Ron Lawson Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Mark I have been following your post with interest Your Upholstery is looking fantastic cobber Your car has very similar if not the same windscreen stanchions as my 2249 DB Senior What did you do for rubber gaskets between the body and the stanchions Ron 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 G'day Ron, Thanks for the compliment mate - as for the gaskets I got a repo set from Old Auto Rubber in Penrith NSW about six years ago. Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Lawson Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 19 hours ago, 1930 Kram66 said: G'day Ron, Thanks for the compliment mate - as for the gaskets I got a repo set from Old Auto Rubber in Penrith NSW about six years ago. Cheers Mark Thanks Mark, The ones on my car are different I did get a pair like you have but they were no good for the DB The are quite easy to make if yo have the patients Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted October 9, 2021 Author Share Posted October 9, 2021 While working on tensioning the hood bows, I soon worked out I needed some hood rests ( up until this point I was using a couple of pieces of dowel shoved into the rest mount holes on the side of the body to allow me to lower the hood and not have it crash into the rear of the car) so I made a couple of rests that will do the job for now, I would like to find some original ones if at all possible - still haven't found what I am looking for 😐 Also I decided to make a part for my front bumper bar- can't seem to locate the type I need 😐 - so this will do for the present. Finally I made a cover plate for the floor where the gear lever tower and hand brake lever live. To seal around the gear box tower I made a rubber gasket that pushes on to the tower before the plate is fitted, around the brake lever I used an off-cut of auto carpet underlay to help seal the slot that the lever to moves in. To hold the underlay in place, I cut out a metal shape slightly larger than the slot and sandwiched the underlay between the top plate and this with 4 small bolt and nuts. The material for my top finally came in this week so I can now make a start on this part of the restoration, first job will be covering the front bow with top material. Cheers Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted October 15, 2021 Author Share Posted October 15, 2021 Firstly, I would like to thank Hugh Leidlein (Hubert_25-25) for posting some very informative information in the Pre-war Buick section on how he did his own convertible top. Anyone contemplating doing their own top will find this information invaluable. I started by covering the front bow using 3 pieces of material, one long piece for the straight part of the bow, and 2 square pieces, cut on the bias of the material to cover the curved parts. I also made a metal visor to fill the area between the top of the windscreen and the bottom of the front bow, this is also covered with material and provides a neat look to the windscreen and top junction and a seal on the top of the windscreen frame on the inside of the car. Next job is covering the remaining bows and then making and fitting the tensioning straps. Cheers Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunsmoke Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 Have been following with interest your project. I'm doing up a 1931 CD8 roadster and note their top material appears to have a 4"-5" deep "pocket" at lead bow, and it appears to slip over bow with sufficient pocket to act as a fully clothed soffit above windshield. They use a stainless steel (or chromed) trim piece on underside that fastens to the steel bracket and thus finishes off front bow "mounting holes". Does your top material use a pocket at front bow? Here are couple of pics of CD8 front bow area. While I have not seen one of these in real time, I assume top is made up with this pocket, and it is the first step in putting on a pre-sewn top. Front bow on CD8 may be pre-wrapped with some material like you show. I'm still learning/researching proper method as I will be doing this eventually. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viv w Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 Hi Guys, Your two cars have different mounting brackets for the front bow to clamp to the windscreen posts. I am familiar with both types as I have a 26 and a 28. Both cars share the same "design" in principle. A 1927 model 50 I did, had remains of bits of the top material still attached to the original bows. This car had the plate type bracket as Mark's car shows. The G70 I have also has this type of brackets, which I will look for tomorrow to photograph, it had remains of the aluminium escutcheon, rivetted thru it , in the same fashion as the picture of gunsmokes. Now my 1928 Model 52 phaeton and model 62 roadster had the same cast brackets as shown in gunsmokes pictures. As far as my model 52 is concerned it had original "cotton" sleeves that were slid over the bows ,( my upholsterer cussed me for wanting them done as a sleeve, not tacked), There is a thin, maybe 3 ply wood filler that is covered in the same colour outside top material, that goes right across the car as shown in gunsmokes photo. This filler panel is nailed to the bottom of the front bow, then the material is pulled forwards and tacked to the front of the front bow, hope this makes sense. Also whilst you are doing this filler panel, note it has a flap that is part of the filler covering, this flap goes in front of the windscreen to stop rain and wind. I have edited gunsmokes picture below image below shows flap outside the screen Bow drill coverings and shows the top pads If you look carefully you will see the front filler panel above the windscreen this is a 27 finer 70, your 29 should look much the same. Note the gypsey curtain across the back bow and the rear curtain is tacked across the back at the top of the body, these tacks are then covered by hidem, lift the dot fasteners secure the sides to the body. These pics are courtesy of ones I've found on the net over the years Viv. