chistech Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 (edited) Screwed the two pairs of boards together like the originals. made the angled cuts for the cross sill corner irons. milled the 5/8” mortise in each pillar the mortise, while angled to the face of the pillar, is 90d to the face of the angled cut made for the corner iron. pillars cut out and door check key holes bored front and back of both new and original pillars. Keyhole on door side, large 1 1/2” hole on backside for door check rubber visible in the original pillar. boards screwed together with three screw in locations of originals tops of both pillars door sides. Get rabbeted 1/16” proud of the hinge rabbet both tilting the table and rotating the drill press quill to the side was required to bore the door check holes top view of the 5/8” mortise Edited February 17, 2023 by chistech (see edit history) 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Excellent work Ted ! Looks great 🤩 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 18, 2023 Author Share Posted February 18, 2023 Got a good day in today. Finished up the pillars and the cowl sill today an only expect some very minor fitting when I go to mount the cowl. pillars were sanded at the proper angle and sized to the originals.made the first rabbet with my router and carbide bit. Made the second 1/16” deep rabbet with the same bit but changed the tip bearing on the bit to allow it to male a wider rabbet. This rabbet is for the sheet metal to seat flush on the pillar. The top of the pillars get a little free hand routing.the pillars and cowl cross sill mounted with the brackets ( just one screw installed in case I have to change the pillar height), drilled and installed the carriage bolts through the corner irons. Lots of measuring and Re measuring to make sure the hinge height is correct.The pillar covers just put in place. So far, so good!Back side of the drivers side.Rocker panel in place with the pillar cover.Both sides fit perfectly. Brian had a set of hinges all blasted and primed but somewhere between the two of us, they’ve been misplaced. Cabriolet hinges are not easy to find but Brian let me know he had found a drivers side set and they’re on they way to me. In one of the boxes of parts there was some hinges and some were in pieces. When I went looking today I had a good surprise, a complete set of passenger side hinges. They looked rough but the blast cabinet cleaned them up nicely. No worn pins or sloppiness. These are good to go!i hade mentioned in the previous post that I thought it strange that the bottom hinge dado is deeper than the other two hinges. Looking at the bottom hinge it became obvious, the bottom hinge is much thicker than the other two. It’s a good 1/4”.Here’s the middle and top, you can see they’re about 3/16” or even slightly less.Got the passenger door and screwed the hinges to it. Put it in place and again, so far, so good.Curvature of the pillar and door is dead on.Height of the door to the rocker looks good so far.I can see at the top crease of the door that the pillar will need so slight shaping but I expected that.The normal with hinges on these cars are the back edge of the hinges should be even with the pillars and that’s basically the way they’re lining up. The holes for the hinges will not be drilled until the cowl sheet metal is on.The pillar and dash sill assembly is currently leaning back slightly and when I did my own car, the same thing happened. The cowl metal sets the pillars square to the main sills so I’m not concerned. Lifting up o the back edge of the door slightly to align the top with the B pillar cover gave me a nice even gap down the edge of the door.I won’t do any more work determining the pillar placement until the cowl is repaired and installed. The passenger side is done and now the drivers side needs repair.Seeing that I had the door in the garage, I decided to look at what the wood making would be. The top board I’d bolted on one end into the steel bracket and the other end is mortise and tenon into the latch side of the door. To make the wood exactly as originally made will require cutting the back top edge of the door, lifting the bent edge, and removing the latch side sheet metal. I have an idea on how I can do this differently so the metal doesn’t need to be cut and the bent edge lifted yet be virtually as strong as the original. I’ll get to that soon. The doors require plenty of metal work and all the wood but there isn’t much more left to this body restoration. 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hursst Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 Hard to believe that workers were able to build these cars new in a similar manner at such a high rate and with precision back in the early 1930's. Talk about laborious. ...although I wouldn't call you a worker, but maybe a wood magician or forest sorcerer to be able to recreate all these wood pieces. Really enjoy the photos and descriptions of how this work is done. Incredible work! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 18, 2023 Author Share Posted February 18, 2023 5 hours ago, hursst said: ...although I wouldn't call you a worker, but maybe a wood magician or forest sorcerer to be able to recreate all these wood pieces. I’ll leave all the magic and sorcery to the women………..it comes naturally to them!😂 My son repaired his mother’s (my ex) vehicle the other day………he put a new handle on her broom.🤣 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 7 hours ago, hursst said: Hard to believe that workers were able to build these cars new in a similar manner at such a high rate and with precision back in the early 1930's. Talk about laborious. ...although I wouldn't call you a worker, but maybe a wood magician or forest sorcerer to be able to recreate all these wood pieces. Really enjoy the photos and descriptions of how this work is done. Incredible work! What Ted is doing here is a lot more difficult and requires much more ingenuity than building a wooden frame body originally did. The factory had templates, jigs, fixtures and drawings for every part and workmen who specialized in one part or assembly and had done that hundreds of times. As well equipped as Ted is, the factory would have had far more extensive tooling. Also, they were building a new car so all of the sheet metal would fit to begin with and all of the parts would have been unworn. Everyone who does this sort of "reverse engineering" has to adapt the product to the machines he has and that, in itself requires imagination. To come so close to the original methods of making the parts is a very significant accomplishment. 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike "Hubbie" Stearns Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 2 hours ago, JV Puleo said: What Ted is doing here is a lot more difficult and requires much more ingenuity than building a wooden frame body originally did. The factory had templates, jigs, fixtures and drawings for every part and workmen who specialized in one part or assembly and had done that hundreds of times. As well equipped as Ted is, the factory would have had far more extensive tooling. Also, they were building a new car so all of the sheet metal would fit to begin with and all of the parts would have been unworn. Everyone who does this sort of "reverse engineering" has to adapt the product to the machines he has and that, in itself requires imagination. To come so close to the original methods of making the parts is a very significant accomplishment. I’ll agree. It’s even harder to do if the piece is partly or completely missing or damaged. There’s no pattern to go by. Whoever is doing the work, may have to make several pieces to get it right. One wrong cut can mean starting over when your dealing with wood. The old saying of measure twice, cut once is definitely needed. The other issue is that wood changes size with temperature and humidity. I’ve built things that didn’t account for the movement and had disastrous results. Mike 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 21 hours ago, JV Puleo said: What Ted is doing here is a lot more difficult and requires much more ingenuity than building a wooden frame body originally did. The factory had templates, jigs, fixtures and drawings for every part and workmen who specialized in one part or assembly and had done that