Stooge's Longer term car projects, Part 2

[Kev442]

Spendy patch panels make a couple of beaders seem cheap, I'm impressed with what it did to make that panel.
I never take pics of the metal I cut out, I don't like being reminded of what a bone I bought!

 

[Stooge]

Spendy patch panels make a couple of beaders seem cheap, I'm impressed with what it did to make that panel.
I never take pics of the metal I cut out, I don't like being reminded of what a bone I bought!

You aint kidding! looking at just the 2 patch panels for the rear seat footwells for the edsel, they're going to be around $450! they'll save a lot of time and make it do-able in a leisurely weekend project, but I had a little sticker shock when I saw them!
Fortunately I got to be surprised with the rockers, since when I bought them, they have some galvanized tin screwed in place over the rot, though I knew I was going to be replacing them but between the rockers and floor, its been a bigger project than my rose colored glasses lead me to imagine. I never thought I would have to cut out as much of the stock floor as I have and im doing most of the trunk next, though just the flat pieces to keep it simple and keep it moving.

20180616_145235 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180616_161626 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[xtremek]

I would have never thought of using a bead roller that way. Thanks for the education.

 

[Stooge]

I would have never thought of using a bead roller that way. Thanks for the education.

I think its more ignorance and guessing on my part than education on your part, that was probably the second time I used a bead roller, first being the floor pans. it wasn't graceful, but it worked enough and fit better than expected for not really measuring anything, which is good since i would have been a little irritated if i ruined the curved piece and had to hammer out a new one/ waste some of the remaining sheet of 18ga. the $180 investment has probably already paid for itself!

Since that basically worked, i want to try is making a patch for the front fender on the edsel under the headlight, curved shape with a step

2018-06-27_11-38-24 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

I'm slightly burnt out on my floorboard project. The weather was so nice last weekend I decided to sand on a different car where the vinyl roof had rusted underneath.
Outdoors with a nice breeze, that's the ticket! 3 hours of that and I'm ready to work with rockers/floorboards again...

 

[xtremek]

Hey Kev, do you have a thread where I can follow along with your fun?

 

[Kev442]

I don't. I am way too sporadic with the time I can apply to my projects, plus I am slower than molasses in January. Some of these cars I am mentioning working with I have had lying around for over a decade. My two real bones that are really pipe dreams I've had over 20.

Stooge is helping me to rev things up a bit as he is working with typical northern rust, isn't afraid to tackle anything and gets 'er done.

Real life also gets in the way with the work fleet I keep rolling really absorbing my desire to wrench sometimes. Putting a transmission in a minivan is not a terrible project (for example), but it does turn me off wrenching on other stuff for quite a while.

 

[xtremek]

I don't. I am way too sporadic with the time I can apply to my projects, plus I am slower than molasses in January.......................but it does turn me off wrenching on other stuff for quite a while.

Preach it brother. I so understand, having to keep 5-6 daily drivers on the road.

If you start a thread, let me know so I can join in the fun

Back the our regularly scheduled program.

 

[Stooge]

...
Stooge is helping me to rev things up a bit as he is working with typical northern rust, isn't afraid to tackle anything and gets 'er done.

Real life also gets in the way with the work fleet I keep rolling really absorbing my desire to wrench sometimes. Putting a transmission in a minivan is not a terrible project (for example), but it does turn me off wrenching on other stuff for quite a while.

Nice to be a 'positive' influence for once! usually I just get hollered at by friends' wives and girlfriends for their spouse coming home from my place after a few drinks/ spending the day at a swap meet/ spending the day working on cars/ spending money on old stuff. The cross I bear for being single and living alone and being able to do whatever!

I've been taking it a little easy on working this week though, I took a spill down some icy stairs back in December or January and the slight nagging pain in my leg, (possibly my sciatica?) got a little more vocal this week after I think I over did it at the garage over the weekend.
I've also been staying a little late at work this week and moonlighting in another dept helping out a buddy doing some soldering and repairs when the need arises, like this strain gauge that someone gorilla handled and ripped a handful of wires out of.

20180614_150545 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

Hopefully the leg is behaving again. My back goes out about once a year, making the next 9 days kinda useless and the next couple of months an old man event.

