thanks for the comments. Mike, my supports are unusually nice - true shape and plenty of integrity. I don't know how. This car has lived in a garage for a very long time I think. There's plenty of rot, but not so much as I'd expect from an IL car.

Joel, the only major damage on my running board was along that front edge. I took a few measurements and decided to have a piece of 18g mild steel bent with a 1/2" radius. I drew a picture of what I wanted in a cheesy CAD program that I have, and took it to a local sheet metal shop. I have a neighbor with a couple giant metal brakes, but they aren't set up for radius brakes. (breaks? damn, better look that up). I added a hem on the bottom to match the existing design.

Anyway, it was $90.00 for the work and the material.

I used a TIG welder, which I learned how to use welding copper. Copper is very difficult, so it was super easy to weld up the steel in the running board. Worst part was I was too lazy to clean all the undercoating off that the PO used, so there was a lot of burny rubber smell. (I have a small bathroom fan converted to an extraction fan, so that helps greatly).

The trick to weld without so much distortion is to do small stiches and minimize the amount of heat that concentrates in one place. TRust me, my running board is wavy enough - I'd have been at wits end with a fender. Anyway, I tack weld the parts app. every inch. You can sort of adjust the fit as you go. I tend to tack from one end to the other so I don't trap a big pucker in the middle. The metal tends to want to crowd together, and sometimes I use a cutoff blade in a dremel to relieve the fit. Tight is perfect, overlapping sucks. Then stich an inch or so at a time. One on one end, then back to the other, only welding in the cooler areas. Stop and hammer things flat as you go. TIG welding is pretty quiet and calm, there's not all the fireworks and smoke that you get with the MIG.

The ends of the running board at the fender curve in slightly to match the shape of the front edge moulding strip. I simply relieved a little metal with a jigsaw and pounded a slight curve with a body hammer and dolly. Then welded it together, and ground it around a bit to suit the shape I saw on the other side.

Frankly, I'd have done a nicer job welding, but I was enjoying some beers as I worked late at night. Nonetheless, it's good enough!

My neighbor has a great selection of guns, and a nice trap to shoot into at 100 yards. It's fun, but I wish he'd use a silencer some days!

[jvelde]

Interesting, my '39 Buick coupe was built in Flint in late May 1939 and first sold in Denver, CO on June 24, 1939. Stayed in Denver till October 1971 when it was purchased by a man in Albuquerque, N.M. who owned the Buick until I purchased it from him in August, 2010. I have contacted Colorado DMV trying to trace exact ownership but they tell me the automobile title records prior to September 28, 2004 were purged and cannot be duplicated. I have the names of at least two owners prior to the man I purchased the Buick from, both in Denver, CO.

So, there seem to be multiple Colorado connections with old Buicks.

John V.

[Guest outlaw car man]

Interesting, my '39 Buick coupe was built in Flint in late May 1939 and first sold in Denver, CO on June 24, 1939. Stayed in Denver till October 1971 when it was purchased by a man in Albuquerque, N.M. who owned the Buick until I purchased it from him in August, 2010. I have contacted Colorado DMV trying to trace exact ownership but they tell me the automobile title records prior to September 28, 2004 were purged and cannot be duplicated. I have the names of at least two owners prior to the man I purchased the Buick from, both in Denver, CO.

So, there seem to be multiple Colorado connections with old Buicks.

John V.

Yes, but John , do you like beer, that's the main Colorado question. It's the water.

Sandy

[jvelde]

That would be a YES on the beer, and even better if it is consumed while talking about old Buicks!

[Guest outlaw car man]

That would be a YES on the beer, and even better if it is consumed while talking about old Buicks!

Damn totten- Just ran my sisters ( 90s ) around the circuit, running better then ever- life is good, now for a frosty one-

Sandy

OCM

[Guest Grant Magrath]

Save one for me!

Cheers

Grant

[Guest locoincolo]

Beer is definitely high on my list. I brewed "professionally" for 4 years - part of the reason I'm interested in distilling. I was the original brewer at Oskar Blues here in Lyons - Dales Pale Ale came from my old homebrew recipe. It's nationwide now, pretty much.

Anyway - I'm nearly ready to finish putting my rehabbed running board together. Some of the original was pretty lumpy, so I've been working to flatten it out so it at least matches the other side. Since these babies were vulcanized rubber all around, does anyone have an idea how thick that rubber was? I'm guessing 1/4". Only asking because I'm wondering what the real profile was.. and I'm a little bummed that the ridge down the middle of the steel shows through my rubber matting.

Most who look at my car would never know an original running board if they saw one - so the fact that mine looks nice and supports you when you get in the car is good enough for me... for now.

Cheers!