hundreds of times. As well equipped as Ted is, the factory would have had far more extensive tooling. Also, they were building a new car so all of the sheet metal would fit to begin with and all of the parts would have been unworn. Everyone who does this sort of "reverse engineering" has to adapt the product to the machines he has and that, in itself requires imagination. To come so close to the original methods of making the parts is a very significant accomplishment. Thank you joe but no one knows this better than you Joe. As I’ve said before, I look forward to reading your thread everyday. I learn so much not just how to physically do things, but how to think outside the box to solving problems that those of us who are equipped fairly well with machinery but not nearly close to the original manufacturer was to make the pieces we make. I am able to work with both metal fabrication and wood working equipment but I’m much more comfortable with wood because I’ve done it more. Your thread helps give me confidence to do and learn more on metal with my lathe and mill. While it often takes people like us two to three times longer if not more, than what it took the manufacturer with the custom tooling and specialized operators, we strive for work as good and many times, I definitely believe we’re doing work better than it was done by the manufacturer. Your Mitchell is a perfect example. Your car needs to be called a “Mitchell, Joe Puleo Improved Version” , advertised and known as so, because some day, when the car gets passed on, whoever ends up with it is getting way more than what any other Mitchell is! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 Well, I kind of lied! I said I wasn’t going to set the pillars or do much more work on them before I repaired the drivers side of the cowl but I realized there was still enough of the lower edge to finish the setup of the pillars and dash sill. Today I took the set of hinges Brian sent me, blasted them and put pins in them. I have new pins in my spares but could only find one, so ended up using two decent Used’s ones for now just to have the hinges together to place the door on. (Of course, later looking for something else, I found my bag of pins! In a totally wrong place that they shouldn’t have been and if I wasn’t looking for that other thing, I probably wouldn’t have found them for a long time!) With the hinges together I installed them on the drivers door. I drilled out some broken and seized machine screws on the toe plate of the cowl and straightened some bent metal as I need to do it anyway so anytime is a good time. I put the cowl on the front ends of the sills and worked the cowl metal up and over the dash sill and pillars. This requires a little patience as it fits very tightly and with the front of the cowl over the pillars, you can’t move the cowl much. The passenger side appeared to fit over the corner of the dash sill/pillar joint really well and I knew I wouldn’t have much fitting I would need to do. In a previous post I mentioned that the top of the drivers side pillar appeared a little proud of where it should be and sure enough, I had some rasping to do to get the corner reduced where the metal fit correctly. When I worked the metal down where it should be on the pillar all the cutouts for the hinges lined up and the lower cowl molding matched up with the rocker. The door hinges fit without issue with the pillar covers in place so one 1/4” hole was drilled through each hinge as originally done and machine screws were installed. The door and gaps looked very good and are in as good of alignment as they can be with no shimming and sitting flat on a old parts chassis. I did a little shaping of the sill edge to get the rocker to sit in deep enough up against the the back edge of the cowl metal. The one screw I had installed in the pillar iron did not have to be moved. Moved over to the passenger side to align the height of the lower cowl molding to the rocker. This side the dash needed to go up about 3/16” which surprised me considering I used the previous screw locations. I now know what happened. The irons I have are not the original ones and I have five. The two I have for the passenger side are different heights so who knows! After I lifted the the pillar up to align the sheet metal I clamped thins in place. Taking a measurement on each side of the top of the dash sill in the same location ended up shocking me some. The measurement was exact, side to side! That’s basically crazy and I very rarely see that especially in something that is full of so many variables. The gaps on the passenger side look good too but the door is a little low at the latch but again, flat on chassis and no hinges. My own Oldsmobile did exactly the same thing and I originally panicked. Thankfully a little experience is keeping me calm. I fitted the toe board and cut them in floor board to width. Tomorrow I’ll pull the doors and cowl to start working on the cowl metal. I’m getting really close to putting the metal on for good and that’s getting me a little excited. It’s like getting closer to the finish line! I tacked the metal strip Brian sent me to the seat frame. I blasted and primed it the other day. I have to prime, paint, then install the two small seat frame corner irons Brian sent also. Looked at what the drivers door wood would entail and think I am going to cut a small section out with a very fine dremel wheel then weld it back together. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Ted , This is really getting me excited too ! It’s really looking like a DCR ! I’m glad it’s coming along so well. It’s fascinating to see this project from the beginning to now. Thank you for your expert craftsmanship and diligence. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 I’m being picky brian with how things are fitting but I know that’s what you want. It all takes time to get it right and it will as right as it can be when you take it home. I was going to start the door wood but I want to get the sheet metal finished and installed fist. Then it will just be the doors left while I wait for the roof bow. I did a bunch of small things on the cowl as it’s easier now before it gets put on the frame. Tin knocked a lot of areas including the drivers door handle hole that looks like the car was backing up and the handle got caught, there was a big stretched elongation of the hole and I got it pretty close. Also, spoke with Glen today. I’ll fill you in next time we talk on the phone. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 Today was a day of a bunch of small things. With everything lined up where I liked it, all the remaining holes and screws that are supposed to be installed were. I did not drill the pillars for the remaining hinge screws and will save that for final assembly. Put the passenger side floor plate in then pulled the floor board and toe plate. Then pulled the cowl back off, took the screws out of the bottom of the pillar sides into the sills, and took the sill screws out of the pillar irons. Removed the dash and pillars off the sills, added glue to the pillar bottoms, and screwed the assembly back to the sills. I then made up the two small wedge shaped pieces that mount to the bottom of the sills forward of the pillars. These pieces are for the cowl metal to nail into. I made up the two triangular shaped pieces that mount on the top of the belt rail at the back of the B pillar tops. These triangular pieces are for the up curved top edge of the body metal gets nailed into. Made up some tar paper shims and then bolted the roof bow hinge bottoms in place. All the cabriolets that I’ve worked on have had tar paper shims under hinges. Painted and installed the two seat frame corner clips finishing up the seat frame. Tomorrow I’ll start on the cowl metal repair. