Cool 29 Ford in garage.

[turtle5353]

Hey guys. Just thought I would post a pic of the 1929 Ford I’m currently working on for a guy. Pretty cool car. It’s got its dings and chips but it’s a driver. Guy just recently put in a 400 small block Chevy and the 4 link rear did not like it!! So I am pulling the rear end and all the home made 4 link components and replacing everything and starting from scratch. Here’s a couple pics of some of the horrible welds on this thing, another reason I’m tearing it all out. I will keep you guys posted on the progress once I get my new parts in.

 

[clevelandcoupe]

That's why we say, either your a welder or your not !!!

Check out Speedway Motors, SoCal, Pete & Jakes for a rear suspension kit when running a stock Model A chassis.

Thanks, Jay

 

[turtle5353]

Thanks Jay. I ordered the 4 link kit for a model a from speedway. Looks like they have a lot of nice stuff!

 

[Hemikiller]

W.T.F.

 

[Don C]

Penetration??? What's that??? It was obviously beyond the concept of whoever cobbled that together.

 

[Spike Morelli]

Hey1 Cool '29 coupe.

I used to have a '30 coupe, great fun.

 

[turtle5353]

Some of these issues are kind of to be expected when working on a vehicle that's closing in on its 100th Birthday! LOL. But these welds are horrible, i dont know how the rearend never came out. When it was up on jack stands i could move the rearend around 3-4 inches. Fortunately and surprisingly the underside and frame of the car are in remarkably good shape. Original frame looks good. Some of the boxing they did will need to be re-done. But I'm excited to get to work on it. Parts should be in early next week. I got the rear end and most of the brackets out. Still have some brackets to cut off the frame and clean everything up to bare metal to prep for my new parts.

Nice looking car Spike!

 

[clevelandcoupe]

Kevin,

When I was building my Model A in the late 90's, I looked at hundreds of cars at shows and climbed underneath a lot of them. I found many that I would not feel comfortable driving them home or even a couple of blocks.... I feel that once mig welders became cheap and plentiful, everyone became welders overnight, sadly.

I just remember all the hours spent in the practice booths burning rod for days, weeks and months trying to learn the trade.

Thanks, Jay

 

[turtle5353]

Kevin,

When I was building my Model A in the late 90's, I looked at hundreds of cars at shows and climbed underneath a lot of them. I found many that I would not feel comfortable driving them home or even a couple of blocks....  I feel that once mig welders became cheap and plentiful, everyone became welders overnight, sadly.

I just remember all the hours spent in the practice booths burning rod for days, weeks and months trying to learn the trade.

Thanks, Jay

Jay,

I completely agree with you. Cheap mig welders are part of the problem also, they just don't weld well. Even a decent experienced welder can have trouble getting a $99 harbour freight welder to lay a nice bead! 

I think everyone should atleast learn how to weld with a stick welder. Its what i started on back in high school. I only got a mig welder about 15 years ago. And it took me some time to get used to running it correctly. I had alot of habits from stick welding that don't translate to mig, like pulling the weld puddle instead of pushing it and mig welding is much faster! I had to learn to speed way up when running my beads with the mig. 

I have worked the majority of my adult life on overhead cranes and their structures. Have done a ton of welding over the years and burned miles of rod. I'm still not the best welder around but i know when my weld is penetrating and when it is not. After all those years the company i work for now wanted me to get my welding certs. So they sent me to the testing facility, i warmed up on a couple welds then took my test on a 1" thick plate V-grooved out with 1/8" backers plate. I took my vertical and overhead and passed both on the 1st try. So I am 4G certified for unlimited thickness for structural welding on cranes and buildings. I was lucky enough to have an oldtimer teach me a ton when i first started in the crane business. I absorbed everything he said and showed me like a sponge. 

But overall, i do way more mig welding these days than i do stick welding. Its just very convenient  for anything 1/4" and under. Now if i can just get that damn Tig welding figured out!!! Need a few beers in me before i can even come close to making a decent bead!!!   lollerz

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

That is hard to believe they could weld that bad, lol. I had two uncles that were into Model A big time always had several.

When I was in high school back in the 60's part of the shop class was welding. I always enjoyed torch welding and that was fist thing I bought at 18 years of age I bought a Smiths torch outfit. One thing I did was to outright buy my tanks and not lease it was just a little under $100 back them but I was only making $1.00 and hour also. 

While working in stamping plant we made lots of panels for Ford. Their only approved repair method for small fractures or splits in panels was the Henrob gas welding torch. We had a gal that did the repairs and she could lay the best bead you have ever seen looked like a TIG weld and so clean.

So I got one years ago I think they were bought out and is now Detroit Torch maybe. 

When I was in tech school you had to take two quarters of welding. You sat in a booth and welded for hours. Back then I could weld really good but I am sure I would need lots of practice to get back into the groove. 

