The body is very flexible without the wood framing, so I removed the front firewall-to- floor "L" brackets and used them to secure the front of the firewall to the dolly. Now the body won't slide around. I'll do some media blasting to remove rust soon.
I used basic hand tools to remove a few dents in the body. Sometimes you need to be creative and make a tool for a specific job because nothing you have already will work. Watch the video. The final two pieces of floor wood was removed. Rear body to frame brackets were removed so the trunk frame could come out.
I like the idea of a cowl vent that opens and closes. Modern cars don't use them. This vent was stuck because the hinges were seized with rust. Thankfully I was able to remove the vent without damage.
The body of a 1934 Chevrolet was framed with wood. The final step was to wrap the metal body around the car. Today I started to remove the rotten 1934 wood that was screwed and nailed to the metal body. Yes, I said nails. Having the body on a dolly allows me more freedom to move around inside the body. Today, I had to stand on a bucket with my head through the roof to get a better view of the top of the door frame. Look carefully at the photo below and you will see metal tabs with small nails holding the upper door frame metal strip to the wood brace above it. The next two pictures show the carriage bolts that go through the wood of the upper door frame. I pried out wood the reveal these nails, bolts and screws. Screws and nails pointing down from above had to have been placed before the roof sheet metal was installed. Once the roof sheet metal is installed there is no access from above to use a hammer or screwdriver.
I bought 40 feet of 2" square steel tubing to make a dolly for the coupe body. The legs needed to be wide enough to straddle the chassis. This way the chassis and the body can be wheeled around independent of the other. Watch the video too. Here's a short video showing how I lifted the body off the frame and onto the dolly. Most bolts are seized and most screws are stripped out of the wood. The wood in these cars is nailed to metal tabs on the body sheet metal. Very interesting indeed. The picture below shows the nails along the lower windshield flange that have pulled free of the wood beneath it. This video shows all the nail holes along the lower windshield flange. The flange will need a small repair where it rusted through. A handle under the dash opens and closes the cowl vent. Mine is stuck shut. Removing the wood framing above the windshield revealed interesting stuff. A rodent nest was above the windshield behind the wood framing.
This project officially started today. I examined the pile of wood pieces included with the purchase. It's supposed to be a kit to replace the rotten original wood framing in this car. To my delight I was able to find key pieces that are correct. I have all of the wood for the interior of both doors. I also have the front and rear door frame wood (A and B pillars) and the trunk area too. The rotten wood around these windows will need to be replaced.
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