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 (edited) I decided to straighten out and organize the garage some so I wanted to get things put away including car parts I made up or no longer need. I’ve got a pile of wood pieces on the floor that were my patterns that were put back in storage. I then turned back to the seat frame. I knew Brian was sending me his other two seat adjusters so I decided I’d pick up the parts needed to rebuild the two seat rollers. I went to Ace and got two 3/8-1/2” bushings, two 1/4-3/8” bushings, and two 1/4” pins. Picked up 4 RS-8 bearings and headed back to the shop. First thing up was drilling out the small hole on the wheel bracket to 1/4”. The other side is already 1/4” and I used a step drill to enlarge the hole as it self centers and an axle needs to be straight in the bracket. The width of the two bearings stacked is .620 so the two bushings got cut on the lathe to .630 I pressed the two bearings on the bushings leaving .005 proud on each outside. The wheels assembled with the pins, ready to mount.Passenger side wheel. They are mounted with two 1/4-20 flat heads into blind nuts and two #12x3/4 wood screws. Drivers side installed. How they are situated on the frame. While I was out picking up the wheel parts, UPS dropped of a box from Brian. He had said the two other adjusters he had were rough and they are but i could make up one out of the two with a lot of work. What made more sense to me was to use the rackends from the 4dr adjuster and the shaft from one of the two rough adjusters which are the proper length. I pulled the best rough adjuster apart by removing the two end gears. In order to remove these gears a drift pin has to be driven out. Even though the adjuster was rough, the two pins drove out fairly easy. The shaft and both seat frame brackets were blasted, primed and painted. I order to get things apart I blasted the ends which let me get a look at what would be needed if I was to rebuild the floor brackets and racks. Shaft painted. One end painted. The drivers side with lever. I will need to send this to the plater for nickel. All the rest in primer tone painted black tomorrow. These are the racks from the 4dr adjuster. While one pin was easily driven out, the other end was a different story. I tried driving it out from each side and it wouldn’t move either way. So it was put in the mill and I decided to drill it out using a small center drill first. I then used a smaller drill that was going well but decided to snap on me down in the hole of course. I tried driving it out again with no luck. Back in the mill and using a cutter I milled the end some thinking it was mushroomed some. Rotated it 180 and milled the other end some. Hit it with the drift and hammer, finally it drove out. What surprised me was all the sliders, the small “L” shaped pieces that are rounded on the top with the hole for the connecting shaft, on all adjusters, even the 4dr one were rusted and stuck in the tracks. The blast cabinet cleaned them up nicely and they will get grease on them when final assembled. With the adjuster parts painted, I started laying out the drivers side lower cowl patch. As I commonly find, while these panels are great to have, they always are off just enough that they need “fixing. The back edge shown, when even with the back edge of the cowl, the bottom of the panel was too low to the molding location. This meant that the back edge needed to be rebent plus the nail edge of the panel needed much sharper bends. It’s all tedious hand work but it’s got to be done for the panel to fit correct. I need to make up some more small pieces at the front and will get to that tomorrow. Edited February 23, 2023 by chistech (see edit history) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 Looks great Ted. That’s genius what you did with the roller bearings for the seat rollers ! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 7 minutes ago, Ozzy1932 said: Looks great Ted. That’s genius what you did with the roller bearings for the seat rollers ! I came up with the idea back when I did my own car. While it’s not original, it’s 1000 times better than the wood core, sheet metal covered wheels that refuse to roll. I posted a few pictures years back on the VCCA forums for the Chevy guys and one of the old timers said it was a great new way to fix a long time old problem. They are basically hidden and if you need to move the seat forward or back, you’ll really appreciate them!😁 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 Painted the seat adjuster racks black and fit the two ends and center shaft to check for fit. My plan was to send off the adjuster lever from the 4dr for plating while I left the whole adjuster together with one of the other levers. Looking closer it turns out that the 4dr adjuster lever sticks out further than the coupe or roadster adjuster lever does. Out of the three adjuster mechanisms, only one is for a roadster or coupe and the other two are for 4drs so I’ll have to leave the adjuster apart until I can get the lever nickeled. Tarted back on the cowl repairs. The vertical scribe line is where te replacement panel ends. It ends just before the area where the bottom cowl molding is rounded off into the flat of the cowl surface then it almost immediately hits a rounded tip triangular rise where the cowl band goes. The whole bottom edge and the front corner is cheese!Bent up a small piece of metal to match the flat area where the cross carriage bolt goes through then the flat transitions up the forward edge of the rounded triangular rise for the cowl band. The top edge of this piece is bent up to match how the original has a higher top edge to the right of the hood band groove.cut out for my piece and it fits well. The top edge is the same 1/4” in this picture but will be cut down so the left top at the firewall front will be level.here’s the replacement cowl panel and my homemade piece mig welded in place. Doesn’t look real pretty before any grinding or tin knocking but it Will when done.This panel came out real well but again, doesn’t quite look it right now. The bottom of the triangular piece got shaped and cut with a fine dremel wheel to close it up. The bottom edge of the piece will get welded to the bottom edge of the large replacement panel where the clamp is holding it. This bottom metal gets drill with small holes to nail into the underneath of the sill and that small wedge piece I applied at the front of the pillar bottom on each side. The piece that is missing I still need to fabricate. It’s got the shape of the molding that needs to get rounded to the flat of the cowl metal just before the triangular piece. It will require some fiddling so I wanted it to be a small piece that if I screw up, I can make another and not mess with a big area. back edge of the panel. I used small screws to attach an old pillar so I could clamp the replacement piece to the pillar and it would hold the rear of the panel with the proper curvature to the rest of the cowl side. Still a little forming of the nail edge to do but that’s easy. Hope to finish fabrication of the filler piece and pretty this all up by tomorrow. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 Today I hit somewhat of a milestone on the car. I finished up the cowl and completely installed it on the wood framing. I primed all the inside of the cowl then painted it I repeat he rotted the through the firewall cowl vent drain tube. The toe board metal got screwed down. All bolts and screws at the front of the sill through the cowl were all installed. Both cowl sides were nailed to the pillars and then the pillar covers were nailed in place. The top of the cowl got nailed to the dash cross sill. Installed the door shells with the check links to check all alignments and clearances. All is good. Assembled the seat adjuster with all the newly painted parts. When I installed it on the sills it fit perfectly in the holes, recesses, and the screws aligned without any issues. This is a good surprise as the seat adjuster mountings all get down while I’m building the main sills, long before one piece of the lower frame is assembled. I was expecting I might have to chase a hole slightly but didn’t. Then when I mounted the seat frame on top of the adjuster brackets, those holes lined right up with issue. All was good until I realized I was off one tooth on the adjuster so the seat frame was just barely cooked in the car but it was. It is no longer. I did take any pictures of the doors on and the seat in place. Get some tomorrow. Next up if finishing the main body metal and getting it installed.drivers side that I was working on yesterday. Made up the small piece to fill the gap. This piece required hammer and dolly work to make the round nose for the lower body molding that goes flat just before the triangular ridge for the cowl band. I used my flanging tool and it made welding this piece in pretty easy.passenger side was done a few months ago but I put the cowl aside to do other things.Here’s the pillar side of the cowl all nailed in with the covers nailed on and the top of the cowl nailed in. The right toe kick needed to be welded because it has cracked the original weld.Passenger side door gaps and alignment is very acceptable. The door shell is very flimsy and twists some easily but with out any shims the doors are very close to where they should be hanging. I’m expecting things to change some once the shells get the wood back in them and they get a lot heavier..Drivers door fitting equally as well. Today was a big step lifting some weight off the shoulders. 