Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Don great work missed some days and wow your moving great . You are moving on it hope you stop to eat a bit now and then .

My wife and i at sams last weekend she saw a hummer your engine color and complimented on how it looked good so i had to tell her how you painted the block of your rod that color.

Thanks. Oh yeah, you saw one huh? I liked it too when that guy came in to work with one, it just looked old timey to me somehow. Choosing a color is such a tough ordeal. Some days I walk by my engine and say no way am I going to like the whole car in that color, but other days it looks fine. I guess I won't know until I spray it. The first thing to get color is going to be the frame, so that will be sort of the acid test. If it looks ok on it, then the rest should be ok.

As for making progress, yes I am. This body wooding is going to move me ahead a huge amount. Dan and I went out to dinner after the shop tonight, and were talking about the next steps. Once the body is wooded it can come off and I can get Dan to wrap up a couple of little welding items. Then it goes to the sandblaster. I will immediately prime it with epoxy primer, then mold in the brackets with body filler, and shoot a heavy coat of primer surfacer over that, and sand the heck out of it. At that point I can shoot the color on it. I know once I get the frame and running gear painted I will have the incentive to get it going as soon as possible.

Being laid off helps too, now I have the days to do this stuff.

Don

Nice Pipes Don, sweet! They really make the engine color jump out at you. I'm with you on it being hard to pic a color. On thing I decided was that what ever colors I chose it was going to be because I really like it, not because everyone else does.

Don,
Is there a Hobby Shop in your area that sells RC aircraft?
If so, see if they have a thing called a Woodpecker made by Top Flite.
It is a tool used to perforate wood to allow gas to escape when using their film coverings.
One of the little known benefits to this tool is in glassing.
You roll it across the wood before glassing.
The perforations allow a deeper penetration of the resin into the wood making for onehelluva strong bond.

Brick, thanks. I'm probably like most guys on color, I never really know what it is going to be until I walk in and lay down some money at the paint store. Then the decision is set in stone and you go with it. I hope my choice works out 1/2 as good as yours looks.


Tom: Woodpecker huh? I can see the concept and how the resin could seep deeper into the wood, interesting. Is it an electric tool or mechanical? From your description I would guess it is hand operated and you just roll it across and it has some spikey things that punch down into the wood?

I will have to check and see what is around here. Fort Myers area is kind of sparse on big city kinds of businesses, so it will be surprising if we have RC places here, but I will look to see.

Thanks for the tip.

Don

I used to watch some guy named Norm Abrams (I think) on a TV show called New Yankee Workshop (I think) and always marvelled at the woodworking skill this guy had. He is a Master Carpenter, and had a special tool to do everything in the shop, and made jigs to hold every item he built. The reason I mention this is because I am far from this guy in my woodworking skills, but I have to admit the past few days of cutting and shaping wood for the T have been fun and a pleasant change from burning myself with hot sparks and lifting heavy pieces of steel. I see why some guys really enjoy working with wood.

So, today I did more of the interior wooding, and got just about all the pieces cut and fitted. Once they were in place I numbered each piece so I know exactly where it goes back when I start glassing them in. Resin kicks in about 15-30 minutes, so you have to keep moving quickly, and I won't have the luxury of trying to figure out what goes where.

I also drew a permanent marker line around each piece of wood so that it is very clear to me where it should lie, again to speed up the process. The final part of that is a chart I quickly drew up showing where each numbered piece goes, so I can refer to it as the glassing moves along. I will precut lots of pieces of mat the same width as the stringers so I can put those under each piece of wood to bed it in and hold it firmly to the body.

Here are some pictures of the things I mentioned above.


Don

Some of the stringers fit tight up against the body, and need no further attention. However, some have a big gap behind them because a T body has more curves and twists than the south end of a northbound cat. So you have to make the stringers thick enough and shaped properly to fill those voids. In some cases I had to laminate two or three pieces of wood together and shape them to conform to the body. I did this with stainless screws from the backside and resin between the pieces to glue them into one. Then I could belt sand them into the proper shape to fit tight.

This stuff doesn't have to be furniture grade woodwork, but the tighter fit you get the better the final job will be. I also didn't want the backrest flexing from constant leaning against it, so I built a backboard to go between the body and the piece of plywood backrest. I will glass that in to make it a very solid assembly when done.

My plans are to have all the glassing done by the end of the weekend, so that next week I can concentrate on getting the body off of the frame and begin finishing up the frame.

That's the PLAN, anyway..........

Don

Don great wood working . Watching this for ideas on a few for the A that need replaced .

Thanks Bob. I am enjoying this woodworking so much I am seriously thinking about building a teardrop trailer to tow behind the Dodge truck. I have always liked them, and it seems cool to be able to open the back and have your galley right there and all.

Maybe I'll become a drifter.


Don

"Rollin' along with the tumbling tumble weeds"

Jeez, Don, I go hospital for 5 days and come back to see so much progress I can't believe it. Looking great.

Thanks, but don't go to THAT extreme again. I'll keep working anyway.


Don

Love the motor. The first thing that went through my mind was 312 Ford. It must just be the valve covers.

Thank you Richard. Yeah, I agree about the Y block look. You are right, the centerbolts disquise it a little, don't they? I'm glad Moon and Cal Custom came out with this style valve cover for the Vortecs, otherwise the engine would have looked too "new", I think. In person the color reminds me of old Oldsmobile too, so that may help age the car too.

When it's all done I am going to beat on it with a chain to distress it and get some patina going. (joke)


Don

No pics of the "Patina" treatment for me thanks, It would be like watching someone stomping puppies! There are only so many things that a man can bear!!