Body work Part 2

So after sitting and head scratching and reading on the interweb I finally bit the bullet and got stuck into the body work of the RattyT.  My first task was to create the back plate for the internal wood frame.

This is all been done in 18mm marine plywood for its strength and resistance to water / rot.

Marking out the shape of the back plate.

Cutting out of the back plate with the use of the trusty skill saw.

Next was to cut out the ribs that will be used to creat the inner wood frame, that will be fiber-glassed to the glass body.

I have gone back and forward on the best way to do this, and have tried a few ways, but finally decided to have the ribs stick out perpendicular to the body, not flat as shown above.

Next search was for a good sealent / adhesive to glue the plywood to the glass body, to hold in them in place before fiberglassing and to add much needed extra strength. After a fair amount of research I settled on Silkafix227. Its a polyester adhesive, I did a test shown above to make sure that is was going to do the trick.  After letting it cure for 48 hours I could not pull the plywood off, I had to use a chisel to wedge it off. As you can see it ripped the plywood before the adhesive let  go So was pretty happy.

Next I needed to create the front firewall plate. Once again made out of 18mm marine plywood.

Test fitted and trimmed to be a snug fit, ready to be glued in.

To give the back plate some extra strength I added places where I could screw the fiberglass to the back plate while the glue cured. I think Ill leave them in place once the whole thin is done. not sure yet.

Time to just do it and start gluing things in, So after a good spread of the wonder goop the back plate was place in the body and screwed on to place.

Next the process was repeated for the front plate, I also screwd that in place using the firewall holes already in the body.

now that the front & back plates were firmly hold the floor in place I was able to lift the body and start the gluing of the floor. I ran a large bead in gap on the undersid first and also screwed the floor to the firewall plate.

Once the bottom side was don the process was repeated on the top. Then a seam run around the firewall plate and around all the floor body joint. After that I left it to cure for a day before continuing to work on the internal framing.

This is my jerry rigged level tool, to mark the height of the internal ribs.

After marking the spaces for the ribs on the floor it was time to mark and cut all the ribs, this was a long process as each of the 20 + ribs had to be cut to shape. Since there is not one straight edge or line on the old fiberglass body. The process involved marking the rib with a vivid by running it down the body to draw the curve on the rib, then cuttung the rib on the bandsaw and then fine tuning the fit. 

Progress on the drivers side

The ribs done on the drivers side with the double layer top rail getting test fitted. Now I had to repeat the whole process on the passenger side. Its going to be a long process to get the body all sorted.