Projects 53 Ford Ranchwagon.. Woodie

Have the glass cut & tempered. It will save you in the long run.

 

Do most auto glass shops temper glass? I've never had this done.

 

We have several big glass shops within the upstate of South Carolina and I am not aware of any that temper glass. HRP

 

I'm gonna try laminated glass in that opening one more time. I won't use near the pressure on the glass to hold it into position. That may have been the problem. The other side is doing fine....so far. If there are slight gaps between the glass and the weatherstrip in places I'll fill them with sealant. It fills in nicely and is virtually invisible. Wish me luck!

 

You'll need to find a shop that does commercial glass as well as auto, or does residential/commercial; tempered glass is common in commercial glazing. Most shops will have to send this out, so make absolutely sure your pattern is accurate before handing it over, and impress on them the glass HAS to be sized right.

 

I honestly believe you may have applied too much pressure if the blocks were any indication.

Good luck Chuck ! HRP

 

I don't think the seal you're using has enough 'give' in it, and any body flex or 'issues' in the opening will be transferred to the glass. Ford used a rubber u-channel as OEM (which nobody seems to carry) but McMaster-Carr sells one that's very close; part #8507K45. This is a full 1/8" wider at 1/2" (compared to the 3/8" yours has), has a 1/4" wide glass channel (slightly oversized for the typical 7/32" auto glass) and was installed OEM with a non-hardening clay-like sealer, seen these days on motorhomes. The garnish molding is what actually holds the glass in place. A small bead of sealer was applied in the u-channel before installing on the glass, and another small bead in the opening for just sealing purposes; not to hold the glass in place.

 

Most glass shops can send it off to be tempered.

 

Time to dress out the interior. Steve spent the day preparing all the interior garnish and the steering wheel for paint.
Nick and Dana worked on installing insulation on the interior of the roof. Without it I'm sure this thing would sound like a drum. There's a lotta roof on this baby. We got the insulation from lobuckrod here on the HAMB. Its pretty inexpensive and a joy to work with.


Then we moved on to installing windlace. We don't know a goddam thing about upholstery, but we're pretty fearless when it comes to learning new skills. The windlace need to go in before we install the headliner next week. The windlace isn't too tough to staple up, but the strip it staples into is a real bitch. It took all day futzing with it to get it in place satisfactorily. Its really pretty stuff. I got it from an online supplier called "Perfect Fit"

The whole painful process was worth it. We really like the color and the look.

 

VERY nice. You do nice work Chuck.

 

Chuck,I see where you are looking for arm rest for your wagon,learn from my mistake,95% of the ones you find the plastic part is brittle & cracked...I ordered new ones from Dennis Carpenter after paying good money for originals that were junk.HRP

http://dennis-carpenter.com/door-arm-rest/p/baaa-8124141/

 

Thanks Danny, Those look great...Do they fit the existing holes on a 52-54?
By the way, that's a beautiful job on that door panel.

 

Chuck,we did use the front existing hole on the arm rest but to be honest I don't remember if I had to re-position the rear hole or not.

I appreciate the compliment on the door panel. HRP

 

Spent a little time today painting the interior pieces. That way after the headliner is in we can really finish up the remainder of the interior. We want to take this wagon for a spin by early March!

 

How well I remember all the trim in these wagons,does your wagon still have the ash trays in the back? HRP

 

It used to, but I eliminated them. I should have added cupholders, though.

 

I kept them only because I retained the original stainless trim and it is flattened where the ash trays mount on top of the trim,Veda stuffs chewing gum wrapper in them.

 

Today our buddy Howie came over to show us how headliners are installed. It's pretty fascinating. There's a lot of patience and careful work involved. It'll take a bit more work next week, but you can tell it'll look grand. Dana took lots of photos along the way , so if anyone wants to see the full process we can do a tech post.

 

Thanks for all the updates and you guys do great work!

I'm having lots of trouble with my 54 windlace. There's not a cork strip like the 40s to staple to. I got my windlace from Perfect Fit also. My old windlace appeared to have a wire backing to stiffen it since the metal claws that pinch it in are 3-4 inches apart. I tried stitching paracord to the selvedge but that isn't enough to hold it.

 

We found out that we had removed the cardboard tack strip on the wagon around the door area. Howie brought us some replacement that is kind of a rubbery plastic. It is supposed to fit in with some pinch points but I think Chuck screwed most of it in place.

 

"I'm having lots of trouble with my 54 windlace. There's not a cork strip like the 40s to staple to. I got my windlace from Perfect Fit also. My old windlace appeared to have a wire backing to stiffen it since the metal claws that pinch it in are 3-4 inches apart. I tried stitching paracord to the selvedge but that isn't enough to hold it."

The metal claws don't pinch the windlace. The claws hold a fairly hard rubber/plastic strip that the windlace staples into.
I'm not sure what it is called, but it is stocked by upholstery shops. Here's a photo. Its about 5/16 x 1/2 and is sold by the foot. It goes all around the door opening BEFORE the windlace is STAPLED in.

 

We used something very similar and pop riveted it in place. HRP

 

Crap! I didn't think of pop rivets! I ended up drilling and using small sheetmetal screws everywhere the tabs were broken. I coulda saved a lot of time!

 

I used a lot of pop rivets,everywhere Ford used staples I used pop rivets and saved me a lot of aggravation. HRP

 

It's been a couple of weeks ,are we getting any closer to a test drive? HRP

 

We're still workin on it! The interior is now mostly done. I'm trying to find time during this week to finish up all the little interior details. As you can probably guess, those big rear windows are gonna take a lot of finessing to get them to look acceptable.
Here's some photos of where we got to this week. We think its looking awesome!

 

Good to see you using the o.e.m. upholstery pattern. Always thought it was cool. Liked it so much in my
'54 convert. (50+ yrs. ago), I'm going the same route in my '36 coupe.

I can't recall, was yours a kit or all custom made?

 

Its really hard finding an upholsterer around here. I had one guy do the seats, when I went back he was gone.... Had another do the carpets and door panels, and a third (that I talked out of retirement) did the headliner. We did all the assembly ourselves.
As hard as an upholsterer is to find, there's absolutely NOBODY I can find to chop and install our windshield.

 

Well, for all the hassle, it turned out great. Hats Off for doing the install yourselves, especially the headliner!

As for the windshield, there is a custom glass shop out here in Eugene that makes specific kits for most models.
Perhaps they could cut it for you. If you're interested, and willing to take the risk shipping it (or driving it), will
get their contact info. for you.

 

A good buddy cut his own windshield. He made a fiberglass template, traced it on the existing glass, used two layers of duct tape on the entire part that was to be saved, both sides and then sand blasted "extra off. Need to blast both sides, cut the vinyl and then sand smooth. He modified a wet stone wheel to do the final sanding. Yes, a long slow process but it worked well for him.