blind pew
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Posts posted by blind pew
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Im pretty sure they came off the 41 Interbational, but forgot what they are!
They are not tail light housings (I have only one tail light). 6 inches tall and 4 wide. The metal is thin.
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9 hours ago, 46 woodie said:
blind pew, I know what you mean by the smell of the leather. Especially on a hot summer day if my Woodie is parked outside with the window's closed. As soon as I open the door I'm greeted with the smell of leather, varnish, maple and rubber floor mat's. It's an olfactory overload!
Indeed- smells certainly round out an experience!
It reminds me of my kin with combat experience. Cordite, blood, bowel smells, burning wood and brush, bodies decomposing, all combined with dank vegetation and mud. I talked with a patient who was a Stalingrad vet and he said you could smell the rotting bodies for miles before arriving at the front.
I think I prefer the varnish, leather, rubber, and wood smells more!
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Wow- I see what you mean. That "dove" colored distressed leather looks amazing!
Not only the appearance, but the smell of the leather is amazing. I've done essentially all of my cars in leather, but chose to use vinyl in the International woodie for a change. I must admit- the vinyl does not look nearly as sharp as leather.
That looks great!
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Thanks, Dave!
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Do you guys know of the proper rubber window seals for the upper tailgate windows?
Thanks!!
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22 hours ago, Tom Boehm said:
Your finger jointed interior curves turned out nice. What are you doing for seats? Were the originals in the car when you got it? If so, are you able to save them and get them re- covered? What are you going to use, leather? vinyl? I just got mine back from the upholsterer on Friday. I will post pictures as soon as I can get someone to help me lift them into the car.
Thanks Tom!
I know its rough compared to the work you guys do, but its okay for me.
The seats, oddly, were not in that bad of condition. The frames and springs were just fine; I had them re-upholstered in vinyl, rather than leather. I've done most of the cars I have in leather and wanted to do something different. I do like the look of a high quality leather, however.
Yes- you are coming along very nicely with that LaSalle! I'm going to make another trip to my farm in a few weeks and put in the remaining windows, put on the tailgate, glue down the linoleum, and put in the rest of the ash woodwork.
I found someone to paint the cowl as well over the next month. I had originally planned to do all the metal in yellow, but changed my mind and will do black fenders with a yellow hood, front clip, and cowl. I have new gauges to put in, which will be pretty easy. I did not like the shape of my floor pans in the cab, so am having new ones made with a thicker gauge steel. Got a "stripper pole" to put in the center for support of the roof (as the expanse is longer than most woodies). I initially was going to use a brass "fireman's pole", but stuck with a more muted, blackened bronze.
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Yes- definately a "varsity" level job. I'll stick to the B team JV work.
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More work on the International. I added some trim pieces that were not originally used in the International, as they were somewhat spartan. I used dowls, rather than screws, for a lot of the pieces for something different and a color contrast. I liked the dowls so much that I think I'll pull the screws out of the mahogany horizontal piece below the window trim and use ash dowls. I don't know why it looks like there is some white stuff on the interior wheel wells (there is not); it also looks like some "white stuff" on the finish of parts- there is not. Must be the photo. I made some "quarter round" trim out of ash and mahogany to put at the border of the linoleum, but couldn't put them in until I glue down the linoleum. I like the way the arches around the wheel wells turned out- it was fun as well to use some finger joints in making them.
I couldn't glue down the linoleum, as it was too cold. I have to do a little minor trimming. I do like the linoleum- I've always done hardwood flooring instead on other cars, so I wanted to try linoleum. Tony was very helpful in buying the linoleum- nice guy.
I moved the battery connections to inside the cab (it will be just behind the front seat) for easier access and I had to make some room for duel exhaust. I found a cool old "tool box" with a lid in which to place the battery and conceal it.
I know that many purists will condemn the additional interior trim pieces, but I'm a resto-mod guy, have several woodies, and just want to do something different. It's more fun that way. I know my project is far more amateurish than those posted here, but what the hell- it's fun for me.