10 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Very exciting Ted ! Looks great!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 No work today on the car but took some more pictures.Passenger side view of the seat frame on its adjuster and wheels. It’s the the rearmost position. Drivers side view in the forward most position. Passenger side corner of seat frame back. It’s sitting just below the top of the parcel tray as it should as the seat tucks back under the upholstery valance. These are things as use as reference marks to know things are correct.Drivers side, slightly higher but still good. The seat frame attitude is correct for the upholstery to be done correctly. When doing restorations it’s important not just to do the task at hand but making sure that task is done correctly so corresponding tasks done later can be done correctly.The seat is all the way forward where the lower valance would be extended but will fold to allow the seat back to tuck under the upper valance. The curve of the seat frame matches the parcel tray front. This is important. shot some primer on the bare metal of the patch. The fine body work will be done by Brian’s body man.Drivers side primed.Back of the drivers door to the bare B pillar. Another reference point. Follows the curve perfectly. Check! Passenger side door curve to pillar. Check. Passenger side pillar cover in place. The roof hinge bolt in the correct location in the hole. Another reference point. While the pillar covers are not yet nailed in their exact position they are very close. Drivers side, again check points are all lining up.The angled side of the B pillar cover, while not in exact position, it’s lining up very closely to the top of the belt rail as it should.The other cover, again, very close and will be correct when put in firmly against the wood and tacked in place. Some additional pictures below showing more reference points to compare so I know things will fit correctly for the upholstery and roof. 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Excellent pictures Ted ! Looks awesome 🤩 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 The cabriolet dovetails are different from the closed cars, of course. The filling station has dovetail parts but they are for the closed cars. The cabriolet dovetails have wider wedges and unlike the closed car ones that “pinch” the wedge top and bottom with the metal sliders pressurized with springs to do that, the cabriolet are a single block that is pressurized with springs from behind. This means when the door on a cabriolet is closed, it compresses the block back towards the inside of the car. On all the cabriolets I’ve worked on, these dovetails take a beating mostly because of door sag. The dovetails while capturing the door wedge and helping to align the doors, they also assist with the door “popping” open. When the door handle is operated and the latch releases, the dovetail helps open the door with spring pressure unlike a closed car that the occupant has to push the door out of the dovetail. Because I could not find internal parts when I did mine and cannot find any parts now, I will machine new blocks again. They are complicated but worn blocks on a new restoration are useless as the will let the door more up and down causing damage to the jamb and paint.Here are the dovetail blocks from Brian’s Olds. You can see badly worn on the bottom to the extent of exposing the springs.Here are the rusty sliding blocks and the small felts. Two felts were missing probably because the surface they slide on got rusty and pulled them out.This is a picture of my own and the piece of aluminum I started to machine to make new ones. I has 1” aluminum and it actually made it easier to make the part up. I simply brought it to final dimension later. In this picture the groove for the wedge was milled and the block was being drilled for the tension springs. Block with tension springs installed.Blocks have been milled to shape ad shallow felt recesses have been milled. Still need some rounding off in spots.Sliders installed and the block fitted in the housing. The sliders have rubber inside them to allow some movement but keep firm tension on the block top and bottom.Bottom of the block rounded off as it should be with felts installed. These felts get lubricated to allow it to slide back and forth.Finished block installed in the housing.Completely finished dovetail. Originally these were held together by crimping the top housing to the bottom by flaring the countersunk screw hole metal on the back. When I reassembled them I tack then with the welder on the back side. Brian’s dovetails will be getting this treatment soon. 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 The other night coming out of the shop I was letting my air hose retract into the reel. My hose stopper, which was in bad shape, gave up the ghost and the hose end pulled through, whipping around, and ripping out my plastic air feed line out of the side!😡 So tonight’s first job was to repair my air line. After replacing the broken fittings, I grabbed a 1 1/4” thick piece of scrap ash and drew a circle on it. Cut it out on the bandsaw, then hit it on the disk sander to round it up some. Drilled a 1/2” hole through the center and mounted it on a 6” long 1/2” carriage bolts. Chucked it in the lathe and turned it round. Then I cut both sides at 30d to give it some “style”! Over to the mill to bore two holes first with a 1/2 end mill, then with a 1 1/2” long, #12 wood screw drill. Soaped up a couple of screws and while it was still in the vise, ran the screws all the way in till they bottomed. Out of the mill and back to the lathe to make the 1/2” hole into a 5/8” hole with an end mill. Wood is easy an I had an end mill on the lathe so that’s what I used. After the 5/8” hole was made, onto the band saw to cut it in half. I will say that the screws were put in across the grain to prevent it from splitting apart. Laid the hose inside the hole and screwed the two halves together. Fun project done! After cleaning up the shop yesterday really good because we were having a snow storm and I expected to be parking or cars in the shop, it was forecasted to change to rain and my wife doesn’t work on Tuesday, so no cars needed to come in. Walking out to the shop tonight it felt like an empty warehouse! I rolled the body metal on the dolly into my work area close to my main bench. I preceded to clean up the welds in the wheel wells and to touch any areas I found. Man, did I find areas! Brian had the body sand blasted and etch primed as I suggested but the primer used is black. That’s black hides a lot and when going around the body with my LED flashlight, I found tons of pin holes in all kinds of areas. Every hole needs a good sanding to remove the etch, then the hole is mig welded closed, then ground down to level. By the end of the night I had had enough of the helmet and chasing holes but I’m pretty confident I got them. With all the pin holes welded and the wheel wells finished and ground down, I finished off all the new metal added with the appropriate nailing holes. Lots of small holes need to be drilled and drilling them now is a hell of a lot easier than when the body is on and you have to drill up! Today I’ll pick up some more etch primer and gloss black to paint the inside of the metal so it will be ready to go on the wood. One more problem area to tin knock and that’s the upper front edge of the rumble seat opening. This area was very bent and kinked and the 90d nail edge got stretched some so simply knocking it straight doesn’t help. It will need to be sliced then welded. That’s for tomorrow.my ash air hose stopper which two 1 3/4”-#12 wood screws.Side view. Simply cut in half on the bandsaw. Here it is doing it’s job.I blasted the dovetail receptacles then sanded the rubber buffered sliders as the blasting leaves the a little rough. The mating surfaces of the two pieces were rusted fairly heavily on the inside so they’re cleaned up good now. Picked up the aluminum yesterday and will start this project soon.Passenger side all cleaned up and many of the pin holes chased down and welded.passenger side inside. Welded up inside edges for more strength for the replacement panels.Drivers side just about done. I should say that many of the in holes found were in areas where the metal was in close contact with the wood but some are just in random places for what seems like no reason.Drivers inside. Again, all welded up but the new inner fender wells come with two drilled holes that help immensely when lining them up in the well but they have to be welded closed and you can see two black circles from the welding just to the left of the rear temporary support stick. Both sides got the same treatment. As mentioned, small holes drilled in the metal edge for nailing to the wood.And more holes on the edges.Don’t forget to drill the holes on the edges of the new golf bag door metal too! 