Projects Shade Tree Model A Speedster Kind of Thing

Wow, excited to see your body build. Have given lot of thought to fabric covering. No experience other then looking at WW1 planes. Interested to see how you attach & final covering of fabric. As old drag racer love them super light

 

Lightweight is a major concern. I also just like experimenting, although this isn't really a new idea. There was even a car on here a while back that was fabric covered. I can't find the thread now, but maybe somebody remembers it? It was a little low, single seater (I think, maybe two tiny seats) with a pointy rear end. I think it had a black and yellow paint job, in stripes. Each long panel a contrasting color.

As far as applying it, I think it will have to be glued to the tubing, at least around the perimeters. There are some interesting systems in the aircraft community that I'm looking into. I used to build a lot of tissue covered balsa framed model airplanes, and I think this will be a similar process. Obviously on a larger scale. Ha.

 

Great stuff...thanks for taking time to post it all. Ya know, you're better with the bending tree than I am with proper bending tools....

 

Continuing with the woodworking part of this body build, I made another laminated frame. No construction pictures, because it's basically the same process I used on the firewall, except this one has three 1/2" layers so that it will sandwich the tubing.



This is where the hood/scuttle joint will be. You might notice it's behind the firewall, just about directly above the pedals. That's a feature I've noticed on a lot of early British and European cars. I'm not sure why they did it that way, but I'll tell you why I am. I have to admit, it's mainly for looks. The longer hood just does it for me. I do think it will make working on the backside of the dash (installing gauges and wiring and such) much more convenient, too. Be that as it may, this is how I'm doing it. The forward part of that frame is about 1/8" lower than the tube, the middle part sits up against the bottom of the tube, and the rear part is level with the tube (or it will be after I bevel it a bit).

I also finished coating the firewall frame with epoxy to waterproof it and threw it back in there so I could check the look.





It's slowly coming together. I like it. Next is to replace that temporary exterior plywood dash panel with something permanent. Also, I looked everywhere for some #10 straight slot, bugle head machine screws to through-bolt those wooden parts to the tubing, but all I could find was the cursed Phillips heads, so I ordered a bunch of those. Oh well. I can always replace them if and when I find some slotted ones.

 

Well, I just couldn't help myself. I have a roll of that heavy paper you put down to protect the floors during house renovations, so I decided to run out and slap some on to mock up the body. It was a quick and dirty job, for sure, but it gives me a better idea. Food for thought, so to speak.









And one with a driver. I often find myself wishing people would post pictures of their cars with someone in them, just for the sake of proportion. I guess it would be kind of hypocritical of me not to, then?



Don't worry about that flat rear tire. Haha. The front tires are good, but the rears are just the old maypops that came with the differential. Lots of cracks.

That paper is pretty floppy and loose, and there's a narrow strip at the bottom I didn't bother with, but hopefully you get the idea? I'll keep plugging.

 

Looking really good! I wonder how many square feet of body there is? I just paid CAN$40 for 8 sq ft of 20ga mild steel, but it was cut into 4 pcs of 12” x 24”.

 

Not many. Hahaha. I won't be using much steel, though.

 

I't's coming along nicely now, and you've pretty well nailed the GN/Nash style.

I wonder if skinnier tyres would help with the British look at all?

 

What are you going to use?

 

Probably, but I really like those wide five wheels, so I think I’ll stick with them. I guess I could look for some of the skinny ones they sold with the v8-60s, but that sounds like a lot of trouble and expense. Haha

 

Current plan is canvas for the sides, probably steel for the hood and cowl top.

 

McMaster Carr has lots of Slotted screws. I just ordered some.

 

Damn. Forgot all about those guys. Thank you.

 

I've been working on the stern of this body. I think that it is too shallow and sharp back there, in profile.

My original plan was to add lower tubing stringers on each side and just cover them when I did the rest of the bodywork, but I don't have enough tubing left. I planned to make a removable plywood bottom panel because a permanent floor wouldn't clear the gas tank stuff, which means I'd have to remove all of that mess before I could take the body off and on. "Wes," I says to myself, "why not make some plywood sides on that bottom to take the place of the extra tubing I was going to add, and make all of that one removable piece?" Kind of like the bow of a flat bottomed boat. It'll make sense in a bit, I hope.

Step one is to make a jackleg framework of sticks and blocks so I can offer up a plywood s**** to mark and cut for the floor.





See how a permanent floor would never lift off past that tank support structure? Next I used some of that heavy paper to mark out patterns for the sides. Labeled them for starboard and port because they are slightly different. I told you about that symmetry.



Then just cut those out, transfer them to ply, cut again, then back out to the car to clamp it all together for a test fit.



Somewhere in there I covered both sides of the bottom panel with epoxy and light fibergl*** cloth. You may notice those lines running across it. This piece is a leftover from an experiment on kerf bending. The shallow kerfs are just filled with epoxy under the cloth. Waste not, want not.

