I have noticed some damage to the main wood sill in the area of the firewall, and am going to start disassembling the interior to see what kind if access I can get. If I need to replace wood, do I have to replace the entire main sill or can it be spliced? This is on a hot rod so it does not have to be authentic, just safe.

If you are building a street rod and you want it safe....remove all of the wood and replace it with steel tubing. This is usually a normal procedure that is done by most street rodders.

Thank you sir, but I'm afraid that I would really be taxing my skills.

That being the case then what ever you are comfortable with should suffice.

Thanks guys, I would rether keep the wood. Can I repair it?

I replaced the front half of the wood sills on my '31 Coach using 1&3/4" ash. Convention suggests using a tapered splice and screws from both sides. However, the sill are so wide, this could be challenging to make the long tapered cut on existing sill. So I spliced mine using a steel plate sandwich.

What I did was remove rocker panel, the front 2 mounting bolts, door post bracket etc and cut the old sill off square halfway between the 2nd and 3rd mounting bolt, just ahead of the second wood cross piece. I then made a new piece out of ash to match what I cut off.

I butted the old and new sill pieces ends together, and to secure them strongly, I recessed a 3/16"x2"x14" long piece of flat steel into the top (just used a sharp chisel and patience to cut 3/16" recess), and put a similar 1/8" steel piece underneath (remember body shims are only 3/16" so room is tight). I drilled 6- 5/16" holes in top steel plate at drill press, 3 on each side of butt joint (spaced 1" from each end, 1&1/2" from butt, 3rd in middle of each side) in straight line. Set top steel in place on butted sills (clamp them in place to ensure alignment) and drilled corresponding holes through wood sill.

Finally then place bottom steel piece temporarily in place under clamped sill and use a 5/16" drill to mark the six holes through the wood sill. This proceedure is necessary to ensure all bolt holes will line up and are tight fits when this sandwich goes together. Use press to drill bottom holes.

I used 5/16" SS carriage bolts which if you drill top holes just a tad larger than 5/16" can be driven into top holes and make their own "squareing" to lock them in place for bolting.

Then simply drive bolts through the steel/wood/steel sandwich,to underside of sill and secure with washers and lock nuts. Bolts need to be about 2&3/4" long. Care needs to be taken to locate the bolts (and steel plates)in a straight line centered exactly between the outside of the steel frame and the inner edge of the splash apron. This space is usually about 3/4" to 1" wide and thus washers (if used) and nuts will clear everything. Depending on your car, line of holes may need to be slightly off center in plates but that does not matter.
Using this method, the rear sill piece retains two solid mounting spots as does the front sill piece. The cross piece for the seat supports etc can be remade or the new sill adjusted to fit. Once mine was finished, it is easily as solid as the original, and is not easy to see once flooring is installed.

While this may sound like a lot of tinkering, it went surprisingly easy once the procedure and measurements had been figured out. It is also very simple to disassemble and therefore test fitting is easy before priming etc. I used a wood deck stain to act as a preserver for the wood sill.

To further stiffen outermost edge of sill near butt, I cut about 1" deep section off outside edge of the finished sill, a about 8" inches either side of new butt joint, I secured a new 16" long piece of ash with countersunk SS screws. Then reshaped this piece to match RP shape.

Care needs be taken when refitting door post bracket to new sill to ensure door gaps are correct and in/out alignment has not changed.

Hope this description may help you figure how it can be done without removing sills from body.

Gunsmoke,

You're the bomb. I happen to be a pretty good woodworder and with your directions, I'm well on my way. Hope I don't find much more damage.

I hope to learn as much about this car as I have working with wood.

Thank you sir...

I would opt for a completely wooden repair. There are several ways to splice the two pieces that will result in a strong, stable repair. Instead of a simple butt joint which has a two dimensional repair plane you can make something that looks like a V from the top. That gives a three dimensional repair. It can also be a "top hat" or "M" or "N" type depending on how accomplished you are with tools and the location of the splice. If you want to disguise the joint and make it even more stable you can laminate a piece of 1/4" exterior or marine plywood to the top surface covering the joint. As I am sure you already know the more surface area for the joint the more stable and strong.

Thanks, this is very good advice. Can't wait to get into it.

A Half lapped wood joint (a horizontal lap) would probably be just as easy to do if the existing wood is solid. For my car, the previous owner had already chopped most of the front sill off and so this was not an option for me. If you want to do a half-lapped joint, then you should have the lap 1/2 way between the second and 3rd mounting bolts. This way, both front and back sill pieces are anchored to 2 bolts. I would suggest about 12-16 inches of overlap. Using wood only, if you can get clean smooth cuts, gluing with a good construction grade adhesive and plenty of countersunk screws should also make a strong joint. Good luck whichever way you decide to go.

I'm devastated, check this out.

http://s807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/itsmeb01/?action=postuploadshare

I took out the interior yesterday and all the wood is rotten, the floor has junk plates welded in and there is metal bracing welded inside.

I don't know what to do.

That's typical. As I mentioned earlier, since you are building a street rod and because most of the existing wood is rotted, remove all of the wood and replace it with steel tubing.

Should I brace what is there some way to prevent it shifting?

You should brace the body first before installation of the steel tubing. Make sure that the body is level and that everything is square.

Thank you sir...

You bet!

Well, I have all the body to chassis bolts removed and next will build two interior supports to keep the body square before taking it off. The plan is build a steel frame if I can find someone good to take the job.

Does anyone have any experience in replacing the wood frame with metal or know of anything I could reference?

You might want to contact some of the street rod web sites instead since those dudes are very familiar with building street rods and installing steel tubing.

Munch,

As a former 32 owner, I'd like to direct you to Mr. Goodwood-Classic Wood Mfg. (336)691-1344. They advertise in the VCCA G&D monthly magazine. I never delt with them but they are in NC, which might be close to you.

You might also want to visit the Chevy Talk web site. There are lots of rodders on that site that may be able to help.

Good luck!
RayG

munch, you asked if any one installed metal in place of the body wood. check out this web site out. the metal looks just like the wood that came out. www.proffittscustoms.com with the metal installed your car will not be 100% factory. i hope this helps

I'm impressed. The pictures on that site show some very skilled metal work. I wish I could do that!

This is great, thanks.