undo seams/smoothing out seams

[Ecode70D]

"That front end work is awesome! I think it is funny that i am trying to "undo" some seam smoothing done by the previous owner of my in search of original appearance... go figure!!! 
Quote Lalesi1" 
   
I didn't want to hijack the tail light thread so I'll start another one.
Lynn... What seams are you undoing?  Was your front valance /gravel pan seamed to the front fenders?   If so I think it's a good idea to un-seam them.  I hope that it was only done with plastic and they were not welded.   In my opinion those should not be seamed/welded together because there is movement between them.   




 

[lalessi1]

The head light bucket holders look like aftermarket and the forming was sloppy. Looks to me like the seams were filled with bondo and the paint is cracking where the seams are. My plan is to get to bare metal to see what I have and restore the original look if I can.

On another note I seem to remember the swaybar on your car is aftermarket. In the "Wheels thread http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=5524.0 JimNolan has clearance issues on full lock with the swaybar depending on wheel backspacing. Is yours the same as his?

[Ecode70D]

I don't have any clearance problems.   I don't know the name/maker of mine because I bought it new from a friend of mine who accidentally bought 2  of them.  It came with no box. 

[lalessi1]

Jay,
Does your bar mount on angle brackets that bolt on using the bumper bracket bolts? What is your wheel back spacing?

[Ecode70D]

My wheels are stock 14" Henry wheels with 3 1/2" back space.
The sway bar has the angle brackets with stock bumper brackets/irons and no interference whatsoever.

[lalessi1]

Thanks! I am using 15 x 7 and 4.25" backspacing. I can see I may have clearance issues with that bar after looking under the car. I found another one that mounts in the '59 chassis original location that I think will clear the deep rims I am using. I am gonna call the guy Monday for a little more info. Quickor Suspension, I remember the name from my autocross days.

[canadian_ranchero]

my sway bar will just clear[see post under wheels]

[RICH MUISE]

I've got the 1 1/8 sway bar, but my car is sitting on donuts til probably next year, so I have no idea if I'll have clearance issues. With that said, I'll bring my post back to the original topic...seams.
Lynn.....That headlight surround is an incredible feat of engineering imho. With the quantity of pieces those dies must have produced back in the day, I would imagine the original dies were worn to the point of no return. To duplicate that tooling for today's secondary market would be way too costly...I don't imagine too many of us would want to pop a grand or so for a perfectly reproduced piece, and it would take alot of those sales just to cover the tooling costs. EMS makes the best one available currently, but even theirs I do not believe is usable without welding and filling that outer seam. I bought an off brand way back when I knew zero about panel fitment problems. The only way mine were usable was to cut off the back flange along the outer fender and hand form the remaining metal to conform to the fender profile, then weld it solid. I think that's the only feasible way to use a replacement panel now. The back side of mine where they were suppose to have an almost sharp corner were about 3/8" RADIUS!
NOS fenders and/or headlight surrounds are pretty close to non existant.
With all that said, I think there is a way to get to a panel that could be spot welded as original and have a tight seam. That complete outer edge/back corner, with the too-big formed corner, could be cut off the panel and then either alot of hammer/dolly and cutting and welding, or shrinkers/stretchers, one could produce a little right angle piece that could be welded back on the panel. This would all be done before spot welding the panel to the fender.
Now with THAT said...you'd go nuts trying to get my car back to original, lol. I spent weeks, if not months eliminating seams...all over. No seams in my door jams, doors, trunk drain, under tailights as well as tailights, headlights, the splash pan itself, etc etc. The only seams I kept were those required for disassembly, in other words, mainly the front fenders are not permanent to the nose piece and splash pan as a tilt nose would be.

[Zapato]

A lot of those early path panels were not made to be perfect, they were to stretch the lives of rust belt cars. Specially the headlight areas that rusted and soon the headlight was being held just by the wiring. Lots of those as you described using Rich ended up just being held in place by sheet metal screws and never finished as you describe. I  clearly remember a old navy buddy that would just go nuts every time he saw anything from the 50s in perfect original  condition. He'd tell me about buying 1 year old cars for chump change for the drivetrain and at times replacing oil pans because the salt used in the winter would eat them up from the outside. To him it didn't matter if it was some old 4 door grandma car it was original,shiny and solid and there wasn't anywhere near as much of that back home in Wisconsin.

Zap-

[lalessi1]

Thanks for the input guys. Metal forming, welding, and leading are not in my skill set/tool box. One of my regrets. If I had the space I would consider trying to add it. It is painfully difficult to have this as a passion and be missing a main part of capability. I started with a reasonably sound car with issues I felt I could address. I am shooting for a daily driver that is not perfect but that is as good as I can make it. The comments on the forming issues make perfect sense, but my repair panels were installed so poorly that one headlight points down, one trim ring is bent, and the fender line on the inside is not straight on either side. This is causing the panel gap between the hood and fender to close up toward the front and the hood can't be aligned. I can fix this... I can fix this... I can fix this.... I think. Anyway my original comment was more about styling differences than anything, one guy want smooth joints, one guy wants to make a joint where it is already smooth even if it is fake...

[hiball3985]

To each his own. I wouldn't want filled in seams myself. I wouldn't even attempt it if I did want it. I can do all major mechanical and electrical pre-computer controlled, which I also have no interest having in my cars. But I can take a simple dent and make it worst  But I also have a lot of admiration for anyone with the skills to do it.