I am have just about completed the chassis on my 31A. Now looking to start cleaning and preparing the inside of five window for mounting. A friend recommended replacing the wood with metal. Most of the wood is in good shape. I had intended replacing the a few bad pieces and leaving the rest original in the body. This is a old school hot rod build , not an original ,street rod or rat rod. How difficult would it be to replace all the wood with metal? Advice or instructions would be great.
If most of the wood is good then why replace the bad wood with metal? It would be a ton more work to replace all the wood with metal and what would you be gaining?
If good wood was important enough for Frank Thomas to take Nugenix, then I think you should get good wood too... but then again... I’m a complete idiot... and no one should listen to me...
To answer your original question, my experience with the wood kits has me thinking the wood is easier, especially with the way the A's are designed. There isn't much weight to the wood but it does provide a lot of strength once it's in. Also, pretty much all my wood in the kit needed a bit of work to fit well but it was all very easy.
Okay , I will vote for metal. Better rigidity and you don’t have to retighten bolts and screws up. No squeaky noises and it’s only work .
I wouldn’t replace the decent wood, just the bad stuff as others mentioned. I had to replace the header in mine because it was rotten, but the rest wasn’t too bad so I left it. In the end it’s up to you of course, but I often wonder if many of us don’t overthink the solutions when we’re building our cars. Most cars won’t be used much anyway.....which is too bad.
Trying to get the door B pillar wood out is a curse of a task . When the car is made they fit the wood into inner pillar structure, screw it in from the outside . Then fit the body skin over the inner pillar and screws and nail the body on . Screws are completely hidden.
Why recreate the wheel? Just replace the rotten wood. Kits have been available for the last 50+ years, it isn't rocket science. Ask any upholstery shop about steel in place of wood, if you are still in doubt. Bob
I've done it both ways, the only reason to use metal is there is no wood left or not avalible for the car you are working on. We replaced every rotten piece of wood in a 1933 Chevy coupe with steel and it was a big job, it took us several weekends to measure, cut & fabricate the pieces needed. The other car we used a wood kit for a 1930 Model A coupe, we installed every piece in one weekend. From a guy that's been there done, stick with wood, if it was good enough for Henry it's good enough for most of us. HRP
Henry built them whatever way was the cheapest and easiest. Remember this isn’t 1931 anymore. Build to your desires or abilities.
The body seems as study as any of the early forty pickups I have built. Never built an A, but the car sure wants to be a hot rod. Anyone sell individual pieces or areas?
wood is what holds on all the windlace and interior fabric. replace with steel and you need to redesign a method to attach everything ford wood is available and reasonable in cost. brand x cars not so easy. stay with wood i think
Forget the whales, Save the wood ! it is made in small pieces, easier to copy, try using bee's wax on the screws it will help keep them tight … and very lightly oiled felt washers to keep 'em quiet ... . Now if this were a wooden cage fordor or a Vicky then I would replace the structural wood with rectangular steel tubing... I would plan on leaving a 3/8" gap of too shallow on every piece of steel that wood have anchored the upholstery... cut and fit some 3/8" hardwood trim strips from Low'z , drill through the trim and the tube with a drill size that gets tapped to 10-32, or use nut-serts... re-drill the wooden trim to 3/16" and countersink the holes... use countersunk screws and lock-tite... this will let you attach the upholstery to wood as originally done, but retain the strength of the steel... cut some conduit a few inches longer than needed... flatten the ends with a hammer/vice... now you can drill holes through the flats that coincide with holes in the roof... or screw them inside the body to maintain the body's measurements, they can be moved around while you work inside... HIH...
Old oak or..... is slow growth GR8 wood. Retain as much of the old as you can. Wood today is grown for one reason $$$$$$, not quality. .02 cents......
Buy island wood it is stronger... buddy on north haven island has a house building crew, but in winter they harvest blowdowns on the island, [lots of them out there] … he explained that the steady onshore wind really builds up their strength... they get a large enough increase in the selling price to keep his boys working all fall, winter and mud season... if you can find it use it... HIH...
After the chop I replaced all the wood with steel in my '30 tudor. On the plus side, the car is really tight not much rattle at all, the down side is that the interior was a little harder to install. I guess what I'm saying is there is good and bad to replacing the wood w/metal, all in all, I'm glad I did it, I don't have to worry about it getting wet or joints coming loose.
My vote is wood for a few reasons but the main one would be installing a interior like a headliner . It gets tacked to the front header and then you tach or staple it on the bows. It being wood is easy to add strength while be removable for change or repair.
If you haven't ever used the wood kits, I could see how people think they should "upgrade" to steel. Or, the assumption that Henry used wood just because it was cheap also assumes that it was poorly designed/made. I don't believe either is true. When I got the top kit and header in, I couldn't believe how rigid the car became. I'm not saying wood is better/stronger/etc. than metal, but in the case of an A, especially a coupe, it seems like the best choice. If you are worried about rigidity, there are some other modifications you can do along with the wood but that's another conversation.
I was wondering about the mounting brackets for wood. You can find wood kits for the old Ford's but if you have no brackets at all, where can you get some? I figured I would have to study pictures and gin some up.
I did both in a '31 closed cab steel where there was no wood, and a wood kit for the roof and header. It's tight and squeak free.For best results,soak the wood pieces in a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine until it won't take any more (saturation) It will never crack or break once fastened to the steel.
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