Rocker Panel Replacement...And Beyond

[petew]

Ron,

The interior will be original, sort of. I will be using red cloth from a 1958 Ford and a mix of red and off white vinyl.The 58 cloth is real cool with flicks of silver , gold and black mixed in with the red.

As for the floor repair it is a great place to learn how to do that kind of work. Mig welders aren't all that expensive and are pretty easy to use. EMS Patch panels fit great and the floor is a pretty forgiving spot to work on. Wish I was closer , I would give you a hand.

Pete

[Jerry Box]

Ron you should Try I never did before and I am real happy with mind. Just practice with some 18 gauge metal and after a little bit you can do pretty good. Just never work in one spot to long. If you ever get up to Sacramento ca. You can look at my 57 custom 300 I put in all new floor braces, frie wall, transmission tunnel two front floor panels, one rear floor, two trunk areas and both rocker panel inner and outers. I even made some of my floor out of A sheet metal. I even made a break to ben the metal. Once you start and get over the fear of doing something wrong you will start having fun I know I did. Try it try it.

[Ron]

Pete:  I'd offer to fly you out for a couple days but my budget has disappeared into the '57's black hole!  You probably know the feeling.  Ron

[Ron]

Jerry:  Wow, sounds like you replaced everything but the glove box door.  I used to get up to Sacto a couple of times a year to visit my brother, but he's since retired and moved to Nipomo, so I don't make that trip much anymore.  But thanks for the encouragement.  I'm hands on with just about everything else, but never got into welding and painting.  Ron...

[Jerry Box]

I don't think I will try to paint and I am sending it out for the sandblasting soon.

[petew]

Got the floor insulated.

[petew]

And the roof..

[Jerry Box]

What is the name of the product you to insulate the roof???

[RICH MUISE]

Jerry...I was wondering the same thing. It'll be interesting to see what Pete used. However, probably a more important question would be "what did you stick it up there with?" For roof insulation you want the lightest material you can find, and the strongest adhesive. If you don't, you may find yourself pulling the headliner sometime down the road to fix the insulation falling onto the headliner. Any aerosol can spray adhesive regarless of brand and how strong they claim it is will not hold up to a hot day in the sun. Ask me how I know. IMHO, the only adhesive to use, is what the upholstery shops use..weldwood contact cement. It's pretty much the same stuff you would use to stick down formica laminates, only specifically made for fabrics. It is made in several strengths. I use the strongest one ("Landau top adhesive").Go to harbor freight and buy a $20 spray gun with the biggest nozzle you can find. Also pick up a can of acetone. I usually have to thin the adhesive about 10% to get it to spray well. Just pour the glue in the cannister, add 3/4" acetone then mix in the cannister. The glue can be left in the gun for months before it dries out. If it starts to thicken, add some acetone.
I'm not sure what Pete used for the insulation, I went with the foil covered bubble wrap stuff.
You see it all the time at swap meets, but the cheapest place to find that is at Lowe's..For 20 bucks you'll have some left over after you finish your car.
Cont....

[RICH MUISE]

The contact cement I mentioned is not only the best(only) way to go, it is by far the cheapest. I picked up a spare gallon when I was in Phoenix because they don't sell it around here, I think I paid $27 for a GALLON...that's a lot of spray cans by comparision at 10-15 a can!!
One tip for you and Pete. I had one bow I had a really hard time pulling into place when installing the headliner because it wanted to fall in the space beteen the edge of the insulation and the edge of a roof support. Look at your bow brackets and if there are any that are close to the edge of a roof support, cover that seam with duct tape.

[Ford Blue blood]

I have used "Reflex-it" and "Liquid Nails" construction adhesive for the roof.  Make the pieces as tight a fit as possible and then use plenty of the adhesive and the tape all the seams with the "foil" tape that is in the same isle as the Reflex-it in Lowe's.  The Edsel roof took 3 1/2 caulking tubes.  Have not tried it on doors and have removed other folks attempts at insulating the floor with the stuff.....that said, I too would like to know what you used.

[RICH MUISE]

The foil tape is great stuff...I use a ton of it. It won't work in the bow problem area I mentioned above, because the one downside of foil is it punctures easily, and the bow is strong enough to punture it. For the one area I talked about cloth tape is needed.

[petew]

I used a headliner product from a company in Mass called Insulshield (www.insulshield.net) . It is lightweight and has the stickiest adhesive I have ever encountered. So sticky that it was miserible to work with.
I have used it on other cars and although expensive it is designed as a roof insulation and will stay put.

Pete

[RICH MUISE]

I'll have to save that link...looks like a good source. Having the peel off adhesive has got to keep it neater anyway..you don't have to worry about the inevitable overspray.

[petew]

 The window channel was tough to work with and I screwed up a couple of pieces before figuring out how to work with it.
To start with I followed a tip from someone else on the forum and made a template out of 1/4" plywood to form the channel over but the best discovery was to un-crimp the stainless trim at each end. It gets crimped together when the pieces are cut and needs to move in order to successfully form the channel. So by freeing the ends and taking my time the channel formed pretty easily.
Now I'm installing door guts , one rear door is done waiting for glass for the other.
It's coming along...