Still avoiding the floorpan and I've realized why. I always cut myself up doing metalwork during the summer T shirt and shorts season. In cold weather I have some protection, but this summer I've already cut myself up a bunch of times on all kinds of stuff. Sometimes the noggin gets it, then an arm or leg, it gets old.

So I decided to ruin my lungs and destroy my nerves in my hands by grabbing an angle grinder with a 4" knotted wire wheel in it and go after the frame. 30 minutes at a time is all I can handle, but in 3 episodes I have quite a bit of the frame looking good. I am impressed with how long a HF wire wheel lasts, I bought three for this job and have only used up 1/2 of the first one. The 9.99 HF grinder is still alive too, thats kind of a miracle, these newer black ones are really chintzy.

I have also kept on with the paint/rust removal on the other cars roof. It is in the attached garage, so I am using the citrus remover, which is very slow but no fumes. I would say the roof is 75% done at this point. The neat thing about this car is after being a "yard driver" for the last ten years after I put a motor in it, I got serious about it last fall and this year. It is now a real driver. I've snuck it out and about (no plates) on the back roads and have about 40 miles of sorting it out on it now. Still sorting out the weird idle shake, but at least it has been on the road, to a gas station and other amazingly mundane things!

 

[Strouty]

Whenever my leg starts to hurt, it reminds me that there is a reason for it. I usually listen. Hope you are feeling better.

 

[Stooge]

Hopefully the leg is behaving again. My back goes out about once a year, making the next 9 days kinda useless and the next couple of months an old man event.

Still avoiding the floorpan and I've realized why. I always cut myself up doing metalwork during the summer T shirt and shorts season. In cold weather I have some protection, but this summer I've already cut myself up a bunch of times on all kinds of stuff. Sometimes the noggin gets it, then an arm or leg, it gets old.

So I decided to ruin my lungs and destroy my nerves in my hands by grabbing an angle grinder with a 4" knotted wire wheel in it and go after the frame. 30 minutes at a time is all I can handle, but in 3 episodes I have quite a bit of the frame looking good. I am impressed with how long a HF wire wheel lasts, I bought three for this job and have only used up 1/2 of the first one. The 9.99 HF grinder is still alive too, thats kind of a miracle, these newer black ones are really chintzy.

I have also kept on with the paint/rust removal on the other cars roof. It is in the attached garage, so I am using the citrus remover, which is very slow but no fumes. I would say the roof is 75% done at this point. The neat thing about this car is after being a "yard driver" for the last ten years after I put a motor in it, I got serious about it last fall and this year. It is now a real driver. I've snuck it out and about (no plates) on the back roads and have about 40 miles of sorting it out on it now. Still sorting out the weird idle shake, but at least it has been on the road, to a gas station and other amazingly mundane things!

Whenever my leg starts to hurt, it reminds me that there is a reason for it. I usually listen. Hope you are feeling better.

Leg and back are feeling better, still taking it a little easy, but I've been doing some stretches routine that's supposed to help and seems to be making a difference so im hoping to get back to some garaging this week. When im up and moving around, it loosens up and doesn't bother me much, but I have mostly a sit down job so after sitting for awhile at my desk, when I get up, it's tightened up. Had a few dogs over this week so walking them got me up and about, and took a gamble yesterday and headed over to a big car show and was walking around for 3hrs and wasn't bothering me at all, (granted we did have a few stiff drinks) some pictures seen here https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395645

Also working on some armchair hot rodding and figuring out what I need to buy for the air/fuel side of my straight 8 to make up the intake stuff and how i'll make up the linkages, have a pretty good idea now so i'll start buying some parts this week, plus it will give me a break from the constant sheet metal work. i'll probably buy the exhaust flanges at the same time since they are coming from the same vendor, though I need about $400+ in new motor mount rubbers before I can start figuring out the exhaust side of things so that will wait a bit.

 

[xtremek]

And I'm glad to hear you're healing.

 

[Kev442]

Saw this picture on CL on was reminded of when you were deciding what to do with your trucks dash. White really does reflect terribly....

