1942 dodge ambulance resto

[jack neville]

I have got the rear part of the roof pretty good. The front piece over the cab has a couple of cracks and some dents that should come out easily. These insert sections above the doors are a problem. Especially the right side.

[jack neville]

The left side not as bad.

[Bob Carriere]

......going were few men have gone before......

In the Dodge power wagon forum they warn about disassembly of the large open bodies like yours as they are inadvertently very hard to put back together.

Been following your progress and fascinated by the bravery to tackle sheet metal that has become like a saltine cracker.

How will you form your patches???? do you use an English wheel or maybe a sand bag and hard rubber mallets........?

Love that wooden wedge trick.

Cheers

[jack neville]

lucky we haven't read the Dodge forum Bob. Haven't worked out those patches yet. They curve in both directions.

These photos show what I needed to do to square up the roof.

[jack neville]

The roof is now welded back on. I also added the small step that drops down from the rear floor to the front cab. The cab has been put back in place to check its fit and alignment with the floor and roof. All looking good.

[Mike K]

Wayne is detailed here

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/wayne/wayne.htm

[jack neville]

The rear body corners have quite a few small dents in the panels and some awkward damage at the bottom corners. The problem is access to get inside the corners to hammer them out. The bolts that secure the door hinges have all been cut off as the caged nuts had seized. The easiest way to address both problems is to cut the welds holding the folded sections (which contain the caged nuts) and remove them. This way the caged nuts can be accessed with heat to remove the broken bolts, The section can be sandblasted before refit and I can get into the panel corners and fix the dents.