Next up to install the windows. I am holding off on installing the doors and tailgate (even though they are done), as I have to paint the cowl yet.
My front floor pans are gone, so I need to find used floor pans, reproduction, or patterns to have them made by my welder/metal guy. Any thoughts on that?
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Got the linoleum from Tony yesterday. I have some time off scheduled next week, so will go to the farm and install the linoleum and do some more work on the woodie.
Tony is very nice. Oddly, he sent me a check for $40 yesterday, with a note saying the shipment cost was less than he had anticipated. Most people would have just pocketed the cash and no one would have known. It's nice to see there are good, honest people around!
Thanks for the tips on the installation. The leveling, templates, and pointers on adhesive are going to be very helpful. I hope to get the inner fenders and all the interior ash trim installed as well during the trip.
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Just looking at your photos............................................ and realized you are damn near DONE with your project!
All of the difficult and time consuming elements are all completed!👍
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So it sounds like linoleum is okay over planks then?
I would think that any cracking would be somewhat dependent on traffic as well. As I currently have no grandchildren, and no one but me is interested in driving my woodies, I would assume that the traffic in the deck area would be minimal.
Also, if and when it cracks, it would not be a huge deal to replace it. I would imagine that may happen after I'm dead, so I won't be too concerned about replacement at that time. I'm committed to eliminate worrying once I'm dead.
I think I'm going to go with the linoleum. Thanks very much for the information regarding templates and cutting- that is VERY helpful. I'll order it from Tony, as he seems very nice and helpful.
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5 hours ago, PhilWood54 said:
looking real good! I love the name "stripper pole" for the roof support. If you don't mind I'm going to borrow it. I get that these Campbell bodies were certainly spartan, they were work vehicles, after all. I took the liberty of covering my interior wheel wells with the same upholstery material that was used on my seats. Between the guys stepping on them to get to the rear seats and the dings from tire chains coming loose they were a mess.
Thanks! I certainly understand that my job is amateuristic compared to the outstanding jobs posted on this site. However, I like working on the cars and understand that it would look better if I had a professional do it, but it would not be any fun. I have found that when you do everything on the car, you immediately know what is going on if there is a problem, as you are intimately familiar with the potential weaknesses of the vehicle.
Stripper pole? I guess I inadvertently revealed something that I would consider to be a common frame of reference from shared familiarity!🤣My nurses and I were talking about common "striper names" we see among some patients. One of my nurses pointed out, "Heck- YOUR WIFE has a stripper name (her name is Cherri)". I suddenly realized she was right and would have installed a stripper pole in our home had I made that correlation when we were younger! She's 6 ft tall and 135 lbs still and looks exactly like the Corrine chick from "Swing Out Sister". I definately out kicked my coverage there.
I didn't even think about the wheel well covers getting "dinged" by people stepping on them. I can certainly see that happening. I like the idea of covering them to protect them. This may sound stupid, but with "traffic" over the interior wheel well covers, would black rubber mats cut to the shape of the well cover (it has a "flat" top and is curved only in two dimensions) be a good option?
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Hmmm.......................... Those are VERY GOOD SUGGESTIONS and pointers. THANKS!!!
It really does not have to be "original", as the car is a resto-mod and doing either the wood or linoleum would be okay with me. I have always done wood floors before and was just thinking it would be different to do linoleum on this one, since I've never used it before.
I can't tell if the linoleum cracked over the planks, as it was so deteriorated it was hard to tell it was even linoleum! I was completely unaware that the linoleum would crack over the planks. I've put down hardwood flooring over some "suspect" sub flooring, but given the interlocking nature of flooring, it as never caused separation of the flooring boards themselves.
GREAT advice on the template and cutting tools. I was thinking for sure that I would screw it up if I tried to cut it in situ.
So with linoleum and this type of plank flooring, it would probably crack over time? Again, I never even considered that.
