Thinking of making this body longer

[anesthes]

I watched the Spirit video where he added 4" to the cowl. Doesn't look that bad. I thought about doing it a little differently but, the use of honeycomb (plasticore?) seems fairly straight forward.

This is a old body, I think it was made sometime in the 60's. I picked it up for my project. Ignore the frame it's sitting on.




The firewall is smooth though, it doesn't have the lip that Sprint used when he cut the firewall to move it forward.

What I was thinking of doing was making a template out of some 3/4 plywood to match the firewall. This would become the new firewall.

Then cut the firewall out about 1" undersize. Leaving a 1" flange around the whole thing.

Glue some wood to the flange, 3/4" wide, basically creating a lip for the honeycomb of 1/4"

Glue some wood to the new firewall, same deal.

Then just run the honeycomb lip to lip, resin and glass over.


However, before I go crazy with the body saw I was curious if anyone had any feedback or suggestions.

I've also thought of (and this might be dumb). Instead of lengthening the cowl, cutting the body in half and lengthening the actual body. I thought about doing this by cutting the doors (and body) in half, and making the actual doors longer. This of course would require me to have to cut into the lovely wood work on the top of the tub.

Feedback?

 

[Spanky]

I like lengthening the cowl better than sectioning the body. I think it would look better overall. Look at this 27 body of Cooter's which has a longer cowl by design . . .

 

[409T]

Chopping up the body and door(s) for 4" seems like a lot of work.

 

[anesthes]

Chopping up the body and door(s) for 4" seems like a lot of work.

Yeah I was thinking it would be easier to do it in the cowl.

 

[anesthes]

I like lengthening the cowl better than sectioning the body. I think it would look better overall. Look at this 27 body of Cooter's which has a longer cowl by design . . .

Probably would be easier. The only real downside to the way it is now is the super small doors are difficult to get in/out with a steering wheel in place.

These cars were not really meant for people my size. Ideally I'd add about 6" to the cowl and make it like a '27 tub, but 6 might look weird. I figured once I cut it off I'd mock it up.

As far as my method for cutting and lengthening the cowl, I was hoping for some feedback from folks that have done it. The ONLY video/post I could find was the Spirit car video, and he did it a little differently because of the way his firewall was made. My firewall is smooth, so it doesn't have the lip (for the hood). He used that as a guide.

 

[Spanky]

Here's a thread from Alt-Bantam that might apply . . .
(skip to page 4)

Thread 'Alt Bantam'

Aug 28, 2022

I planned to start this post earlier... I am building Altered/Gasser Bantam with a 60's look. This means a reversed rake. Engine is a 67' Buick 430 I have had for a while. Trans is a 'Dearborn' 3 speed from a 66' GTO. 9" rear end. I am using a Speedway body I bought years ago. Will be a two seater. I plan to add opening doors.

Frame was started a few weeks ago. Below is a photo of the frame. The dimensions are wider than a t bucket since the Bantam body is wider. I hoped to be further along but I had to make some minor changes to the rear suspension. I order different axle mounts. Photo...

• AltBantam
• bantam
• Replies: 144
• Forum: Project Plans & Updates

• 

 

[409T]

If you get really excited about it, there are original model T firewalls for sale on Ebay.

 

[anesthes]

If you get really excited about it, there are original model T firewalls for sale on Ebay.

I have one in the shop. I actually have a couple 23 steel bodies as well. The weird thing is, my '24 T firewall is only 24" wide and the firewall on this fiberglass body is 28" wide.

I had this grand idea of mounting the steel T firewall to the frame, welding up the steering column mount, etc but when I mocked it up and realized it was smaller I abandoned the idea.



I met a guy a few weeks ago in Maine who has a really cool custom '23 fiberglass T. He lengthened his firewall by making a short hood. Kinda interesting. I'm not sure yet if I like it, but It is interesting.

 

[Ferg Daddy]

Pictures of this Maine T or it didn’t happen.

 

[DonnyRay]

I believe cooter's body came from Ron Pope Motorsports ( RPM ). That's where i got mine. It's called a ,"BIG BOY". The cowl is 10"s longer than stock & the body is 6"s wider than stock. I'm very happy with this body. You can view my photos in my thread ( i have more than 90 pages ).