Truck based woody

[Bill]

Tailgate assemblies.. you meant assembly right....LOLOL Bill

[GB SISSON]

Bill, I know, I know... you feel a one piece lift gate with gas shocks might seal better, and there's a good chance it would. To me the only reason a person owns, builds, drives a woodie (or any antique vehicle for that matter) is the romance of the whole experience. Let's face it. Modern cars work much better and are more comfortable and require far less maintenance. The more we make our old vehicles 'better', more of the original feel is lost. I do feel that with modern rubber weatherstripping and seals I can get a tight seal at the gates. We build a lot of custom entry door sets and double french doors on waterfront homes. Very important they don't leak any driving rain and salt spray as the owners are usually in Arizona or Hawaii for the winter and the wood floors will be ruined. My vision of this truck is the tailgate down, rear windows up, our old aluminum cooler on the tailgate
and it's a pita to reach in and load and unload everything across what looks like will be a huge tailgate. I'm hoping to address the exhaust fume issue, but I know already that the tailgate will be pretty horrible to use, but I won't have to look at the black, mini-van sourced gas shocks when I'm gazing upon my creation. We all adjust for what is important to us. Juice brakes on a model A.... Holy crap I'm starting to sound like some of the rants I see on forums. Really Bill, you have been a big supporter and this thing will never be anything original, but I just gotta have an old fashioned tailgate.

[flatford8]

^^^^^ Well said^^^^^ Guys that I work with don't understand why I drive a 35 yr old truck everyday. I just smile and say" Driving it makes me smile". Mark

[GB SISSON]

I set the old cooler inside but haven't got a picture yet. Those that understand will understand.... But I ALSO understand Bill's headaches and light headeness from those awful flathead v8 exhaust fumes. When I drove the 38 tonner as my dd, cabinet shop delivery, every day vehicle, I once backed up to an 8000 sq ft waterfront home with 12 subcontractors trying to get their work done... Well my dual exhausts filled the house with the worst fumes ever and most of the crew went home with migranes.....

[Bill]

Well GB I didn't want you to think I was takin' over your build I was throwin' out the one piece t-gate for what it was worth! Like I said in a previous post it's your baby. You are right gas prop rods (you could woodgrain them) do take away from the oldtimey look. I'm still supporting your build and will still offer my opinion as it comes together.Look forward to every post.. Bill

[GB SISSON]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I love you man...

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

I have a few fumers myself. Very obnoxious. The finger injuries are part of the elusive charm of woodworking. This was a few years back, but it helped me to get to know the nurse who became my wife. Sorry if you're eating breakfast....

GB out of every bad thing that happens comes the chance for something good and your "accident" certainly netted you a good prize. As a she's a nurse you now have her nearby should you by chance saw your hand off working on the woody (only joking). A mate of mine who's sixty and a builder told me some young "chippie" showed him his missing didget that he took off with a skill saw and proudly proclaimed that "he was a real builder now". He turned around and said to the youngster "No... real builders have all their body parts intact" .

The woody is looking fantastic. I 'm with you on keeping the tailgate 2 piece. With a hatch type door and gas struts it would only look like one of those "hot rod" wannabe woodies that are a bit of a rage....bluck!

Graeme

[flatford8]

Im not trying to offer suggestions but could you make two swinging doors like a panel?....Mark

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by flatford8

Im not trying to offer suggestions but could you make two swinging doors like a panel?....Mark

I have thought about that too. Some years back when I had a big family our dd was a '79 toyota landcruiser fj55 station wagon. These had a tall, heavy tailgate with electric back window. All those runs to costco for groceries in heavy cardboard boxes to lift across the gate got really old. It was replaced by an ex forest service suburban and when I went shopping for a burb, the barn door version was at the top of my list. Still....... I really think the panel type doors won't seal any better than a tailgate properly weather stripped. I'm still leaning towards the tailgate. Not sure if the pun was intended or not.

[41panelmark]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

I have a few fumers myself. Very obnoxious. The finger injuries are part of the elusive charm of woodworking. This was a few years back, but it helped me to get to know the nurse who became my wife. Sorry if you're eating breakfast....

