In process of replacing the wood structure with steel, main sills and lower frame complete, starting to fabricate the door jambs/posts. While taking some measurements I noticed the front wood door frame has a 7-8 degree angle outward to the body (.25" per 2", see photo, both sides same). This would mean the hinge pivot point is .5" forward from the inside of door frame. Why? The only reason I can think of, is for the rear of the door to clear the door frame when opening ? I don't want to fab and weld in the steel replacement flat, then cut it back out if it needs to be at an angle. Thanks in advance !
Helped a buddy put steel in his 31 Chevy coupe, we squared up the front, but did angle the back for swinging clearance since he wanted as little gaps as possible. And we had no wood at all to compare to. Your wood over 80 years old so it could have warped, swelled, etc., when new it may have been squared.
Thanks for the info ! Been thinking about this, and it must be for door swing clearance. I checked both sides top to bottom, and they are identical, so must be made that way. I'm gonna fab the new ones to match the pieces.
Post some pics of the process if you can. I need to replace the wood in my 32 chevy at some point also. The dirvers side door is getting pretty bad.
I have a 29 that I have to replace the main sills in so any pics or process info would be awesome. Keep us posted and good luck!
I would keep same angle/. I replaced a door post with aftermarket wood made of oak but had a lot of trouble withit. Here is a wood link that has better products. You may need some for around the windows.http://www.chevywood.com/index.html
Bill Cartwright is supposed to have the best quality stuff from what I'm told. He has most stuff in stock and ready to ship but he does not do credit cards you have to send a check. $500 for my main sills but there supposedly like factory no issues.
Called Bill up and he told me my main sills are 2 to 3 year back order! Called Jim Rodman at Autowood Restoration $275.00 shipping included and there ready for shipment. THANKS JIM!
Had most of it. The rocker support section was sparse, but with good measurements and pattern board it was doable. I was a bit OCD on the sills because I wanted a good base to work from when replacing the remaining wood.
You replacing all the wood with steel? I'm building a car for PRV in Jersey and all I have is the sheet metal aside from the cowl (which is from a truck). The body is a sedan that I'm going to leave open like a phaeton. Sure could use any tips on making a solid structure from scratch. Pictures always help!
Mocked up on my 29 frame (frames upside-down right to welding plate on bottom side) but I have a 30 frame for it.
I am only familiar with the 32, it was complete, so take what helps and ask anything you wish. All photos below. Support frame and square the body without doors. Measure and sketch everything about five times ! There will be more nails and screws than you can imagine, in places you can't imagine. None of them will want to come out ! The sills are NOT easy to remove complete, but can be done. Remove the fender supports from the wood sills. The 32 sills are 5.875 x 1.625, so I used 1.0 x 3.0 x .083 wall, two welded together. Make a pattern and cut to shape ( plasma cutter works great). I eliminated the door jamb slots, because they will be steel and welded to sills. Cut the bottom .750 more narrow than top to compensate for the curvature of rocker/body support. I used 18 ga. for the rocker/body support, welded to tubing in 12" strips, and hammered to shape with a wood block pattern. Trim rocker/body support to match the upward curve to cowl, which is about 1.75. cut a .5 strip of 18 ga and weld to bottom of rocker/body support at a 90 deg. This is needed to weld body panels to. Box it all, drill holes and install. Once in place, add the rear fender supports and weld (only tacked in complete sill photos). The rear body support can be made with the same 1.0 x 3.0 x .083 tubing. Cut the rear body support to match the curvature of body panel and box. Weld in place and use 1.0 x 2.0 x .083 at 45 deg in corners for frame mounts in rear. Rubber truck mudflaps work perfect for body/frame pads ! Now you're ready to fabricate door jambs/posts, which are three times more complicated !
Doin a 35 Standard now replacing metal for all wood.Been trying to get Bill Cartwright for 2 weeks now will not return calls or email so will get top wood from Mr Rodman.He is behind about 2 months on the top wood.Going to use fabric top.I used 14 gage on all my bottom wood replacement.Cut to length and welded to make tubing.Hard way to do it without shears and brakes.
Ive been looking at this manual square tubing bender, works like a conduit bender. Might spark some ideas for wood to steel conversions. Info pulled from this site http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/cat_metal.php Write up from metal geek site Homemade hand-bending may not be the best technique for really short radii. For example, 1" x 1" - 18 gauge steel tubing can be bent to a minimum diameter of about 30" before it starts to kink. This isn't an exact number because of the differences in temper and metal quality. And there are a couple of ways to cheat that number even lower. The easiest is to bend several times using successively smaller jigs. How far you can take this is something you'll have to find out for yourself. The other way, which only works for square tubing, involves pushing in the inside wall of the tubing. Here's a 5" radius jig I made for 1" tube that works like a conduit bender. This does cause some distortion, but the tube retains most of its strength and it's a pretty darn fast technique. The ridge inside the jig is only 1/8" square wire, but the tube wall collapses about 3/8".
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