Hello From Tucson/NEED INFO

[strontium7@aol.com]

Hey everyone. I picked up a T bucket project with the intent of tearing it apart with my 13 yr. old for a father/son project. everything is going well and I'm about to start building out the interior. When I got the car the guy had channeled the fiberglass body 4" over the frame and left it at that. I need to know if there are any articles, reference material, books etc. that will show me the best way to build the wood sub structure for the seats,sides, etc.so that they can be upholstered. I have a reasonable idea on how to do the floor but any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike

 

[RPM]

Making a pattern for the floor is easy. Put the body on the frame exactly where you want it. Now starting at the firewall on the frame rails mark the top of the rails every inch. Do both sides. Now on each one of those marks measure out to the body be sure to keep every thing straight and square as you do this. Record each measurement as you go.

Ok now on a sheet of plywood. Draw out the frame rails and the one inch marks. Now go along with the marks and the measurements for the body. And put a dot there. Now connect all the dots and cut. It might take just a little trimming with a sanding disc when done. Lay it in the body and glass it in.

We weld under the frame a pc of 1 x 2 square to the frame to hold the body in place while doing this. Don't weld it much just enough to hold up the body. This gets the bottom of the body in perfect alignment with the bottom of the frame.
After the floor is glassed in cut the welds off and the tube .

 

[Youngster]

Another way to do this is to make a pattern from cardboard.

Set the body up as Ron suggested. Tape a piece of cardboard across the rails. Now trim a second piece to fit the contour of the drivers side of the body and a third piece for the passenger side. Make the 2nd and 3rd pieces wide enough to over lap each other. Tape the 2 pieces together and cut your floor from 3/4" plywood. Cutting the plywood a little larger than the pattern will give you material to fit the floor to the body. the closer the fit, the better.

Ron