Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

Hi Perley. Hadn't heard from you in a while. I was beginning to wonder if you were sick or something. Anyway, I'm flattered that you find me to be an inspiration. It makes you feel good when you try something you haven't done before and it works, doesn't it? I guess that's why I like fabrication. Half the stuff I do I've never done before... at least not the same way...

OK, I've put this off almost until the last minute, but I've got to get it done sooner or later... It's time to put the reinforcement in the body. I dread doing fiberglass work because it's itchy; it's not difficult, just itchy, but it has to be done.

The first part isn't bad. I began by making poster board patterns for the wood reinforcement pieces. The next step was to duplicate the patterns in wood. I cheated a little bit here; instead of doing all this at home with hand tools, I utilized the shop at school to make these pieces. I could have done it all at home with a skill saw, jig saw, and a body grinder, but with a complete school shop at my access, why not speed up the process? First, I planed some 2 x 4 material down to 1 5/16" thick to match the depth of the lip around the top of the body. Next, I used the miter saw and band saw to cut the pieces to shape.

The vertical pieces in the body needed to be tapered in thickness from the 1 5/16" thickness at the top to 3/4" thickness at the bottom, so I used the jointer to do that. Finally, I used the radial arm saw, with the blade raised to about 3/32" above the table, to put kerf cuts across the pieces so they could be bent to fit inside the body. The sharper a piece needs to bend, the more kerf cuts are necessary. I ended up making the front verticals twice. I initially made the kerf cuts so they were parallel to the bottom of each piece. When I tried to fit the pieces in the body I discovered that they needed the cuts made the opposite direction so that the wood could twist as it conformed to the body.

Once everything was trimmed to fit, I glued the wood into the body. Having worked as both a body man and a wood shop teacher, it was inevitable that I would eventually combine the two; I discovered some years ago that ordinary automotive body filler is both and excellent wood filler and a very strong adhesive. I used auto body filler to glue the wood reinforcement into the body. I simply mixed the stuff up, slathered it on the back of the wood pieces about 1/4" thick, and then clamped the pieces in place. The body filler fills up any void between the wood and the body and the excess oozes out the sides. I scraped the excess off with my bondo spreader and packed it into the crevices between the wood and the bars inside the body. In 15 or 20 minutes the clamps can be removed and move on to the next piece.

Finally, all the wood was finalized and further strengthened with the application of a layer of fiberglass mat and polyester resin. This is the part I dislike (Did I say it's itchy?); I'm glad it's done! After it's cured completely I will have to knock any lumps, etc. off with a grinder. That process can also be itchy and I will do that outdoors, but the worst is over.