 

[Stooge]

Hah,I forgot I had serious thought about leaving part of it white after I painted the tan underside, plus was really nervous I was going to mess up my first fancier paint, with the seal coat, basecoat, flake intercoat and a few coats of clear

2018-07-17_07-11-40 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

The flake probably reflects a little more than the white does though

2018-07-17_07-12-04 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Not much to report on, taking it a little easy so I don't bother my leg too much, I need to spin the car around just to make working on the passenger side rockers a little easier, and order some weldnuts to repair some of the sheet metal flange that holds the rear fenders as a few of them are rotted away.

I got a fourth 1940's Carter W-1 in yesterday, and had ordered the material to start putting some sort of intake together. I was hoping everything would come in by Friday and I could start over the weekend, but the head flanges for the 320 intake ports wont get here until Monday.

Where else to fondle 70+yr old carburetors than on the coffee table

2018-07-17_07-08-33 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Also planning a few Edsel things, pulling the driver side fender off so I can fix the hole near the headlight, and the driver side inner fender to fix the battery tray that's completely rotted away, and when the 2 rear floor pans get ordered, ($400+ ), I'll fix a few other areas on the body since i'll have my welder and stuff over. Not going to go too crazy on fixing everything on the body right now, just clean it up a bit so he can drive it and we can fix some other areas as a driver. I think I should be able to make something with the bead roller to follow that step around the grill on the fender.

2018-07-17_07-26-00 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

I kinda figured you would wrap up the Pontiac and kick it out by now to get space. Oh well, life happens and sometimes you just aren't in the mood.

I sucked it up last weekend and worked on the driver's side of the floorpan. Heavy action with a recip saw over the two days has my left wrist unhappy. Took a lot of hot metal to my legs and arms, but no gashes for a change. I think that with two more days of work, the mating to the body will be ready to happen.

 

[Stooge]

I kinda figured you would wrap up the Pontiac and kick it out by now to get space. Oh well, life happens and sometimes you just aren't in the mood.

I sucked it up last weekend and worked on the driver's side of the floorpan. Heavy action with a recip saw over the two days has my left wrist unhappy. Took a lot of hot metal to my legs and arms, but no gashes for a change. I think that with two more days of work, the mating to the body will be ready to happen.

Im hoping the pontiac will go to paint jail for a few months around august/september so i can spray primer with one less big thing to cover. I believe ts coming back after paint and get some freshening up, talk of a swap from the Muncie to a 5speed, upgrade the brakes a bit, and replace some of the worn out interior. Id really like to get the edsel in here sometime, the owner of it has been looking for some rental space and asking if i would be interested in splitting it if he found a place. I'd probably have to find another car to work on for someone else to supplement it depending how much the finds a place for.

You were cutting the floor out for 2 days??

 

[Kev442]

Heh, I'm slow, remember?
About two hours Saturday and three and a half Sunday. It's eyeball about 1/2 dozen times, then make a couple cuts. I mismeasured putting some quarter panel patches on about 8 years ago, I don't want to deal with 1/4"+ **** welding gaps ever again...

Otherwise, I figure a good 16 hours labor to trim odds and ends, grind clean surfaces, install some t bolts and weld it all up yet. I don't want to go through all the time of a replaced frame and not have it look respectable, even if it is a Wi rustbucket.

Seems odd the Pontiac is getting stored all this time while you and your buddy are crushed for space.

 

[Stooge]

Well I started a thing yesterday, just sort of a mock up to get some ideas, and figure out if there should be an equalizer tube connecting the runners together, or keep them separate, or chop the top of the runners down a bit and add a log style plenum and line the carburetors up on that. 1 5/8, 11gauge tubing, head flanges came from Hells gate hot rods, and the tubing to carburetor flanges I made. 1940's Carter W-1 574S single barrel carburetors with manual chokes, although they will need to be flipped around to keep the throttle linkage simple. I need about $400 in motor mount rubber before I can look at how i'll do the header, so that will wait a bit. trying to keep the parts that I am adding to what was available pre 1950 and in that period of hot rodding.

