Projects fixing a smashed 31 model A pickup cab.

Charlie wanted to keep the "tunnel" so I trimmed it, added a bolting flange and bolted it to the bottom of the dash. I then made some small pieces of angle to bolt the front of the tunnel to the firewall.

 

Are you washing that fingernail for 20 seconds with soap and hot water?


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washed my hands, then drilled the holes for the gages for Charlie.

 

back to the wood work, I put a coat of paint on the back side and bottom of the front header, I also painted the angle iron where the wood touches it.

 

I went ahead and put the header in place and put the flat head bolts in. I am using flat washers and regular nuts.
it also gets one wood screw through the bracket

 

the post sheet metal gets a nail to hold it to the wood. I cut a head off of one of the nails and used it to "drill" a pilot hole. this is the way a boat/woody car builder I know told me to do it.

 

^^^^^ It's also a great trick in wood working when doing fine molding.

 

We use the same nail in the drill trick to install hardwood trim like oak baseboards.
The truck is coming along nice.

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There are two vertical carriage bolts in the front angle iron through the lower part of the header. The header sheet metal has two bumps where they go.


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I noticed a couple square holes about a foot away from the posts. is that the ones you mention?

 

I welded a little rod between the nuts so if the need to be tightened in the future the nuts won't spin.

 

That sounds right, have to look later today


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They’re 14.75” in, here’s a picture of them in my coupe, bit dark, but measure the same on the pickup. Also the corner brackets go behind the angle.


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thanks. are you sure about the corner brackets?

 

I did a lot of research on those. The outer hole on the angle across has a taper hole for the screw while the bracket does not. When assemble the other way the taper screw doesn’t fit properly and there is also a gap on the bracket.


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I could be mistaken for the pickup. My pickup is a late 31 with the steel roof, they have to go on the outside, but the brackets were tapered on the outside as compared to the coupe, should have looked there first.


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this truck the bracket goes like we have it, like your coupe. you can see the taper on the bracket. there is a bump for clearance of the carriage bolts in the square holes.

 

I started making the board that goes over the driver door. I used my angle finder to get the proper angle against the header, then measured the distance from the back end against the door jamb. I marked the piece and measured the depth of the rabbet.

 

instead of walking down to the house [300 ft.] to cut this on my wood bandsaw I just cut this with a hack saw. I cut it big and finished the fitting with a rasp.

 

I then traced out the shape of the door and marked the jamb.

 

the wood will have to be trimmed to allow for the thickness of the outer metal. I also think it will have to have a rabbet to keep it flush along the bottom edge.

 

with both pieces in place I trimmed the over hang on the front then fitted the filler panel over the windshield. I blasted the panel. I then cut the pieces over the door about a 1/8" away from the line I marked. I will use the sander to get them to the right size . both pieces had almost the exact same profile which leads me to believe we have the truck pretty squared up.

 

I clamped them together and sanded them to the same shape, then clamped and bolted them in place. started sanding the header to the proper shape.

 

sanded the header and fit the panel over the windshield. the header needed to be sanded to get the correct shape for the visor. once the visor was clamped on it needed to be shaped to square up. it had a bad twist.

 

I sanded the pieces over the doors to allow for space for the metal pieces that go over the door.

 

I then traced out the old piece that went over the back of the cab and made a template for the corner pieces. then cut them on the bandsaw.

 

with a little sanding I fit the corner pieces.

 

I then clamped the piece to mark for the rabbets that will join the three pieces.

 

I took all the pieces out and gave them a coat of paint so they can be put in permanently. I didn't paint the areas I plan to glue.

 

I am not sure if this is a photo of me after sanding, or getting ready to go grocery shopping.