my 1932 datsun replica build

Lookin good! Keep on it.

I need some aesthetics advice....I've already ruled out the idea of putting a functional hinge down the middle of the hood.

Would you guys
a) put a non-functioning hinge down the middle anyway to give that appearance
b) Weld the two hood sides together at the middle to make it look like a single piece hood

[EDIT: I've already decided that I want open sides, and eventually, a Lake-style header]

Me, I'd leave it looking single piece on top and double hinge the side panels. Side panels would be hinged where they meet the top piece and again halfway down, similar to other cars of the era. Sort of a folding gullwing, to provide access to the motor without having to pull the whole thing off. Of course, if you are leaving the sides open, forget what I just said, and add some eye candy and bling on the engine!

Yeah, the sides will be open. There's a picture of a ford phaeton at the bottom of the first page of this thread that shows roughly what I'm shooting for. I want to paint it tan and brown, though, so it is the same color scheme as the oldest datsun still in existence; i.e. the one from the Nissan Heritage Collection in Zama, Japan.

Anyway, open sides, a hood that will lift off. With that in mind, fake hinge, or no?

No hinge. Without sides a single piece hood will look cleaner.

Why is this thread in "Off Topic?" It's one of the most "on" topics I've seen so far.

Jerry From LA wrote: Why is this thread in "Off Topic?" It's one of the most "on" topics I've seen so far.

Short answer: This is where I started it.

Long answer: I'm building a Japanese street rod, not a race car. I'll autocross it when I'm done, but only because I want to goof off with a car that I built....that's not a very "motorsports" attitude.

Oh, this evening's work....I did the same stuff to the passenger's side that I did last night on the driver's side.

and then started stitching the sides together

Dunno how much accuracy you are shooting for but a nice thin trim spear (like off a VW bug hood but straightend out) would look good running down that hood and extending to the top of the radiator shell.

oh, and progress looks sweet!

Thanks for the kind words. I'll see if I can find some cheap hood ornamentation before I get ready to paint. Right now, I need to try getting rid of some distortion I created in the driver's side of the hood while trying to join the sides together....

The center seam is welded up (that's a heck of a lot of tacks) but I need to take out (or fill) some big oil canning spots.

I'm not sure if I'll tackle that now, or do it later....I may try to work on the back of the car.

It would be a miracle if you were able to weld a seam like that without some oil canning.

I have found that if you stop after each series of spot welds and do a little stress relief with a hammer and dolly it works better- get rid of the warpage before you start the next series of spots, then do the same before each series. You can also warp it all again when you grind the welds down.

Nice job, anyway.

quick update: After two grueling weeks where work deadlines ate my personal time, I finally got back into the garage today to do some work. I welded up some spacers I'd inserted as part of recent chassis mods, and cut some steel plate that I'm going to use to back a few joints to prevent flexing. I'll try to get pictures up later.

Next week is spring break. I'm hoping to get some significant fabrication done on the back end of the car during that time.

It has been a busy weekend so far. My goal was to get the back end of the chassis welded back together. (I've been doing major cutting/modifying to it in an attempt to make it more symmetrical - like it ought to be - and to stiffen it up in a few spots.) So far I've barely touched the frame.

I spent Friday night wasting time at Classic Mazda's pre-Sebring party....it was much more poorly attended than last year's event....I wish it didn't always get scheduled opposite an SCCA national autocross tour.

Saturday I spotted a water heater replacement occurring down the street from me. They gave me the old unit, and I spent most of the rest of the day a) driving to get cutting wheels for the angle grinder, and b) stripping the sheet metal off the outside of the water heater.

The metal is thinner than I'd like....even more so than the water heater I used for the hood....but will work well for the back of the car where the vertical tubing will support it. I'll probably orient it so that I can use the existing curvature of the metal (remember, it was in a big cylinder around the water heater) follows the curve on the back of the car.