Geeze that looks like no fun. As I told you before I lopped one off in October while showing a hit n miss. Luckily it was a clean chop and the surgeons were able to put it back together with no problems. Looks pretty good now.

[GB SISSON]

I have kept my fingers out of my 1912 stover 8 hp so far. A neighbor gave it to me in '88 with the head missing and every single part stuck. Funny they had overhead valves in 1912....

[GB SISSON]

Got a couple pictures of my cooler. Frikken Ay It needs a tailgate.

[38bill]

Yup, she needs a tail gate. With your skills I have no doubt that you can come up with one that will work great.

[GB SISSON]

With work getting busier all the time, I have not done too much on the woodie this week. Yesterday while working on the mainland I picked up a driveshaft and transmission yoke for the 3 speed trans that Stu is shipping to me. This was a timely 50.00 CL find. In today's mail I got NORS valves and guides for the engine from Bob Selzam in New Jersey. They were all wrapped in dark brown waxed paper and smelled like pine tar. This afternoon after work I jacked up the front of the woodie, placed jack stands under the axle, pulled the front wheels and prepared to remove the front clip. I have decided not to build and fit the doors until the engine and transmission are installed. I have found that door gaps etc can change when the frame settles. The other reason is after it runs, I can drive it in and out of the shop on sunny days this spring. My shop is unheated and poorly lit. Gloomy, you might say, particularly in the winter weather of Western Washington. I guess what I'm saying is work is progressing, but the wood body isn't going to change a lot for a while as I continue to work on the mechanical aspects. I bought a tube of black sikaflex polyurethane marine sealant to test on my goodyear rubber roof samples in an attempt to give it an old fashioned roof texture. Stay tuned.....

[GB SISSON]

The sun shone bright all day and I am almost caught up with the rush in my cabinet work so took a day off to work on the woodie. My engine work is stalled for a technical glitch so I decided to start mocking up doors. The rear doors are more simple so I started there. I have been using panel truck doors to set the curves and angles because they match the truck's roof line and I think it is the way to carry the belt line back aft for something that started as a truck. I learned a tremendous amount today in mocking up this door with scrap lumber. Good thing, as my supply of expensive Eastern maple won't last forever. It is quite humbling to do a bunch of math and measuring only to have the first attempt not line up with the back half and the front hinge. I reverted to a straight board, hell with the math and got a nice fair line down the length of the body. Now to copy this in hard maple and get the front doors to follow suit. All the doors I build will be a bit oversized so I can do a final fitting when the engine and transmission are buttoned up. It's a pretty gol dang fun project I gotta say.....

[mhsprecher]

GB, if your shop does not have enough light, try using LEDs. Costco had florescent fixture-sized LEDs for a good price. A lot more light from the same number of fixtures. A little harsh, but I got used to it.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by mhsprecher

GB, if your shop does not have enough light, try using LEDs. Costco had florescent fixture-sized LEDs for a good price. A lot more light from the same number of fixtures. A little harsh, but I got used to it.

You mean like flourescent tubes that roll into my ceiling fixtures but they are LEDs? That sounds like exactly what I need! And maybe stronger reading glasses. Thanks for that info!

[Fordors]

I know they do market fluorescent replacement LED 4 foot tubes but reports I've read say some have good luck with them and some don't. Apparently it depends on the ballasts in your fixtures, some are hard on them and fry them quickly. The fixtures mhs mentioned are plug-in but I would think they could be hard wired if desired. A question for mhsprecher-how did you hook them up?

[mhsprecher]

You can buy replacement bulbs or the whole fixture. I bought the fixtures from Costco and they were about the same as just buying the bulbs.

[AKCJ]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

This is gonna seem odd, but I have never really even looked at a ford woodie before I started (or since). I have been dreaming of going to the Lemay antique car museum in Tacoma Wa. and am hoping they have one there. With the ferry and travel time it would be a 2 day trip. .

Just google Lemay car collection woodie - you will probably like what you see. We were lucky enough to visit there two years ago when we were down south. Well worth the time and price of admission. Good luck.