Looking for advice on making the wood spacers for a 29 Roadster Body on deuce rails. Both the Body and rails are genuine Henry items. The rails are pinched. The body has the Steadfast Manufacturing rails in the back for the kick. The body sits great on the frame, but there is the gap, etc. Trying to build this car true to tradition post war style. I read the article by Mike Bishop in an old American Rodder Magazine on how Vern Tardel does it, as well as Bud Bryan's article in the old R &C and they were helpful. I made one set of wood spacers and was not real happy, but was a good learning experience. Thickness (height) is one question I have. How thick at the thickest point? Which I think is under the doors? Also looks like Vern makes them about 1/4" thick at the firewall. I would like to minimize the thickness of the spacer and still benefit from some cushion that wood provides the body (along with welting). Thanks for the help!
You should be able to pie-cut the bottom of the cowl a little, from the firewall back, to get it to sit on the frame without using any spacers.
Sanford, Thanks! I may give that a try... I would like to get the Body and frame as close as possible.
What Sanford said. It's way easier. There was a build thread on here that shows sectioning the mounting foot at the firewall, dropping the bottom cowl edge just over the frame top. Perfect. When I did mine back in the 80's, I made them like the Bud Bryan R&C roadster build. Very complex, with a compound curve to match the dip and belly in the rails, tapering out at both ends. Doable, but time consuming and frustrating. I think that I started with a piece of 1x6 oak, cut the width and curve first, then sanded off for the belly. Not again.
If your set on doing it traditional (applause), could you not shim/space the A and B pillars to get the doors working then you'd be able to get a thickness at various locations to shape the filler by. The piece is only what, maybe 6' long? It's the sort of challenge I'd welcome. Actually doesn't seem to difficult. I know this is a simplification of the circumstance. It would take lots of work but very rewarding. Keep us informed as to how you get there. Tim
HotRodA, thanks yes it is rather frustrating and time consuming! I thought it was just me! Toughest part has been getting the top to sit well, it is not flat but has a few Cut outs and recesses for the body... cowl and braces. Tim, Yes I can shim the body and get the doors to fit well. Spacer just seems way thicker than I imagined...Again as this thread is saying the piecut would get the Cowl dowm, and decrease the space. Love to find the tread HotRod A mentions about the piecut cowl. Thanks Bradley. Here are a few pictures of the spacer roughed in. I clamed a piece of pine to the frame to trace out the profile of the frame... that worked well.. Last Picture is a Tardel Car, Spacer is thicker than what I would want... at least at the Cowl...
I pie cut my cowl and sub rails . I still have a gap under doors of about 3/32. I plan to use a weather resistant foam to fill the gap, Bill
This goes back a ways and I don't even know how to find it, but Rod and Custom Magazine once put a Model A on Deuce rails and gave the pattern and dimensions for the spacer. You might be able to do a search somehow. Many people don't know that there is a slight arc to deuce rails. One un-named famous show on TV, put a Model A coupe one Deuce rails and couldn't figure why they couldn't close the doors after they bolted the body down.
48Stude, great shot and thanks! What are you going to use between the chassis and body at the cowl? The standard 32 Body welt? Looks like a great fit! WoodieWagon, too funny about the TV Host. I have all the early Bud Bryan articles in R & C, not sure if that is what you are referencing. The American Rodder article is pretty good. The funny thing about all this is you would think there would be a zillion articles in Magazines about this. Even going way back, there does not seem to be a lot written about it...
While it was surely done by some enterprising hot rodders "back in the day", I doubt very much that pinched rails, pie-cut cowls or even wood fillers were popular modifications. The goal was to create a quick-and-easy A-V8 hot rod using an A roadster body and a '32 V8 chassis taken from under a wrecked or junked Deuce of any body style. While many icon early hot rods were nicely finished on the outside they were typically pretty rough and without refinement under the skin. I have been struggling with just how "traditional" to make the Arin Cee Roadster. One of the early-on decisions I made was to leave the rails un-pinched and to not pie-cut the cowl. I will also not fill the gap between the frame and the body, but will leave it open as I believe most hot rods were done in the past. I don't have a problem with these refinements, I just chose to not do them on my car. One unintended consequence of pie-cutting the cowl is that this changes the angle of the body as it sits on the frame, causing the front of the body to be an inch or so lower than if this was not done. Depending upon how fussy you are about the hood line, this could force the sectioning of the radiator shell and the use of a shortened radiator to get the profile of the car "right". Lots of different ways to build a hot rod!
Missydad, yup, points well taken and I agree, I know most of the cars running around Post War where not of magazine quality, and form followed function (which I try to live by) I do want to fill that gap and keep the body close to the frame. If I shim the body now the doors work well and the gap you really only notice if you kneel down a bit, but do want to fill this and also want to get some wood cushion between the Body and Rails.
Yes, there are a number of good ways to do it. I plan to weld brackets to my Deuce frame where necessary and use the original Model A mounting points as much as possible. I will also use the Model A wood blocks at the mounting points for cushion along with a touch of webbing here and there to keep it from squeaking.
Thanks Bill, how thick are you going with that material? Your Roadster looks great, great stance and proportions.
This is absolutely true and needs to be considered, especially on a 28-29. I'm not planning to run a hood. Maybe just a hood top down the road Something else to consider is the front of the cowl ( vertically ) isn't visually perpendicular to the frame after pie cutting, I'm ok with it ,but to have continuity I cut 4" from the bottom of my grille shell so it would sit lower. Also I'm using a 3" shorter rad. I had to add 4" to the inside bottom of the insert to hide my spring perch. Hope this helps,Bill
I have purchased 1/16" and 3/32" of the medium hard in order to try both to see how much they compress. Bill
Bill, Yes I figured the deuce shell is going to have at least a 3" or more out of the bottom of the Grille Shell, that stuff from McMaster-Carr looks like it will work well.
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