Technical Remove wood frame from 33 Chevy Pickup, replace with steel?

Thanks after 5 builds and still have them this is my last I guess.But we never know.It takes me 4-5 yrs slow and getting slower

 

Just an observation, whilst he done a great job, I noticed that there was no swaging in his floor pan, which may lead to sheet metal vibrating/reverberating ? - ( acting like a bass drum ).

 

So, finally getting back to this.

I took the bed off to start looking at what I have to work with, and had access to all of the screws. I noticed that there were quite a few spots where the bolts from the bed were actually hitting the back side of the cab! So, I tightened up all the screws on the back (now that I have access!) and took it for a drive (the roads in my neighborhood are pretty bumpy, and we have railroad crossings)

WOW! NO rattles! I suspect most of it was the bed bolts hitting the cab, because the cab panels weren't tight, so they flapped around.

Well, not NO rattles, but the only rattles are from the doors when I hit a big bump, I hear the doors rattle once. Either the doors or possibly the windows inside the doors. But it's only when I hit a large bump, or a rail road crossing. I think I can take care of those no problem. There is no gasket around the doors. What would normally be around the doors? Or was there anything at all?

SO, I think I'm going to do what you did. Drill through the wood entirely and use metal plates with nuts welded to them, bolts and a bit of light duty thread locker. And then put sound/heat insulation on the inside of the panels. (was going to do that anyway)

 

there are no gaskets on the door originally, the upholstery was fitted with a wind lacing around the openings on the inside to seal the gap. the doors should have little rubber bumpers inside the jamb to keep the doors from rattling. new window channel should keep the glass from moving and rattling in the door.

 

There's no rubber or anything on the doors, that's probably whats causing it.

 

here are some photos of the rubber bumpers on my 33 coupe your truck is probably different but it may give you some clues.

 

Thanks for the photos

Funny how the car has curves and the truck has hard angles everywhere, haha!

 

the bodies of the trucks stayed the same for a few years, I think because they sold less. the trucks became "curvier" in 1934.

 

Great minds think alike @tb33anda3rd. I went out and took these pics this morning after seeing the thread bumped. This is my ‘34 truck. I added some “D” type weatherstripping where I could in an attempt to keep some weather out.

 

I may do the weather stripping like that, my doors don't line up perfectly, and there are some gaps. But they do close good, and don't rattle until I hit a big bump.

I've got more questions about what is original on my truck, and what isn't. Should I start a new thread maybe? or keep this one rolling?

 

I found the date sticker on the battery, it's 15 years old! haha! Sears Diehard.

 

either would be good...just keep posting!

 

If your problem is the screws loosening then I would tighten them by using the next size larger,if tis isn't practical then tighten them by removing the screw inserting a wooden match stick breaking off the stick even with the end of the hole and reinserting the screw. Also you could use an adhesive to hold the screw tight. Your age going to get into more problems if you remove the wooden frame as the metal will
twist in all directions from 80+years of stresses.

 

Ok, I've started taking the cab apart, and getting a good look at what I have to work with, what I want to keep and what I want to replace with metal.

Going to start posting photos and my progress, as well as asking a lot of questions. This is the first non-jeep vehicle I've done much work on. And old jeeps are dead simple.

I'll try not to post anything that is HAMB offensive, but if I do, let me know and I'll remove those images. There are already some non-HAMB friendly stuff on the truck, and I intend to do what I want with it, which is a bit of old and new. I'll try to keep the new stuff off here.

I would, however, LOVE to know what part of this looks original, or at least original style replacement. Because I have no idea what I'm looking at. I'm almost positive that the cab sheet metal is mostly original (except for some of the roof skin, which looks to be new metal) and I can only assume that the wood inside isn't original. And as always, any input or suggestions are welcome



I removed the seat, and got a better look at things. I didn't like how flimsy the wood structure is, particularly on the back of the cab. I could very easily press the entire back of the cab's wood structure in and out 1/2 an inch or so. So, I've decided to replace most of the wood on the back side with metal tubing.

I'll be keeping the design fairly similar as the wood design, except I'm going to wrap the wood around to meet up with the door posts on the middle and bottom. I don't know how the structure was originally, but this is how it is now. And here's a drawing of roughly my plan. Along with the structure, I'm also going to open up the back window, I'm going to have it at least a few inches vertically (extending farther down, not up).

Here's the seat removed:



and a look at the floor and seat mount. The seat mount seems solid enough. The floor directly under the seat (sheet metal) is like a drum. This panel will definitely get some sound deadener.




Here's the wood structure on the back. And a photoshop of what I intend to do with metal tubing. Larger window, and the metal tubing, that also connects to the door frame and hopefully the door latch catch itself. I'll see if I want to replace the door post entirely, or leave it as is. Not sure how far forward I want to go, since the front and sides of the interior wood structure actually seem pretty sturdy. It's the back that wasn't. I may or may not do the X shape.