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 More great work ! I love the wooden hose stopper 🤩 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 Got a few hours in today. Found some more pin holes and welded them up. The last thing on the body metal was the front edge of the rumble lid open or the back edge of the upper deck. This edge was really deformed and was really giving me a hard time to come into shape. I ended up cutting a piece of oak into the curved shape the edge should have and clamping it to the edge. Using clamps, body hammers, and dollies I finally got it to shape. It’s going to be another area requiring Brian’s body man to work but to do the final work it needs to be firmly mounted to the wood. All the primed interior areas got painted gloss black as leaving it in primer will just promote moisture issues Dow the road. All this metal is covered with interior so whatever color Brian paints the car, the black won’t matter. The rear deck support rail is what the metal is nailed to on the inside of the rumble opening and the top gets a shaped strip of wood tacked and glued to it so the metal as it curves up, has something to nail to. My own Olds this strip was partially there but on most, it’s long gone. I made up the piece and attached it. I also add strips of wood along the back edge of the belt rail to help support the body metal. Even though it’s tacked into the rail I like the idea of the extra support plus I lay a bead of silicone along the tops of the pieces all around the belt rail to stop water infiltration. This was not done originally but it can’t hurt. Plus once the silicone cures, it helps prevent any movement between the metal and wood causing squeaks. I also add a strip of asphalt paper on each belt rail to rear deck support to prevent squeaks. Each support has a depression in its design which allows the paper to e tacked in with no chance of the metal tacks contacting the body metal. I’m on the road tomorrow but if it’s not a long day, tomorrow will be the day the sheet metal will go on the wood for what should be, the last time! Here is the curved strip on the rear deck support and the small strips along the back of the belt rail before they were stained. The two strips of asphalt are seen on the contact areas.another view that shows why the curved strip is needed on the rear support rail. The font of the rain gutter is screwed into a curved up rabbet along the back of the support and the body metal gets nail in following the same curve. If this strip isn’t added, there would be no wood to nail into towards the middle of the opening. This is easier to see in the picture because the curved strip is not stained yet and the support is. If you look closely where the rumble latch is, there’s only about 1/8” of stained wood with the 3/8” of the curved strip on top. This gives a 1/2” of nailing surface along the whole front of the opening. Here’s a rear view of the back edge f the upper deck that gets nailed in. This now has the proper flowing curve to it as it should. It was this edge that was stretched and split in places. It got welded and then worked back into shape.Interior metal painted gloss black.The other side. The paint should be dry and if all goes well, will be installed on the wood tomorrow. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE POLLARD Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Amazing work Ted ! Steve 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31nash880 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Great work! One word of caution. Be careful using silicon. Can cause paint fish eyes in future. There are other products avaliable. Ask your painter for suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 2 hours ago, 31nash880 said: Great work! One word of caution. Be careful using silicon. Can cause paint fish eyes in future. There are other products avaliable. Ask your painter for suggestions. I actually use seam sealer or even duct putty depending. No paint issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 4, 2023 Author Share Posted March 4, 2023 Worked a couple spotty days but together they’ve been productive. Drilled all the remaining nailing holes necessary in pieces like the rockers and lower cowl edges. Primed and painted the inside rockers then put them aside. Made up the two rubber bumpers for the rumble lid. While Steele makes them for chevy they’re not even close to being tall enough for the olds. I purchase a 4”x4”x1” jeweler’s block then I cut it to shape using my table saw. The block cost about $8 when those pieces sell for close to $20 each these days even though they wouldn’t work so it’s inexpensive to make them. I then put them in their clamps on the rumble pan. I didn’t crimp the clamps until I check the lid angle later. While I normally work alone, I needed the help of my neighbor to put the body sheet metal on the wood. The body metal is flimsy even though the metal is thick because the two sides are only connected by the upper deck section and it’s this section that was buckled and stretched when it got here. The last thing needed was to put any kinks it it again so it’s much wiser to install with two people. The metal went into place nicely with a couple of bangs with the palm of my hand and fits correctly but tightly as it should. With the body on, the metal on the pillar edges was nailed in place. I then fitted the B pillar covers, clamped them tight, and drilled through the corners, though the metal underneath and slightly into the wood with a small drill then open up each hole just enough to fit the body nail. The inside edges and the rear angled top of the pillar all got nailed in. The carriage bolts got installed at the rear of each inner wheel well panel to pull the metal tight to the kickup sides and then the bottom edges of both sides got nailed into the bottoms of the sills and kickups. Basically all the nails are In except the complete belt rail and the rear edge of the upper deck (front edge of the rumble opening). I will finish those areas tomorrow. So far I’m extremely happy with the fit of everything.Passenger side with the golf bag door frame installed. The door will be skinned later. Looks like a car finally. drivers side with everything lining up good.Passenger side rocker all nailed into the sill floor. Lots of nail’s everywhere. Rear corner of the passenger side rocker fitting nice and tight against the B pillar. Passenger side front rocker panel. Tight against the A pillar and the edge of the threshold lip is even with the inside edge of the pillar cover. This is correct positioning. Passenger side B pillar cover fitted nice and tight to the body with as minimal gap as possible. These pillar covers fit extremely well for reproductions. Drivers side rocker fitted on sill. Drivers side rear rocker to B pillar fitted nice and tight. Drivers side A pillar and rocker. Again the threshold lip is right at the back edge of the pillar cover. These are things that need to be correct for the doors to fit as they should. Passenger side rumble opening nailed in to the deck side rail. Drivers side all in. Again, lots of drilling and nailing. Small