1931 Late Tudor body construction?

[JP75]

Okay, Been helping my dad with his 1931 Tudor. He was over eager in my opinion to remove all the rust (no rust through or surface rust but, there might have been some between the panels and he could not live with that) and took the body completely apart rear panel, two sides etc. We have the sub frame all back together using the original rivet holes and have the cowl, gas tank a lot of the wood back in to give the vertical uprights some support(door posts and the rear vertical supports that support the rear of the side windows and body sides). We decided to test fit the two rear side panels and have run into an issue. We have put every thing back together with the original holes and have the sub frame sitting level. The front of the panels fit perfect against the door uprights but, the rear is sitting about 1/4 to 3/16th to high on the rear up rights. The roof curves of the side panels are firmly against the rear up rights were they curve and connect with the sheet metal and we can not figure out how to drop the panels down any further. This is my question does anybody have any experience with a model a body construction and may have some hidden insight on how to make these panels drop and align. Sorry for my descriptions I hope they describe the situation well enough.

Thanks for any help

[jpage]

I'm pretty sure that the body on those cars was an all steel assy. Did you separate the front upper roof panel from the rear section? I believe those two pieces were welded together. I also think that the rear quarter and rear upper roof panel is one piece. I take it that when you speak of the rear upright you're referring to the "C" pillar behind the rear side window opening. The rear section and the two side quarters should be bolted together. Did you have the subframes apart at all or are they intact and did you have the "B" and "C" pillers removed. Any misalignment in the substructure will interfere with the installation of the other panels. If the front of the panel fits tightly to the "B" pillar it sounds like the framework is racked a little forward holding the rear section up. These bodies were assembled with jigs to assure alignment at the factories. If the subframe is flat , check for square on the "A" and "B" pillars. It's possible that the body may have been twisted or racked a little and when you dismantled it it sprung out of shape. Also make sure that the subframe isn't twisted along it's length . I've never seen anyone totally dismantle a sedan body except in an extreme situation. If you are riveting the body back together ,it might behoove you to fasten everything together with bolts first to get the alignment correct and the rivet the parts together. Some of the body panels are tacked into the wood but the wood is basicaly for the installation of the interior unlike the fordors that had a wooden superstructure. Good luck,this could be an adventure!

Edited April 26, 2013 by jpage (see edit history)