In the stamping business you always get some dummy that puts two or more parts in a die at one time. I actually saw 12 parts in a tool at one time that was totally destroyed. We made the inside back panels for Ford for the Model 13 or extended cab Ranger PU. They got two panels in the draw die and it fell out of the press in 4 huge busted pieces of cast iron. We got it on a truck and sent to MPD Welding in Michigan. I gave it a day head start and got on plane and went up. That shop can weld anything you have. They vee out the breaks from the back side and got some tie rods ran through the casting webs. Then it went on a heat table and after it got up to temp the guys wearing insulated suits would start brazing the casting from the back side. The rod they used was like 1/2" in diameter. They could only go for a few minutes and they needed a break to cool off. The next welder would duck down and come up in front of the guy brazing take the rod and torch and hardly miss a beat. 

Some touch up and spotting of the working surface and we were back in the press in like two days. 

I have looked and looked for some pics I took in China. When I worked there we had a full time welder in the shop. He built work horses, tables and did repairs and was probably in his late 50's. This is the truth he welded without using a helmet. He had a piece of cardboard with a stick taped to it with a hole to see through to keep the spatter from hitting his face and he wore safety glasses but no tint. He was the second person I have known that did this. The other worked at the hunting ranch that I was a guide for. They both claimed that it did not hurt their eyes. They would weld all day long with stick welder.

Heck I have had flash burns on my eyes and I did not enjoy that at all. 

Hope I find those pics somewhere I will post one.

 

[Tnfastbk]

Back when I worked for NASA we had to practice welding in the zero gravity chamber. Its a totally different process than everyone is used to. Seems atoms in space kinda freak out and just want to stick together. The process is "cold welding". No heat or molten fusion is needed. You can google it if you are interested.

 

[turtle5353]

Back when I worked for NASA we had to practice welding in the zero gravity chamber. Its a totally different process than everyone is used to. Seems atoms in space kinda freak out and just want to stick together. The process is "cold welding". No heat or molten fusion is needed. You can google it if you are interested.

That’s cool as hell Roy. Would be very hard in 0 gravity. I will have to look into this more, really interesting

 

[turtle5353]

Got some more done on the 29. Got everything cut out, new stuff welded in. Just need to reinstall and do final adjustments. Replace 1 bad ujoint and 2 new brake lines. Few pics. Some aren’t very good. Pain in ass working on the floor. I can’t wait to get my other shop built and get a lift. Too old for this laying on the floor ****! 

 

[turtle5353]

Well it looks like I never finished updating this thread.  Here are a few pics of when I finished painting and installing the rearend. And took it for a test ride on a cold winter day.   Only reason I looked up this thread is because the owner called me yesterday and wants to bring it back out to have some work on the front end of the car done now.  He is really happy with how the rearend rides and turned out so he wants more work done. I'm hoping the front end is not as bad as the back was. I would hate to have to replace the entire front end. If i remember correctly it has a mustang II front suspension in it and the owner said a couple of the welds broke.  After seeing the welds on the rearend, i'm not surpised. I will let you guys know what i find after he drops it off later tonight.  
 

 

[timachone]

Kevin, 

I missed that thread, looked through and was almost disgusted about that welds... holy moly! That sounds like there could be more work for you on the front end... But it is a cool project. We do not see them often here. 

Apropos: besides your great work for others, what's the current state with your Mach 1? I heard about your disaster late and am very sorry for you this had happened! At least you stayed healty... But for now, how are you and what's going on with your car? 

 

[turtle5353]

Hey Tim, Im doing well. Thanks for asking.   My mustang though is in about the same shape as it was.  Actually a little worse...... I had it stored outside under a cheap carport and the snow made it cave in and dented the roof. So just a little bit more to fix!   I have been really wanting to tear apart my mustang and get into it but i have been back and forth between that and building my new garage first.  But the new garage is on hold for a year atleast because lumber prices are triple what they were last year.  So i may start tearing into the mustang sooner than later. Atleast get it back to driving and paint it later. 

 

[timachone]

Kevin, 

happy to hear you do well. Read your other topic a few minutes ago about your dirt bike hobby with the kids, you do a great job on them! But, man, that's a bad luck! Not enough you was forced to bump into somebody - no, the heavy snow felt on your car, too! That must have been a nightmare sight for your as you have seen it the first time you went out...! I am so sorry you have to go trough this. I liked your car ever much and hope it will recover soon by your hands. At least all is repairable. Hope, the dent on the roof is only in the sheet metal, not in the roof side structure! So it would not be a big issue to repair it. You have to repaint you car anyway. You're not going out of work, eh... 

Keep on going and heads up, take care of your family! One day you will have a beautiful runner again, I will look forward to it. 

All the best! 

 

[turtle5353]

Well I got the 29 fixed up.  Here’s a few pics of the crap I had to cut out. It was horrible.  Welds were crap and material used was a joke.  The strut rods were falling out and the crossmember under the motor was so flimsy it was a joke. Here’s some pics of the stuff I cut out.  

 

[turtle5353]

I was able to buy some universal strut rods from speedway.  They worked out pretty nice and I custom built an engine crossmember.  Pretty happy how everything turned out.