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Getting ready to put in the floor on the International woodie I'm working on. The wood deck is made of rough oak and the flooring was originally battleship linoleum over that deck.
I have not used linoleum in the past and have usually put in "hardwood flooring" on the decks of resto-mods. The hardwood flooring looks pretty good in the projects I have done in the past.
I am leaning towards using the linoleum, but do not have experience with installing/cutting linoleum.
Questions:
1. For linoleum, given that the flooring is not one uniform rectangle, does one make a template of the flooring and cut the linoleum outside of the car, then install? If using a template, what have you used (cardboard, paper, plywood, other material)?
2. Is the linoleum installed as one piece, or two?
3. Do any bolt heads on the floor make unsightly "bumps" in the flooring? I would imagine that one could use filler adjacent to the bolt heads to make any bump less noticeable.
4. Is cutting the linoleum fairly easy (with a linoleum knife) or is there a learning curve which requires practice? I have one curved area in the passenger door floor. I understand that the metal floor "baseplates" should be able to hide any less than perfect cuts. Is that correct?
5. Is the adhesive messy? I can say for sure that the adhesive used for hardwood over concrete flooring is very messy. I had to shave my head and arms after my last adventure installing that on the ground level of my farm house/barn!
6. Would it be easier just to "punt" and install a hardwood oak or ash floor? I have a lot of experience (and all the equipment) for hardwood flooring installation and know I can make it look good/fit well with that approach.
Thanks for any pointers!
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Getting there.............................. Sometimes I almost feel embarrassed to post photos of my project, as my work is a far cry from the superlative workmanship I see on the site. As an amateur, I'm happy with it and enjoy doing the vast majority myself. I learn things in the process, which was a big reason for doing the car myself. I use vacation time from my practice to go work on it at my farm. There are a few things I can't do, which I "farm out", but otherwise I do everything myself. I struggle with the large, three dimensionally curved wood pieces, which I have never been able to master.
On the right rear photo, it appears as though the long horizontal piece of ash has a rough finish- it's actually very deep woodgraining, as the finish is very smooth (down to 1200 grit sandpaper). That was all done with most of the parts removed and placed horizontally, rather than attempting to apply the finish with the parts oriented vertically. In my experience (even with thinning), there will always be the occasional small run in the finish which will happen if the process is not done with the part lying flat, which will drive you crazy over time. I tried to do a "satin" (rather than gloss) finish on the ceiling, as that seems to be the appearance on my other woodies.
I've got to install the pile of parts I made. It appeared to me as though the interior of the International KB was far too "Spartan" in appearance, so I made some ash arches to go over the interior wheel wells/internal fenders as well as ash/mahogany "base boards" to go on the perimeter of the floor and few additional horizontal and vertical ash pieces to duplicate that seen on the exterior. I did a mock up of it and it looks really cool, as one might suspect it would be too busy. The arches over the interior fenders (very nice woodgrain) will make it "pop". To paraphrase "The Big Labowski", the horizontal ash pieces which abut the arches "really ties it together" on the inside. I made all the interior panels out of mahogany (solid, not plywood on the front doors), rather than masonite, as I thought masonite would look like crap. However, one of our members posted photos of masonite interior panels in his car and they looked outstanding. The appearance he got was like a "marbled", tortoise shell like appearance. Had I known that, I would have done the masonite, but I did not have the benefit of those photos of his car prior to doing the interior door panels. I additionally have to put in the "stripper pole" for the midpoint ceiling support. It originally had an unsupported mortise joint for the "keel" of the ceiling, which I would have anticipated (and it has) to cause a sagging in the roof/ceiling over time.
