The Ressurection of Daphne - a 1932 DL

[1936 D2]

I had my wiring done at Harnesses Unlimited. They were very helpful adding wiring inside the loom for turn signal wiring and fog lamp wiring. It is invisible. I see in their ads that they also have a looming service. So if you make up your own wiring, they can machine the braided loom over it.

All in all though, I would consider having them make the whole harness up (to your specs) completely. It really saves you time and headache.

[Taylormade]

I checked Harnesses Unlimited and they don't carry a harness for a 32 Dodge. Both Y and Z and Rhode Island Wiring have them with RI being somewhat less expensive. I bought my harness for my 48 Plymouth from RI and was very happy with the product.

I talked to Rhode Island Wiring this morning and they will do the looming for $4.50 a foot plus a $7.00 set up charge. They were very helpful on the phone. So, now I have to decide whether to go with a completed harness or try a partial DIY and let them do the looming.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[zeke01]

Wiring is one of those projects best done all new and all at the same time. If you do a partial job you won't get the tape and side cutters put away before you start wishing you had done it new from scratch.

[Taylormade]

Well, I lost about a page and a half of posts thanks to the recent hack. Let's see if I can remember what I posted.

I spent an evening doing one the the hundreds of "little" jobs necessary to finish any restoration. This one involved the bell housing. It was a greasy. oily mess. It was so covered with stuck on road grit that it was impossible to figure out what was what - everything just looked like a shapeless blob.





Luckily, all the oil had kept the sealed inside pretty clean.



I sprayed everything with foam engine cleaner, waited ten minutes and broke out the power washer.



Other than the fact I need to lose some weight, the picture shows how effective the washer is in removing the crud. Everything came out nice and clean.



And even better news, I miked the clutch fork shaft and there was no wear. A new set of bushings and I should be ready to go.



Now just a wire brushing (I saved a sample of the paint for my paint shop to match) and cleaning, and then a coat of epoxy primer and shiny gray paint.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

My wife Kathy and I spent last Saturday at Ed's watching him make the lower section of the body that needed replacement. It was Swiss cheese and had to go.



In watching the process, we discovered that careful planning, thinking ahead, and exact measurements are necessary for a good job.

Ed began by taking measurements of the panel to be replaced. He discovered that it curved on both the horizontal and vertical axis. Getting the correct curve was critical, so he hauled out his curve templates and determined the correct arc in both directions.



We all have a rack of curve templates in our workshops...right?

Anyway, Ed noticed that the front horizontal curve was different the the rear part of the curve so he had to clamp a 12 degree radius to a 15 degree radius to get the correct compound curve.



With that problem solved, he cut out the proper shape from a large sheet of steel and bent it about a third of the way in to a 90 degree angle.

Then he went to work shaping the piece - first getting the correct curve in one direction using this foot operated machine.





It took a lot of time and work, shaping, then walking over and comparing it to the templates, more shaping and more comparing.



Finally, he had the curve correct.



But this shaping process distorted the piece and it was now necessary to hammer it back to the correct shape and introduce the other curve using this device.



This baby was loud and the earphones were a real necessity. Once the curves were correct (more comparing to the templates), Ed went to the PullMax to hammer in the profile of the part. He had made a template directly from the body to start with.



Then he ground these forms from a single hunk of steel to match the correct profile. This is no easy job as you have to know how much to round the corners and smooth the surface so the dies will form the metal to the exact shape needed.






With the dies installed on the machine, Ed slowly formed the profile, making eight or nine passes, letting the machine work at its own pace.







Now Ed used still another machine to bend a perfect 90 degree angle in the part. This also took about nine passes to make it perfect. Ed says you have to ease the metal into shape, and working too fast can ruin the job.








The final process was to score the part so it could be bent 180 degrees to form the welding bracket on the bottom.



A lot of work, but the final results were amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the outer panel that needed attention.

The next step will be to replace the rusted out inside section below the doors. This is an easy part to make since it is basically flat with a few access holes. Once the rust areas are replaced, the outer section will be removed and new outer section we made in the last post will be installed.



The inner driver's side is all good and will remain.



The outer side has a few small holes that can be welded up and a rusted through section that will be filled with a patch. No need to make a full lower part on this side.



