Truck based woody
- Thread starter GB SISSON
- Start date
GB SISSON
Well-known member
Dang, it's been a long time since I posted (or worked ) on the wagon. We have had a long, dark and damp winter. My shop is not only unheated, but I hate working in there with the garage doors closed. I have done considerable mechanical work on my '47 tonner PU, but I seem to be able to do that type of work without heat. Precise woodwork seems to require some warmth. Well today we got to the mid 60s and I decided to tackle a nagging problem I have needed to attend to before ordering and installing the glass. On the driver's side I did not do a very good job of fairing in the top of the back door. I'm happy with the sweeping curve of the roofline, but the top of that door did not follow the curve. In these photos one can see that there is a step up of about 1/2" when the curve reaches that door. This afternoon after work, I pulled the door and took my Japanese pull-saw and sawed through the tenons, removing the top rail from the door. I replaced it with a piece of maple which I had milled to the proper curve. Hardest part was tennoning in the new piece. I used double biscuits with a star drive lag in the center, all bedded in my favorite polyurethane marine adhesive, 3M's 5200. Now that I have passed this stumbling block I can start the routing for the window channel. I have the channel here along with my new 3 1/4 hp router and I should have all patterns for glass by the weekend. It feels really great to be back to work and inspired to drive ahead. Here's how it looked before and I'll post new pics as I go.
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Graeme / New Zealand
Well-known member
GB
wow! what more can I say.
Graeme
wow! what more can I say.
Graeme
FirstGenF2
Member
Il take cold and damp over hot and damp anyday, does the environment make keeping a woody in good shape difficult?
GB SISSON
Well-known member
Yeah, I don't do hot and humid very well. As far as the woodie is concerned, the pile of 3" maple planks I started with were kiln dried, which usually means about 6 percent. Anything left out in the atmosphere around here equalizes at about 12 percent. Therefore I had my share of sticking doors and stuff swelling up here and there, but nothing a sharp block plane wouldn't fix. I have settled on some fairly large gaps at the tops of the doors, but all in all it has done quite well. All of my old fords are kept under a roof year round, and unless I get caught out in a squall, I don't need to drive the woodie around in the rain. It only has 2 coats of varnish at this point because Fall set in, but that will be changing soon.
GB SISSON
Well-known member
I have been getting the interior ready for glass. There are a lot of details I had put off in my quest to build a wooden car. Now I feel the need to attend to these details before I get on to the final act. One detail was fender welting. One of the many things I should have done in the proper sequence, but is now in place. The glass and the opening windows has been the latest hurdle. The long rear side windows will be bypassing sliders, the rear passenger doors will have a simple but effective manual lift system to be described later, and the front doors will have roll up windows with regulators from an old fj 40 toyota landcruiser 'jeep'. These have a nicely finished steel plate that contains all the works and fastens to the surface of the door panel, not unlike a Ford woodie. The hardest part to figure out has been how to rout the groove for the front door glass into the front door stile which is curved in two directions. One day it hit me.... Use a division bar as you'd see with a wing vent. This steel track could be set up parallel to the straight track in the rear post. I had already bought 100' of glass run channel, but I needed a track to insert it into to create the division bar. Available 1/2" light steel channel was 3/8" on the inside. Couldn't find any steel channel in 5/8". While at my local hdw store I found KV shelf standards in 16 ga steel that were 1/2" inside. The vent window will be a dummy, but now I won't have to rout a straight groove on a compound curve. I have decided to start at the rear and work my way forward as the difficulty seems to increase. Tonight after work I shimmed out the interior of the rear quarters and the inside of the rear 'barn doors' to finally accept the finished interior panels. Here's a few progress photos. All these fussy details are far less fun than creating the large sections that turn an old pickup into a dream car. Thanks for bearing with me.
