1948 Ford F1 Pu Restomod Part 3

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Quality custom & restoration sheet metal work & repair

The trans mount holes had to be redone old ones filled and the plate narrowed on ends to match trans and x member now every thing fits together with clearance.

Running board holes had to be moved for the braces copper underneath for weld stop..

Shoving and pulling with my trusty hot wrench near by.

The old hood latch use to operate from the hood which was blanked off in earlier pictures, now it operates from behind the grill a completely different type latch a much cleaner look..

Starting to fill the end caps.

The newly reworked hood hinge assembly installed. Real easy to open and close.

Just checking again for overall fit before drilling for the bolt holes and other adjustments that will be needed for the hood latch assembly.

The bumper bolts were welded on the back side of the bumper then ground flush.

The front was ground flush.

Fully welded and ground clean. And a lot stronger than the old pivot points.

A quickie out side clean up and derust.

Bottom pin ready for welding.

Getting the custom recurved front bumper to this stage took a boat load of hrs. patience and thought, it's called controlled shrinking and stretching to get it here without cutting it a ton and boat loads of welding like the bumper chrome shop said would have to be done. I do love a Challenge. The front sheet metal needs more finish work before the bumper can be finished.

As George Perpard of the A team would say I love it when a plan comes together. No slop fit now. Smooth as butter.

The owner found these kool tail lights on line the guy hand cast them out of old beer and pop cans.

Now for the floppy sloppy hinges.

Now for the front first the grill needs some attention.

Hinge arms repair now.

Lots of areas with minor weld fill and grind smooth.

The bars will either be replaced or have some repair.

Back side of both.

The owner supplied a new safety catch and pin with spring for the 52 panels.

Now what do we have here.

Modified frame sections rewelded both sides.

As usual lot of hrs adjusting aftermarkert part to look wright.

The bumper shop told the owner it would need a bunch of pie cuts naw not here.

On the ground to check the overall look after tons of hrs of work its really starting to come together..

Some kind of funky bracket.

It was the plan all along to install the Magnaflow exhaust tips in the bumper center, not finished yet just a starting mockup, but now the owner doesn't know for sure if he likes them, personally I do.

A inner support bar .120 wall

It's getting really close to the front curvature, mockup tin ends were made to help with final look. Still will need some tweaking but we will need to take into account any final sheet metal work plus filler, primer and paint.

Checking for fit and overall look its getting there but a lot of stuff still to do.

They add to the clean look.

After test fit grill had to come out so I could weld then grind clean the inner upper to lower sections together.

After I wedge cut the sides so the panel would fit and align with the fender contour, I welded it up and ground the welds then I filled some nonuse holes. Plus, it will need a little more work.

The left valve cover hits the and so dose the transmission case.

The upper valance needed some work holes filled and a couple of dents worked out.

The ends are different.

Patch fully welded than everything ground clean for a smooth finish.

Both fenders needed rear lower patch sections also again aftermarket welded then ground clean.

The aftermarket rear bumper was somewhat straighter than the old one so it gets the custom treatment. First weld new bolts in place for a solid look I had to rework the bolt heads first to fit in the square hole then ground the chrome back so I could tig welded them in place for a starter.

We are going for the smooth look so the front fender lower panels were welded.

New holes made old ones ground clean.

A new bolt plate was made and the old cut off then the engine was moved forward about a fat 3/8 of inch for valve cover clearance and the new plate tacked in place.

Reworked assembly mounted on cowl

Support bar welded in.

Start welding the bars in place a spacer was used to keep gap factory looking..

1948 Ford F1 Pu Restomod this is the 3rd Part of the build. I have shown lots of the little detail work that goes into building a high quality restomod in my shop.

Cleaning things up front and back.

Passenger side neede an additional rust out patch.

Its a little larger going back no biggie and is starting to fit more work ahead.

The original front filler panel won't work now as the original hood latch mechanism is not usable it unlatched from the hood which is blanked off now so I will rework a 52 unit to latch the hood. The left is the original the 2 painted are a 52 unit some rework is ahead.

I reworked the latch assembly and handle made

it longer and moved pull part forward.

Mount back in now we have valve cover clearance.

When the owner stopped by to take a look, he gave me the one finger salute with a bleep word and said it was coming out better than he expected.

The 52 under hood panel need slight rework to fit the 48 hood and the old spring and pin will. change.

Its Bumper time.The after market front bumper doesn't look to good its going back I will be reworking the old one for the new look. But the grill looks nice reworked and in place.

Clean and plain and boring to me.

Its taking shape and no pie cuts.

I removed the rusty but reusable latch unit then made some end pie cuts so I could rework the underside. lip that was pushing on the grill. It is not bolted in yet.

Driver side seam fully welded then ground clean.

Now the latch assembly will need some rework its a 1952 unit..

The right door needed some door gap work so I tig welded the door edge than started the slow grind for gap consistency.

I picked up some olite bushings but larger as was on the hood hinge points so I put the hinges arms in my mill and bored out the hole on center for the new bushings,nice snug fit. After that I reworked some nylon bushings for spacers around the bushing flange. The bushings were long so I flush ground them for a flush fit.

First i welded the shoulder bolts and washers to the 1/8 plate, then cut into 1 inch squares, next I cut the old hinge point off of the hood slightly drilling out the old bolt hole for a alignment fit with the shoulder bolt, marker around the new cut squares then cut out the opening for new bolt perfect realingment to old pivot points.

I still need to discuss how the owner wants it mounted as the old-style mounts won't work.

I did some welding on the 4 arms to reduce the pivot hole for the hinge rebuild.

My metric bumper adjusting tool.

Ropo bumpers are not straight.

The hood hinge mounts were worn out so I fabed up some new better ones. Using 1/8 steel plate stock a shoulder bolt and some washers for correct depth spacing.

Just sitting in place on bolts yet.

Front end starting to take shape nicely.

With reworked nylon washers in place the bronze olite bushings were trimmed to fit on the hood also.

Retainer nuts were welded to the back side.

Then removed and fully welded.

The transmission mount is also off.

With the bars to be replaced the base was ground clean and was rust preventive painted.

First I marked the hinges for left and right plus front and rear, Then I cut off the old pressed rivet pins.Next I picked up some shoulder bolts to fit in old pivot point than welded them in place for a solid pivot points.