Progress on 4000 Series Rebody

[Dennis O'Shea]

These pictures do not even come close to how good it looks in person Joe is like Picasso with metal he truly makes it an art form. All hail the "METAL MASTER "

[MAStuart]

Thanks Joe for the pics. Makes me want to beat some metal. Is this torch welded and the seams planished till the welds blend and little to no filling when done?

[bret a ewing]

Is the donor CSX damaged or does the owner just want a change?

[ThePanelbeater]

All of the seams are Oxy/Hydrogen welded and then hand planished.

The CSX owner wants the aluminum body, to my knowledge there was no damage to the original fiberglass body.

[ThePanelbeater]

Ttt ttt

[MAStuart]

Thanks for the updates. Last night I made my first aluminum sheet torch welds. They came out pretty good . I used acetylene but wanted to try hydrogen. I got reading about it and it sounds like if your equiptment has been used for Acetylene it is not safe to use with hydrogen. The article said it could have a explosion. Mark

[1985 CCX]

Joe

Thank you for the lessons rolling hoods. Two hoods down and I am feeling good about myself..... LOL

I am now officially an apprectice..... Please don't call me "Grasshopper"

[ThePanelbeater]

http://www.panel-craft.com

[MAStuart]

Joe any chance of a closeup of a weld before and after planishing? Also on my previous post I meant filing not filling. Mark

[bret a ewing]

I understand, change is GOOD !

Is the car going to be painted or natural finish?

[ThePanelbeater]

The welds need to be filed in order for them to blend into the surrounding base material.I like to file and then sand with an eighty grit pad in order to prepare for bodywork. In regard to the method of finish, it's my understanding that the car will be painted.

[ThePanelbeater]

Hi Mark, if you go to my website,panel-craft.com and click on "welding products for sale" you will see a picture of some of my welding.

[1985 CCX]

Very nice, keep up the great work!

[ThePanelbeater]

A week ago last Friday the majority of the work was completed on the nose. Since then the owner has decided he wants the car to be an under exhaust Roadster. As you know I'll have to weld up the holes in the fenders. Have moved on to assembling tail clip and hope to have it done by Thursday. Stay Tuned.

[ThePanelbeater]

It's been a long time since my last posting, but I've been busy nontheless. After completion of the front and rear body clips, the owner decided he wanted to change the body style from the SC to the Street Version. This meant welding up the holes in the front fenders for headers, removing the SC flares and repositioning the landing for fuel filler cap. All of the super structure has been built up and welded into place. The later 4000 series cars had some modifications made in the chassie which didn't allow the insertion of the jigs necessary to create the secondary structure that holds the body. This required some slight adjustments to tooling for proper fit. Additionally, the later cars used a two piece hinge system that allowed for adjust-ability in all four directions. Great idea for fiberglass, but a "no go" for aluminum. It was necessary to fabricate the traditional style hinge box and cut away the updated version so that they could be welded in place on the scuttle support. Also too, all frames for hood, trunk, and doors have been fabricated and function as intended.

[LMH]

Beautiful! I like the idea of a street version. Much more rare in our world.
Larry

[1985 CCX]

Joe

Great work!
If you still have it on 8-11 you should bring it for show and tell at the cookout. Hope to have your handy work on my car painted by then.

[ThePanelbeater]

Before any of the individual operating panels can be mounted and skinned, all of the body sheet metal needs to be wrapped around the tubular super structure. This is very labor intensive and requires LOTS of hammering. When all of this is completed the first panels to be skinned and fitted are the doors. The reason for this is the shape of the front fenders begins in the doors. Once the doors are in place and operating the final planishing and finishing of the front fenders can begin.

[*13*]

Coming along nicely!

[ThePanelbeater]