twisted shank body nails often held in place with needle nose pliers to get them started. Driven in with a heavy brass hammer. My hands let me me know how many nails were put in today. View of a bottom all nailed in. Lots of fun nailing up on a creeper! Down the passenger side rocker. The body line and joints at pillars all look good. driver’s side view. I wasn’t happy with the shape of the molding on the body at the B pillar as it didn’t quite match the rocker shape so I reworked the molding before nailing on the rocker and it’s good now. here’s a view of the upper deck. Both the belt rail and the front edge of the rumble opening are not nailed in yet. This is a pattern I use for the curvature of the upper deck so it’s matches the front edge of the rumble lid. It looks good right now but will install the lid first before nailing it in. Passenger side of the belt rail and the upper part of the B pillar cover. This pillar top needs some shaping, a relief cut for the back top edge of the door, then it will get welded together. Later a skim coat of solder will finish it off. You can see all the nail holes in the metal that will be filled with nails soon. Lots more nails! ‘Better view of the corner. You can see a pen line on the metal that needs to be cut at an angle then the meta all gets welded to hold the upper pillar cover in to body metal. 12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy1932 Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 This is just so fantastic Ted ! Thank you for your craftsmanship. This is so exciting to see this DCR come back to life. I don’t know anyone that could have done this work with as much skill , focus and pride. I couldn’t be any happier 😊 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 6, 2023 Author Share Posted March 6, 2023 I don’t try to work in the garage on weekends anymore but my wife had a cousins day planned for herself so I worked on the Olds. I got the body nailing fully completed, the B pillar covers welded in the tops, the tops solder filled, the rumble lid bumpers installed, and reworked one rumble hinge to get a the lid to fit so that I’m finally completely happy. View of the two bumpers cut from the jewelers block. You can see that they are tall at 1 11/16”.A closeup of the bumper crimped in place.Passenger side B pillar top, welded first with an angle, then filled with solder on the top, and filed smooth to shape.Rear view of the top. This back edge gets naile in and the inside edge does also.Completely finished and primed. You can see the back edge of the cover is fitted nice and tight to the body metal.This top lip on the door is the reason for the angled relief on the pillar top.The door in the closed position.The rear edge of the upper deck was nailed in to match the curve of the lid. The wood underneath basically gives it the proper shape. The lid was not fitting to my inking in this picture as it was right up against the metal on the far side. No matter how much careful checking and measuring, when you start nailing things in place, tings change some. The passenger side of the lid is good and follows the body pretty nicely.This is the rear corner that had been badly pushed in. It still wasn’t fitting as it should and I ended up removing the hinge half on the lid, and repositioning the pivot hole to get the lid to move more to the rear. This brought the rear corner further out, closer to where it should be but more importantly, moved the front edge back, correcting the gap at the latch and allowing the lid to close properly with an even gap. Aftermarket hinges and hinge posts plus a badly damaged lid all contributed to the difficulty in getting a got fit.Here’s the top edge now looking good.The lower gap is now also better but I might weld a 1/4 high metal strip all along the top of the lower pan to close it up. It will be easier than Brian’s body man doing on the lid as the id already needs a ton of work. The lid will still clear the top of the pan without issue with the added metal strip.This is how the top of the pillar cover looks before welding to the body metal. I’ve already made a bevel cut with a thin dremel cut off wheel on the face.Here’s that beveled cut.The piece of the Pilar cover gets tapped in after the the cover has been clamped to close the gap and spot welded.Completely welded, ground, solder filled, filed smooth, then sanded.This gave a good view of the relief to the top edge of the door.The deck nailing took a long time as this was where the metal had been damaged pretty badly. It was kinked and stretched so it had a pretty good bow or “bubble” to it originally. Welding all the pin holes in the surface helped shrink it up but it still was difficult getting a nice flowing curved shape to nail it in. I had to keep checking it with my template, drilling new holes in the edge, then nailing it in. It’s as good as I can get it but it will most likely need some shrinking in places and of course, good body work.here’s the passenger side all nailed in. Again, lots of small nails held first with needle nose pliers, the started with my tack hammer. All nails got driven home with a brass punch and my heavy brass hammer. It’s important to strike the nail with good force so it goes in without bending. Thin nails with ash don’t play good together with light taps of a hammer.Here’s the rumble lid open up against the bumpers. It’s at a good angle and if the smaller Chevy bumpers were used, it would be lying back to far contacting the bottom deck pan.I You can see a nice finger thick gap here as it should be. We’ve all seen nice rumble seat cars with creases on the lid because the lids have contacted the lower deck metal. Not here. 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) Last part of the body to tackle (other than the doors) was the golf bag door. I’ve done a few now but had never done one from wood to the metal. For this car I made all the door wood and the frame around it plus I bent up a new door skin and the sheet metal pieces that get screwed to the wood to hold the panel on. Today I measured up the door wood and centered the metal pieces around the perimeter making sure the overall outer dimensions matched the inner dimensions of the new skin and that the skin would be evenly spaced all around the opening. I screwed the pieces on then checked the height of the pieces to the body opening. I marked any high area, removed the metal pieces, then sanded down the door wood in those areas until the height was consistent all the way around and just below the edge of the opening. The new skin then got put on the top lip first and using a special pair of parallel jawed pliers, I crimped the edge down. I worked the metal all around the frame and when done, crossed my fingers. I installed the door on the body and was pleasantly surprised that it fit about as good as I could have hoped. The opening edges, because of all the sheet metal repairs needs some body work and that will straighten any lines that need it. I then drilled an undersized hole for the lock and kept enlarging it, Re centering the hole when it got closer to the lock’s diameter. Last thing I needed was a bad looking hole around the lock. I’m relieved and very happy the way it came out. The lock needs to come out and get sent to the locksmith to make a key up for it. Here’s the bare original frame.I didn’t take pictures of the actual work on the door but I’m using an original door made up from three different cars to explain the process. Here is the frame with very rusted perimeter pieces on it that normally get screwed into the frame. Here’s the rotted door skin from Brian’s car. You can see the edges with some lifted and some bent down. The edges get bent down over the perimeter pieces to secure the skin to the frame.I routed the top edge water drain groove in the assembled door then installed it on the ar after priming it with etch. Here’s the door in place with the primer still a little blotchy. Because of the bending over process of the edges there some slight dimpling and tiny waves so. Did some filing to level it some but the whole door will get skimmed by the body man. A view showing the lines of the door to the body. These doors are one big compound curve which just adds to the difficulty. Another view of the bottom edges. Edited March 7, 2023 by chistech (see edit history) 14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 