And a few more photos as I start to take it apart. You can see where the wood was chopped by the window, so maybe the wood in there IS older than 15 years (when the chop was done).







I got the roof skin completely undone, and was able to lift all 4 corners. so when the time comes, it should pop off easily. For now, since it's raining and very humid out, I'm leaving it on. I also put the rear panel back on (loosely) to keep cats out, haha!



thin aluminum strips were used to cover the chop:



So, that's where I got today. Will be continuing this through out next week, I took next week off to get as good of a start on this as I can. I'm going slow, and the rain isn't helping! (thankful for the rain though!!). My new carport area is definitely working out, though I need one more gutter to keep the splashes down on the sides.

 

the more I take off, the more I don't like the wood structure I see. Lots of old unused nail/screw holes, broken screw heads, nails and screws sticking through the back sides everywhere. So I think I'm going to replace as much as I feel comfortable doing so. Which may be all of it, we'll see.

I removed the back and top sheet metal completely, and started putting on some temporary bracing the door posts. I'm bracing them because I'm going to start with the top, remove the top part of the structure, and replace it with metal, then work my way down. I think I can keep everything in line this way, and then replace the door posts last. I've braced them left and right, and I'll temporarily connect them to the A pillars next. The A pillars are metal, so I'm going to not touch them.

Funny thing I noticed, I closed the doors after I braced the door posts, and the doors close better than they did before, they feel tighter. I guess there was some flexing going on before.

So far I don't think this is going to be too difficult. But I'm going to take my time.

One question, I see slots cut out on the top part of the structure, I'm assuming those are for some sort of roof support? Or was it for some sort of "false ceiling" upholstery structure?

 

Well my friend this is looking much like so many other projects. They grow as they go. My thoughts are you should look a little closer at the A Post. I believe you'll also find it's Wood hiding behind a metal cover too. I also took notice of this comment you made. Quote; (I'm bracing them because I'm going to start with the top, remove the top part of the structure, and replace it with metal, then work my way down. I think I can keep everything in line this way, and then replace the door posts last.) end of Quote. I wish you would rethink this direction. I have never heard of building a House with the Roof suspended on blocks and braces and doing the Foundation last. This job is much like building a house. If you want the Doors and windows to swing properly start with a solid and flat Foundation and build up. That Wood plank behind the Tin rocker is mounted to the Frame and is mitered for the Wood A post hiding behind the Metal Cladding that the screw heads you see holding the Door Hinges on passes through. My money is on that you will find the mitered wood joint is in no better shape than the rest of the sad conditions you've found so far. You've gone this far, don't short change yourself and your project. Re think your direction please. At the very least inspect the mitered joint behind the metal A post cover or prove my information wrong, I'll take no offense and apologize for steering you wrong should I end up being so.

 

I'll gladly take suggestions! Thank you! I'll take a closer look at the A pillars, and how they mount to the floor.

I looked at them quickly yesterday, and they seemed to be metal all the way around, but I'll take a closer look, and post some photos too. I don't really know what I'm looking at, so feedback is definitely welcome

 

Look at the photo in the second post. It's the one that AngleDrive put up of the wood skeleton of a 2 door sedan. That's exactly whats behind the metal cover of your A Post.

 

Ok, here's some photos of the driver side A pillar, the passenger is identical as far as I can tell (the last photo is the passenger side)

I looked around it real good, and as best as I can tell, there is no wood inside the A pillar, and it connects to the frame directly all metal. There are a few holes in the pillar (like for the stop that keeps the door from opening to far), and I can tell that it's hollow metal tubing all the way. The wood parts are the floor boards in-between the pillars, and behind the pillars supporting the sheet metal lower door sill. And then obviously the wood structure above the window where the sun visor is nailed to. Not sure what I want to do there.

The doors also have almost no wood in them as well. So I'm guessing at some point someone started replacing the wood with metal.

Probably hard to tell in the photos what is what, since it's all painted black. And I apologize for all the wood dust everywhere, I haven't blown everything off with air yet.

Let me know what you think, I have no idea if what I'm looking at is factory style, or modified.


Here's the bottom, showing the A pillar and cowl connecting to the frame. The wood to the right side is supporting the door sill sheet metal. You can see the A pillar is hollow












Here's the top of the A pillar, with a large metal bracket that the wood parts are screwed too. I'm guessing this is probably not factory? But it looks like a great place to connect the door post to the A pillar with a metal tube.




And the passenger side where it meets the floor. If you look closely, I think you can see what looks to be some layout lines, so I'm guessing part of the metal floor piece here isn't original. And then there's that one piece of sound/heat shielding, the only piece in the whole truck, haha! hopefully it's not a royal mess to remove that. I do intend on putting sound/heat material in as many places as I can. But I'd like to remove this one piece, just to make sure it's not covering up something.

