'52 Flying Cloud questions

[3Ms75Argosy]

Wow! Just found your thread... nice work! RE the steel.. if you need local stuff, I've found "onlinemetals.com" in Ballard a nice easy place to work with. You order online and pick up there... they even cut to size!

You mention "hot rod" roots... got any nice shots to share? I'm currently working on a '55 Dodge C3 truck with my daughter to use as a companion to my '63... whenever THAT one gets completed! Jealous of your working space (and shop!!). Here in Seattle, there's precious little room for me to work. The trailer's a good 1 hr away in storage...
Keep it up!
Marc

[riv-nut]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

Wow! Just found your thread... nice work! RE the steel.. if you need local stuff, I've found "onlinemetals.com" in Ballard a nice easy place to work with. You order online and pick up there... they even cut to size!

You mention "hot rod" roots... got any nice shots to share? I'm currently working on a '55 Dodge C3 truck with my daughter to use as a companion to my '63... whenever THAT one gets completed! Jealous of your working space (and shop!!). Here in Seattle, there's precious little room for me to work. The trailer's a good 1 hr away in storage...
Keep it up!
Marc

Hi Marc,

Thanks for the suggestions. I've looked at the onlinemetals site and may end up ordering some aluminum sheet sheared to size for the channels around the edge of the floor. Not the cheapest place, but since they're local, saving on the shipping puts them in the ball-park. I purchase most of my metal materials at Pacific Inudustrial Supply in South Park. Generally a good selection and good prices.

Anyway, my bucket list has an entry of pulling my 52 airstream with my 49 hudson. Both of which are major projects, so it might take a while to get that one checked off the list :-)

Here's a post on classiccars.com http://www.classiccar.com/forum/disc...49-brougham/p1 that's a little old now, but shows some of the work I've been doing on my Hudson. I love those old Dodge trucks!!! Got any pictures of that??

Thanks,
Lee

[goshawks00]

Lee, Just cruised your blog on the Hornet-very cool!! I like your workmanship and thoughtfulness. Like you I am stretched between a complete redo on our 66 Safari and our 51 Ford woodie( future TV) It too is bagged shaved smoothed frenched and sitting gathering dust while I finish the Safari, which is done inside and am trying to get it polished... which now is on hold as I rebuild the garage to park it in for the winter. There is a great Hudson museum in Ypsilanti, I've spent to much time there and used to deliver papers to them about fifty years ago as a young kid on my paper route.

Lookin' good

[rumrunner]

If you are looking to have new C- channel made for your floor check with the shop that made your wheel tubs. I had new channel made locally with my wheel wells out of .040 5052 and it was very reasonable.
keep up the good work, I am really enjoying following along.
tim

[riv-nut]

Hey Goshawk - love the woodie. I've always said if I wasn't doing the hudson I'd be working on a shoebox!!! My dad had a 51 Merc back when I was a kid and the "lead sled" thing just kind of grew on me. Something about old iron laying in the dirt is magical. Somehow the wife got this airstream upstream of the Hudson on the priority list. So i gotta knock this out before getting back on the Hudson. Anyway, thanks for jumping in! Always good to see the "whole package"....these airstreams can't get down the road by themselves (well, some models can).

Lee

[riv-nut]

Originally Posted by rumrunner

If you are looking to have new C- channel made for your floor check with the shop that made your wheel tubs. I had new channel made locally with my wheel wells out of .040 5052 and it was very reasonable.
keep up the good work, I am really enjoying following along.
tim

Yeah...thanks Tim. I hear you on the HVAC direction....might still go that route, but been aching to use my sheet metal brake. I'm thinking I might just order the 0.040/0.050 sheet and fold them up myself.

Thanks,
Lee

[riv-nut]

Made a little more progress this weekend!!
Finished repairing the frame and got the axle and attaching hardware out of the way. I'll weld in a new hanger kit when I finalize what I'm going to do with the axle. But, got all the plywood located and cut and notched!! So now I just need to finish drilling the bolt holes, then put a couple coats of 2 part epoxy on it. I think I'll use the West Marine epoxy....$100 per gallon isn't cheap, but sounds like great stuff! Here's some pics:

Traced an accurate 22" arc on the corners, then laid what I had left of the old rear floor on top as a check. It looks real close, but the original looks to me like someone "free-handed" the cut.


Here's a close up comparison of old and new 22" arc:




Here's a mock-up of the entry step. Wanted to make sure all the trim pieces fit correctly:


And here's everything temporarily in place - just have the fenderwells clamped there:




Sorry about the image quality, I took these with my phone instead of our good camera.