For the under carriage, I did not sandblast, but instead used a wire brush to remove all the loose rust (didn't fill pits), cleaned with paint thinner, and then painted in situ with rust converter initially and then gloss black over that. I've sandblasted an under carriage before and found it messy and unwieldy, thus choosing to go with this option. There is more elbow grease associated with this approach, but I don't have the mess of sandblasting to contend with and achieved a good result. I thought about using POR-15 over the rust converter, but have found in the past that stuff is a bitch to get off your skin with any drips, which are certain to happen when working underneath the vehicle. I would assume that the rust converter will abort any rust progression and it certainly will not be driven on wet/salty roads anyway. The frame and under carriage was remarkably solid on this car, which was somewhat surprising. In addition, nearly ALL of the ash frame wood was good; there were only a few pieces that had to be remade/replaced due to beetle bore damage. I "probed" the rest of the wood to insure it was solid, even though it had no exterior evidence of damage.
I'm sure the purists will not approve of the additional wood pieces; however, it is a "resto mod" with a modern engine, tranny, suspension, wheels, brakes, and rear end, so it is not like it was going to be stock at all. I had to reposition the gas tank to accommodate the dual exhaust- it is to the rear, rather than in the middle of the vehicle. I think I will have my farm welder build a steel "cage" exterior over the gas tank to avoid "Pinto like" disasters. As one can see, the wheels/tires are wider than the originals; I had to cut the floor to accommodate the wider wheels, but who cares- it's all covered up by the internal fenders anyway. I got the "artillery" wheels for it and will paint the non chrome area the same color as the body. The wheels (despite modern wider tires) will have the appearance of older type wheels.
Doing the ceiling was not pleasant with all the sanding from a very awkward position. It appears as though it paid off, though. I guess I could have pulled out the individual slats and worked on them externally, but they were in good shape and elected to leave them "in situ", as I thought I might break some with removal and finishing externally.
The doors and tailgate are done and just need to be installed. I need to paint the cowl, put the roof on, put it in the windows, and install the new gauges/knobs and it will be ready to roll. It currently, runs, starts, stops, shifts, and drives well (around the farm). It's a lot further on than it appears, as a good deal is finished and not on the car (doors, tailgate, hood, front clip, fenders, ect). The interior control knobs are somewhat useless, as there is no "throttle" or "choke" on a modern engine and the heater is going to be a modern, electric heater (having anti-freeze running through something in the passenger compartment gives me the willys), so the "heater" control does not control the heat. Nonetheless, it would like odd to not have the knobs/bars there, so I guess they will be dummy control bars.
This was done to be a DRIVER, not a show car, thus the resto-mod choice. In addition, this KB model had some things which I would consider to be unfit for the highway (split rims, drum brakes, 85 hp engine which would preclude highway speeds, no seatbelts, knee shocks, gear box steering). I am also no match for the other guys on the site regarding wood working, but the finger joints, sliding dovetails, precision is good enough for me. All the parts fit well and don't have any ugly gaps. The good thing about the interior is that there are ash pieces which hide all the screws used to secure the plywood panels and the "seam" in the mahogany plywood on the interior, otherwise that would look like crap. When I took it apart, there were two mahogany plywood panels split at a point which is covered by a vertical ash trim piece, rather than one big plywood panel (I guess it was easier to install that way- who knows).
It's interesting as well when you take apart one of these Internationals. The workmanship on the wood parts is not what you find on "The Big Three" car makers. Lots of use of screws, rather than joints and glue, which I thought was kind of ugly. Thus I have made an effort to hide the screws with ash pieces and have used other methods to affix/join parts which looks better.
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22 hours ago, NewOldWood said:
The shape of that panel wont let it bend into a convex shape. It does bend both vertically and horizontally, but it's more of a twist, more of a spiral or conical shape than convex. It's a lot of fun to fit....
"...... it's a lot of fun to fit"! I'm glad a professional is doing that, otherwise I think a normal human would be driven to suicide! I find working on just the conventional stuff to be more than challenging.🤣
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Nope-
sounds easy enough and a good idea.
A lot of these restorations, particularly for less common makers, requires improvising.
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Just finished making some "additional" interior wood pieces for my '41 international that did not originally come with the wagon. It did not originally have ash arches over the interior wheel wells (as it does for the exterior) and did not have horizontal ash pieces midway up the mahogany plywood, as it did for the exterior. I'm more of a "resto-mod" guy and really don't give a rip about what was "original", as I'm more interested in what I think looks good.
