Floor?

[HEMI BUCKET]

Have any of you got photos you can post of how you went about making & 'glassing in your wooden floors & any body strengthening please? If the photos show whereabouts your brake & throttle pedals ended up, so much the better as it looks like my throttle pedal's going to be on top of the trans tunnel, great for me but crap for any passenger!

Thanks in advance, Al

 

[Bill Pedersen]

Hi Al,
Here are a couple of pictures of pedal locations on Total' Tangerine "T" car.

 

[LumenAl]

...photos show whereabouts your brake & throttle pedals ended up...
Thanks in advance, Al

Hey Al,

Here is a picture of my gas and brake pedal placement... unfortunately, it's with the floor done (and dirty )

 

["The Bat" out of hell]

I helped my buddy Rosh a few months back on a T-bucket he got,and has been rebuilding ,it came with 3/4in plywood floor that was glassed in a bit cocked[off about 7/8 in. from side to side pklus kind of high in body so it would set lower on frame,he did not wish to remove the floor and start over,so we had to remount body to get it set strait with frame,and gave it some rake for better looks. The below floor brake pedal was very hard to work becaues it did not stick up though the floor far enough.
I built him a 3.5in. deep foot/heel box in the floor,so his right foot could work the brake and gas much better,the gas was hung from under the dash OK,but the way he got the bucket,his foot would not hardly fit =toe would hit dash bottom with heel on floor.
The only trick here was to fit the box so it missed all the stuff under the floor,the only draw back is this box will be a point all the drit that gets in will go to.

 

[Youngster]

I like to build a toe board into the floor. It adds so much comfort for both the driver and your passenger. It also gives you more choices as where to locate your gas pedal. Sorry I don't have a better picture but I think you can see what I mean. This was the first one I did. The toe board is 13" from top to bottom. I now make them 9". Works much better.

 

[HEMI BUCKET]

Thanks for the replies so far chaps.

Youngster.

Have you got any more detail or photos about how you go about making your floors please?

Cheers, Al

 

[Youngster]

Give me a couple of days. I have a '27 body in storage that might help clear up some of your questions.

Ron

 

[donsrods]

I do my glassing the old fashioned way, I use mat and polyester resin to reinforce and bond the wood inner structure to the glass body. I first wipe down the entire interior with acetone to remove the mold release wax, then lightly grind the entire interior surface of the body with something like a 50 grit disc to give it some tooth. Then I wipe it down again with more acetone.

I cut strips of mat (not cloth.......mat is the stuff with random strands, and it bites into existing glass better) and use a couple layers of wetted out mat under each stringer and around the perimeter of the floor. I cut the floor so it is not a tight fit up against the glass, leave a gap so you don't get stress points and shadowing.

I use 3 or 4 layers of mat in most locations to "tab" the wood to the body. I precut lots of mat strips of various widths and lengths so that I have them ready to go as I am glassing. You want to use progressively slightly wider strips laid up atop each other so you don't get a sharp edge that creates a stress point.

Buy yourself a good book on fiberglassing, even one for doing boats will help you out a lot. I came out of the marine industry, and build my car bodies like we did a boat.

Here are some pictures to help you see what I am talking about.

Don

 

[donsrods]

And when it is all glassed in it looks like this.

Don

 

["The Bat" out of hell]

THAT'S SOME NICE STRONG WORK ,Don.
I started using West System epoxy a few years back,I had it around from my boat work,found it even stronger then reg glass,but it maybe over kill,it dose cost more,but there West System pumps make working with it very EZ.

 

[donsrods]

West System is definitely a superior system all around. Epoxies bite in better than polyester, and you are right, those ratio pumps make it clean and simple. Cost is significantly higher though, which is why I don't use it. But if a person wanted a first rate job, there is no better way to do it.

Don

 

[Youngster]

Don, Nice work....how do you do the top rear corners?

Ron

 

[donsrods]

Thanks. I like to use 1 x 2 select pine instead of firring strips because it is just a better grade wood with less flaws. When I get into the corners it takes some shaping of the wood on the belt sander to get it contoured to fit tight in there. If you use short pieces of wood they will follow the bends a little better.

The numbers on the wood are so I can keep moving along real quick because the resin kicks pretty fast down here in Florida. By numbering them there is no confusion what one comes next, I just pick it up and glass it in.

Don

 

["The Bat" out of hell]

Vary nice work there,I like it