20180729_163535 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180729_163608 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180729_163621 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

and trying to think of a trumpet/ scoop for them as they have an uncommon opening. I think this might be too tall, but I had some aluminum tubing so I gave it a look

20180729_163814 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[OccupantRJ]

Stooge, if you keep the carb runners separate, install a small tubing piece below each carb as a vacuum port, capped with a rubber cap. With that, you can use a set of motorcycle vacuum gauges to synchronize the carbs easily. Trust me, you will need this. Even with a manifold tube, it will simplify tuning. Link below.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AKZ4EWE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Stooge]

hey I like that one a lot better than the synchronizing tool I had been looking at, added to my amazon list. Expecting to be adding vacuum ports or some sort of connecting tube between them was one of the reasons for using a thicker material, so that it could be confidently welded or tapped for threads, as i'll need a vacuum source for atleast the wiper motors. this is all a ways a way though, I just wanted something to look at and think about for awhile, still a lot of metal and body work to do, and figure out if im going to have any machine work done to the engine, plus all of the carbs need rebuilds, and I'll probably end up having to pick up another carb or 2 to make some good ones.

 

[OccupantRJ]

A lot of people have a misconception on synchronizing. You really want to equalize the airflow through each carb, even though there might be a small mechanical difference between the butterflies in the carbs. Having 4 gauges at once make things so much easier, as each adjustment will affect all others, and you can see what is happening after each adjustment. Using them along with a tach/dwell meter will get you where you need to be.

 

[Kev442]

Oooo, shiny stuff!
My 0.00: The throats are so much longer on the Carters than a Stromberg, the intake pipes probably could be shortened 2"+, leaving enough room for the nice sized trumpets.

 

[Stooge]

A lot of people have a misconception on synchronizing. You really want to equalize the airflow through each carb, even though there might be a small mechanical difference between the butterflies in the carbs. Having 4 gauges at once make things so much easier, as each adjustment will affect all others, and you can see what is happening after each adjustment. Using them along with a tach/dwell meter will get you where you need to be.

Thanks for the tips, utilizing 4 gauges is a much better idea, and I appreciate all of the insight I've been getting between here and pms and over on the HAMB. These carbs are something I am fairly ignorant on, and im really looking forward to learning and figuring my way through the rebuilds, tuning and trying to make sense of it all for an engine set up that there a plethora of information like if it was a small block chevy or ford. Using the stock carb and intake and completely rebuilding the rest of the car would have just been too simple!

Oooo, shiny stuff!
My 0.00: The throats are so much longer on the Carters than a Stromberg, the intake pipes probably could be shortened 2"+, leaving enough room for the nice sized trumpets.

I have a plan I want to try for the trumpet, they'll get cut down a bit on the carb side a bit too keep them from looking too big and goofy, but I also may end up cutting the length of the runner down a bit, maybe not a full 2", I need to keep them a bit long for the time being until I get a better idea of if I need an equalizer tube or add a plenum "log" and see how i'll run the headers. cutting the intake runners shorter prematurely, and using a connecting tube could result in them occupying the same space, its always easier to cut them down and remove material rather than adding or replacing the tubing. Plus longer runners bring a little more confidence to the idea of more incoming plenum volume and further away from the exhaust to keep the carb a bit cooler. I think I have approximately 10-11" from the top of the valve cover to where the hood supports are so I have some room to play but not a ton.

 

[kbs2244]

That boat, with the streamlined headlights, in the background just makes me drool.

I do think you will need some kind of balance tubing.
Otherwise the pulse effect will be too much.

 

[Stooge]

That boat, with the streamlined headlights, in the background just makes me drool.

I do think you will need some kind of balance tubing.
Otherwise the pulse effect will be too much.

Hey thanks! I felt kind of lame taking that picture and trying to make it artsy, but it looked too cool. Adding a plenum or some sort of tubing from runner to runner seems to be advocated for on here and the HAMB, and I think it would look better with some sort of log style plenum between the runners and the carbs rather than tubing connecting them individually. There's still going to be another 8 exhaust tubes and I don't want it to look to cluttered with tubing, along with seeming to work better as well.

