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Next, I spent some time on the ergonomics. This was not possible before because there were triangulated braces between the B-pillars, but the roof is now strong enough so they came out. Giving me the enormous cavernous space of the entire drivers compartment. ( yeah, a chopped '32 coupe, its tight... ). I put one of the seats in place (the seats are Fiat 850 Spider). Its a little too high, which will be worse when I redo them with new foam, so I'll have to drop the floor a bit. Shifter is in the right spot already, I wont have to change that. I put the dashboard about where it will be ( wired in place with a couple of pieces of welding wire). Complete with the gauge pod ( is that the right word for it? ) So I could take some measurements for pedals, the AC unit, etc. I also wanted to know if the gauges would be easy to read when the steering wheel is in place, so I held it at about the right spot. That will work nicely... I'll have to splice in some metal to get the dash to fit, though...
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The dash is very early Fiat 500. ( about the same age as my '58 Nuova America) I bought the same aftermarket gauge pod for the '32 as the one I got for the 500, because I like how it looks. Its also the only one I know of that is cast aluminum ( all the other ones you can buy are fiberglass).
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,906
Club RR Member Number: 40
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1932 Ford 5W Coupe.jamesd1972
@jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member 40
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Oct 14, 2023 11:34:07 GMT
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I have a slight suspicion there might be some good ol' boys looking out for you if they realise you have been using Fiat 500 bits in a '32 5 window... Scale and design looks great though, whatever you do we know it will look proper. James.
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,261
Club RR Member Number: 64
Member is Online
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1932 Ford 5W Coupe.glenanderson
@glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member 64
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Oct 14, 2023 12:17:09 GMT
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Is the dash going to be roughly where it is? Seems a long way back from the screen into the cabin to me...
But I can't remeber how tall you are? I seem to vaguely recollect that you're fairly long, so obviously the ergonomics that would work for me at 5'9"are unlikely to be any good if you're well over 6'...
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,076
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Oct 14, 2023 15:24:21 GMT
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so obviously the ergonomics that would work for me at 5'9"are unlikely to be any good if you're well over 6'... You might struggle to get in there with your tin hat on, Glen.
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Oct 14, 2023 16:10:51 GMT
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Thanks guys. I'm 6'2" , so I'll have to build this car around me. But that's OK, I have to to that with every car I build. Normally a 5W coupe has a parcel shelf, but that comes into the drivers compartment by a good 6 or 8" . ( pic off the internet). Eliminating that will give me a bit more space, dropping the floor by a couple of inches for the seat will too. I can tuck the dash in a bit more, but space wise that wont make a difference. Because the steeringwheel will stick out way beyond that, and that one will will have to be where it is going to be to be comfortable to drive. So I think I'll kind of line the sides up with the doors when they are open, or maybe a bit farther out if that will make the steering column look better (if too much of that is sticking out, unsupported, it tends to look a bit odd). I've got some space to do it. The main thing is that it cant come too far back and block too much of the door opening, which would make getting in and out too difficult. And I cant tuck it in too far either, because I want it to cover the AC unit ( the depth of it). So mocking it up was a crucial step, to get an idea of where everything is going to be. With the parcel shelf gone, I'll have to put some strength back into the back ( at the height of the beltline, at the back of the roof, going forward to the B-pillars). Because the parcel shelf is structural. So that is next...
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Oct 14, 2023 16:18:07 GMT
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I have a slight suspicion there might be some good ol' boys looking out for you if they realise you have been using Fiat 500 bits in a '32 5 window... Yeah, that may get me on the blacklist... Funny thing is, I put at least one Fiat 500 part in every car I build. That started by accident, because I would have spares laying around. But now I plan for it.
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Oct 21, 2023 22:31:57 GMT
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Well, no... It wasn't.
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Oct 21, 2023 22:54:39 GMT
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Garnish moldings for a 1932 Coupe are rare, or at least, more rare than other parts for these cars. I guess a lot of them got lost, over the decades. Because of that, they are expensive. You can get nicely made accurate repro's, but also very expensive. A full set (5 pieces) are about $2000 or more, depending on where you buy them. I have a set of unmodified door garnishes ( in nice shape) and a set of badly cut ones that came with the body when I bought it. So even with my original door garnishes, I'd still be looking at a big bill for the other 3. And I don't like them enough to spend that kind of money on them. The 1/4 window ones & the one for the rear window are a very basic looking strip that follows the shape of the windows. Its actually a complicated shape, concave with a flange on each side, so not easy to copy. But they look like they were built down to a price ( which I'm guessing they were). The ones for the doors are even worse. They have a little molding on the bottom and a character line along the top & sides, so that is nice. But the corners really let them down. The corners of the door windows, when looking from the outside, have rounded edges. But the moldings are fabricated out of nearly straight pieces and the corners are welded together into a sharp corner. To prevent you from looking into the inside of the doors, they welded a little piece of flat metal to the back of the garnishes to fill that gap. I don't care if they were built like that, originally. To me, that is a bodge...
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Oct 21, 2023 23:02:43 GMT
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I made a tool to make new corners. The corners had to be concave, like the rest of the molding. So trying to match that was first. I made a tool to force sheetmetal blanks into the right shape.
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Oct 21, 2023 23:10:42 GMT
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I cut a bunch of blanks. Pre bent on my anvil. Into the tool. Pressed down. And the flange on one side hammered over.
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Oct 21, 2023 23:19:48 GMT
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There are a lot of hammer marks in this piece. Later ones got better. Comparing the shape with the original garnish. I then trimmed the top edge, put the piece back in the tool, annealed the edge, and hammered the top flange over. So now it looked like this.
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Oct 21, 2023 23:26:13 GMT
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But I still needed to put in the character line. So I made this tool. Comparing the shape again. So I could start making them.
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Oct 21, 2023 23:35:44 GMT
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These are the top corners. The lower corners are the same, but without the character line. I put the pieces of the badly cut RHS door garnish together ( just tacked). Tacked the corner pieces in place ( after I cut the original corners out). Finish welded and ground down. Compared to the original.
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,075
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I think the "good ol boys" will forgive you the Fiat parts when they see that π super skills, workmanship and vision
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Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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And a whole load of head shaking later, all I can say isβ¦β¦
Amazing problem solving and workmanship.
Well done.
Again.
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braaap
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,678
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Have I told You lately that I ... No no, not that Rod Stewart Text! That I think You are a genius? Now You can go into production with these parts and start selling them as a kit with corner and straight pieces. Than You will be rich and can pay others to do Your resto jobs. You will have to because with producing these kits You will no longer have time for restorations. Hm, maybe not the best idea. Who will be able to do restos in that quality other than You?
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,261
Club RR Member Number: 64
Member is Online
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1932 Ford 5W Coupe.glenanderson
@glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member 64
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How do you find the time?
Amazing work.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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Thanks for the nice words guys.
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