Projects '26 Model T build.

This is going to be a longer than normal post. Hopefully with useful comments and photos.

Over the last few weeks when the temperatures were not at record lows (the woodshop is heated but the garage is not. The torpedo heater can only work so hard..) We have been working on the wood Rails for the roof.
If your not a Model T guy you may think it's a cube on wheels. Well there is no straight flat part on this roof. It's got tons of curves and different bends throughout. We also only have 50% of a 1/4 of the wood. (Two pieces that were cut short, or rotted off)... So we're winging it. We started out by making up a side rail out of Pine 2"x4" at $3.50 for an 8' (foot) board we can screw a few up and not feel bad (white oak can cost $40-50 for the same 2"x4"x8' if you bought it finished milled etc.)

With the 2"x4" section clamped to the car we traced the profile +1/8" onto the wood (a 1/8" welding rod makes it easy to keep consistent profile). We cut close to the line but left the line. Then sanded to the line. Then on the outside edge we used a router to put in a 1/2" rabbit about 1/4" deep. Later we found that the rabbit had to be deepened to about 3/8" from the back of the door to the corner. When you know it fits well. Mark and pre-drill your screw holes. The Original top used a special type of T-nut that was screwed onto a carriage bolt with a split flat blade. We used Hex head bolts up into a normal wood t-nut in these places.
I skipped taking many photos of making the pine template. Thinking we'd be making more hen one...Wouldn't you know we nailed it on the first try...so here's what it looks like done.

So the next step was to make one in Oak.(ignore the arrow cutout that's from something else)




The Rear Rail was made the same way.
When they are all bolted in place.

The Front is just a board cut to length here. (my phone is having an issue making everything purple on the edges of the pictures. I think it's fixed in later photos). The side rails have about 1 1/2" bow from the rear of the door to the end of the board.

From the picture above there are two missing pieces. Those are the corners, here's a close up of them.
(the right side is the rear rail. Left side is Passenger side Rail) The Notches help pull down the side rail and lock everything in place.
We also created a template out of pine 16"x2".

This pine template fits in between the Rear rail and the side rail. On the Oak one we want about 1" of overlap.

To do this we set the template on the wood. and marked all around it. then added 1" to each side.
Cut and sand to perfection. Cutting the mating lap joints was well a task for someone that's done it a few times.
Dad measured everything a bunch of times. Then the joints were cut by hand and chisel tuned to perfection.

Test Fit.

The inside arch was scribed to match the outside. Cut and sanded. The lap joints were left a little wide to ensure a good fit. These were also sanded to match the other rails.



With all the corners and Side rails in It was time to round over the top outside corner. (We used a 3/4" round over bit on the 1/2" router for this.


With the sides done we moved to the front.
A Lap was cut into the Front rail for the sides to lap under.

The nose of the side rail was cut to match. a 1/4" bolt and t-nut combo will be added in this corner as Henry put a hole in the body for one here.

(someone is going to notice that the front board got thicker between the two photos. You'd be right. We measured the part of the original we had and made the first one on that. but it didn't transition well into the side rails. So we made one 1/4" thicker (1 1/2") so that it fit better.
The curve of the body was transferred onto the corner.

Then the Top front edge of the front rail was rounded over.


At this point the rails were pulled off. The inside bottom of the Sides, corners and rear rails will get rounded over with the 3/4" bit. The Bottom of the Front rail will get rounded over with a 3/8" bit. All of the inside top sharp edges will get broken with sand paper. With a little luck one night this week it will all get a few coats of spar varnish. So it can dry before they are put back on the car for good. Then we'll move on to fitting the wood supports for the sliding rag top. It's been a lot of work but I've enjoyed it.... One step closer to the open Road!
If there are any questions Please let me know... I'll do my best to answer them.
CBB

 

Nicely done as always!

I am not a woodworker at all....but this gives me hope for my Hupmobile project.

What are you covering the top with and how are you doing the bows?