Once I was happy with the fit, I went ahead and slapped epoxy fillets everywhere I could get to while it was still clamped to the car. After I pulled it off, I had to make a couple of little knees to pull the open ends to the correct angles. They wanted to spring out.



Ended up with this:



You might notice the top edges have been trimmed and beveled to match up flush with the outside of the tubing frame.



I'll have to look into that discrepancy between the lines of the vertical tube and where the plywood sides meet before I glue it up permanently.



I'll figure out a way to attach this that is reasonably easy to undo, then when I need to I can drop the whole thing off and pull the body straight up.

I'll finish up with a before and after.





That doesn't look to be a real dramatic difference in the pictures, but in real life it seems more significant. Next is to frame out and make a removable plywood top for this section.

 

I made these doohickeys to hold that boat bottom onto the ***-end. They are screwed to the upright tubes, one pair per side, and then I screwed the bottom to them. The tubing screws will be faired in and covered by the sheathing, but I'll be able to take that plywood structure off pretty easily by removing the bottom screws.







With that done, it was time to start on the top part. I'm going to use the marine plywood again here, but I need support it with a framework. First step was to frame around the gas tank where it will poke out of the deck.



There's some fairly tricky joinery here.



I'll sand it all down once I'm done. This is all lumber my father and I milled on a portable sawmill years ago. You may notice some powderpost beetle trails. They only attack the sapwood on this Tulip Poplar, and that board has a thin strip of that just on that outside edge. Won't be a problem.

Anyway, I just continued nibbling and fitting pieces until I had this:



I could have gotten cute and fitted curved pieces tight against those tubes on the outside edges, but the plywood is going to overlap the tubing there, and once it's glued to the frame, this will be just as strong. I didn't see the point in wasting time and thicker lumber. After lunch I'll knock all of that apart, sand it, and glue it up clamped to the car just like it is now. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I can have the plywood fitted.

 

So, we are finally getting a bit of rain. Not really enough to break our drought, but beggars can't be choosers. For speedstering, it's a bit of a drag, though. I did get the chance to use the rear deck frame to mark the plywood and cut it out.



Hard to see there, but it's two pieces with a central seam where the clamps are. Shipping this marine ply in full sheets was ridiculously expensive, so I had to order it in 2'x4' cuts. No big deal there. I just clamped them to the frame and marked from underneath. Cut them with the jigsaw from the bottom side, which left the cuts real clean on the side that will show.

I like the way this stern end is looking. Closing in the top and adding that bit at the bottom fixes the proportion issues I was worried about.



I'm not wheeling it out to where I can stand back today, so here's the best I can do for a full car view:



The plan is to clamp it up and glue it on the car, so this'll be it for today. Rain in the forecast precludes glueing, and today is my oldest grandchild's 3rd birthday. I have to make the arrows for his present. Already finished the bow, but that's off topic. I'll leave you with this shot of the two top halves matched along the central seam. Obviously not identical, but hell, I bent it all up between two trees. Haha. Seriously, when they are on the car I can't tell that they aren't identical. Big whoop, as far as I am concerned.

 

It looks great!
Regards Harald

 

I have the plywood glued to the frame. It's a pretty substantial structure now.



I still have to fibergl*** it for weather resistance and trim the edges, but I'm pleased with the results so far. Now to attach it to the tubular body framework. I made some knees out of Hickory. It's really tough and resistant to splitting, which is a concern here. See how the grain kind of runs like a hypotenuse? That's what you want. I fudged it a bit in favor of the long sides because they will be the most likely to split. I also carved and sanded a little groove for the tubing to run in.



This is how they fit:



Then it was just a matter of drilling and screwing. You can see the screws through the tubing (haven't counter-sunk them yet), and there are also screws coming in from behind the crossmember that don't show in this shot.





Sharp eyes may notice a little br*** hinge peeking out there. Look at this. Hahahaaaa



That's mostly for access to the bottom of the tank and to the eventual wiring, but I ought to be able to fit a small tool bag under there? We'll see.

 

I decided I just had to push it out to my picture spot so I could stand back and see if I was still satisfied with the new proportions back there. I am.

 

Looking great. Where will you mount brake lights?

 

That is a bridge that remains to be crossed. Hahaa. I sometimes don’t think too far ahead. Keeps things interesting. What will probably happen is I’ll find some lights I like, then figure out a way to use them.

 

Spent my bits of time over the last few days fabricating a way to fasten this body to the ch***is. It will already be bolted to the the 1" wooden frame of the firewall (which is bolted to the ch***is with 1/8" metal angles) and to the radiator shell in front, but the rear needs attaching. I just bent up four more brackets out of 1/8" plate.



Those pointy ones will be brazed to upright tubes in the body framing, but the shorter ones had to be heated and bent around the bottom tubes.



Then I trimmed the extra length off of those bent ones, cleaned up the edges again, and drilled holes.



