What I don't understand is why you people don't use 30# roofing felt. It is the closest that I know of to the original material and dirt cheap. Check with a roofer in your area they should have a small piece that is scrap.

Chipper is right the material can be gotten free; stop by any job site where they are laying felt and if you ask they will let you have all of the cut offs they toss off of the roof.

P.S. There are different grades of felt, some roofers don't use 30#.

If roofing felt was the original stuff on my '30 coupe I would have used it. However, as mentioned, the material found between the reinforcing brackets and the wood was leatherette, a fine grained leatherette at that. This stuff was also used in the roof between the corner metal reinforcing brackets and the wood as well. Also, found it covering the rumble seat latch on the upper panel below the rear window too. So.....if ya wanna go back original ya use the original factory stuff found....which, in this case was leatherette.

Roofing felt will work just fine too, and it would be perfect for the job. However, the leatherette I found that was used from the factory (Kansas City by the way) is way tougher stuff than 30 pound roofing felt.

It sounds like, That If you can!t see It, Any thing can be used If It Is hidden, Now I wonder If I can find original 1932 air for my tires, Or do I just use todays air and not worry about losing points when the car Is judged.

Hey Donald! Knowing you.....if you could find the original stale 1932 air for your tires you would use it! However, it is interesting to note that some dudes that have dual sidemounts on their cars and have their cars judged, don't even have air in those tires and no points are deducted. So.....you should be safe.

Hey Skipper. I have alot of hot air In my tires all the time.

The material that I have found on several '31 Chevys is more like roofing felt than leatherette. It was more like a woven fabric impregnated with tar to make it waterproof. I believe that scrap material from upholstery, tops and fabrics from non-automotive applications was also used. I am sure there were specifications and many suppliers so the fabric used in any car and from year to year varied. I have never found rubber isolators in the body or under bolt on parts. Engine and transmission mounts however used rubber beginning in '32.

FYI, the original leatherette was more like oil cloth than modern vinyl. Vinyl was not developed until the 40s and not used in any large volume until the 50s.

Absolutely! Various scraps of material were used that were available and the type of material used also probably varied from factory to factory. The material used on my '30 coupe was definitely the old leatherette material. It was woven, and it had sort of a beige (or off white) colored backing with a black leatherette grained front. Looked exactly like the 1930 top insert material but finer grained.

Just FYI if anyone is interested in oilcloth this site has woodgrain oilcloth (scroll down to the bottom of the page that boots up for woodgrain) at a low cost, in their words:

"The oilcloth is 47" wide. It costs $6.99 per yard (except for medallion which is 54" wide and $7.69 per yard) . Fabric is sold by the running yard. If you purchase one yard of oilcloth you will be sent a piece that is 36" by 47". Fabric is sold in 1/4 yard increments, with a 1/2 yard minimum per fabric."

Also you can request samples:

"For swatch requests, please use our Request Form."

http://www.mendels.com/fabrics_oilcloth.html

There are other sites for oilcloth here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=oilcloth&spell=1

Don't know if this product could be used or not I will let the experts check it out and give their opinions.

Chevtruck1926, Bill sent me an email last night, and he and I have no problem with using the info in this thread for the Stovebolt...all you need now is for the moderator to give you the OK.

Perfect, thanks for all the trouble Don. And keep us posted how '31 is doing please.

Richard

Will do buddy! If the painter keeps to his schedule, I should have her back, painted and ready for re-assembly, before Christmas.

If all goes well I might even have her back on the road by spring .

A prospective region member has a 26 4dr sedan. He brought in to the meeting a door jamb (#6 in the illustration of the 7-passenger sedan above) covered with metal except for a thin area on one side. He wants to know how to get the wood "out". I assume that you spread the sheet metal. Any way to do it without bending the metal?

Thanks,

Jim

The '26 is considerably older than my '31, so I can not give you a solid answer without actually looking at the parts in question, but here is what I learned when I worked on the '31.

When the bodies were originally built, the entire wooden sub-structure of the body was completed first, and then the metal body panels were installed over it.

The hinge and lock pillars are glued and screwed to the lower side sills, from the outside, with two large wood screws, so the screw heads are not accessible once the metal body panel is installed.

The metal body panels are actually flanged and nailed onto the wooden sub-structure, so in order to remove the lock pillar you have to gain access to the screws by either removing the lock pillar covers and un-nailing the body panels from the lock pillar, or you would actually have to cut through the body panel.

Probably the best thing to do here is to get us a photo of the parts in question, so we can see what we are up against, and then we can contact Bill Cartwright at K.C. Wood to see what's the best way to tackle this.

Please contact me via email and let's discuss further.

Hey Don,
I just met you at Bill Fisk's Machine Shop in Charleston. Thanks for introducing me to VCCA. Being the new guy on the block it will take me awhile to figure out how to post pictures. As soon as I do I'll post some pictures of my 58 GMC panel & 56 GMC truck. Don you really should post some pictures of 31's 6 cylinder , I was blown away when I saw it at Bill's shop. Later! Deuter412

Hi Dueter,

It was great to meet you today at Bill's, and welcome to the VCCA forums. As for the posting the pics, they are already here in: Wood Repair Support Group