 

Clayton,
I got in touch with the company that made our sliding rag top. They use a heavy marine canvas on their rag tops (i'd have to look for the name if you want it.) I ordered a few yards of it to use on the exterior so that the roof and the rag top match. Under that will be some 1/4" poly batting. Because we will not be using the standard model t headliner and the poly batting is bright white and not very slightly we will be putting some medium weight exterior grade canvas under the batting but above the bows. As for the bows... Well we will find that out as we go. Untill we get the rails in the final location and the support box for the rag top built up we will not know how many bows or their rough shape. I do know that they will also be made out of white oak and be sealed prior to permanent installation. But I will make sure to take pictures of the process.
CBB

 

That's right! ....I forgot about sliding rag top!

I had the idea to do the same on a Chrysler coupe (1926) I was toying with building, just never happened. I think it will be killer here.

I will be interested to see this come together.

 

Since the last update we have moved forward on the roof. The side rails have been given 3 coats of Polyurethane Spar Varnish.


After it all Dried Jim Stopped by the shop and we got it all installed in the car.
To try and minimize leaks we sealed between the steel body and the wood rails with black RTV. It took a couple of tubes to do it all.




This weekend Dad and I started on the Bows and the box for the sliding Rag top.
We had one almost complete original bow to start with.

With the Sliding Rag top and frame being a little heavier then just fabric we made these bow a little thicker than the original one.
The box around the Rag top frame is one Front bow one rear bow and two side rails.


With the frame screwed together we test fitted it to the car to set the location.



The Location of the bows were marked on the side rails so that they could be notched to fit.


After routeing the side rails we test fitted it again.


At this point I couldn't resist dropping the rag top to see what it looked like.




To spread the load out and to keep the fabric nice and smooth we added two mid-span bows to the side of the box.


The side Rails were notched for the mid-span bows.... Test Fit was had.





The mid-span bows need glued to the box and the whole thing needs sealed. Then we can get on with the roof install. We also have a floor to finish! but we're getting there.

As always comments welcome.
CBB

 

My only comment is... WOW!! Really neat work.

 

Amazing work on that wood! not too many guys put any wood back into these old cars. I have a 29 special coupe and its loaded with more wood than most and I couldnt imagine building the wood for it. I ended up buying a expensive kit.

 

Thanks guys! I love the wood in the old cars. When it's right, it just looks good. So we're not going to hide it under anything. It will be out in the open for all to see.

CBB

 

Over the weekend I got the Last of the wood for the top sealed and installed in the car.

Then we turned our attention to the floors. The Old ones are very tired and not safe.

We Started by cut boards down and cutting lap joints for the rear floor.

Then we glued the sections together. It didn't want to clamp down flat... So we added more clamps. That seemed to work.

While the glue was drying we went after the front floor.
With moving the body back on the frame, and adding the Warford Aux-Trans the original floor didn't help with cutout locations. So we made a cardboard floor first.

Then transferred it to the Oak floor (the main floor is one board 12" wide).

After some drilling and scroll saw work.... Test Fit.

Then we knocked out the next board.

Then the next day the glue was dry on the rear floor deck.
It got Trimmed down to size

Corners rounded


Then we took a page from Henry's book and reinforced the edges.
First we cut a slot down the side.

Then glued in a solid strip of wood.

Once the glue dried the sides were sanded smooth.

That should help keep all the boards together and make it a bit stiffer.
Next it was time to test fit it.


A bit of sanding and then a coat of Poly (2 or 3 more coats will come later this week).


Thanks For Stopping by!
CBB

 

Those floor boards and the top look FANTASTIC!

Are you gonna leave the Warford shifter unaltered, or heat and bend it toward the seat?

 

We haven't thought about the Watford shifter just yet. Guess we need to see how the clearances are with the dash in place.

 

About now most of you are sick of seeing wood. We're in the home stretch on all the woodworking.
This weekend we jumped in to finish up the front floor.
First up was laying out the cutouts for the pedals.

After the cutouts were made we test fit the top section on the bench to make sure all the angles lined up and the lap joints were nice and tight.


Then each board was test fit in the car.


Lastly we tested the fit of the floor with the metal pedal "beauty" rings.

The Warford will get a nice boot that matches the Seat. The E-brake's metal ring needs to be lengthened and adjusted a bit due to the body move.
Now I just need to sand this all down. Then seal the back with 3-4 coats of spar polyurethane. The top will get several coats of floor grade polyurethane. (the hope is that because it's much harder it will not scratch as easily with your feet on it.)