Here's an older picture of the chassis to show what I mean

I also started tacking the tubes for at the back of the chassis back into place.....and then ran out of my normal wire. I made a quick trip to Lowe's so I'm ready for tomorrow. As was suggested here, I also got some thinner stuff to use on the sheet metal.

OK, my "death to assymetry" campaign is over (i.e. the chassis is back together.) Tomorrow, stiffening it up and possibly even skinning the back end with some sheet metal.

JoeyM wrote: OK, my "death to assymetry" campaign is over (i.e. the chassis is back together.) Tomorrow, stiffening it up and possibly even skinning the back end with some sheet metal.

Joey, considering the outrageousness of the entire project, it seems like when you have time to work on it, you're making pretty good progress.

Thanks, I try.

I just busted a band saw blade. Luckily, I keep spares on hand. I'm headed back to my shed.....The plan is to use 2X3 tubing to simultaneously stiffen up the front of the wheel arches and form a door jamb. I'll try to post pictures later.

[Edit: I'm done for the day. I built the 2x3 chassis stiffener thingy for the passenger's side, but still need to make the one for the driver's side.....the band saw is cutting one of the pieces right now. I also finally got some use out of the microwave ovens I pulled out of the neighbors' garbage in December....I'm going to use their metal skins on the sides of the car above the rear wheel well....They're cut, but but both need to be bent to the proper shape before mounting. ]

Posterboard mockup

....and the water heater skin, trimmed to fit

[Edit: We just rolled a bead across the panel so it will match the original 1932 datsun and then hammered the top of the panel over the horizontal tube so it looks like the posterboard in the above pictures.

We've been productive today

This is coming along great! I love that you're using scrap metal.

Looking at the original car, seems the fenders might prove to be tricky?

Luke wrote: This is coming along great! I love that you're using scrap metal. Looking at the original car, seems the fenders might prove to be tricky?

Good point. Do you have any ideas on the fenders yet? The rears could probably be made by modifying a set of VW bug rear fenders. The fronts though....a bit tougher.

If you aren't opposed to fiberglass you might be able to find some fenders from an MG kit car or such that would be similar.

JThw8 wrote: Do you have any ideas on the fenders yet? The rears could probably be made by modifying a set of VW bug rear fenders. The fronts though....a bit tougher. If you aren't opposed to fiberglass you might be able to find some fenders from an MG kit car or such that would be similar.

Those are both really good ideas.....I may have to go that route if I can't pull off what I was thinking about.

For the rear fenders, I was going to try using the drums from a pair of clothes driers....I'd need to cut slits in them and then de-arch them (i.e. change the diameter of the curve.) I'm not sure about the fronts. The running boards would be cut from the shelves mentioned previously in this thread.

I will definitely put fenders on it before the car is "done"; i.e. street legal and ready to drive to my local car show or autocross. (I want the fenders to be easily removed - possibly with dzus fasteners - for autocrossing.) Honestly, though, I'm not sure if I can fabricate fenders in time for the GRM challenge October. They may have to wait until afterwards.....There are plenty of streetrods that run without, though, and if I have to do the same it won't be the worst thing imaginable.

I figure that as soon as I have the car body fabricated, I'll work on steering, brakes, starting the engine back up, etc. (The things needed for comptition.) If I can get those things done, I'll then worry about paint. Fenders come after that

Luke wrote: I love that you're using scrap metal.

I hadn't shown you guys the "before" pictures of that rear quarter panel. Here's what I started with: ....and this is what it looked like after I cut the thing in half, took the flanges off, and pushed/hammered/stomped it flat to remove the 90 degree bend. (the other half, unflattened, is in the background at the right. The crease is still slightly visible near the bottom of the panel behind the wheel in this picture.

I should be able to reduce it further with the english wheel.

[Another Evening Edit: the troublesome lower corner of that panel has now been shaped. Now I need to do the passenger's side.]

You're using scrap water heater metal and Cleco's. This is the definition of GRM. I'm digging it.