The rear of the body also needs some help. This is a double-wall area, which causes some problems. Ed will have to remove the rusted section visible in the picture, repair some damage to the layer under it, then prime that layer, then weld in a new section to replace what he removed. He always primes under double sections to prevent rust from returning.



After all the metal is replaced, Ed will sandblast everything again and then use a spray wand through the access holes to coat the inside of the panels with epoxy primer. He'll then spray the exterior with epoxy primer to seal everything. He is very conscientious about preventing any rust from returning.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

Ed also finished up the driver's side lower hood section that had been badly damaged in the ice fall mentioned earlier. This was no easy job - a basically flat panel that had to be made perfectly flat once again. The original damage was ugly and extended much further than we originally thought. The bottom of the panel was also buckled and had caused the damage done to the base of the fender we had to repair earlier. I was lucky and found perfect top hood section. As far as I know, it will be the only body part not original to the car, but the amount of work to get the old one right was prohibitively expensive.



Ed did his usual magic and got everything back into line. He spent a lot of time on the raised trim around the louvers and the louvers themselves, which were bent every which way.







Getting the hinges straight was no easy task, either, but the part is now ready to take to the painter.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

I headed over to Crin at Undercover Upholstery and Paint to see how the fenders were coming. He now has the final primer coat on over the Evercoat Slick Sand spray filler he used to level everything out. He didn't have to use any conventional body filler on any of the fenders. You can see the guide coat on the fenders in some of the pictures.









He thought he might spay on the basecoat/clearcoat today, but he discovered a slight wave in a couple of places on the front fenders and added a bit more Slick Sand and is continuing the sanding. I'm glad he's such a perfectionist, as black will show every wave and tiny flaw.





The difference in the fenders compared to the first day I saw them is simply astonishing. Check out these before and after pictures - and this is before a little more work and the final paint.





















I can't wait to see them in shiny black!

Edited July 10, 2017 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[keiser31]

That car is going to look sooooo beautiful!

[Taylormade]

I sure hope so. I must say I'm happy so far. Still a long way to go to make it by next June and the 100th, but we're trying.

[Ian_Greenlaw]

The skills these guys have is amazing..........I hate them all

[frank29u]

It will be beautiful and you will make it by June 2014!! I really appreciate your detailed pictures and narration. Thanks for taking your time to post. frank

[Taylormade]

I spent what may be my last day at Ed's Saturday. as some of you may know, I'm doing a book and a video on the restoration. I wanted to document Ed installing the replacement rocker panel he made the last time I was there. When I arrived, Ed showed me the work he had done on the interior rocker section.

It used to look like this:



Now it looks like this:



Ed replaced all but the center section. Now both sides match and are solid steel.





Ed fill welded a few deep pits in the back of the rocker section that wasn't going to be replaced.




With that work done, it was time to cut off the rusted outer rocker. Ed used a plasma cutter to get a rough cut out, then trimmed the edges with tin snips.



Inside the panel the metal was clean and pretty rust free.





He ground down any rust he found and ground off the spot welds that still held pieces of the rocker on.



Then he used a spot blaster to clean off any additional rust he found.





The old and new panels.



Once the cuts were clean, he fitted up the new panel.





Then, for the next three hours we cut, snipped, massaged, and fitted the panel until it was lined up perfectly.







Then it was time to weld the panel in. Ed used a MIG to tack everything in place.





Finally, he TIG welded the seam, doing small lengths in different areas to prevent warping from excessive heat.



And clamped the bottom seam together with this tool.





With that done, he was ready to tackle the dents in the cowl and top.





 

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

This morning I went over to Crin's place to view the freshly painted front fenders. The clear-coat went on last night. They still need to be wet sanded and buffed, but even in their raw state, they looked pretty good.









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Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[ply33]

<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>This morning I went over to Crin's place to view the freshly painted front fenders. The clear-coat went on last night. They still need to be wet sanded and buffed, but even in their raw state, they looked pretty good.

Wow! Pretty good is an understatement.

[Buicknutty]

What a transformation!

Keith

[Bleach]

Even outstanding wouldn't say enough.

[Ian_Greenlaw]

I like them with the dints in them.....gave them character !!!

Apart from that.....wow what a job, how good do they look now. The hard part is getting them on without scratching them as they are so big !

Well done

Ian

[R.White]

Excellent work. I also appreciate the effort you have made with this thread. Most enjoyable.

Ray.

[Ron Lawson]

Just Splendiffolus both of your guys are craftsmen Ron

[JACK M]

Excellent work. I also appreciate the effort you have made with this thread. Most enjoyable.

Ray.

Me too.

[1935EB]

Hard to believe those are the same front fenders that Ed was working on earlier!! Chris

[Taylormade]

The attack of the Dreaded CLUM SWITCH!

Today I took a look at the infamous Clum light switch that I removed from Daphne<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> the last time I visited Ed's. It was totally covered in black grease, but I could move the lever on the steering wheel and hear the switch click before I took it off, so I hoped for the best. It was so greasy that when I set it on a paper towel and left it overnight, there was a huge oily stain around it next morning soaked into the paper towel.

Before:


I used acetone, an old toothbrush, my Dremel tool with fine wire wheels and a bunch of Q-tips to get everything clean. It took a good hour to get everything off. I didn't want to expose the fiberboard piece to too much acetone as I didn't know how it would react to a powerful solvent. It seems to have come through the ordeal with flying colors. I don't know what the stuff inside the switch is made of - copper contacts, of course, but I wasn't sure if the other parts were metal or more fiberboard.

It cleaned up very nicely, except for that little hunk of dirt that seems to have landed on it when I took the photos:







As you can see from the last photo, It's a Clum<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> 9271, and I assume it's the original. After I soaked it and cleaned everything, the switch moved through it's three positions pretty smoothly, but stopped with a positive action at each detent. I got out the volt meter and got good current flow from the various numbered contacts as I tried out the different switch positions. I'll have to check the wiring diagram tomorrow, but it looks like everything is working as it should and my Clum is still good.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> And that makes me very happy considering what they are going for on Ebay these days.

Does anyone know if these switches were lubricated internally in any way? I ask because that lube (if any) is gone after the acetone bath. <quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

A look at the fenders from Crin's site.

http://www.undercoverupholsteryandpaint.com/1932_Dodge_Exterior_1.html

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[frank29u]

Re: lubricating CLUM switch. Years ago, I attempted to spray an audio/visual tuner cleaner inside. I would suspect contacts might be brass. Anyway, great looking switch. Nothing like a good coating of old oil/grease/dirt for preservation!

frank

[JACK M]

I have had pretty good luck shooting WD-40 into any small opening and then turning the switch a bunch. WD works well for electrical. I am not afraid to use a lot of it then dry with air.

[keiser31]

I have had pretty good luck shooting WD-40 into any small opening and then turning the switch a bunch. WD works well for electrical. I am not afraid to use a lot of it then dry with air.

Best way to go in my opinion. Here is what the inside of the switch looks like....

Edited September 21, 2013 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

Crin has the front fenders color sanded and buffed out. They've gone from a rather garish shine to a really nice shiny glow that looks much more like the original paint on the old girl.









This is Crin's paint booth/workshop. That's not one of my fenders, it's from his 36 Packard.



Vent system.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

Daphne arrived nearer to home today as Ed personally delivered the finished body, now temporarily back on the frame for transport, to Crin's Undercover Upholstery and Paint.



We wheeled it off the trailer and took the body back off with Crin's lift.







We then rolled the frame back on the trailer and Ed delivered it to my place where it now resides in my workshop - finally!





I'm going over tonight to take the windows out of the body and I'll take detailed pictures of the completed body work. It now looks like that huge slab of ice never fell on the old girl, she's straight as an arrow once again.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>I built a dolly for the body today - not exactly an engineering marvel, but good enough to move the body around as Crin sands and primes it.



All the metal work is done - at last! - and now we can get on with the paint work. Ed did an outstanding job. What was supposed to be a two week job turned into three months, but we kept discovering new problems every time we went to inspect the next area. You've seen enough of the fenders and hood, but here a few before and afters of the body.

























It's a little tough to see, but there is a sizable dent in the center of the roof above the windshield and the cowl is caved in between the vent openings.



And the repairs.








Several dents removed - these were on the car when I bought it in 1965. They always drove me nuts!



Finally, the rear door fits and closes correctly.




I removed all the glass except the back windows, taking out the window and door latch mechanisms in the process.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate> I'll be restoring those over the next few weeks.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)

[ply33]

Great progress. I am really enjoying following this thread.

