[sixball]

Glad mine is not as curvy as that.
He are some more.

[sixball]

Here are some pictures I lifted from a thread on the HAMB by "tb33anda3rd" Some nice repairs on the ends of old pieces.

[madmike3434]

SIXBALL, , from the pictures you have posted why scarf the parts together  ? 

Buy whatever thickness that wood is , place it on the board in NORTHERN ASH and trace out the one piece of undamaged wood from trunk lid.  Use carpenters pencil to leave a good marking.

 Fire up the 9" bandsaw with 8--10 teeth per inch saw blade and take your time and cut the two pieces out.  Staying away from the line, because your going to use a drum sander in your multi speed drill press to carefully sand the edges to the line.

Now test fit and see how it is, keeping in mind that the metal should not be twisted.  Now go take the top piece and bottom piece and copy them.

Something doesn't look right on the wood piece going across the middle.  How does it attach to the sides
and why does it have 2 pieces look like they are screwed together ?  My thinking is its possible a mortise and tenon joint on the sides.  Other is it might be a lap joint with one laying over the other in a notch.

This is a whole lot easier than trying to cut out rust and fill with new metal without warping it all..

33and 1/3 did a nice job scarfing the joints together on the ends but would be a whole lot stronger and better looking when done as one piece.

The doors can also be done with some patterns looks like they are good enough and the posts.

Dive in......sawdust is not deep yet !

mike lynch..................HAIRBALL

[sixball]

Thanks Mike, I know that is exactly what I should do. I'm at the point of no return and I want to take baby steps because this is new to me. I have people here who can help me when I need it. I'm much more comfortable dirty greasy mechanical stuff. Just bear with me and keep giving me the how to. I think the trunk lid is the place to start since 3 of the 4 main pieces are in good shape.

I will have to look at how that center piece is attached. I think one piece is cracked and another piece was scabbed on to brace it. I seems that there should have been more than one brace across that big trunk lid but I don't see anything that makes me think there was more.

[sixball]

Here are some details that better show the condition of the wood in connecting areas and damaged areas.

Bottom of right side of cowl with the front of wooden sill still attached. The rail for the front kick panel is straight on both sides with only surface rust.



Bottom of left side of cowl with rust that will need a patch and rotten wood but some is good enough to help making a pattern.



Another if right side and straight floor board channeling wood for front of sill.



Back of cowl right side A pillar and door front.

[madmike3434]

you got good patterns there just need to take the rope off blocking the deep end and dive it.

These are very simple cars , and the early ones like your are even simpler.

You can see on the door frame work that the wood has LAPPED JOINTS  ____-------.  you can screw those two parts together and from behind counter sink slightly into the wood T fittings with teeth on them and appropriate 1/4 or 5/16 threads.  Other option is to cut 18 gauge metal in L and put on top to strengthen the joints.

You have a small length of the original main wood sill that all the posts and other parts would attach too. Keeping in mind they build the wood frame THEN attach the metal using nails to it.

 Looking at bottom of cowl panel that would touch the sill, the metal needs to go farther in so the cowl piece has something to attach too.  You still have the foot riser metal with lip on it........great theres perfect angle to attach 1/2" thick wood right across.  I bought cherry to do mine, and not the top quality furniture/kitchen cabinet grade but the discards, because the discards have all the character to them.

mike lynch  ........HAIRBALL

[madmike3434]

some seat back assembled pictures.

The stock seat back on 34-35 roadsters is open in the middle, so I bought some cherry wood and marked everything out and inserted the individual parts.  Used brass screws...DON'T , they break to easily.

Note on T nuts, tap the t nut so that the tips leave marks in the wood, take 1/32 or 1/16 drill bit and drill holes into wood, that way when you tighten the bolt it takes less power to do it, they don't call it hard wood for nothing.

Note the 4 main pieces of the seat frame back are HALF LAPPED over each other for strength.  Standard wood working design.

A FORSTNER wood bit is used to countersink  the T nut in the rear into the wood.

mike  lynch........HAIRBALL

[madmike3434]

SIXBALL using your picture.............right at the very end facing the firewall metal, that's the thickness of the wood you need for the SILL .  Your firewall will bolt thru the wood and into your frame and give you a pattern for the end, its a start.

 Your door posts a & b will both attach to it. 

Also note the picture somewhere in this thread of the sills for my 34-35 roadster.  Those slotted areas on the wood are for lapped stringers to go side to side and keep the sill wood separated.  In my car both the roadster and the phaeton have these and the metal floor panels attach to them with nails or screws, take your choice.  The floor panel in trunk over the rear end also attaches to a cross piece and is nailed or screwed to it.

The previous owner of the tub took stock floor metal panels out and replaced with stainless steel, show car crap.  I managed to negotiate with him for the 2 parts that were like NOS.  They need redoing and hopefully this spring in powder coated signal red to match body.

mike lynch...............HAIRBALL

[sixball]

Mike you are making a very good case for full replacement. That was not my intent at first but you are convincing me. I fear that a couple of my "helpers" will balk but it's my car and very likely my only '26 roadster. Crap, now I'll have to paint it too. 
I'm learning so much as you talk me through. Once the body is together and I can get real measurements from it I am going to make some frame changes that may dictate changes to the sills or at least how the sills attach to the frame. But I'll be an expert by then.  Thank you.