Threw the rear fender back on to do some trimming on the rocker panels I made, and to take a few measurements since I need to replace a few sections of the rear fender mounting flange. just need to pick up some weld nuts from McMaster-Carr since the flange holes are threaded 5/16-18

2018-08-06_07-55-35 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Since we pulled the engine and trans out of the Edsel in the middle of a cold winter, it seemed appropriate to start pulling the front fenders off Sunday, when it was mid 90's and humid. I lost count how many mouting bolts there were, but there was a lot, a lot of them hidden or obstructed, and all real rusty and frozen and more snapped than came apart. The fender itself is pretty messed up with a large mystery hole behind the driver side grille that was completely filled with dirt(the space behind the grille was filled with dirt), the section to the side of the headlight leading into a body line that I'll need to get clever about, and the lower corner near the rockers that's rotted through the outer skin and inner brace. I might need a few new tools, but it should be a fun one to repair

2018-08-07_07-33-28 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

2018-08-07_07-16-55 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180806_223610 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Hard to get a good picture of the size of the hole behind the grille

20180806_223630 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180806_223641(0) by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180806_223803 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[OccupantRJ]

One thing about it, rust and gravity never sleep.

 

[Kev442]

Yikes.
Looking at the inner fender, it becomes obvious why all the '58 Edsels have headlight bucket issues.

 

[Stooge]

One thing about it, rust and gravity never sleep.

Yikes.
Looking at the inner fender, it becomes obvious why all the '58 Edsels have headlight bucket issues.

I really wasn't expecting the giant hole under the headlight before we started unbolting the fender. From those black stanchions under the headlight, and back to where that curve starts is just a big forward facing cavity behind the side grilles for water and dirt to collect, (there was a lot of dirt just packed in there that had been sitting for decades) and probably goes back a depth of at least 7". Surprisingly, the inner fender looks a lot worse than it is, its just covered in a on grease and dirt but is pretty solid underneath. I think that's staying in place since there's a lot of stuff bolted to it, but will get cleaned up and painted at least. Also dropping off the 460 for the wagon, to a machine shop this weekend to have it gone through and cleaned up, but I think that's mostly for his wife who's not happy about the engine being in the garage and in the way.

2018-08-08_07-19-47 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[Kev442]

After working with late 60's and 70's GM, it came as quite a shock to me 20+ years ago to start toying with late 50's and early 60's and find that there are no inner fender wells to protect the fronts and tops of the outer fenders.
The tops of the fenders on my Wi rustbucket were gone too, the parts car from ND supplied a far superior front clip.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned way back when that I would see 58 Edsels with newspaper/duct tape/bondo repairs to those headlight buckets. Everything north of I80 is suspect.



On my car front, I have been concentrating on the frame lately, I want to get it painted while it is warm and have something positive accomplished. I pulled the differential to get at the rear, but am not blowing the front end apart as the replacement bushings, etc would be almost $1k as they are not supported in the aftermarket. Even a pair of rear shocks are going to be over $100.

It was so humid last weekend that I gave up on any hope of blasting things with glass bead, so I pulled the old frame out of the weeds to pull the positraction rear off it. Note I did not say "rolled". 3 of the 4 brake drums rust welded themselves...
Dragging/shoving it 100 yards finished off the left side of the frame, it broke clear through. I cut the rear trunk brace off it and the front cradle. Pulled the differential. The rest went in the scrap pile. The 85 degrees/85 humidity about killed me. It has to get better this weekend, it could not get worse...

 

[xtremek]

You're going to try to rebuild that front fender, Stooge?
And Kev, I so hear you on the heat/humidity thing. I patched in my daughters left front turn signal pigtail last night, and I swear there was a puddle at my feet from just from crimping 3 wires.

 

[Stooge]

We finally got a break from the high temps and soup like humidity over the weekend in the form of pouring rain, but it cooled down a little bit, and made for a soaking wet day to move the Edsel's 460 to a machine shop saturday, (Powerplay Engine and Machine in Wilmington, MA), who is also going to go through the C6 trans.
20180811_151146 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Sunday, I decided to start on the driver's side fender, and though I wanted to dig into around the headlight area, I figured I would start with the lower corner/ rocker section since it was just about to fall off, especially where I was jostling around the fender around a bit working on it. Still need to make the back bracing and mounting flange on the rear, but since the factory bracing was all rotted away, I wanted the outer sheet metal to locate the bracing rather than the other way around.

farily rotted and bent/creased so it took a few guesstimates to make the new one.

20180812_110623 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180812_124253 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180812_114444 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Taking a bit of shape. Took a little guess/ experiment and ended up using light pressure on the bead roller and slightly hammering it out a bit afterwards to create the flanged area around the wheel well opening.