 

I'll be darned, that does appear to be a steel A Post. Having done both a 34 Coupe and Sedan I had never heard that the Truck inner structure was any different than them. If it's not stock it sure looks just fine to me. Plus someone did you a big favor. Use what's there and keep moving forward. Odd that GM would improve the commercial line before the Passenger Car line. Sorry I doubted what you were saying.

 

I don't know if what I'm looking at is factory or not! I appreciate the comments and suggestions, yall know more about these vehicles than I do :-D I'll keep posting photos of the progress, if you see anything that looks odd, or not right, or an easier way to do it, let me know. I'm pretty decent at "winging it", but I'll always take suggestions

I have an idea on how to replace the wood above the windshield, I'm going to look over it a bit again and do some sketches.

 

Made a test bend with a 3.5 CLR die, on 1x1 tubing with .120 wall. That might be a little thick for the wall, but that's what I have right now. The bend would be the same on thinner wall if I decide to go that route, the dent on the inside and outside of the bend would just be a bit more noticeable on thinner tube. The top and bottom stay flat regardless.

Looks like it would to nicely for the corners of the inside (I'd have it butt up against the post, I didn't bother trimming this test bend)



It probably won't work for the top. It looks like my bend is just slightly to large of a radius. Once I have the wood off, I'll draw a template and see about doing pie cuts on a straight piece of tube to get a sharper bend.


Got the visor removed. I'm about done pulling nails, thank goodness, haha!


And for giggles, I put the roof back on to see what it would look like without the visor. Eh, not so much. But I had an idea to make the windshield taller, which I've mocked up below. It's not too bad. I may toy around with that idea, and make (or cut down) the visor to be a bit shorter. Not sure if that would look goofy or not, but it would give more visibility. Have folks done this before? I probably won't do this, but I will play around with some more photoshop ideas. Photoshop chops are free, and don't destroy metal! haha!

 

That car is incredible. The replacement steel is a work of art. The only thing I don't like is the billet steering wheel. Its like the Mona Lisa with a face tattoo.

 

This is engaging for me, I am trying to piece this one together and have been thinking about the framing. I own a 30 Model A Cab, I will be using as a pattern as I will need to fabricate everything from the cowl back.

 

If you need any measurements, or photos let me know! I don't know how original the design of the wood was on mine, but if I can help just ask

 

I would create a template of your top wood before you disassemble the frame. Just for you know and giggles make some diagonal measurements to see how square (or out of square) the wood frame is.

It was already mentioned, but you may want to get that top back on and brace the panels before you do much more disassembly.

As far as the top wood is concerned, I would consider trying to salvage it... glue screw etc. or replace parts where needed, or the entire frame. If the current wood is good, you may be able wrap the edge with flat stock (metal) band attached with screws. It looks like you may have enough space between the roof and panel skins to do this... Lots of options but take the time to brace and block. BTW, how rigid is the chassis?

 

My plan was to make some general measurements of the top piece before I remove it (just as a backup!), and then brace the top with an X shape going to each corner, and then remove the top wood as one unit. Lay it down on thick paper and draw the outside shape (the inside shape doesn't matter), and because it's beveled and a bit narrower on the top than the bottom, flip it over and also draw the narrower shape, just to have it for reference. I'm probably going to bend the tubing to match the upper (narrower) shape, and then use sheet metal or thin flat bar to make the flared out part on the bottom that matches the angle of the roof skin. If that makes sense.

I suppose some sort of thin rubber, felt, or something should go between the two. I'm not planning on welding the roof to the frame, I think it would be wise to leave it removable. Any thoughts on that?

I agree about trying to save some of the upper wood shape, I've been thinking about that. I'm tempted to save the very top part of the wood that is right above the windshield, since it's a very good fit to the metal roof. Lay that on top of a straight piece of square tube. The upper part of the wood looks kind of bad, but when I knock on it the sound is pretty solid.

The frame/chassis seems quite strong. I'm told it's original, but someone before me has obviously boxed it, and added (I'm guessing) a few additional cross members. There are a few holes in it that I want to weld back up. There's a large hole on the top of the frame where someone ran all the wires through the frame to hide them. I don't like that the large hole on the top that would let water in, or wires in the frame. So I'm going to re-do that.

 

If your worried about the wood header being solid enough think about just replacing it. This guy specializes in GM wood. One piece or complete kit, he's your guy.
Call Jim Rodman at 219-797-3775 to learn more.

 

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind

 

One other thing, if anyone has a rear window panel for a 33 Chevy truck, I'd like to buy one if the window trim area is reasonably intact. Someone before me chopped the top (which I like!) but the rear window is so small, I'd like to have a larger rear window. I think if I found an un-chopped window panel, I could fairly easily patch in the larger window.

Right now the opening is 4 and a 1/2 inches tall, I believe originally they were 9 and 1/2 tall. If that looks too tall, I could cut it down to 7 or 8, or whatever looks best.

What other years would also fit, while I'm on the hunt? I'm going to put up a wanted-ad here on the site.