That being said, I was thinking about doing some mahogany wood inlays on the interior ash wheel cover arches to make a mahogany stripe over the top of the ash arch. Additionally, a "baseboard" strip on the floor adjacent to the mahogany plywood, 2 inch wide and 1 inch tall ash with a mahogany 3/4 inch strip on the top center of the baseboard.
Any thoughts?Anyone done any inlays with a darker wood on interior ash or maple frame pieces for their car? I think it would look cool, but perhaps I have just gone "router crazy" and should just stick with the ash pieces and call it a day.
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On 1/20/2024 at 9:14 AM, Tom Boehm said:
Does this "Battleship Linoleum" place have the grooved type?
No - they do not.
Tony, who runs the place, will send you out some samples of the linoleum to see. He sent a grooved sample to me as well, but said he does not do the grooving himself.
He said he will provide a set of instructions for those who are willing to undertake the routing process themselves. As much as I like my router, I think I would pass on that. It sounds a little tedious to do by hand.
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Thanks-
Yes- I called Tony at battleship linoleum and he is sending out some samples.
Thanks!
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On 1/10/2024 at 5:06 PM, 67doka said:
We recently purchased a very nice 47, out of Oregon and brought it back to So. Calif. There certainly doesn't appear to be as many Chevy's as Fords and that's just fine with us! I don't need to explain why I have a Chevy motor (350) in a Chevy.decals
I LIKE the Chevy 350 V8 in a chevrolet woodie (mine has one too). Being able to drive your car anywhere in the country with a very reliable drivetrain, steering, and disc brakes is nice.
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On 9/6/2023 at 10:52 AM, buckaroo01 said:
Does anyone know how many 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster Woodies are left ? They produced 10,171
Why interested in the number, just out of curiosity? I have a '48 Chevrolet (also a '49 T&C convert, '41 International, and a '47 chevrolet country club coupe for my woodies), which I think is pretty cool.
Keep in mind that rarity in woodies does not necessarily translate into higher value. My '41 International KB3 is one of three or four remaining, but that does not mean its worth a bunch. As a matter of fact, I would offer that it would be below the average in woodie pricing.
The good thing about a more common make is PARTS. There are TONS of chevrolet and ford parts for post war cars, such that you will rarely, if ever, be in a bind to find replacement parts. That is not true for a Packard or an International. So................................................... be happy that your woodie is more common, as it will save you from having to scrounge/fabricate/improvise parts!! I think I still have a bunch of '48 Chevrolet spare parts laying around one of my barns back in Iowa (along with a bunch of other car parts).
PS- Eric Clapton's favorite car is a '48 Chevrolet woodie. His wife is from Ohio and they have driven the damn thing cross country.
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I've got all my stuff at my farm, which is about 300 miles away (just left yesterday). That's where I have my woodshop and the woodie.
I'll get back there within a few weeks and post some pics.
Thanks very much for the input, guys!
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Holy crap! That is quite a machine!
Yes- for those of you who have done (and will do) a lot of finger joints, that is something that can be very useful. For us "hackers", it is out of our league as far as skill set and expense for limited use.
Tom- those are beautiful joints for a table saw and dado blade!
I have been practicing the last few evenings using the Porter Cable jig and a 1" and 1.5" straight cut router bit. This actually makes nice looking, easily reproducible joints with very little fuss and can be mastered quickly, which is important in not wasting tons of nice ash.
Thanks for the inputs!
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anyone know what these parts are?
in National Woodie Club
Posted
I believe you are right, Tom! Thanks!
I was "gathering" my parts that still need to be assembled onto the International and for the life of me I didn't know where those parts went. Well..................... since I've replaced the wheels, front and rear end, and the brakes, I guess I don't need them anymore.
Just another part to add to the "Island of misfit car parts" I have in one of my barns. 🤣