[Taylormade]

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. Hershey and one of my major clients suddenly closing their doors for good put a temporary hold on things. The good news - I picked up a great radiator at Hershey from fellow board member Sandbarfarm31, and a nice gas tank, along with a set of NOS king pins and a great tail light from board member yirgaman. Thanks guys! Took the top insert off the DL's body last night and will post some photos soon. Turned out to be an easy job. With the body totally stripped of glass, window and door mechanisms, trim and the top insert, sanding and priming is underway. No new pix as things look about the same as they did in post #270.

The bad news - money is tight with my losing a major client. I still hope to make Detroit next summer, but finances may play a big part in that endevor.

Well, a no cost option is me stripping down the frame and cleaning everything up, so that's next.

[keiser31]

Ahhh....the cramper of style, finances. I feel your pain.

[Ian_Greenlaw]

Been there and had the same problems. Building our own home, buying and running a business and school fees killed my resto for 6 years. Hopefully back on track.

Keep up the great work. Looking forward to more photos

Ian

[Buicknutty]

Me too! I've had the same issues from time to time, so I feel the pain as well.

Keith

[Ron Lawson]

There has been times in my life I have been so poor that I couldn't even afford to pay attention Some how we manage to cope and carry on. With me having a wonderfull and very supportive wife that also loves the old cars is a great bonus. If I could afford it I would send you a few grand as you would not believe how much encouragement this post has given me in the restoration of my car. Money cannot buy that sort of kick start that your post on Daphnies refurbishment has given me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I sincerely hope that we will be able to catch up in Detroit in 2014 Cheers Ron

[Taylormade]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I hope I didn't come off as too much of a crybaby. It is what it is and I'll continue on with the low cost aspects of the restoration for the time being - if there is such a thing as "low cost" when it comes to these great old cars.

[Guest 1930]

Not having much money just motivates me to learn how to do things myself that I thought otherwise I could not do. It is truly a gift being poor at times.

[Guest danceswithpumps]

Thank you for this great thread. What a great car this will be. The tools and know how shown in the pics of this thread are very inspiring to all of us.

Rod

[Taylormade]

Thanks for all the kind comments and the encouragement - it's greatly appreciated. Now on to more entertaining matters - the resurrection of Daphne.<quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate><quickprintreadystate style="display: none;"></quickprintreadystate>

My brother flew out from his home in Denver and we drove to Hershey from my place in Illinois. Nice drive, plenty of sunshine and a chance to catch up as we don't see each other that often. The weather was good on Wednesday and we parked and hit the Green field first, contacting Larry (yirgaman) who had everything waiting for us. All the items were as advertised - a nice, relined gas tank, new king pins and the interior door handle I needed. Larry threw in a spring and escutcheon which was really nice.



While there I noticed a glass case filled with other small goodies.



Despite having a tail light, these were so much better than mine, so I bought one - for less than I paid for my rough one. Thanks Larry!




Larry's space was at the North end of the Green Field and near the cross walk so I managed to carry everything back to the car without much of a problem. Then it was on to the South Chocolate Field to hook up with Jim (sandbarfarm 31) and pick up a radiator. It was advertised as coming from a 30,000 mile car that had been rodded and it sure met those standards. I won't know for sure until I take it to the radiator shop for a checkout, but it looked good to me.



Luckily, Jim had a dolly and we made the long, long trip back to the car.

We walked around some more and I managed to find a set of spring shackles and pick up lots of cards from restoration suppliers and chrome shops. We spotted this Stanley Steamer near the Car Corral.







My brother found a car he really liked in the car corral - a 1932 Chevrolet, all original, with 19,000 miles. He was tempted, but his small garage and transport problems made it impossible, but he wanted that car!



Then the rains came. We headed for the Coker Tire space and I got a big discount on six 5.50 - 18 Firestone blackwalls and saved myself a ton is shipping costs. Thankfully, they had wheeled cars available, and we made another long journey back to the car.



Along the way, we spotted Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars fame trying to cover up his big, open cars before the rain ruined the leather upholstery.





We got the tires back to the car, slipping and sliding down the grassy hill of the parking lot, and then made the trek back to Coker to return the cart. By that time we were both exhausted and headed back to the motel for some well deserved rest.

The rain dampened things for the next two days, so we attended the Dodge Brothers Club dinner on Friday night and headed home on Saturday. A great, if slightly wet trip, and I picked up some much needed items for the restoration.









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Edited March 21, 2016 by Taylormade (see edit history)