[62131]

My thoughts on grinding welds, penetration is the key to strength, if you beveled the edges {if thick enough} of the two pieces that you welded together grinding should be fine. If not, I would not grind. To dress them up before paint smear a coat of seam sealer over them to give them a smooth appearance.

[Essex_29]

Thank you TFoch for the encouragement, and chopper526, I do love my welder *grins*.
Yes, 62131, I do try to make good welds, and always bevel the edges to get as good penetration
as I possibly can. I decided to grind the welds around the engine mounts for esthetical reasons, and I
don't doubt they'll be strong enough anyway. The engine mount "stands" on two gussets against the
bottom frame flange, and the box plate is just that. I think it will be strong enough, and I'm pretty
certain that the engine won't fall out.

Since I live far north and summers are short, I had planned to go hunting for a roof, and this
was as good a time as any. After measuring the crown and size of several wagon roofs, I decided that
a Volvo V70 roof has about the right amount of crown to it.

So, out with a bunch of extention cords and the 9" angle grinder and off we go. The rear hatch was
gone, and I was allowed to smash the rear side windows, so it was easy work. The Volvo side curtain
air bags are inside the roof, so I didn't even go close to them with the cut off wheel.



The Volvo has a Saab 96 hood on it, which gives it all an odd look.
When at home, still in the trailer, the flat part of the roof was cut out, leaving just the
frame to keep its shape.

[Essex_29]

I was a bit concerned that the roof would be too bulbuous, but it ended up being
about exactly what I was looking for.
The Volvo V70 is a bit rounder in the front, so the roof is now sitting backwards,
as this works very well.



Only in the rearmost corners, can you see a bit of daylight from the inside. You can
probably see that the corners don't lay exactly flat in the pic below.



The new roof is about 2-1/2" too wide, and I beleive, as I cut it down, that the corners will lay down pretty much perfect.
It looks great so far, I just hope I won't mess it up, I have never welded a roof before.

[sixball]

That is really cool how close it is to perfect! Good choice.

[FATnLOW]

Go slow on the welding and go to different spots when welding..keep heat to minimum .... I took 2.5 days to weld mine in..paid off in the end.. Happy welding😁😁

[TFoch]

Lookin' good!  That was a good choice to fill the top.

[62131]

Thats a great fitting top. take your time and stagger your spot welds keep heat to a minimum

[chopper526]

That roof looks as good as you could get! Nice work.

[sammons]

Essex, nice fab work!  I like that your building what you want/need and using what is availible in your area. Always liked those early sedans. That eara seemed close to the same, regaurdless of make other than minor body details and grill shell.

Again, nice fab work. Top fits nice too.

[Essex_29]

Thank you all for your supporting comments, they keep my mood up for sure
62131, Yes, it will be about 238.5 inches of weld, so staggering won't be an issue.
FATnLOW welding will be days. I've counted 12 seconds per weld with cooling,
so that would be over five hours continuous welding. Scary thought.
Yes sammons, you got to take what you have. Around here junked American cars
are very unusual, so a Volvo roof makes sense. Also, about the latetwenties cars looking
the same all of them, but I have to say, the Buick is huge compared to a Model A Tudor.

The frame is all but ready, so next the body is going back on.
After some measuring and cutting the body bracing, The body could be hoisted onto the
 frame.



 Engine hoist and a helping hand from the wife did the trick, so there it is.

[sixball]

Great progress! Thanks for sharing.

[TFoch]

Wow that looks great!  Nice to have the wife lend a helping hand!

[62131]

Wow that really looks great

[FATnLOW]

If you don't have 4 or 5 guys to help with the body ..you have to think out of the box...I remember using my hoist to mount several bodies '38 Chevy ,'28 model A and '40 Ford P/U....good looking work and ur project is moving along nicely

[sixball]

Doing things alone is often hard & dangerous. Last week I had to take a poorly chopped '50 pickup cab from a frame a guy from Washington is coming to get for a project. I was able to wrap/pad the pallet forks on my tractor bucket and go through the missing back window to lift & move it to a pallet. Still kind of dicey on my hillside when you get any weight very far off the ground. I damage must be done I always try to sacrifice the parts & safe myself. It's 2 miles to where the ambulance could get. 

That big sedan in looking good!