Lee

[riv-nut]

Also, I found a few mistakes on my original floor dimensions. Would've liked to replace the drawing on the first page of this post, but for some reason the forum won't let you go back and edit previous posts. Anyway, here's the updated drawing with the correct dimension:

[3Ms75Argosy]

Hey Lee, you're going gangbusters there on the trailer! Nice work! Here's a pic or two of our Dodge... I like the work you did on the Hornet! My family went to the Lemay family open of their property / cars. There was a guy there with with Grandfather's Hornet in original immaculate condition! My wife and daughter were invited to sit in it.... what a beautiful car!
Marc

[rumrunner]

like the T shirt says, he who has the most/ best toys wins!
I just have a Harbor Freight 30" brake-JEALOUS
Boy does that floor look familiar. I am at about the same point in my resto. I know that the 22" radius has been flung about alot but mine measures nearer to 22.5" and yes I agree they were free handed by someone who had a couple shots with lunch. If it's not too much trouble, how did the curves measure in the back end? I had literally no floor in the back 8' and it would be nice to have a place to start.
tim

[rumrunner]

Sorry Lee, Dont have a clue yet how to edit here but I just reviewed your photos and your back end is much more blunt than mine. More symmetrical with the front. Mine has a more pronounced slope so I guess your measurements wouldn't be much use to me.
keep up the good work and maybe we'll both finish sometime.
tim

[riv-nut]

Hey Marc....freakin' love the dodge!!!

I didn't realize those had the tilt up side hoods into the '50's. Very cool....your wife is a doll too!

Your airstream will be right at home behind that bad boy!

Lee

[riv-nut]

Originally Posted by rumrunner

Sorry Lee, Dont have a clue yet how to edit here but I just reviewed your photos and your back end is much more blunt than mine. More symmetrical with the front. Mine has a more pronounced slope so I guess your measurements wouldn't be much use to me.
keep up the good work and maybe we'll both finish sometime.
tim

Hey Tim, I think you're right about having a few shots at lunch when they cut the floor for these things. While I was looking at the new 22" arc and the old floorboard, I had the same thought that maybe a little bigger would match, but totally not sure. My neighbor was standing there too and said if you leave a little you can take a little off later....so I stayed with the 22" radius. It's funny that one side is a little "wide" and the other is a little "thin"....so maybe it will even out and be perfect!!! That's never happened in my lifetime, so I keep hoping this is it :-)

Anyway, been checking out all the plywood coating products and will probably go with the west marine stuff. As good of price as any and it comes with a lot of testimonies. Yeah....maybe we'll finish at about the same time....maybe we should Rendezvous with the families at yellowstone or something....wouldn't that be a blast!

thanks,
Lee

[3Ms75Argosy]

My wife? That's my 17 y.o daughter! It's kinda a father / daughter project we have going....

Ha ha! Thanks for the laugh (and scare!)... love reading about your progress.
Marc

[riv-nut]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

My wife? That's my 17 y.o daughter! It's kinda a father / daughter project we have going....

Ha ha! Thanks for the laugh (and scare!)... love reading about your progress.
Marc

Oh shoot....sorry. What an awesome father-daughter project though!! Keep up the great work too!

[54breadloaf]

Anybody ever come across this? I used my old front banana wrap belly skin as a template and found that there was a sealant similar to plumbers putty between the belly skin and the outer shell. I also found this material sealing the window I restored. Seemed logical so I used it for the window but it looks like the old stuff came on a 1" roll, like tape. I'll use something else for the skins. I also used the old forward floor panel as a form. Cut 2x4's to size and screwed to the panel where the frame sits then built the belly skin upside down. Hope it fits...



Hitch side




Corner

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by 54breadloaf

Anybody ever come across this? I used my old front banana wrap belly skin as a template and found that there was a sealant similar to plumbers putty between the belly skin and the outer shell. I also found this material sealing the window I restored. Seemed logical so I used it for the window but it looks like the old stuff came on a 1" roll, like tape . . .

Might be this Butyl Tape, I got some from VTS:

Butyl RV Putty Tape

Thanks for posting your project.
MarkR

[54breadloaf]

Thanks Mark. Do you know of anyone using this product or are they switching to something different?

[FC7039]

I do not understand where this sealant would be. I do not think that most trailers have any sealant between the belly skin going up and the shell coming down. I would think this would be an issue. You will be putting rivets through both skin and into the channel. I would think that this would limit how well you can buck the rivets.

Some people actually put drain holes into the channel. I would not want a seal there. What that will get in around rivets and windows needs a place to drain, not be stopped by a seal and pool.

But if your trailer was built this way and lasted 60 years, that shoots holes into my theory.

[riv-nut]

There was not sealant in the shell/bellypan/channel joint when I took my '52 appart. I thought it might be a good idea to smear a little vulkem between the pan and skin when I put it back together, but as mentioned above, something as thick as the butyl tape could be problematic.

I just about have the entire frame stripped down and re-painted. Looks great...I'll post some picks maybe tomorrow.

breadloaf, I was planning on making a buck just like you did for the fwd and aft belly pans. Great idea....thanks for sharing the pics!

BTW, what kind of aluminum sheet did you end up going with for the belly pan?

Lee