After that I clamped them to the main ch***is rails, made sure everything was straight, and tack-brazed them to the body tubing. All of this was in preparation to strip that body frame down to just the metal part and take it off of the car so I can braze those gazillion junctions for real. Brazing flows really easy, so it's helpful to be able to turn the work. It looks a lot like an airplane fuselage frame to me when it's all by itself, which is pretty much what I am shooting for.









That thing weighs less than this pile of wood.



Well, probably about the same if I took the coil and reserve tank off of that firewall. I'm guessing about 40 pounds total for the body so far. That'll probably double before it's done, but it will still be pretty light. Knock on wood. Next up is lots of brazing. Wish me luck.

 

Good luck!

 

I got my brazing done. It's not the prettiest, but I think it's solid. Went ahead and sanded the outsides of all the joints flush so that the skin will lie fair. I forgot to take pictures before they all got covered in primer, but I feel like I got metal all the way around each joint. It was an awkward thing to do, even with it off the car. Those bike frame guys build up big fillets and grind them smooth and beautiful, but my skill and cosmetic motivation levels don't rise to that. I'm happy with strong (knock on wood). I did sand off a few big blobs where the brazing flowed away from the joints. Like I said, it was awkward. I did shake and twist it as much as I could without anything letting go or me hearing any ominous cracking or popping. Cautiously optimistic. The old full- length Model A ch***is was pretty prone to twisting, so I may end up having some issues. Maybe me shortening the frame will end up helping? These '37 springs seem a little softer, too. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess. Anyway, I went ahead and cleaned the tubes up with co**** steel wool, then wiped it all down with acetone, then primed it with rattle-can automotive primer.



Real painters will be pretty disgusted with that picture, but that's ok. I'm not going for perfection here, just want to keep it from rusting. I'm all for those of you who can lay down paint in a booth and get those unbelievably perfect results. Seriously, I'm in awe. It's just that the vibe I'm going for is amateur home-built at the end of the Great Depression. I really should have brushed this paint on, but I had leftover spray cans, so...

Anyway, I also had some blue leftover from painting the wheels. Just one can, but I went ahead and bought another couple because I like the color. It'll only be visible from inside or under the hood, after all. At least I propped it up off of the dead leaves this time. Hahaa.



This thing is far from perfect, but I'm still pretty happy with it. Fits the vibe, and it's kind of a fun experiment. Time will tell, I guess.

I do need to remember to say every now and then how much I appreciate the comments and support.

 

Awesome

 

That looks so great!
Regards Harald

 

After too long a time away from the HAMB Ive just caught up on this. Sorry to hear about the accident, glad you walked away from it, but great to see the progress. Piglet, Dougal Cawley's Ford motored FN is one of my favourite race/hillclimb specials in the VSCC, you're doing a great job getting that look onto an A ch***is.. Keep it coming!!
Cheers
Steve

 

Thank you, fellas. Time to start working on the steel parts of my body. The hood, obviously, but also the top of the scuttle (or cowl?). I'm starting with that part, so I put the tubular body frame back on the ch***is and installed the firewall, dash pattern, rear deck, etc to make sure everything ended up and fit where it was supposed to. Then I just made a paper pattern.





Then I transferred that to the back of an old steel cabinet and cut it out. The bottom of that cabinet is all rusted out and bent up, but it still has some fairly flat panels.





And yes, I used an angle grinder for that. Someone kind of mildly took me to task a few pages ago for the labor intensive way I sometimes do things, so I guess now is as good a time as any to address that. Feel free to skip ahead and avoid this rant. Haha. Basically, I don't want to do anything in this build that couldn't have been done with the tools, technology, parts, and know-how that a pretty handy dude in the 1930's wouldn't have had. I could have dis***embled this cabinet and used some heavy shears to cut it. The angle grinder just saved some time and sweat, so I was fine with that. Earlier when I drilled all of those holes and sawed and filed my way through the front crossmember tube instead of just whipping out the same grinder, that was because I had to prove to myself that it could be done without the modern grinder. I'm not sure if that makes sense or seems worth it to anybody else, but I kind of like ending up with a car that I feel really could have been built back then. I make exceptions, of course, mostly because of the cost of original parts (SU carbs instead of Stromberg 87's for example) but I try to not affect the overall character and performance of the car as much as possible.

Ok. Back to business. I put some mild bends in that panel by hand over some 8" pipe and popped it on there, clamped it down, and stood back.





I was initially planning to make the hood top one-piece, but didn't have enough wide panels on that cabinet to make it and the cowl that way, hence the shiny stainless piano hinge. Most of it will be covered, so I guess it's ok. I'll start on that next.

 

Where you find the piano hinge? Admire use of old material - reuse. Was hoping to see you use doped cloth like WW1 plane. I try & use lightest material I can find. Hope to find large sheet of corrugated plastic material like seen in small signs. Not perfectly smooth but sure light & figure can form it with fibergl*** strips at seams. Watching closely great build