hawk body

[swvalcon]

Had some free time today to get back on the old hawk body. Took out a crease in the crown of the left front fender that was about 6" long and about an 1' deep with a stretch in the center so had to heat it and hammer and dolly it from there. Just roughed it in close enough to get by with a couple coats of bondo. Car isn't something I would spend the time to almost metal finish but could have. Fun to work on metal thick enough to actually be able to work it with out destroying it like these new cars. Next up is the right rear fender that has a lot of what the young guy's call Petina that back in my day we called rust.

[tsenecal]

Looking Good! I just finished up rebuilding both Hawk front fenders. They needed repair panels, at the back edge, and new vent openings. You're right about the thickness of the metal. Pretty easy to work with, but you definitely need to take your time welding it back in, to avoid warping. Hope to see future progress reports from you.

[swvalcon]

Got most of the petina off the rear fender this afternoon and it's going to be almost 50 tomorrow so will sand blast the rest off. Has a few dents to fix and normal studebaker rust next to the door on the bottom. One coat of mud knocked down with the air file and with one more thin coat and the hand board with some 80 grit that should do that dent on the front fender. Decided to see if the seats out of the Ca. parts car where worth fixing. Looks like some fly by night Ca shop just made up new covers and put them right over the top of the old ones with some cotton glued in the holes in the foam. Thinking late model seats and build up my own door panel cards is the way to go. Will save the seat frames and springs no matter what.

[JoeHall]

Your work with sheet metal is amazing. Waay out of my league. Excellent workmanship.

[swvalcon]

Thanks Joe. Just a matter of learning the basics of metal work and a lot of practice. I've had over 40 years of it. With metal work you need to remember every action causes a reaction and you just need to make those reactions do to the metal what you want. That's where the practice comes in. Just going out to the shop now so see what I get done today.

[Buzzard]

Steve,
It's too bad you don't live closer to British Columbia as you are doing amazing work. Keep up the pics for us novices.
Bill

[swvalcon]

Tried to sand blast yesterday and other than some on the outside of the rear fender panel I soon realized it was going to take a bigger more power full unit then what I have to get the job done. I just coated the inside with some rust converter that I've had sitting around the shop for years. Not a big believer in it but better than nothing. It's said to turn the rust into a re-coat-able primer. Once the body work and rust patches are done I will give it a good coat of bed liner or undercoat. Had other things to do so that is as far as I got on it.

[swvalcon]

Had time to fix the rust on the front of the rear fender. Cut out the rust and had some tin from a Ford pickup cab corner left over from one i did a couple weeks ago so used that to build the patch. welded it in and seam sealed the back side. Just need to finish it off one day this next week so I can get it in primer.