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 Hi Gunsmoke, Once again, thanks for your interest in my project. Let's see if I can help, by "pocket" -you mean the thing I called a visor? I should have taken more pictures of how I did this part so I will try and explain the steps. 1/ As mentioned in my post I covered the front bow and the visor in the same material that the top is made from. 2/ Next I cut out a piece of metal ( 20ga gal sheet) to fit between the mounting brackets on the inside of the bow, it's deep enough to bridge the gap between the bow and the top of the windscreen frame. In my case It is approx. 4inches wide by 42 inches long. It also has a slight curve formed in it that allows for some padding to sit in -along the top of the windscreen frame. 3/ This metal piece is screwed to the underside of the bow with 9 - 10 screws. Holes are pre- drilled in the bow before covering, and the uncovered at this stage metal piece is fitted after covering the front bow. 4/ With the bow covered you need to find the pre-drilled holes (use an awl), next sandwich a piece of top material sized to wrap around the metal part and large enough to be tacked to the top of the bow between the bow and the metal part. 5/ Screw the metal part on then wrap the material back and around the metal and pull it up to the top of the bow and place some tacks, also place some padding on the underside at this time. 6/ Tuck the ends of the material into them selves on the ends between the mounting brackets. Hope that makes sense. and answers your question. If you are going to do your own top, the detail in the post from Hubert 25-25 is fantastic for taking a lot of the unknown about how to do this job. Good luck with your project. Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted October 22, 2021 Author Share Posted October 22, 2021 With the front bow covered I moved on to covering the remaining bows, I used some medium weight out door canvas material for this. I cut out strips of this material approximately 300mm wide - cut on the bias to allow the fabric to form around the curved sections of the bows. Next the covered bows were refitted to the hood irons, so I could make the tensioning straps that hold the second to rear bow in it's correct position relative to the rear bow. For these I used some top material- cut into strips about 150mm wide and folded it on it's self twice to form a strap 50mm wide. Now with the roof structure assembled I could start making the top pads - for these I used top material for the bottom part ( visible from the inside) and heavy cotton drill fabric for the top pieces (not visible) that cover the jute webbing and padding -these flaps are hand sewn together on completion. Finally after fitting the top pads I nervously lowered the roof just to make sure all was well. To my surprise no ripping sounds were heard !!! The next task is making patterns for the roof pieces. Cheers Mark 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunsmoke Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 Great looking work, never knew there was so much specialized techniques to these tops. Starting to think I'll hire a pro to do my Roadster! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 (edited) Thanks, To coin a well used phrase "How hard could it be! " Let's say I am finding this work very challenging to say the least. To me, it shares a lot of thing's in common with wood work strangely enough- except wood does not wrinkle at the drop of a hat ! Also worth mentioning again -having access to information generously provided on this forum certainly help's too! Cheers Mark Edited October 25, 2021 by 1930 Kram66 Spelling check (see edit history) 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 Well, this is this week's effort...... I mocked up the roof in plastic sheet - so that I can make some templates to cut out the panel's required in top material and as well identify possible problem area's that I will have to deal with. I see many 😐. - getting the fit correct around the exposed rear bow timber and also lots of fullness along the top side panels. So at this stage I am going to wimp out cutting out expensive material, instead I am going to have a trail run making the top using ute torneau cover material. At least I will get more accurate pieces to use as template's on the good stuff. Cheer's Mark. