Replacing wood on a 1941 60S

[Cooke]

Has anyone replaced the structural wood under the rocker panels on a 1941 60S?? How difficult is it?

[Bruce Berghoff -#1476]

Hey Martin ... It's been about 20 years, but as I recall ... all it took was access to a source of some 4" X 4" or 4" X 6" kiln dried oak or ash and a fairly heavy duty  9" throated band saw with a well lubricated 1/2" medium stiff blade . ( and of course enough of the remains of the original pieces to act as patterns ! ) I prefinished my parts with several coats of a penetrating sealer before installation . BB

[Don Boshara #594]

My originals were so far gone that I made a pair of trial sills out of cheap pine before using oak for the finished ones.

[Terry Wenger]

Its has been many years, but I seem to recall someone in the Club had the factory drawings for these sills.

Terry Wenger

[Paul Phillips]

I would love to see the factory drawings!  If anybody has info on that, please let me (us) know.

I fabricated sills for my car earlier this year, interpolating between deteriorated wood and the floor pan surface.  There are definitely some nuances that require woodworking skill.  Most significant is that the floor pan slopes down toward the outside edge.  The main sill runner and the pockets for the two cross channels need to conform to that slope angle.

I chose to fabricate the replacements out of ash wood instead of oak.  It is stronger and less porous than the oak.  The wood was also coated with an epoxy primer as used to stabilize wood for architectural repairs. I found this stuff at Restoration Supply in CA www.restorationstuff.com.

I also took a bit of license to modify the design to ensure drainage under the B pillar, as well as creating drain holes in the metal support pieces under the sill at the cowl sides. One if the pitfalls of exposed hinges is they will allow some water in those areas.

I would suggest it is next to impossible to replace the main sill and the ramp section under the front floorboard without removing the body from frame, at least lifting one side at a time. There are metal pieces as mentioned above at the cowl area and also in front of the rear wheel wells that must be removed from below the sills, and there are nails from the original assembly in the front toe board area that cannot be removed, as the body was built up after being attached to the sills.  Unless that area is thoroughly rotted, you need to wrestle the wood loose from those nails.

Paul

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

I do have a set of the plans, which were modified some ten days after my car was produced on 11-11-40. The main change was to reinforce the "step" under the door cap. Evidently, they had enough heavy people who stepped on it, and made it sag in the three months or so of production that they felt the need to get rid of the "Z" shaped brackets that only supported the wood from the top, and added another strap underneath it. I do have the rocker panel measurements somewhere in my files that Ron Bennett gave me as well. I am nearly done with the job, which was the rocker panels and step wood only, as my sills were still sturdy enough to keep. I haven't looked at the blueprints for some time and the last time that I did, they were fading, even though they have been kept in the mailing tube out of the light. I believe we got them from Ed Cholokian's All-Cads. I own these in conjunction with Carl Steig. I have "shared" these in the past if they are returned ASAP.

[Paul Phillips]

Barry
I would love to borrow your plans & will send you a PM so we can work out details.

Thanks!Paul

[srk1941]

Maybe these should be scanned or digitized, especially if they are fading?

[Doug Houston]

Its has been many years, but I seem to recall someone in the Club had the factory drawings for these sills.

It mihg havd bden me. I dxid jhav hat Fisher Body drawing of the main body dills. I loaned it to Pete Dapkus, in the St Louis area (Ballwin?). He never returned it, and probably sold it to someone.

Terry Wenger

Its has been many years, but I seem to recall someone in the Club had the factory drawings for these sills.

Terry Wenger