Unless we find something else that we missed this is all of the wood (that we're keeping) in an original 1926 for model T. Next time you see us post about wood it will be when things get installed permanently or we start covering the seat (both coming soon....)

CBB

 

That looks really great! Are you gonna make a ribbed rubber floor mat, carpet for it...or just leave it as is?

 

At this point we're going to go with the natural wood look. Our pedal and lever spacing / placement isn't standard so we can't just order a rubber mat from Snyders, And The custom made carpet ones are expensive. If we run into issues or it just doesn't look right we'll just make are own custom carpeting for it.

 

You could always do what I did in mine...make your own. I went to my local hardware store and bought a 4' or 5' foot section of ribbed vinyl indoor/outdoor matting material for door mats and such.

Traced out my floors on the back and cut them out. They look great and are durable. I know I have pictures in my albums of it.

 

Love the rag top, and I am stealing that idea MrModelT for the floor mats in my A.

 

Here is what I did...

 

Hello everyone. It's been awhile since we've updated the build Thread. Over the intervening weeks we have made some progress. The Biggest Step was installing the Fabric on the Roof. The plan with the roof was to have it made up of 3 layers. The Layers are an inner black Canvas, a 1/4" layer of Poly- Batting, and an external layer of heavy marine grade black Canvas.

The inner layer was laid out good side down. Then stapled to the wood with 5/8" stainless staples.


The fabric was pulled tight from front to back, center to the sides. Once Stapled it was trimmed to fit.
Prior to laying the batting the canvas was sprayed with a light coat of contact fabric glue. The Batting was laid and stapled to the wood. We took care to keep the staples from overlapping layer to layer.


The reason for the first layer of canvas is so that the white batting can't be seen from inside the cab.
The Top layer was draped over with the good side out. Care was taken to keep the Staples in a nice neat row so that they can be covered with Hidem welt and/or the rain gutters.


The Inner and outer edges were Trimed.
We tested the Sliding Ragtop.



We still need to Bolt the RagTop in place, install the Hidem, and Rain gutters yet.

We also re-bent the Clutch (High/Low) Pedal.


After Testing the pedal needs a bit more fine tuning but it's really Close.

I do have one question for other Model T guys. We're looking to use split/ hidem welt similar to this http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/split-welting
Is there something else we should be looking at or is this the right stuff to use to hide the staples?

Thanks,
CBB

 

That should be prefect. That is what that welting is intended for...so you are on the right track.

That top looks killer by the way! I love that sun roof... Such a neat idea

 

So when my non-Hamb friends start asking where I've been and what's up with the car.... I think it's time to update my Hamb friends.
There has been no progress on the car since the last update. Over the last year or so I've been looking for a new Shop/Garage and the end of April I closed on one. It just so happened to have a House out front for me as well.

House

Garage

Inside....


The House has needed a fair bit of work to get it habitable which in true Hot Rod (or my case HillBilly) style that work is being done by my friends, family and myself.... it's still not done but getting closer. The Garage is a 31'x48' blank slate that will get the attention once the house is complete (Ideas / Pitfalls welcome!)
The new goal is to DRIVE Lizzy from my Dad's wood shop to this garage. Up side of this move is that Jim (XRW URABUS) lives only about a mile away.
So if it's quite for a bit here, know that I'm not slacking just temporarily distracted.

CBB

 

Looks like a great start! Better sign up over at The Garage Journal when you start building up your workspace. Good luck.

 

Congrats! Great looking shop space!
I see more T's in your future!

 

I gotta admit that was pretty nice that a house came along with the shop. They do come in handy.

That tall bay is just crying out for a lift. When I built my shop twenty years ago I didn't think I needed one. Now that I am an old f@rt it sure would be nice to have one. That getting up and down isn't near as much "fun" as it used to be.

 

Bigcheese, I will do that. I didn't know that site was out there.... but once I took a look well lets say I didn't get a lot of "extra" work done yesterday afternoon.

sidevalve,
My priority was the garage... the house...was a bonus! I can sleep just about anywhere
I also see a lift ending up in that tall bay...it may have to wait till my wallet recovers from the house repair, but it's in the plans.

