Photos of Hawk project, I hope.

[gordr]

As in: I hope the link works.

These are pictures of a dry '58 Silver Hawk body shell that I bought at the McDonald auction in Yakima, WA, a few years ago. I've gutted it out, and I'm now doing some work on the body before handing it off to a bodyman for prep and paint. The car is going to be reincarnated as a '53 Commander coupe clone, as near as I can manage, anyway.

The only real bad rust is in the front floorboards, and it hasn't gotten to the A pillar support area yet. I'm going to form patch panels and weld them in.

I removed the rear quarters mainly because I wanted to remove the old hard undercoating, sandblast the metal, and POR-15 the cleaned metal. I found no nasty rust behind the quarters, just powdery surface rust, and clean metal. What a treat!

I'll let the pics speak for themselves, if the Photobucket link works.

http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb222/gordintrochu/

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[BobPalma]

Photos look good, Gord. It's always so interesting to see old finned Hawks with the fins just removed. Studebaker did so little to protect the metal under the fins they should be embarrased. BP

[BobPalma]

Photos look good, Gord. It's always so interesting to see old finned Hawks with the fins just removed. Studebaker did so little to protect the metal under the fins they should be embarrased. BP

[mbstude]

Looks great Gord. Keep us posted.. [8D]

Matthew Burnette
'59 Scotsman
'63 Daytona
Hazlehurst, GA

[mbstude]

Looks great Gord. Keep us posted.. [8D]

Matthew Burnette
'59 Scotsman
'63 Daytona
Hazlehurst, GA

[kpcoupe]

would you be interested in selling the fins

[kpcoupe]

would you be interested in selling the fins

[gordr]

quote:Originally posted by kpcoupe

would you be interested in selling the fins

If they are not already spoken for. Give me a couple three days to check.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[gordr]

quote:Originally posted by kpcoupe

would you be interested in selling the fins

If they are not already spoken for. Give me a couple three days to check.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[gordr]

Update:

Got a whole mess of sandblasting done today. Three 40 kilogram sacks of sand are settling into the lawn as top dressing now. Firewall is done both sides, kick panels and all the interior of the body are done. So are the rain gutters, windshield and rear window flanges, and the left side inner quarter.

What remains to be done? One rocker panel, most of the trunk and trunk lip, the small panel below the trunk opening, and a bit of the exterior of the front toeboards. One sack of sand remains; that should suffice, since the rust in the trunk is very light indeed.

I'll probably take the rear quarters, doors, and front fenders to Consolidated Compressor in Calgary to use their U-do-it sandblaster, which is bigger and faster.

With any luck (weather-wise) I'll finish the sandblasting on the body shell tomorrow, and get a coat of DP-40 epoxy primer on all the bare metal.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[gordr]

Update:

Got a whole mess of sandblasting done today. Three 40 kilogram sacks of sand are settling into the lawn as top dressing now. Firewall is done both sides, kick panels and all the interior of the body are done. So are the rain gutters, windshield and rear window flanges, and the left side inner quarter.

What remains to be done? One rocker panel, most of the trunk and trunk lip, the small panel below the trunk opening, and a bit of the exterior of the front toeboards. One sack of sand remains; that should suffice, since the rust in the trunk is very light indeed.

I'll probably take the rear quarters, doors, and front fenders to Consolidated Compressor in Calgary to use their U-do-it sandblaster, which is bigger and faster.

With any luck (weather-wise) I'll finish the sandblasting on the body shell tomorrow, and get a coat of DP-40 epoxy primer on all the bare metal.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[gordr]

Another update:

Another fine weather day here, so I got the sandblasting finished on the car's body shell, and blew/vacuumed out all the sand. Except, of course, the hidden sand that WON'T blow out until the paint gun appears.

