C & S 1008 Update: New Frame Kit Completed

NGDF -

We did not anticipate in 2010 that the historic 1008 frame would be so far beyond an operating restoration. But, when it was completely exposed, there was too much deterioration for saving much, if anything, for safe operation. So, most of 2015 was spent in documenting, drawing, and recreating the large doug fir and white oak components needed to rebuild the frame. As these photos show, all of the components are now complete.


Here are the fabricated spacer blocks, 25 in all, with tenons and tension rod clearance notches. These are laminated white oak, the same material as the original. All were coated with two coats of a linseed oil/mineral spirits blend. Only a few pairs of these blocks are alike, so this required Richard to do a lot measurements and "reverse engineering" from the twisted and worn original. The tenons were cut by making a number of parallel cuts with a dado blade on a table saw, using a sled made to hold the blocks vertically.



At last, the large Doug Fir beams arrived at the mill we worked with in Canyon Country, north of the San Fernando Valley. We spent a couple days working with the shop to cut the large end tenons that are visible here (we don't come close to having the tools to deal with beams this large), and the vertical long holes drilled for mounting the pedestals and spring hangers. This shot shows two pedestals mounted onto an intermediate sill for match drilling. We needed to match specific pedestals to given spots on each sill, since "identical" 100 year-old cadtings are not really identical.




Here are a couple shots back at the Car Shop (Richard's back patio) where we made the total of 100 mortices (by forstener bit, router and template, and chisels) and the 40 tension rod clearance holes to complete the sills. Although they are laying on their sides, You can see where we test fit a few spacer blocks and a tension rod between one of the intermediate and an outer side sill. Seems like building something from Ikea (HA). The mortices on the narrow (top) edge of the side sill are cut to fit the restored side walls.



One detail to get right is the method of imbedding the tension rod nuts into the outer side sills. On the original, one side has hex nuts countersunk into fitted holes on the sill, and on the other side there are large countersunk holes to allow a wrench to be used to tighten square head nuts. Here is the how Richard recreated the hex holes in the side sill. The countersink depth was set by a 1" forstener bit, and the 7/8" thru-hole drilled on-center to that (the hole on the right). A marking tool (shown in the picture) was made to allow the nut to be placed on-center to the 7/8" holes. Then the hex shape was marked and cut with a chisel, just like the old days (finished one on the left). There are 8 horizontal tension rods on this small car.

Next update should be the assembly of the new frame. A huge milestone to us!

Bob of AZ