European Fordor project

[katy]

FWIW, ash was the wood of choice for wood spoked wheels, oak is too brittle for that application.

[Russ/40]

Ash was also Ford's choice for external wood like on the woodies.

[eystein]

For most wood parts in the body, there was a multiple choice of which type of wood to use. I guess that this was in order to avoid production halts / supply chain problems due to unavailability of a specific type of wood. The exception was parts were specific characteristics were required like for instance top bows to be steam bent.

Attached is part of a factory drawing for a sill for the Cabriolet (also made by Briggs who made the Fordor which shared many similar wood parts with the Cabriolet)

As you can see, a variety of woods were allowed under the specification.

[eystein]

Actually, having scanned all the Cabriolet wood drawing that i've got (all except doors) none of them "allow" ash. It would surprise me if the Fordor body, also made by Briggs, and from which many Cabriolet parts were modelled would have wood parts made from ash.

[DkFordor]

A small update: I decided upon using ash - although the vast majority of the old construction was made from oak. Apart from oak we also found beech, elm and pine in repairs made previously

* In the top of the car we decided to reuse the parts that were structurally intact, and replace the parts that were not.
* Both door posts have been remade, the old ones were not original, not made correctly - and not at all stable! (In fact this explains very well the previous issues with doors unable to close properly since the posts were moving quite a bit )
* The bottom frame (not sure if this is the correct name) will be remade completely - the old one had been repaired in multiple places and was in quite bad shape.

The project is ongoing in various stages of completion Some parts will have to be finalized upon assembly.
A few pictures attached for the interested.

[JayJay]

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DK - in your original post you asked a number of questions. The bulk of the responses so far appear to be addressing ash vs. oak. As far as that question, I'd agree with the responses - ash is by far the more stable and more moisture-resistant of the two and would be a far superior choice. To put this in perspective, look around you and see how much oak you find in exposed exterior applications - virtually none. It does not hold up to moisture well, and will strip out easier because the wood fibers are not as dense. And there is that pesky acid issue to deal with, stainless screws would be a must for use in oak, and desirable elsewhere.

Other questions dealt with "insulation". From a sound standpoint, you're trying to deal with two issues:

• Prevent body noise from being generated, and
• Prevent any noise generated from being propagated into the passenger cabin.

As far as noise generation, there are two things that cause body noise: friction between moving parts ("squeaks" e.g., metal and wood in a wood frame car) and metal movement acting as a radiator ("rumble" - radiator here meaning sound radiator, like a speaker). They are approached differently.

1. Friction between moving parts can be handled by isolating the two surfaces from each other using a material that can allow independent movement. Bob Johnson posted a picture of the door showing a fabric mat installed between the wood mid-brace and the exterior skin of the door. My Murray Town Sedan has that also. I suspect it's a type of wool matting similar to what you would find in upholstery construction. Your local upholsterer should be able to get some for you. It should be as tight in the gap as you can get it. (Don't let it hang too far off the brace or you will interfere with the window travel. DAHIK) Likewise, that's part of the purpose of the dense webbing you install between the frame and the body.
2. Minimizing the radiator effect of sheet metal involves putting some sort of adhesive damping attached firmly to the surface so that you increase the mass of the sheet metal so it won't vibrate. There's a good thread here in the Barn that started a couple of weeks ago discussing that. (Conventional wall insulation doesn't really help this at all, although it may help to retain heat inside the cabin.)

Noise generated from outside the cabin, for example engine noise, is also addressed by damping the radiative surfaces. But it also must be addressed by sealing up any openings that noise can transmit through. Critical dimensions (opening dimensions that can pass sound) at audible frequencies are on the order of centimeters, which means that openings having a dimension in centimeters in any direction can pass audible sound. So sealing up around the shifter, emergency brake and doors can have a very demonstrable effect.


Something else to consider: when Ford originally put these bodies together the metal was primed, wood was added, and then the body assembled and painted. Not a whole lot of effort made in protecting surfaces that didn't show. Since you have the body apart you might want to consider hitting the hidden metal surfaces with a spray-on or brush-on rust converter or encapsulator before you assemble it back together (especially the parts that have been next to the oak...). My wood appears to be in excellent condition and I'm not planning to separate the wood from the metal but will treat the exposed surfaces before repainting.

You look to have a wonderful project. Have a lot of fun with it.

JayJay

[DkFordor]

Hi JayJay,

Thanks for the elaborate reply - lots of good and useful info there!

Since the sheet metal anyways needs lots of repairs I do plan to clean up and coat the inside also prior to assembly.

Regarding isolating the sheetmetal from the wood it appears a sturdy cardboard-like material of a kind has been used in the car for that purpose, at least towards the back. Any thoughts on how to make sure the material of choice stays in place? I was considering if a layer of properly thin self-adhesive soundproofing material perhaps would serve the purpose?

\Dan