[Essex_29]

chopper526, I've been thinking of actually putting the tank inside the car, standing
against the rear of the body. A cool tank filler in the center, right under the rear window
would look good. But, it's not ideal.
TFoch, thank you. I like it, but I still think it might look odd with nothing back there...
62131, I have been planning on that too, a tank where it should be, but with the frame
modified. I'd prefer at least a 20 gallon tank, so I have to do some maths to see if it is even
possible to fit such a tank behind the rear axle.
sixball, I'm faking it *grins* I don't know what to do about this yet.

Maybe something like this:



The frame lowered, by welding the stub under the frame itself, continuing the body
downward 3" so the cut off frame doesn't show.
Then the tank under the shortened frame.

Photoshop is a nice tool, when you're planning modifications. Sometimes it shows
what works, and most of the time it shows what doesn't.

Thank you for the input!

[Essex_29]

My 1929 Essex Super Six had its tank in the rear, and it didn't look too bad. But
then again, it had leaf springs, so there was an actual reason for the rear of the
frame to be there to begin with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYlzcoAzaIc

[chopper526]

I left the apron on my '32 Chevy. I would have liked to gotten rid of it but then I would have had to put my tank in the trunk and I didn't want that. Plus I would have had to change the springs. I had a '38 Plymouth p/u with the tank along the inside of the frame rail, similar to new trucks.
Incidentally, the rear behind my coupe is a '57 Chevy posi rear with 3:55 gears that I picked up last weekend. My car has 4:56 gears in it now. I am going to do a quick pumpkin swap and see if it is a little more highway friendly.

[62131]

I used a tank from Tank Inc. 16 gal. had to modify for the electric fuel pump

[Essex_29]

I put up a video on youtube today. It's just like a slide show, and shows a bunch of pics from my project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_HwOQ3jq8U



Me fuelling up the Caprice wagon on my way home with the project car late summer 2019

[sixball]

Such skills! Great work!

[sammons]

Nice video, good work.

[62131]

Nice video. that's one thing I didn't do is take a lot of pictures of my build wish I had of

[EDNY]

Great stuff..you're motivating me to work on my old cars!

[chopper526]

That looks great, what a transformation!

[Essex_29]

Thank you Sixball, sammons, 62131, EDNY, chopper526, all for the nice words!

Yes, I take a lot of pictures, they're very nice to have, when you start feeling that you
haven't gotten anything done to the current project. That feeling comes sometime
during every project of mine, then to get my spirits up again, those pics come in handy.

I had a very unproductive week or two, and finally today, I got to work with the roof.
Originally I had planned to make the roof out of wood, like I did on my Essex, but
somewhere along the way I changed my mind, and went for a steel roof instead.
Since I have  made a steel structure from ⁵/₈" square tubing
along the edges of the existing roof... edges(?) - dont
know what to call them - I can't hammer any welds where I'd have to weld. A friend
who has worked at Volvo in Sweden in collision repair, told me, they glued the roofs
on Volvo V70s. The originally roller welded roof was chiselled and ground away, and
the new roof was tacked in a few spots in the front, and then glued. I have a
Volvo roof, so why not?

The roof is some 4" too narrow, so the edges get a pretty pronounced grown, or
down turn if you will. Cutting it a bit more narrow will make it fit much better, but
then we're not left with any surface to glue to. This brings us to todays work. I cut
narrow 1-¹/₂"strips of 19 gauge sheet metal, and rolled
an edge to some of them in the bead roller.



The front strip is tacked to the front of the roof, over the windshield. and the
bead rolled strip along the side, is held on with various clamps.



Here the side strip is welded and ground. As the glue will cover the edge, I
decided that it wasn't necessary to finish weld this, just tack it fairly heavily.



Top view. The strips will make for a nice surface for the adhesive to
adhere to.



A problem area is the rear of the roof, with its lead and all that. I made some
corner parts to ensure good amounts of surface here too.



After welding and grinding this is what it looks like. It will be very interesting
to get the roof fastened to the body.
With any luck I will get the roof sheet lifted off the body, laid upside down
tomorrow, so that I can cut it to size and grind the edges to achieve the
optimal surface for the adhesive. Then back onto the body to see what
the final fit is like. One will just have to hope the crown the roof has, fits
the body when it's back on.

[62131]

I used panel adhesive on my header panels above my doors as there was very little to weld to. Make sure it's where you want it before it sets as there's no removing it.

[Essex_29]

Thank you 62131 for the advice.
I have never done any work like this, but I have a friend who's been
working with collision repair for several years and he has promised to
come do the adhesive thing with me, so I have hopes for it
working out okay.

Today me, my wife and a friend lifted the roof sheet upside down on a
makeshift table. It's so flimsy, you probably can't lift it at all without
being three people, six hands holding it. It wants to fold, there's so
little crown in the panel.



Now it's cut to size and the paint is ground off where the adhesive will
go. Now I have to get some help lifiting it back onto the body again, for
a test fit. Then back off again a few times, I guess.

[Essex_29]

I got some help today, so the roof was lifted back up on the body. As I guessed, it needed a
few tweaks to fit. Also the sheet metal strips needed hammering and adjusting to make for
a good fit against the roof sheet.



As can be seen in this pic, the crown and the shape of the roof is just perfect. I coudn't
have asked for a better fitting roof, I got real lucky.

As the mounts for the aprons are easiest to make before the floor goes in, I cut eight
pieces of ¹/₈" sheetmetal and drilled a hole in each to make apron mounts. I intend
to mount the aprons on the side of the frame, insted of sandwiched between the
frame and the body, as per original.

I had gotten concerned about the whole car being too tall, it's 67" after all, but the
running boards are right about 4" off the ground in the front end, so I think that
will look good for a normal ride height.




Lots of work with those aprons and fenders...

[62131]

The roof looks great, the apron height is perfect in my opinion