20180812_124428 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

2018-08-13_07-27-26 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180812_134316 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Just a first pass to clean it up a bit, still needs a little massaging, trimming and sanding, and I left the edges unwelded for the time being until I get the backing made to give it a little flex until I test fit it, but so far im happy enough with it

20180812_143513 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180812_143509 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[OccupantRJ]

Very nice work Stooge, very nice.

 

[Kev442]

Looks great. That bead roller is being very useful.

I've been on vacation, but I did take the time to paint the frame. Finally after approaching three years, I can say this project is on the upswing side: I bolted a few things back ON.

I think I am going to splurge on an Eastwood tubing straightener. This will not even be close to a showcar, but I want nice straight fuel and brakelines running down the framerail for a change...

 

[Stooge]

Very nice work Stooge, very nice.

Looks great. That bead roller is being very useful.

I've been on vacation, but I did take the time to paint the frame. Finally after approaching three years, I can say this project is on the upswing side: I bolted a few things back ON.

I think I am going to splurge on an Eastwood tubing straightener. This will not even be close to a showcar, but I want nice straight fuel and brakelines running down the framerail for a change...

Thanks guys, the bead roller's been a great investment and im pretty surprised what you can do with one to the point I feel like I should have bought a nicer one, but then I look at the cost of the dies for the nicer ones, and im ok with maybe abusing this one a bit. Still haven't done any extra bracing with it, but I probably will at some point. I've also been looking at the tubing straighteners, but i'll wait until I get to the point of running lines. We have a massive old one in the machine shop at work that also flares ends, but without having it next to whatever your working on, theres not much point in using it.

Started looking at the section underneath the headlight bucket, in the cavity behind the driver side grille insert the other day and came up with this.

20180820_180554 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180818_083119 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Decided to make use of an unusable, very out of whack replacement panel that was for the GTO and has just been collecting dust, (just like the gto ) so that donated some flat sheet metal since the edsel stuff is basically a freebie job for a good friend of mine. so far, some of the Edsel "quirky" stuff is true, like that little stanchion infront of the new piece of metal was bolted on one side, and a welded stud on the other end, but also had a clip and a square nut that also looked welded. to make it easier, I just cut a square perimeter around it and will weld it back together afterwards

20180818_091445 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180818_093021 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180820_170944 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

The recess for the end of the grill and one of it's mounting points, I ended up making a little hammer form out of a block of wood, probably could have gone a little deeper on the wide end of it, but when I cut out the original metal, I can blend it in a little deeper. also went around the edges of it with a mix of the bead roller dies to straighten it out and give it a little more definition. When I cut out the old, the new one will go in like the factory one and under lap the front and outer edge, the rest will get **** welded in.

20180820_180431 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

20180820_180459 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

 

[xtremek]

Nice work. You're an inspiration.

 

[Stooge]

Nice work. You're an inspiration.

Hey thanks for the compliment, but I think it's more that I'm cheap and ignorant, but ok at guessing my way through things!

 

[xtremek]

A man after my own heart.

 

[Kev442]

Gotta feel good to start closing up those holes in the fender, that thing wasn't even a good donor when you started...

Scratch the Eastwood straightener. I thought you would buy the frame and then optional roller kits. Hah! That would make too much sense, they're $89.95 each diameter.
Now I am seriously considering taking the time to do the homemade one as seen here halfway down the page:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=195602&page=2

 

[Stooge]

Fortunately Im sort of doing the easy parts now, the piece I made last night that I posted this morning will hidden behind the grille when its re-assembled, but still a fun challenge and was the first time I made a hammer form from wood, which was just using a flap disc and some sanding discs to hog out a sort of shape, but it was basically successful. The headlight surround im going to have to spend a little more time on, theres a seem that I would assume was leaded over and I have being held together with a side grip clamp, so getting that failry round will be interesting and there is the end of a body line that has both a "bump" and a curved recess, so i'll have to get a little creative on that.

20180811_180019 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

Have you checked summit or amazon for a tube straightener, I know there are some that will handle 3/16 or so to about 1/2". the one in that thread looks to be similar to this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073W197H5/?tag=atomicindus08-20

and there are a few on summit, and im sure jegs and some of the race car parts sites sell similar
https://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/tubing-straightener?ibanner=SREPD4