1937 Zephyr coupe

Wensum Valley Rods

Wensum Valley Rods

Member
Hi all, not posted on here yet, been lurking for a while though.
Bit of an intro - I'm Paul , I live in the uk and I'm 44 years young. I have messed around with old cars since I was about 17. I have owned several stock classics as well as some rods and customs. I currently own a daily driven 51 Ford F3 truck, a 59 Dodge custom royal (total custom), and a stock 47 plymouth. My wife owns a stock 1949 Ford V8 Pilot and a stock 37 Dodge D5 coupe as well as several british bikes.

I'm building a 37 zephyr coupe, although due to its condition and the lack of a v12 it's not going to be quite stock. It's going to run a french flathead mounted to the original zephyr box. It's going to be lowered slightly but far from slammed and my aim is a traditional mild custom which will become a daily driver.
I have a build thread going on the hamb, I will add a link. If you guys want me to keep you updated then I'd be happy to do so. Just say the word.

I totally understand if it's not what you want on the forum and I'm cool with that.

Here's the link, for those that haven't seen it yet there is some rust :)
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=720735&highlight=zephyr

Paul.
 
Welcome. It sounds interesting to me and it does still have a Flathead in it even if it does eat snails,its not like it has a SBC in it. This is the place for questions and answers on Flatheads, there are some very knowledgeable people on here.
 
Your project looks just like my 36 cabriolet looked when I started. It took a long time for me to complete, but if you have a vision of what you are doing and stick to it, you will have a car that you can be proud of. Just keep that vision.
 
Thanks for all the comments guys.

Vic I have been following your long running thread, some really nice cars/trucks you guys have . That zephyr of yours is lovely.

Chris, nice work on the 36 it looks great, you have every right to feel proud. I know exactly where I am going with the zephyr. I have drooled over them for years.

Hey Fibber, I have had the french (snail eating :). ) flathead for a long time. It did service in a 27t roadster that I built a few years back. It needs a freshen up now, but it was my daily driver for about 7-8 years , every day of the years what ever the weather. It very rarely ran a hood and was pretty damn reliable. I covered over 80,000 miles in the 8 years, and I didn't treat it very gentle either.

Paul.
 
Got a bit more progress to report.
I have been doing the lead work on the sides of the roof where I welded it back on. Considering I have never done it before it's going reasonably well. Well until I bought some more lead sticks from ebay only to find that they are totally useless. I think they may well be neat lead, they melt all of a sudden and instantly go solid again. They are impossible to work.
So while I was waiting for the right ones to turn up I decided to make a rollover jig for it so I could get to the underneath easier. It works but I need to make the arms adjustable so I can centre it up to allow it to spin all the way round, but it's doing the job at the moment.

Beverly came out in the shop this afternoon and showed me how leading should be done , lol. A pretty damn good job she did too.

Hopefully I will get it leaded up quite quickly and then I can get some zinc primer on it. It's amazing how quickly it starts going rusty after heat and solder paste has been applied. I was watching it turn a rusty yellow colour before my eyes as I was applying the lead this afternoon.

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Paul.
 
Someone correct me if I am wrong but the flux is an acid and it is causing the "instantaneous" rust. When using lead getting the flux cleaned up and neutralized is essential for the paint to last. It is one of the drawbacks to using lead.
 
Frank you are correct, it is the effect of the flux that is causing the flash rust. I have washed it down with baking soda and water and warm soapy water and it is still flash rusting. It does clean up pretty good with a wire wheel in a drill though.
Trouble is I have lots of areas to lead and can't get any paint on it until it's leaded. Between a rock and a hard place at the moment.
Got quite a bit done today though.

Paul.
 
Forgot to say, Beverly is definitely a keeper and has been for the last 20 years. We are a pretty good team and sh's into the cars just as much as me. She's had her own hot rods and owns a lovely V8 pilot , all stock with the 21 stud flathead in it. She also has 37 Dodge business coupe also stock with the flathead 6.
 
Time for an update. I haven't spent a huge amount of time on the zephyr lately, but what time I have spent has been taken up with the lead work and repairs to one of the rear inner arches.
All the welds on the panels I made and where the roof was joined back on were leaded in and filed back. Because I was only doing about 2 hours work each night and the fact that I had problems keeping the flash rusting at bay during the time between working on it I opted to spray the roof panel in zinc primer and to get the lead as close as possible and then skim fill with normal filler. Not the way I had planned or really wanted but I was ending up spending more time cleaning up the panels than I was putting on more lead. To be fair I haven't had to put much filler in so it's not so bad.
I think the main problem I had was that I wasn't getting rid of all the residue from the tinning flux properly and it was causing the flash rusting.
The panels that I put in are now pretty much leaded up and filled ready for a primer coat.
The rear arch is also coming on well, it's pretty much welded up and until my grinder cooked it's brushes tonight was well on the way to being cleaned up as well.

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Paul
 
Paul, nice work...with regards the flux for your leading, I have always used a paste called 'fluxite'. It is non acidic and tins up real nice as long as the panels are clean and shiney. It is made in England, so you should be able to source it. Comes in a green tin. Brian
 
Brian thanks for the heads up, I have seen that for sale locally so will look into it.

Time for another update. Been chipping away at the zephyr this week during the evenings. I have managed to get the other inner rear arch welded up and cleaned up and the boot floor taken out ready to fabricate a new one.
Hopefully I should get some time spare this weekend to do a bit more, been working on the house and other things during the weekends as it's the only daylight time I get now.

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Paul.
 
Haven't updated progress on here lately (sorry about that, it's normally pretty late time I get in from the workshop so don't have a load of time.), so I will catch up a bit. Have got quite a bit done since the last update.

Got the rear inner fenders sprayed with zinc primer, so they should be safe from the damp now. Started working on the front inner wings. Got the drivers side structual sub frame made and welded in ready to take the floor and the lower inner wing panel fabricated and also welded in. I still have the bottom of the door pillar to finish and the inner kick panel.

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I have been putting in a few hours over the xmas break, and have made some pretty good progress. I have the front inner fenders about 90% welded up, the lower bulkhead cut out and re welded, the front floor pans and associated kick panel supports fabricated and welded in , the majority of the boot floor welded in and the spare wheel well/boot floor 90% fabricated today and almost ready to weld in.
It's really beginning to look like a car again now, should be able to roll it over soon and dress up the underneath and paint it up. Then it can start going back together. :)

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Paul.
 
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