I am looking for the top right rear corner piece which attaches to the roof rear bow assembly and the roof crown rail assembly(right side). The vehicle I have is a 1931 Chevrolet Independence(two door sedan). I am repairing this in order to get a new vinyl top installed later this month.Any suggestions on how to repair or a supplier of wood parts? I attached 10 photos to provide a better understand of what I am up against. Thanks, Jon
When I emailed Autowood this morning, my email was rejected with a reply saying "his mailbox was full." I immediately tried to call him and received no answer, not even voice mail.
I have an email sent out to KC Wood. I will follow up with a call to them this week.
A couple of years ago I got a roof kit from Autowood. He was highly recommended by everyone I talked with. It is excellent. He does sell pieces. I have heard a lot of complaints like yours in the last year. He doesn't answer emails or telephone. I have heard people paid for kits and never received them. Don't know what happened. He went from hero to zero in under a year. Hope you get your wood soon and without problems. There are a few others out there that make kits.
Yeah emailing KC Wood or Autowood does not work you have to persistently call till you get an answer, usually earlier in the morning before they start working. I bought several pieces of wood for my 1929 and had no issue other than getting a hold of someone :) Persistence paid off. Ted (Chistech) did all the installation of the wood and made a few custom pieces, is a lot easier to make wood with car in had to fit, trim, adjust :) but may be able to get you close !!
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
KC Wood replied to me yesterday and advised they make major pieces and kits, not small parts. They also told me they have a manufacturing backlog of one year. John Kemkes of the Packerland VCCA chapter I belong to recommended I find some white oak to cut and shape into the piece that I need. I guess I am going to engineering and design my own solution. Thanks for all the input!
You can use nearly any hardwood (lose their leaves in winter) as there is little structural strength requirement for those parts. Poplar, Ash, Red Oak are more easily found and should work well.
White ash is best overall wood to use and not the light version used for musical instruments. White oak and not red oak should be used. Red oak splinters too easily. Many cars used local hardwoods so different types do show up. Both my 29 Chevs from Oshawa plant in Canada were primarily maple. Though easy to work poplar is not strong enough for body wood and is not recommended. Floor boards and running boards were typically pine (most used yellow pine) for its rot resistance though other types were used.
It is going to be very hard to install that corner piece with the interior headliner in place. I see you also left the aluminum moldings in place. All that perimeter wood needs to be evaluated or your brand new roof could leak. Those corner pieces from the rear roof rail are often in bad shape due to leaks. I assume the corner in your picture has no wood under it in the nailing radius for the roof. You need wood around that radius. As Cabboy said ash is best as you can drive the roof staples into easier ans the same when attaching the aluminum moldings. These cars were engineered by building the wood frame then putting the sheet metal on top of it. When replacing pieces from the inside out, you have to work in reverse especially with the fasteners. Often machine thread screws and T nuts replace wood screws where you cannot get the original screws back it. It takes careful thought along with some Yankee ingenuity replacing in wood from inside the car.
I have a lot of pictures of our '31 Special Sedan of the splice/fix piece that my Dad made in 1962 to fix this area. I've also got lots of pics of the new pieces I made when I built all new wood in 2012. Send me a pm if you want me to email the pics. Chistech has a lot of my old wood parts and has made a lot of them. His advice on how to reinstall the wood inside the original metal is very accurate. He and I have both done that. Don't forget to use anti-squeek up against any metal. The easiest anti-squeek is 3M CLOTH electricians tape.
It is going to be very hard to install that corner piece with the interior headliner in place. I see you also left the aluminum moldings in place. All that perimeter wood needs to be evaluated or your brand new roof could leak. Those corner pieces from the rear roof rail are often in bad shape due to leaks. I assume the corner in your picture has no wood under it in the nailing radius for the roof. You need wood around that radius. As Cabboy said ash is best as you can drive the roof staples into easier ans the same when attaching the aluminum moldings. These cars were engineered by building the wood frame then putting the sheet metal on top of it. When replacing pieces from the inside out, you have to work in reverse especially with the fasteners. Often machine thread screws and T nuts replace wood screws where you cannot get the original screws back it. It takes careful thought along with some Yankee ingenuity replacing in wood from inside the car.
Ditto and I will add you will probably have to replace more wood then you think. The headliner will have to come down and that means removing some of the side interior panels.
