update on Rich's build

[djfordmanjack]

Yes Rich, your lowering blocks would affect caster.
you might be surprised, but 2" lowering blocks, with our 116" WB will pretty much exactly add 1degree of caster. (inv tan(2/116)= 0.99degrees). 1 " lowering blocks will add approx. 1/2 degree.

The factory caster specs are set between 1/2 and 1-1/2 degrees.
One can easily calculate, that if you had your caster on the low side (1/2degree) AND concerning that you maybe have a rake of 2 ", that means it deducts 1degree of caster and you actually might get NEGATIVE caster of 1/2 degrees. which would explain your car's bad sidewinds reactions and unstable handling.

Generally speaking I think that 57 Fords look very good with a mild rake and it's exactly what I thought last time when I saw your car in the driveway ( the pic with the snow). It looks really nice as is. This is also true for all the SWB Custom models and wagons.
your tire choice is also very good. what sizes are you running ?

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks Guenter. I also like the rake as it is, it's what I had in mind from the beginning, just took a while to get it there.
Tires: 235/70-15 rear and 215/70-15 front. The 215's up front look proportionatly better than the 205's that were on it. That one size jump made a surprisingly big difference.
The car before realignment was at -.25* on the castor.

[djfordmanjack]

Your tires are a great choice, thx for the info. I am running 75 series, 225 and 195, which comes to pretty much the same diameters as yours. I too don't like when the front tires in a 57 are too small or low profile.

[RICH MUISE]

Got a new computer...this is the first day using it on the forumns...still trying to figure out where all the stuff now is on the windows 10. URGGHHH!!!
I've been chasing down tools,parts and supplies...finally got a start on it yesterday.Got the fender pulled out pretty close. In the 3rd pic you can see where I long blocked the clearcoat above the bare area indicating it's back pretty close to straight. The low spot indicated by the unsanded darker area is pretty close to where it should be. I pulled on it some more after that blocking, so it may be gone now, bu in any case close enough for a coat of high build primer to level it out.
The sharp creases in the lower fender and door have also been pretty much pulled out using a stud welder/slide hammer. The second pic shows the crease and low areas, the third pic shows the metal pulled back out pretty close.
The stud welder I got from Harbor Freight, and true to the many reviews, the welder works great, the slide hammer that comes with it is a major piece of crap. I was prepared for that, and after testing, ordered a new slide hammer from Eastwood...lol, costs almost as much as the welder, but it works great. Bottom line...so far the stud welder has been great, and if you pick up a different slide hammer the total cost will be about 220....about 1/2 what a pro level stud welder alone costs.

BTW, in case any of you are wondering...yes, I'm trying to save the old door, not sure if I can,. I did pick up another door in Kansas, so if I make the damaged door worse than it was, I have a backup. The Kansas door after sandblasting proved not to be as clean as it looked. I've already replaced some metal on it (before sandblastng) and after sandblasting some very unexpected rust-through on the lower door skin became evident. I've already picked up some sheetmetal to replace the lower 4" of outer door skin on the new door if I need it. the 4th pic is the Kansas door after replacing the bottom sheetmetal, and before media blasting.

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, your own work on the damaged panels is quite brave, considering how nice this car was just a month ago and what happened on that nasty day. using the puller was a good choice since you probably didn't want to remove all of the door interior and inner fenders or even the whole frontend to get access to the dents. Not a bad move, considering it will save you days or weeks of work and keeps your gaps where they are. risk of damaging your front fender/header panel bodywork will be minimized. not how I would have attacked it but a good way for sure ! Your 57 will be getting ready for paint in no time !

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich you're getting pretty good with the sheet metal work!  I think you can really get a bang up job done on your own.  Remember....long boards rule......

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks guys.    I'm trying to figure out how to get something inside the door to push the metal out...I think it's gonna be too strong for the studs and slide hammer...any suggestions appreciated.
One idea I'm kicking around is drilling some 1/4" holes so I can attach a length of unistrut channel inside the door with long 1/4" bolts protuding thru that I can attach a hook/eye to and pull it with a come-along. The holes can be welded up easy enough.
It would be nice to have the dent removal tools a body shop has!
So, Gunther...how would you have approached it?
Doing something like this repair is a reminder that there are no flat and straight panels/areas on these cars. Everything has a blending curve to it!!!