[Guest outlaw car man]

Loco-

There is a place you can buy original pattern rubber for your boards, maybe you did that. I looked it up once for my 90, 1200 a set, for 1933. Don't need a set but that's a lot of moola.

On a couple other cars I used vulcanized, the best way of course. On my 32 Dodge Touring Sedan, I glued them down with a million clamps, it came out OK.

I was the owner, bewmaster and founder of the HC Berger Brewery and the Fort Collins Brewery. Red Banchee, Chocolate Stout, Z Lager and many others were my creations. I'm retired now, sold the breweries.

Now I enjoy PBR and working on old Buicks, the " Sisters " as my Buick pals call them.

Sandy

OCM

[Guest locoincolo]

Sandy, nice to make your acquaintance! Always glad to meet a person interested in drinking beer and kicking tires! Nice work, your resume is impressive - we've likely met in the past - as I've been outa the beer world since '02.

Just had a PBR at the Tom Petty concert the other night in Broomfield. Can't believe they get $10 for a beer there.

Anyway - my car came with a roll of some rubber mat from Bob's Automobilia - and rather than spend the ca$h to do a total restore, I've opted to use the rubber mat in my possession and some contact cement from my local hardware store to make a working running board that looks great and you can step on and everyone is happy.

Problem now - PO or whoever did the brake job with shiny new lines managed to decide that the top bolthole for the pass side running board is the place to run the front brake line for that side. Well, sh*t. Now I have to re-run the brake line. I see from the old brackets and holes in the frame where it ought to run - but I'm pretty sure I'll trash the heck out of the line pulling it out of the car.

Guess it's time to get a decent line bender and maybe a good flare tool... or are those compression fittings?

Anyway... One step forward and two...

[1937 Buick 66C]

Greetings everyone,

Here's a profile of the running board matting developed by one of our members in the 1936-36 Buick group. This will give you an idea of the thickness of the material when vulcanized onto the metal shell:

Enjoy... Jon

[Guest locoincolo]

Jon,

Thanks! I'm interested in gathering all of the best and correct info I can about this car.

Even if I don't go for the perfect restore in the short term - I want to know the distance I need to ultimately cover.

THanks!

[Guest outlaw car man]

Loco-

Have you contacted Steele Rubber Products ? They carry a huge inventory of rubber parts for our cars, been using them for years on all makes of cars-

Even carried stuff for my 33 90s.

www.steelerubber.com

Sandy

[Guest outlaw car man]

.

Just had a PBR at the Tom Petty concert the other night in Broomfield. Can't believe they get $10 for a beer there.

$10 dollars takes the taste out of beer !

Problem now - PO or whoever did the brake job with shiny new lines managed to decide that the top bolthole for the pass side running board is the place to run the front brake line for that side. Well, sh*t. Now I have to re-run the brake line. I see from the old brackets and holes in the frame where it ought to run - but I'm pretty sure I'll trash the heck out of the line pulling it out of the car.

Brake lines, what the hell is that ? Let me tell ya, coming down a Colorado hill with mechanicals in a big 90, really keeps the right leg in shape, and ups the pucker-factor sometimes.

Guess it's time to get a decent line bender and maybe a good flare tool... or are those compression fittings?

I did my 32 Dodge lines with a Harbor Freight set up, probably a one time use, what 5 bucks . Hate brake work.

Sandy

[Guest Grant Magrath]

I love brake work Sandy. Send it to me!

Cheers

Grant

[Larry Schramm]

Here is the best flaring tool that I have ever used..... but not cheap

KENT MOORE J-45405 BRAKE PIPE FLARING TOOL | eBay

[FLYER15015]

O.K. Time to jump in here,

Hi Loco and Sandy.

I just finished the brakes on the "baby'.

Clutch Exchange inc., 3559 Brighton blvd, Denver. Ph 303 293 8680 relined my origional shoes, and by the looks of them, (holes) they had been done a couple of times before.

Cost was $218.00 complete. Wheel cyl's looked good and so did the return springs. I did buy new shoe retaining pins @ carquest ($4.00). Lines all looked good, but I did buy a flare set from Harbor Frt., to do the fuel line last fall, and it worked well.

Went cruzing Sat and Sun with the new Hayden fan purring softly, and the temp never got over 180 F. even comming up "dump hill" from salida.

Life is good..........

Mike in colorado

[Guest locoincolo]

You guys are a great inspiration, can't wait to meet and share a cold beer - or a shot of whiskey!

Finished my pass. side running board and installed it last night. I pulled the brake line out of the bolt hole and refished it appropriately - and it didn't require as much whining and complaining as I thought.

I think some dirt fell into my eye, but that was about it. Tomorrow I'll get one of the younger people that lurk here to help me bleed the brakes. Then maybe a tour down the road and back is in order!