CBB

 

When we moved from Illinois to NW Florida we wanted a few acres out of town. Absolutely did not want........ a mobile home, a dirt road, or a pool. We retired with a nearly five year old we adopted.
Also we were headed 150+ miles farther south. A tree branch fell on our motorhome. One thing led to another. We've been in a double wide with a front and rear addition, a 24X28 garage, pole barn, a 12X14 workshop with car port on each end, and an above ground pool with large deck for 21 years as of about now.
Wife fell in love with the mobile home. I didn't bother going inside. I fell in love with the out buildings and the five park like acres. The boy is nearly 26 and didn't drown. We managed to get up and down the road with our old cars without getting them too dirty, and I sort of like the double wide when I'm inside looking out.
But I did end up selling my restored 1926 T touring because I didn't like driving it on limerock or a 4-lane highway.
I've been following your thread but haven't hit a lot if LIKES altho I do like it.

 

So that House that I thought I'd be into before July 4th turned out to be the house that I hope to be in before turkey day had a few hidden issues that we had to fix up. Takes a little longer when you're doing the work yourself (or with family & Friends). But we did get some progress made on the car. In this installment we're going to talk about seats.
The Last time we saw the seats they were pretty wood and black. The plan is to add 2" of dense foam and 1" of memory foam to the seat bottom and back. To start this off we used vinyl to "pre-load" the springs.


My mother is helping with this adventure as she is the resident expert on sewing.(which means she's had more practice ....but never done upholstery)

The corners on the vinyl are far from perfect....but hey it will be covered with foam and leather right?


The next step was make up some pads out of the 2" foam. On the seat bottom we have the top piece overhanging the front/side piece of foam. On the seat back the front over hangs the sides as well.

All of the upholstery guys online make the foam shaping look easy... It's not rounding the corners over and making everything even took a couple of hours and more "Wood" tools than I care to admit. But I think it's ok.


Next I've gotta wrestle with the 1" memory Foam. But that will have to wait for another update.
CBB

(If you see an issue or something wrong Yell!! cause the truth is I have no Idea what I'm doing with this stuff! Metal and Wood I can do. Upholstery is uncharted territory!)

 

Here's a little mid-week update. We created a pattern for the seat bottom our of some construction paper. Since this is our first attempt of making a seat we decided to use an old sheet to test and tune the fit.
We cut the sheet out to our pattern.

We found that we needed to narrow up the mid section of the top panel about 1.5" versus our pattern. But I think it turned out ok.

We'll use this cover as the pattern for the leather when we get to it.

Let us know if you see any issues.
CBB

 

I was able to put in a couple of hours over the last week to work on the car's fuel system. Didn't get many pictures, but I've got all the fuel lines in place. Still need to stop by the parts store and grab a few more hose clamps to button it all up, but it's close.

CBB

 

One night last week Jim and I found time to work on the project again. We didn't get anything major done, but we did get a couple of things buttoned up.

The last time we talked about the sliding ragtop was way back when we installed the roof Fabric. We couldn't install the sliding ragtop then because we were missing some black RTV to seal the aluminum track to the fabric.


Well we picked some up.

(hopefully someone at home is keeping track of how much of this stuff we've used....cause we lost count a few tubes ago.)

A good bead was ran around the perimeter of the slide track.


Then we left it for about 15-20 mins to "tack up" so it wasn't quite so messy when we tried to flip it over.

While the RTV was setting up Jim put the last clamps on the fuel system (sounds alot easier then it was. I really tucked it into the frame rail with no thought on installing/tightening hose clamps.) I worked on the custom length brake rods (they needed the holes drilled for the end pins). End results Fuel system buttoned up and we have brakes (stock for now).

(I didn't take a picture of the fuel lines again....look at the other one above just pretend that there are hose clamps in all the places they should be).
Then we dropped the Sliding Ragtop in place, aligned it, and screwed it down. I think the end result looks good.



While we were at it we test fitted the seat to the car.




It looks good and is comfortable, but we found a couple problems. It's about 4" too wide. That makes it push on the doors a bit too much. Also there is very little clearance between the bottom of the steering wheel and the seat. This makes it hard for the driver to get in.
Narrowing it down is easy I'll take the 2" foam out of each side. I think for steering wheel clearance I'll re-arch the front of the foam to make it more rounded and less blocky.
Well Till Next Time...
CBB

 

Very nice guys! Coming along nicely!