More closeups: Trunk lid

The front driver side corner with missing piece. There are finger points in some of these long curved pieces.


This is the same joint on the passenger side.


Passenger side again with part of the hinge looking across to the missing driver side piece.


This is further down the passenger side showing 1/2 of one of the trunk holder uppers. The cross brace at the bottom is about the middle of the lid.


Here is the passenger side lower corner. I don't know what the little tacked on piece is. Part of the seat frame in the background.



The trunk latch. It sits off center to the right. I think to miss the spare tire bracket that was centered below the trunk.


The driver side lower corner.

[sixball]

Driver side quarter:

Lower rear to sill


Metal plate near mid quarter top I think it is a wear guard for the trunk holder upper.


Top of quarter front of trunk area and rear of passenger compartment. The large block has a grove/ notch that matches one on the other side. That piece ends there with an old cut. there is another two screw plate close to the sheet metal that runs across the notch.I've been told it is for a brace rod for hardware that held the top when it was down. Maybe also side to side support.



Front of Quarter with B pillar/door latching and alignment hardware. The metal bracket goes through and is part of the mounting hardware for a top.


Full B pillar with door alignment tabs and notch for latch. Top mount bracket sticking through. You can see the notch in the block in the back.


Bottom front of quarter where B pillar fastens to sill.

[sammons]

Sixball, looks like you have quite a bit of good wood in that old body. Nevada must preserve it pretty good. Around here it's hard to find any old body with wood left other than up high and away from any opening. I'm glad Mike has you leaning toward complete new pieces vs splice. Probably faster to make a new piece than to splice in. If it were just a small area on a piece maybe fix.

I'm trying to talk that kid with the model A coupe i'm working on (not lately ), to buy the wood kit for the header and around the windows. Looks like a real pain in the a$$ to try to do in metal. 

In high school shop class (78) Dad needed a new header for his '48 Ford conv. Told me to take the old rotted one to school and build new. It was plenty good for a pattern. Looking for ash in the storage and there was none, but I found some Birds eye maple with a name on it from another class. Got a hold of him and he sold me the wood. His eyes were to big for his next project so I got it for $25. It was pretty done, kind of ashame to cover most of it up with a convertible top.

[sixball]

 Sammons,I built a muzzle loader for a friend. It was a quality kit. Very good parts but just a hunk of wood for a stock. Supposed to be birds eye maple but I could see no grain at all. Got it together and test fired. Really a good shooter and very accurate. Went back and started finishing the stock and the grain just popped! It was beautiful. I tried to buy it from the guy but once he saw that stock he wouldn't part with it. I don't know if he ever shot it. It was a 54 cal. authentic Hawken plains rifle style. I wish I had it.

I agree that it's probably best to make all new wood. Maybe I'll patch the old stuff for practice and to have patterns.

[sixball]

Passenger side quarter:

Rear lower where it meets the sill and lower cross piece.


Same as metal plate as on the other quarter. I think now these are wear guards for where the trunk holder upper thing rides when the trunk is closed. They may have had a rubber bumper.


Forward is to the left. Broken piece is part of notched block like the other side. I have the rest of it. Piece with hole is from top of B (latch) pillar to back of passenger compartment. The hole is for the bracket that holds the top when down. Piece on the right is the long S piece from back of passenger compartment to lower rear sill.


Top front of quarter with B latch pillar.The 4 screw holes are for the metal bracket and top bolt that goes through like the other side. I have it. Fire damager seen on the right. We almost lost this one!


Lower front where B pillar meets the sill


B pillar lookin back

[sixball]

This is the last of the current pictures. These are of the sills and back.

This is the back end of the sills and the cross piece under the trunk.


Left rear corner. The hole is the rear mount on frame. The driver side rear quarter fills the space between outside of sill and cross piece with sheet metal on it.


Right rear corner, mount hole is behind L bracket. Bracket screws to cross piece and Quarter long S piece. It appears to be original and I think I have the other one


Side of rear sills showing kickup and how they are pieced with flat pieces. Rear mount bolt still in place. L bracket in place.


One more right rear corner and length of passenger side sill. There is the sheet metal piece that fits under the door. The quarter would go all the way to the floor and follow the contour of the sill through the pickup to the cross piece. The front of this sill is the broken piece still attached to the right front cowl bottom. The sills are made of stacked and angle cut flat pieces. There are notches in the sills for the A and B pillars.


OK, that's all the pictures for now, I started dragging the band saw out this afternoon and sharpening my pencils. 

[madmike3434]

In order to get a better idea of the shape of the roadster I googled it and bingo up comes a you tube video of a 1925 roadster.  You get a real good idea of the way the quarter panels flow to the back.  Now it becomes clearer of why the wood parts are like they are.

I used my camera and froze the picture on my computer monitor and took a picture of it of various areas.  The trunk lid area was of most interest.  Will load them into computer files tomorrow. Here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmU8mpSxDS0

mike lynch............HAIRBALL