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viv w Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Hi Mark, I've just done the top on my 35 Ford phaeton. It was also my first attempt and a big learning curve. I think you will find the top centre panel should be the same width from front to back and this is normally the same width as the top of the front windscreen posts. The sides are the hardest part as you have to allow for the fact that the inside line is not straight from front to back where it is sewn to the centre top deck, it actually bows and that is the tricky part. The rear panel is normally one piece from left to right. Have fun Viv 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 (edited) Let the FUN begin..... Using my plastic templates, I cut out 2 left, 2 centre and 2 right curtain shapes.( inside and outside pieces) Next I joined each panel halves together, sewing very close to the edge's all around the shape ( making a double layer shape).Using a combination of double sided tape, tack's, magnets and spring clamps I positioned the parts on the car. Once happy I marked the position's of the lift the dot posts at this time. I used small self tappers ( just for mock up) to hold the bottom of the curtain's in place and marked out the stitch lines and snap fastener location's. Removed the parts again and sewed on some edge binding and ran stitches about 2 inches in from the edge's of each panel where required. Lot's of off and on with this work, so to help keep the panels from being refitted slightly off, I drove a few small nails in to act as positioning dowels. Finally I cut out and removed the inside layer of material very close to the stitch line just mentioned. This double layer is only need where fastener's are placed. I am not planning on actually fitting any fasteners to these mock up pieces at this time - but that may change as things progress- I may need the practice ! On to the top center and side panels next. I am very happy that I decided to have a practice run at this first. I learnt a lot ... better to balls up (which I did) on this cheaper material before using the good stuff. !!! Cheer's Mark Edited November 7, 2021 by 1930 Kram66 (see edit history) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 The fun continues...... Finished the practice run on the roof......Fit's like a cheap suit, but I learnt what not to do. Undeterred by my less than mediocre effort I decided to actually start cutting out the "good" stuff while all of this was still fresh in my mind. Here is my progress to date, slow and steady as she go's. Cheer's Mark 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambroast Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Wow Mark that is looking really good! Love the colour too! Just the inspiration I need for a day in the shed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 Thanks Matt Enjoy your day in the shed 😊, we need more old Chrysler's out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted December 3, 2021 Author Share Posted December 3, 2021 Some more progress ...... Basically all the panels for the roof are now made and tacked in position. Next job is applying the edge binding. and fitting the rear window frame. But .... Having trouble getting the edge binding that I want to use, apparently I wont see it until next year now. So I will move on to the side curtains while I am waiting for the binding to show up. That will certainly keep me busy, as I need to make the metal frame's for each door as well. Cheer's Mark 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) Since my last post I have made the side curtain frames for all 4 doors, I had one original to copy from- they are made from 3/8 inch round bar bent into a rectangular shape ( I made a simple jig using the original for reference to make them the same size and shape ) the ends are welded together. Two small spigots are welded on the lower rail of each frame to allow the curtain to plug into the inserts on each door. Also, I am in the process of turning up some curtain inserts for the top's of the door's, from 1inch diameter aluminium round bar on the lathe at work, have made 4 at this time. I have finished both the rear most curtains and have just finished the drivers side rear door curtain to-day. I have been giving the side curtain window 's some thought - hence the blue tape - not sure which way to go, small like original style or larger for better visibility. Either way they will be not the best to see out of, but I probably wont be driving it in the rain anyway, right? Cheer's Mark Edited December 13, 2021 by 1930 Kram66 (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Beautiful work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 Worked back a few hours yesterday to finish up the rest of the inserts for the side curtains before knocking off work for 3 weeks. ( yippee !!!) Merry Christmas to all. Cheers Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 The boss let me spend some time on the sewing machine over the holidays..... I finished the side curtains finally. Cheer's Mark 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 And now for something completely different.....Bodywork 😐 the seemingly never ending part of any project. I can't put of starting this any longer...... so I removed the front left guard/fender/wing to commence to filling and sanding. 