Starting on the doors now. First up is the regulator boards. There’s a lot of inletting and routing needed on these. If done them before and have two nice patterns to work off of. Here’s the two door wedges. It’s great having a next door neighbor who’s a professional polisher. These are plain steel simply polished. They are not chrome. I should have taken some before pictures!Starting to mark up one of the regulator boards off the drivers side pattern. This is a thin cardboard template I use to trace out the inlet. This big one gets routed free hand as it’s for clearance and not critical. I mark any holes to be drilled with small pilot holes so if any wood is routed away, I still know the holes center. The hole marked with the magic marker is for the Rotozip pivot point. Using the Rotozip to make the window regulator clearance circle. Circle done and the arm clearance inlet started free hand. This is being routed for the crank mechanism area. Some guide boards just make it a little easier. Starting an edge rabbet. Edge rabbet done and the rabbet is done for the window guide bar. The end has a two step rabbet. The area it completely routed for the window regulator. Just holes for the mounting bolts to drill. I didn’t go through steps on routing the latch mechanism side but here it is. As I mentioned, lots of router work and it still needs the groove on the top edge done. Here’s the inside or window regulator side completed.Latch or inside of both doors. The passenger side has the cut out for the ashtray. The inside of both. 12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalef62 Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 Just a quick question, what does DCR stand for? Thanks, Dale 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 5 hours ago, dalef62 said: Just a quick question, what does DCR stand for? Thanks, Dale DCR is the Oldsmobile name for this model, deluxe convertible roadster yet in the terms of old cars this model is not a roadster but a convertible coupe (GM)term or cabriolet (Ford). It has roll up windows which are not associated with a roadster at all so Oldsmobile threw a wrench into the whole model name game. The “deluxe “ means it was a six wheeled car. A rear spare or 5 wheeled car was simply referred to as a CR or convertible roadster. I’ve had some “brainiacs” at shows come up to me and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about and that I’m calling my car a roadster when it’s not. Sorry, I didn’t call it a roadster on my own, Oldsmobile did. They still don’t believe me until I show them my factory literature. Even the aluminum sill ID tag starts with “DCR”. 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 Mounted the regulator boards to check fit. The four machine screws on the hinge ends went right In except one. I thought my hole was out of line but it turns out there’s a broken off piece of screw still in the hole that I’ll have to drill out! The boards fit perfectly so I made up and installed the anti rattle rollers and their blocks. Moved on to the lower door boards, the doubler, and the window stop block. I have about 5 doors worth of wood parts, some pieces are good, some are worthless but I’m able to cobble enough up to get a good idea on all the wood parts. Stuck to the back of one lower board was something really cool. It a partial piece of a build sheet! They were originally put in many cars and for any of it to have survived is pretty remarkable on a car this age and a model known for getting a little wet. Unfortunately, there’s not much there nor is it that legible but still cool all the same. Drivers side board in place. Passenger side in place with the anti rattle block in place. DS anti rattle block. DS anti rattle roller in place. PS roller in place. The roller rolls directly on the window glass and the two metal tabs to each side of the roller are there to contact the lower sash stopping the window in the full up position. It also helps secure the window from any rocking between it and the guide track when up. Of 5 doors, this is the only lower board in a fully complete state. It’s on top of two pieces of ash so I can make a pair at the same time. All marked out and screwed together with two screws. One is in an area to be cut out and the other is in one of the future machine screw holes. Here’s that partial build sheet I found. Both boards completely cut and sanded to dimension. Putting in an end rabbet in both boards at the same time using a guide board for my trim router. Doing the iron relief rabbets on both boards on the other end. Little things like this save time. All holes used are located and drilled. Some are for wood screws and get countersunk, those for bolts are just drilled. Both boards fitted with their window stop blocks. An original is At back. Board in place to test alignment of the bolt holes. All are good. Made up the two bottom edge doublers out of 2” wide stock. Again, I found one original piece in good enough shape on the hinge end to understand how it was made. The latch end is a simple but joint up against the rear window stop block that’s screwed into the latch side door wood. The hinge end gets a rabbet on each side, one to clear the door corner iron and the other to allow clearance for a 1/4”-20 nut. The two doublers screwed in place. View of the bottoms with the doublers. The door bottoms have an angle that has to be sanded and to keep the board level while using my sander, I screwed on a piece of scrap the full length to support it. Here’s one of the best tools for making car wood I own. This horizontal sander is double sided so I leave one table always at 90d and set the other table to whatever angle I might require. Here it’s set to the angle of the door bottom. To sand the board and doubler, you can see why the piece of scrap is important to keep the board flat on the table. The board bottoms sanded to the correct angle. Can you see my mistake here? I screwed one doubler on the wrong way with the rabbets on the wrong side. No big deal as it was easily fixed. DS completely screwed in place. Originally the doors were assembled with 4 carriage bolts at the hinge end which means the nuts have to be put on and tightened from the back. The bottom nut which is in the end of the doubler is completely inaccessible so a T nut gets installed and a flat head 1/4-20 is used. I used flat heads in all locations with hex nuts. If the carriage bolts aren’t hard enough to work with, GM used square nuts besides. This mean’s only an opened end wrench plus try working with just four flats in such a tight area. The door wood was originally completely assembled as a wood frame first, the the skin was applied. This means when recreating the wood, one has to use special alterations to be able to assemble the wood inside the door. PS installed. Before I do any sheet metal repairs I’ll make sure all the new wood fits the doors. Both doors while rotted on the bottom retain enough original metal to make all the wood to spec. Once the wood is done, I’ll repair the metal to fit the new wood. 12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozierman Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 Sir, You are doing a remarkable job. I certainly do not possess your talents in doing such work. I doubt many could do what you are showing us. Bravo!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 15 hours ago, Lozierman said: Sir, You are doing a remarkable job. I certainly do not possess your talents in doing such work. I doubt many could do what you are showing us. Bravo!! Thanks for that but you can see, we all make mistakes. Sometimes they’re just minor ones like above, and other times they’re not so minor, but that’s how we learn. The whole point of posting all that I and others do here is to show how it can be done by almost anyone who puts their mind to it. The things like sequence and making jigs, if done by others attempting this type of work, will help them achieve their goals. Yes I have some machinery that others don’t have, but in most cases, that machinery, saves me time, and is not required to get the job done. The remaining door wood pieces are more complicated and will require some planning on how to reproduce them correctly. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 13, 2023 Author Share Posted March 13, 2023 Today I finished up the mid bow. It was completely made earlier but it needed some shaping, some small inletting, sanding, and finish applied. I thought I’d use this piece as a good example of what can be made with average hand tools and items available in home improvement stores. Here’s the backside of the mid bow. You can see lots of inletting and borings but a few forstner bits, a router with bits, hand chisels, a hand plane, hand drill, and a small table saw this piece can be made. The most difficult part in making something like this is planning on how to get it accomplished.The bow was rounded over some with the router and the notches were cut with a hand saw. The notches were then finished with a hand chisel.The whole wood insert completely inletted, notched, sanded, and finish applied. Here’s the metal part of the mid bow and you can see the reason for all the special inlets. The flange nuts are welded to the frame so the wood needs the reliefs bored to clears them. The hinge brackets are riveted to the bow so aL the wood needs to be relieved to clear. There a lot of work required in a small piece but again, pretty much anyone wanting to attempt making something like this should be able to succeed.The mid bow is now completely finished and will be put aside to be mounted when the car is ready to head home. The steam bent rear bow is finished and will be shipping to me soon. That will be installed on its end irons then finish applied. It will be assembled on the roof bow hinges with the mid bow at the same time. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 13, 2023 Author Share Posted March 13, 2023 When I was finished with the mid bow I decided to start on the latch side of the door wood. These pieces are shaped to the door shape on the outside edge, have rabbets on the inside edge for the regulator board, and aflat at the bottom for the door bottom board. The side that faces hinge side is flat and the opposite side that faces the latch and is up against the B pillar is angled. It also has a 1/2” wide rib of wood on its edge that fits into the edge of the door. It’s a little hard to describe but I have a picture of the piece that will hel.I will be recreating two of these as a pair. This is the drivers side and the only complete one I have. You can seen the 1/2” wide rib at the top edge of the piece. The factory are this piece with special tooling that cut the whole thing from one piece of laminated wood. I don’t see a way I can make it that way so I’ve come up with a way that should work.I made up a couple boards to size then screwed them together with two screws. I laid out a tracing marked the inlets, then used a forstner bit drilling completely through both boards.The cuts were made on the table saw to the bored holes to inlet this area.The angle and location of the handle hole was determined and laid out on the pieces.A forstner bit was used for the smaller dimension drilled completely through, then the the larger hole was drilled using a hole saw marked to the proper depth. I used the mill here, aligned the hole angle to 90d of the vise (pencil line parallel with the vise jaw top), and didn’t move the piece, simply changing from the forstner bit to the hole saw. Using a screw driver the wood ring was simply broken out. The pair of pieces were cut out on the band saw. With the two pieces screwed together, cutting on the band saw, then sanding to final shape on the horizontal sanded only took a few minutes. The regulator rabbets were measured then laid out on both pieces then routed. I use a nice carbide rabbet roller bearing bit which makes an easy job in the ash. Another view of the rabbets. This is an area where I’ve had to deviate from the original design. The top door board (which I haven’t shown or attempted to make yet) has a tenon on one end that goes into the mortise seen in the original board. The top boards other end is bolted in under a corner iron on the hinge side. In order to install the top board as originally designed, the complete latch side of the door metal would have to be removed from the door skin. That is very labor intensive and would add a lot of finishing work to the doors. I will be trying a much easier way which will still yield the same strength and finished product.Instead of using a mortise joint, I’ll be using a rabbet with a lap joint held together with blind nuts, glue, and machine screws through the piece from the regulator board rabbet side.Two shallow rabbets to each side of the handle reliefs. These are for the latch plate to seat into.The table saw blade has been set to the angle on the outside face of the door piece. The two pieces were unscrewed from each other to cut the bevels. The piece has a taper with the top edge of the piece and bottom edge of the piece varying by 5/16” so I screwed a guide board to the piece with a 5/16” shim block at the narrow end. I used a small wedge block in the center to keep the guide board flat to my level. The piece was fed through the saw with the guide block and yielded excellent results. You can see the angles on both the new and original pieces. There is a shallow rabbet in the face of this angled side for the door wedge. Once I cut the other pieces, I’ll make that rabbet before the 1/2”edge gets added. This is all for today. 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chistech Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 Spent the majority of last week down in Covington TX with my wife visiting my son and daughter in law. Had a good time and got to see some great sights but the weather wasn’t much better than it here in New England. It was pretty darn cold actually but we managed to see quite a few outdoor things. Flights both ways were delayed and there was other issues but we landed safe back home yesterday. Got back to the olds today and got a lot more of the door wood done. When the two outside pieces were routed for the dovetails, I fit each one to their respective door. I then assembled the door with the other pieces I’ve made and screwed the wood together. Fit the door garnishes on the tops of the regulator boards and installed all the latch plate screws. I originally restored a few latches and missed an added spring on one which prevented the latch from fitting properly. Found the other latch and installed it. With just some minor sanding on one door, both outside handles lined up correctly through the door into the latches. Decided to take the set of window frames not being used and screwed them to the new sashes. I fit the new sashes to the guides , put the regulator button through the sashes track and installed the passenger side frame. The window goes up and down very well with just one side of rubber channel installed but found an issue. When I got all the parts there were a half dozen window regulators all appearing to be the same so I found two still on the old regulator boards with badly stripped teeth so I found the best of left and the right, restored them, then mounted them on the new boards. It turns out the stripped one are slightly different and the arm has more travel then what’s on the boards presently. The window frames will not go to the fully down position. I’ll have to figure something out. The new steam bent bow arrived today but I haven’t opened the box yet. passenger door assembled with what wood I’ve made so far. The regulator is fully down but it won’t let the window travel to the stops. These regulators are close but not correct. The gray piece on top of the door is the garnish molding that arrived while I was away.widow fully up. The regulator is fine on the up movement.Door latch screwed in place with dovetail in position but not screwed in.outside handle in position.Drivers door assembled. Pieces are identical but this door needed much more hand fitting. Window not fully down.This is where the regulator button stops and you can see where it needs to be with the window frame in the fully down position.Drivers door handle in place. This door needed a little sanding of the hole for the handle and some repairs to the latch as the old on had the improper spring installeddrivers side still lining up very good. I will shim the body on my frame so I can line the doors up perfectly so I can make adjustments so things will fit correctly when Brian takes this body home. 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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