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, that is some pretty slick work on the front fender, since you kept your frontend alignment and without having to pull your inner fender. I most probably would have removed the fender and do it with hammer and dolly. with the door I wouldn't go further with too many puller studs welded on. each one of those weld spots shrinks your door skin and it will get a lot of small ripples. If you are willing to accept quite some filler this is ok.
please do not drill 1/4" holes in that flat crowned door skin. welding them up will give you lots of distortion problems.
if you pull the inner door panel, you will get good access and using wood blocks/ beams/boards to spread the force on larger areas will give you a good chance to pop out the major dents. what I do is cut my own bodyworking sticks from thick plywood (1" or more) and I round off/sand down the front edges/corners to my needs.like a spoon. that way I can put gentle force into dented areas and will not make a sharp crease, like with a metal tool or pry bar. the wooden sticks can also be used 'sliding' over the dented area, much like a flat iron. always spread your work on large areas. never try to hammer out a dent right from the middle.
Some large dents might even pop out by simply laying your palms on the dent from inside and applying some light pressure.
A very professional approach to your door skin would be cutting it at the lower glas posts and removing the entire outer skin, metal work it with an English wheel, dolly and shrinker and put it back on after it has it's og shape. Many hours are involved with that.
Again, your aproach with weld on studs and puller is probably a really good way to do it yourself at home. just make sure you treat the big dents in the door skin from inside. maybe you have to remove the sound deadening stuff inside the door.

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich take a foot ball (deflated) stick it up in the door and blow it up....slowly.  As the skin begins to "pop out" work the high edges around the depression with a slapper bar made out of a large course metal file.  The teeth with shrink the high spots slowly.  It is a slow process but persistence will yield a nice starting point for the finish work.  A little luck and you may not need anything more then high build urethane!

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks for the tips. You are correct, the stud welds should only be used when you can't get to the back. I am kicking around the idea of instead of removing the outer skin, remove/cut the inner panel so I could fully get to the inside of the outer skin. The cuts would be made behind the door panel. When I was rebuilding the body the first time, I actually did that approach on the inside panels on the back quarters under the windows, but that was just a remove-the-spotwelds.
My replacement door I got as a backup was from a Ranchero,btw, so had the trim mounting holes I've already welded up. There doesn't seem to be any distortion from that. Also the fender I'm repairing now was from a 300 model donor car that had 26 holes I welded up, and that fender had zero distortion from the welding. I use a large copper backup plate to keep the welds at a minimum and it helps to absorb some of the heat as well.

[RICH MUISE]

I was typing when you posted that, Bill. Great idea on the football. I was actually thinking about inflatable something or others(inner tubes), but hadn't thought about the toughness of a football...GREAT IDEA!!! I know some of the body shop tools are of the inflatable variety, I had seen them in You Tube videos years back.

[RICH MUISE]

Bought a football....anxious to give it a go. Gotta work on the house this week though!

[KYBlueOval]

Got a new computer...this is the first day using it on the forumns...still trying to figure out where all the stuff now is on the windows 10. URGGHHH!!!
I've been chasing down tools,parts and supplies...finally got a start on it yesterday.Got the fender pulled out pretty close. In the 3rd pic you can see where I long blocked the clearcoat above the bare area indicating it's back pretty close to straight. The low spot indicated by the unsanded darker area is pretty close to where it should be. I pulled on it some more after that blocking, so it may be gone now, bu in any case close enough for a coat of high build primer to level it out.
The sharp creases in the lower fender and door have also been pretty much pulled out using a stud welder/slide hammer. The second pic shows the crease and low areas, the third pic shows the metal pulled back out pretty close.
The stud welder I got from Harbor Freight, and true to the many reviews, the welder works great, the slide hammer that comes with it is a major piece of crap. I was prepared for that, and after testing, ordered a new slide hammer from Eastwood...lol, costs almost as much as the welder, but it works great. Bottom line...so far the stud welder has been great, and if you pick up a different slide hammer the total cost will be about 220....about 1/2 what a pro level stud welder alone costs.

BTW, in case any of you are wondering...yes, I'm trying to save the old door, not sure if I can,. I did pick up another door in Kansas, so if I make the damaged door worse than it was, I have a backup. The Kansas door after sandblasting proved not to be as clean as it looked. I've already replaced some metal on it (before sandblastng) and after sandblasting some very unexpected rust-through on the lower door skin became evident. I've already picked up some sheetmetal to replace the lower 4" of outer door skin on the new door if I need it. the 4th pic is the Kansas door after replacing the bottom sheetmetal, and before media blasting.

Rich.........did you get a complete door from Roger,....... complete with the vent window assembly or just the sheetmetal?
John

[RICH MUISE]

I got a complete door, he only pulled off the outside trim to keep his set complete. Need anything??...I've stripped it down and have all the parts I took off that were salveagable, including the wing window assembly. PM sent.

[RICH MUISE]

Hasn't gone out yet, John, but I haven't forgotten. Didn't think you were anywhere close to needing it yet, and I'm up to my eyeballs in getting my workspace emptied out for a makeshift floor and alsoinsulation.