Starting the Process

dekberg

dekberg

Junior Member
I am starting to work on my family's 1930 Tudor. I am on a very limited budget and know the whole process is going to take years for me to complete. Question is should I clean up the worst of the metal of as much rust as I can and use a rust protector until I can get a proper paint job? I want to preserve it as best I can from going down hill any farther. In 15 years or so the kids will be out of school and I might be able to spend more than 20 or 30 bucks at a time. Also how taboo would an original Chevy seahorse radiator cap be on it? While cleaning I found one buried in all the nastyness that is in very good shape. I'm not worried about contests or judging just don't want to be shunned and not be able to ask questions. Thanks for the input.
 
It looks a lot like mine and if so you probably have some damaged wood and rusted out cowl panels or at least patched ones. You could make it a driver and just keep the critical stuff repaired to where the kids can climb on it. I don't have any money to put into mine so I am working on what ever can. Check to see if you have safety glass all the way around.
 
There is safety glass all around and the rust is not bad anywhere except the crossbar that the floor boards sit on. 90% of the wood is gone, seat springs are no good but the front seat wood is good, and the body has nothing but a bit of surface rust.
 
Get it running ( engine ) get it safe ( brakes, steering, tires ) and drive it And enjoy it now! You never know what another 20 years will bring and create memories for the kids now. Enjoy the heck out of it. Wayne
 
Have fun with her, the best thing to stop rust and preserve metal imo is fluid film, it's safe for rubber and sticks good. Try and keep it dry, fix it when you can, enjoy


Looking for the front bumper emblem that has "Ford, Made In Canada"
 
Rust is not a problem as you keep it inside. It will not get worse.

Safety, reliability and comfort should be priorities in that order.

Brakes, not cheap, are the highest priority in my book. If you can not stop you are not safe at all. It is also not cheap with a couple of thousand outlay. Once done, well they are done.

You have to be careful about mission creep. I started doing brakes on my fordor and ended up required to replace most of the front axle for safety. Had to tear apart the rear springs too.

Figure on what your budget and time allows to complete. You can break things up if you learn enough.

Sealing the top with some wood for a tudor should not be too bad. I am sure people could help you out with patterns and you could make up stuff yourself.

Seats, well I have seem all sorts of creative low buck interiors that do a job and are fun.

Education is cheap. Take time to read and learn. Remember much of the mechanical parts are precision made, even the threads on the fasteners are tighter tolerance. The car is a real engineering marvel, it is very complicated cheap simple car.
 
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