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fordy_nine
Senior Member
Very good info, great problem-solving, good pictures and excellent explanation...I wish I had some of your talent with woodworking..............Bob L
GB SISSON
Well-known member
Progress continues. While the doors were off, they got another coat or two of varnish, and then I coated the fixed portions of the body as well. I switched from 'satin' to a 'semi-gloss'. The difference in the amount of shine really brings it around. On Thursday I ordered all the glass, 14 pcs in all. The steering is really great now with the tire repaired, the toe in at 3/16" and the steering box adjusted. Had a great drive today and picked up oysters on the way home.
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GB SISSON
Well-known member
Love them rear tires. ohhh ya.... Nice woodie, WOW so nice! You have the best toys and work hard on them.
...but i do love them rear tires too
Thanks Tinker. There are some of us here that really like the bias ply, tall/skinny mud and snow tires. Sometimes I think the best part of the tonners is that you get to have 7.50x17s.
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sidevalve8ba
Well-known member
GB, you use a lot of varnish in your line of work. Is there a particular brand that your prefer?
GB SISSON
Well-known member
I really like the old fashioned oil based marine spar varnish. I think that's because it stays quite flexible, and I really like the yellowing effect. I recently repaired a door on a beautiful plymouth woodie and it had been finished with 'Epiphanes' brand varnish, so I bought a quart. I think that may be the premier varnish for our wood wagons. As for me, I have always used McCloskeys 'Man o War' varnish. That's what our local hardware store carries. I have been trying to build a true truck woodie and not a show car, something a small shop would have built for a local business. That's why I went with the rather dull satin version of their varnish. Just less bling. As stated I have now succumbed to a bit more gloss with their semi-gloss. I always use a brush and I don't mind that the brush strokes can be seen.
wga
Well-known member
GB - Wow, really nice car. The doors are incredible.
Saturday was 'Drive your Woodie Day'. We had about 50 cars in the Monterey
and Carmel, Ca. area. Fun times.
Woodies on the Wharf is next month, you mentioned bringing it down here.
Look forward to seeing the car and meeting you!
Saturday was 'Drive your Woodie Day'. We had about 50 cars in the Monterey
and Carmel, Ca. area. Fun times.
Woodies on the Wharf is next month, you mentioned bringing it down here.
Look forward to seeing the car and meeting you!
expavr
Well-known member
Gary
In the photos of the truck the rims look to be a dark color - reddish brown. The photo of the rim and tire by itself is yellow. What is your intention for the final look on the truck? I like the yellow myself. I think it picks up the look of the wood body and gives the truck a more sporty woodie look.
Les
In the photos of the truck the rims look to be a dark color - reddish brown. The photo of the rim and tire by itself is yellow. What is your intention for the final look on the truck? I like the yellow myself. I think it picks up the look of the wood body and gives the truck a more sporty woodie look.
Les
GB SISSON
Well-known member
When I can't decide on a color, I use rustoleum rusty metal primer. Then I can think on it a while. I do love that big ol yellow wheel. As for woodie shows, that might have to wait til I have some more free time on my hands.
GB SISSON
Well-known member
That plymouth woodie here on the island is the same shade of green that mine is. I have been thinking maybe mine should be blue. And that would be a blue-gray. In the meantime I have been installing glass and door panels, a couple of horns and a spare tire holder. The horns are REALLY LOUD! The switch grounds out the center post of a ford solenoid to the header....The flooring shown is old fir t&g flooring I had stacked in the attic. This will be painted gray. I fabbed the spare holder from angle and strap. While I had planned on crank up windows in the front doors, I settled on the nylon web strap method with 'belt holes'as used on the back doors for now. I have been swamped with work in the shop and need to get the back seat in by the 7th of July as that's the day of our parade. It is always on a Saturday, either before or after the real 4th. I have a bunch of grandkids arriving back on the island and are expecting to be waving old glory from the windows. Here are some recent pics.
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Bill
Senior Member
Gary, of all the vehicles you've ever owned this one will be the most memorable! Just wait till you take the grandkids for a ride in the parade. They will be sooo excited. It will make the project more than worthwhile. I drove my grandson and two of his buddies to their junior prom last week. They are still raving about it. One of them even asked me"Mr. Dolan is this thing street legal?" Yah right...Bill