Can anyone provide a picture or two of the INSIDE of the spare tire door on the '38-40 models?
Going over future projects, I see that I will have to cut away and replace about 4 inches of the lower part of this door. It has been repaired at least twice by others with varying degrees of proficiency. There is a large oval hole in the middle of the inner panel that doesn’t look right to me.
Ha, ha, love it! Thanks Peter, an answer in a direction I wasn’t expecting. The oblong hole is to clear the tire.
Can I ask you to take a measurement of the width of that hole on the center line, where mine is missing the original metal?
We always split the inner and outer skin,de-rust both completely and repair and re-assemble. After spraying a weld through coating inside any where that may be welded
And put bigger drain holes in the inner skin.
I suppose it’s no comfort to hear that a few decades ago I found a NOS SS spare wheel cover.
I didn’t have a car that suited it , so I gave it to Brysons who did have one… Who lost it [ along with the NOS Luvax shockers I gave them for their SS100.]
Fortunately the cover resurfaced and went on a car in Western Aust, the shocker s seem to have gone to God.
Hi Rob,
I don’t understand. Looking at your photo you appear to have complete metal around the spare tyre cut-out. Is it that cut-out that you are referring to? When you talk of “width” is that the large dimension of the cut-out or the the small dimension?
Peter
Thanks, Peter.
I suppose its not clear from my picture, but mine has been trimmed and patched below that oval hole. There is nothing left of the original metal there.
Here is the measurement I need.
Ed, I was thinking the same thing, drill out the spot welds and separate the two skins and see where to go from there. The license plate mounting bars are also bodge welded.
Hi Rob,
I would say that’s exactly 5" on mine.
Peter
Thanks once again, Peter!
Ed sent me a picture offline that is slightly different from Peter’s door.
Strange triangular panel along the bottom, what is this?
So once again another mystery to explore.
It looks like a patch
Looks like a patch to me too.
Peter
Both right, I guess it was a patch, uncharacteristically well welded along the bottom, in contrast to the riveted patches on the other side and in the middle.
It threw me for a loop because of Ed’s picture of what looked like the same thing.
It amounts to a road water and mud scoop that made no sense to me. Unless it was supposed to seal against the tire tray. Anyway it looks like a bad idea all around. Best eliminated.
Still trying to understand the construction of this door.
Is there a narrow panel along the bottom here?
If so, does it vary in width?
Also the shape along the bottom,
and the width or height in the center.
This white one appears to have more curve than mine.
Can someone provide a measurement?
Hi Rob,
I make the centre width 12.5".
I think there is another piece along the bottom but it will need to wait until daylight for me to let you see it.
Peter
Hi Rob,
The additional piece is spot welded to the right angled edge of the inner skin. The outer skin is folded over it.
The edge of this piece is essentially straight for 17" in from each side as indicated by the large arrow above.
At the outer ends the overall width from outer to inner is 2.3" and the exposed part of the piece is 2" wide.
Moving to the other end of the 17" section the overall width is 1.2" and the exposed part is 0.27".
I don’t exactly know how to describe the section between the two straight 17" sections, curved slighty.
On the inner skin measuring from the outer parts of the edge folds at the centre there is 13.5" width.
Peter
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Wonderful! I think I can proceed now.
I begin to suspect that the strange triangular piece I alluded to earlier this week may possibly be the crumbling remains of an original piece, but represents an earlier and inferior method of construction that failed, becoming separated from the main inner panel.
As this car is one of the first batch of all-steel bodies, with the new location of the spare, I imagine we can expect to see more little anomalies in the body construction.
For example my light box brackets are different from yours, and I do not have those 3 welded clips which I presume are for wiring.
My small oval hole above the tire shows evidence of being hand cut, not by machine.
Thanks once again for your help.
I would be lost without this forum.