😊 I started with this one, because it was the most damaged of all and required a lot of metal work just to make it decent. So while my enthusiasm was up I thought tackling the hardest one made sense. Speaking of the metal work this was done about 18 months ago and after all the metal parts where repaired I coated them in white epoxy primer. I have about 23hours of filling and sanding so far, spaced over the last two weeks, done after work and weekends. I hope to spray a couple of coats of black epoxy primer towards the end of the week. Cheer's Mark 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 (edited) 9 hours ago, 1930 Kram66 said: And now for something completely different.....Bodywork 😐 the seemingly never ending part of any project. I can't put of starting this any longer...... so I removed the front left guard/fender/wing to commence to filling and sanding. 😊 I started with this one, because it was the most damaged of all and required a lot of metal work just to make it decent. So while my enthusiasm was up I thought tackling the hardest one made sense. Speaking of the metal work this was done about 18 months ago and after all the metal parts where repaired I coated them in white epoxy primer. I have about 23hours of filling and sanding so far, spaced over the last two weeks, done after work and weekends. I hope to spray a couple of coats of black epoxy primer towards the end of the week. Cheer's Mark Just curious....what is that single hole in the middle of the fender for? Edited February 6, 2022 by keiser31 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Thanks keiser31 for your interest in my project. The single hole is for a brace that mounts from the edge of the fender to the chassis. Cheer's Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunsmoke Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Interesting simplicity of the front fender bracket. My '31 Chrysler CD8 has a much heavier pressed steel channel type bracket as shown in these photos, 4 bolts to frame, 2 carriage bolts to fender bracket, and it also supports headlight bar. Does your car still have a bracket to go on forward of this one? M car has sidemounts so a rearward bracket bolted to side of wheel well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viv w Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Mark, I looked at this brace and I didn't think this front fender brace was correct or original. However I found this picture on line tonight and it shows this rear brace, and hopefully you have the much heavier fender brace further forwards that go up under the headlight bar and not only brace the fender but reinforce the sheetmetal where the headlight bar mounts. best regards Viv. Viv. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 Hi Gunsmoke, I saw you post this morning just as I was leaving for work, sorry for my delayed reply. Here are some pictures of the main pressed steel bracket that is spot welded to the guard/fender/wing. First photo is of the bracket on the left side guard that I'm working on and the others are how it mount's to the chassis. ( right side shown). As always, thank you for your interest in my project. Cheer's Mark 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 Hi Viv, Thank you for your interest also.😊 By the way, a 66 Coupe is my dream car , hardly see any here in Oz.😐 Cheer's Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 13, 2022 Author Share Posted February 13, 2022 Had some luck over the weekend with the weather (it wasn't raining for once) and was able to spray 2 coats of epoxy primer on the guard/fender/wing. Also removed the other side guard and started filler work on it. Cheer's Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 As mentioned in my last post I removed the other guard/fender/wing to start the filler work on it...... only got to put a skim coat on and sand/shape with 40grit- then it started to rain again. 😐 The only place I have to do this type of work is not very big (10ft by 10ft) and open on one side, so the weather has to be kind to me to allow this type of work to happen. It's pretty much rained most day's for the last two week's here so...... no body work for me 😀. Cheer's Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Just because it's raining a lot doesn't mean I have been idle.... As both front guard's are off the car at present I thought it's a good time to cut out the hole's in the fender welting. I made the welting myself last year. I used magnets to position the welt in place, next using chalk I marked the hole positions, once marked i used a couple of different sized wad punches to make the holes required. Cheer's Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Wait there's more.... The eagle eyed out there may notice a steering damper lurking in the back ground.... so here is the guff. In my vintage car driving experience's over the last 20year's I had a couple of butt clenching moment's with wheel shimmy 😐 ....... which I don't wish to relive any time soon- hence the steering damper. I fitted one to my last Chrysler after a clenching episode ( despite new every thing between the steering box and the front wheel's). They are not original- but fitting it certainly made a huge difference to the steering quality and feel and I didn't have any more shimmy episode's in over 4500km of driving. By the way- I am not expecting any problems with this car as I have gone over the steering completely, but I don't want to worry about potential clenching- so in my humble opinion this modification is worth doing for just that reason alone😀 Cheer's Mark By the way it's still raining. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narve N Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 (edited) On 2/27/2022 at 7:05 AM, 1930 Kram66 said: Wait there's more.... The eagle eyed out there may notice a steering damper lurking in the back ground.... so here is the guff. In my vintage car driving experience's over the last 20year's I had a couple of butt clenching moment's with wheel shimmy 😐 ....... which I don't wish to relive any time soon- hence the steering damper. I fitted one to my last Chrysler after a clenching episode ( despite new every thing between the steering box and the front wheel's). They are not original- but fitting it certainly made a huge difference to the steering quality and feel and I didn't have any more shimmy episode's in over 4500km of driving. By the way- I am not expecting any problems with this car as I have gone over the steering completely, but I don't want to worry about potential clenching- so in my humble opinion this modification is worth doing for just that reason alone😀 Cheer's Mark By the way it's still raining. Intersting idea, any preferences when choosing the damper? Do you reckon it will help against bump steer too (which has bothered me on my S65)? Here is what someone once put on a Series 75 I had for parts. It is standard issue shock-absorber from the 1930 era, modified to clamp on the tube axle and parallel steering rod in order to dampen the vibrations. Edited March 3, 2022 by Narve N (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 Hi Narve N The damper I used on my car was originally used on 60-70s VW Beetles. It's stroke travel matches the Chrysler's tie rod's travel perfectly and they are easily found and wont break the bank. As far as bump steer is concerned - to be honest I cant say for sure whether it was wheel shimmy or bump steer or both that I actually experienced, what I do know that it wasn't fun and fitting the damper got rid of the problem. If it helps I got the idea of fitting a damper from a couple of other early Chrysler driver's who had similar experience's while driving their cars. Thank you for your interest in my project. Cheer's Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 Still very wet here- so no body work....Damn. However I found some other jobs that needed to be done...... always other job's isn't there. First job that I had a crack at was putting oil in the gearbox ( I use Penrite semi fluid grease). I removed the top of the gearbox as I had to make a gasket for it as well, also it made it easy to get the lube in. That went so well I finalised the hand brake adjustments and made up and fitted a new inner speedo cable (NOS repair part) to the original outer while I was in this area. Next was fitting the foot throttle rod and hand throttle rod from the steering box linkage to the carburettor. Lastly I fitted the bonnet hold downs so I could close the bonnet properly, next was adjusting how the bonnet fitted by moving the radiator about and adjusting the cross rods that go between the top of the radiator and the firewall, I some how managed to get a decent fit around the cowl and radiator surround. The most exciting thing this week was finally picking up my paint colour sample's from the paint laboratory nearby. After much deliberation I decided to go with Arabian Mocha stone for the main body colour and maroon for the belt line and of course black for the guards and splash aprons. Originally my car was English Gray ( a mid Green colour ???). I am sorry but I couldn't bring my self to paint this car green ( my previous Chrysler was green by coincidence ), besides out of the original colours available in 1930 for my model this is the one that I dislike the least. Last picture shows the colour's including a sample of the top material (stupidly placed underneath the main body colour) for reference. Cheer's Mark. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viv w Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Your car is coming on nicely Mark. Just one thing, I see you have what looks like a paper air cleaner on your carb, this may cause your car to run rich, but also those paper air cleaners are prone to catching fire, especially if it floods and backfires. The Model A Ford guys advise not to use them and preferably get a wire mesh one instead. Viv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 Had a few days of decent weather so back on body work. Got most of the filler work on the drivers side front guard done, also worked on the front chassis covers and front apron as well. Using black epoxy primer I sprayed 2 coats on the underside of all pieces. Cheer's Mark 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Lawson Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 14 hours ago, 1930 Kram66 said: Had a few days of decent weather so back on body work. Got most of the filler work on the drivers side front guard done, also worked on the front chassis covers and front apron as well. Using black epoxy primer I sprayed 2 coats on the underside of all pieces. Cheer's Mark You were lucky that the cat walks were in good condition I had to remake a set for my DB Senior 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930 Kram66 Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 22 hours ago, Ron Lawson said: You were lucky that the cat walks were in good condition I had to remake a set for my DB Senior Yes Ron it only took a 8 hour drive to find a good set of cat walks, who doesn't like a road trip.😊 Cheer's Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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