Since I had the rear of the car hoisted up to facilitate work on the rear of the body below the trunk lip, I crawled under and took the cover off the differential housing. There is no yoke on there, and I figured maybe the pinion shaft was broken. Well, there is no pinion, period, and no cover gasket either. Looks like somebody robbed the gearset and carrier out of there, maybe it was a Twin Traction axle? What is there is a standard open diff with a 4.88 crown gear on it. The gear looks good, too, based on a superficial inspection.

Anybody need a 4.88 (that's 44 - 9 teeth) crown gear for a model 44 axle? Free to a good home, no pinion, though.

I mixed up a batch of DP-40 epoxy primer, and sprayed the underside of the roof, the drip rails, the firewall and kick panels, and the windshield and rear window frames, and parts of the trunk and outer firewall. Came up about a quart short on primer, so I'll have to go buy some more, I guess. Managed to get primer on metal that had never seen paint, so I think I'm winning. At least I am now putting stuff back ON the car, instead of taking stuff (parts, dirt, paint) off. Feels good.

Once I was done with paint on the Hawk body, I started up my little '48 Crosley, and brought it up in front of the shop. The front springs were badly bagged, and the front tires were rubbing on the fender lips in turns. I took out the left front spring (parallel leaf), and took out the center bolt. I also disassembled a scrap Morris Minor rear spring which I acquired, being as it was the only source I could find for
1 1/2" spring stock. I added in one full-length leaf just below the original main leaf, and reassembled the spring. The rubber spring bushings were shot, and I found that some 2R truck spring bushings I had on hand were a perfect fit except that they were 1/8" too long. Trimmed them with a knife, and they fit perfectly.

Got the rebuilt spring back in the car just as darkness fell. What a difference! The car sits at least 2" higher on the left side at the front. Once the same repair is done to the other side, it should sit just like new. A pretty easy repair, and the price was right. Kind of off-topic, but it's neat that I can use some Studebaker parts to rehab another orphan.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[gordr]

Another update:

Another fine weather day here, so I got the sandblasting finished on the car's body shell, and blew/vacuumed out all the sand. Except, of course, the hidden sand that WON'T blow out until the paint gun appears.

Since I had the rear of the car hoisted up to facilitate work on the rear of the body below the trunk lip, I crawled under and took the cover off the differential housing. There is no yoke on there, and I figured maybe the pinion shaft was broken. Well, there is no pinion, period, and no cover gasket either. Looks like somebody robbed the gearset and carrier out of there, maybe it was a Twin Traction axle? What is there is a standard open diff with a 4.88 crown gear on it. The gear looks good, too, based on a superficial inspection.

Anybody need a 4.88 (that's 44 - 9 teeth) crown gear for a model 44 axle? Free to a good home, no pinion, though.

I mixed up a batch of DP-40 epoxy primer, and sprayed the underside of the roof, the drip rails, the firewall and kick panels, and the windshield and rear window frames, and parts of the trunk and outer firewall. Came up about a quart short on primer, so I'll have to go buy some more, I guess. Managed to get primer on metal that had never seen paint, so I think I'm winning. At least I am now putting stuff back ON the car, instead of taking stuff (parts, dirt, paint) off. Feels good.

Once I was done with paint on the Hawk body, I started up my little '48 Crosley, and brought it up in front of the shop. The front springs were badly bagged, and the front tires were rubbing on the fender lips in turns. I took out the left front spring (parallel leaf), and took out the center bolt. I also disassembled a scrap Morris Minor rear spring which I acquired, being as it was the only source I could find for
1 1/2" spring stock. I added in one full-length leaf just below the original main leaf, and reassembled the spring. The rubber spring bushings were shot, and I found that some 2R truck spring bushings I had on hand were a perfect fit except that they were 1/8" too long. Trimmed them with a knife, and they fit perfectly.

Got the rebuilt spring back in the car just as darkness fell. What a difference! The car sits at least 2" higher on the left side at the front. Once the same repair is done to the other side, it should sit just like new. A pretty easy repair, and the price was right. Kind of off-topic, but it's neat that I can use some Studebaker parts to rehab another orphan.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands