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mulliner wood body

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buckfield
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:38 am
Location: south wales

mulliner wood body

Post by buckfield »

Hi, just need some advice as to the idea of grafting onto ash wood, ie as my upper parts of my shell wood are sound/perfect, is it permissible to graft an new piece of ash onto an existing piece, using dowels/glue/screws etc, and this would also retain some originality to the existing wood, or is this idea a no-no in the vintage car resto world? all the best Tony

Sydsmith
Extremely Wise Man
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Posts: 1369
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:15 pm
Location: Aberystwyth Wales

Re: mulliner wood body

Post by Sydsmith »

Tony, I had the same problem with a 1936 Austin many years ago.

I grafted new wood on to sound wood using PVA glue, stainless screws and thin ply splints to strengthen the key joints in some places.

It was tricky to cut the old wood in situ but with some patience a selection of saws and some very sharp chisels, I managed to do it.

I took the view that taking good solid timber out to put new in would disturb the structure of the old body, in some cases it would have involved opening up metal to rip out good wood and then getting the metal and wood to sit back properly.

In all I replaced almost the whole of the rear structure below the window line and marry it to good wood above the line, as I painted the whole lot mat black as per original, the joins did not stand out at all and beside that the whole lot was behind the seats headlining and and trim so there was never a problem with originality.

I owned the car for six years after the work and drove it over 5000 miles. It is now almost 20 years since the work was done and as far as I know the wood work still holds good. Go for it. Syd

A.N.Other
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Location: Leeds

Re: mulliner wood body

Post by A.N.Other »

I believe it is the norm rather than the exception to graft in.
As you suggest most like to keep as much originality as possible.
I suppose it all depends on how much it rotted and the cost of labour to replace it.
I'm not sure but I think it is also harder to fit a complete new frame to an old body, whereas if you graft in you have a pattern to work to.
Colin,
I may be slow but I’m rough as well !

buckfield
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:38 am
Location: south wales

Re: mulliner wood body

Post by buckfield »

Hi Guys, thanks for the input, the old ash wood is surprisingly "hard", and should provide adequate strength to my new pieces, my multi tool has had a job cutting the old ash to make lap joints with stainless screws and "resintite" glue, which may overkill? How would the trade remove the body from the chassis when the main frame is rotten god knows! hope to make some more progress over the winter. all the best Tony

Sydsmith
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Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:15 pm
Location: Aberystwyth Wales

Re: mulliner wood body

Post by Sydsmith »

Tony, I did have doubts about using a none flexible glue, my joiner son said it would be OK and it proved to be the case. He also recommended screws to make the joints solid but don't over do screw size.

Ash is one of those woods that gets harder as it ages and as you say cutting laps is not easy, the multi tool had not been invented back then.

As it happens I needed to take the Austin body off the chassis, it was a big car, a six cylinder York saloon, the ash was not there or completely rotten in the bottom half of the rear and bottom of the door frames.

Big problem was I had to replace almost the whole of the bottom six inches of metal all round and could not do that easily with the wood in place, so I braced the body solidly with heavy timber and some steel welded into place, winched it up off the chassis, wheeled the chassis out and dropped the body onto a scaffold frame so I could work on the metal and wood at a comfortable height.

After a years work the body went back on, the glass went back in, the doors went back on and they closed perfectly first time so no body distortion at all.

It was a great job to do and gave me great satisfaction when friends and neighbours regularly called to see the progress.

buckfield
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:38 am
Location: south wales

Re: mulliner wood body

Post by buckfield »

Hi Syd, will get on with it over winter, will post some pics as I progress, although this may have been documented before on here. long way to go before I get to the rotten bulkhead! all the best Tony

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