Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
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Topic author - Posts: 86
- Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:23 pm
- First Name: David
- Last Name: Herring
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 13 Touring, 14 roadster
- Location: Sarasota
- MTFCA Number: 22001
- MTFCI Number: 24521
Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
Hi,
I am restoring a 1910 Model t Touring and the bodyshop are going to repaint the wooden body.
Its probably been repainted back in the 1980's and has splits in the wood I am not sure if they need to use paint stripper and take all the old paint off back to the wood or seal the cracks with epoxy?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
I am restoring a 1910 Model t Touring and the bodyshop are going to repaint the wooden body.
Its probably been repainted back in the 1980's and has splits in the wood I am not sure if they need to use paint stripper and take all the old paint off back to the wood or seal the cracks with epoxy?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
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- Posts: 1690
- Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:23 pm
- First Name: Jeff
- Last Name: Humble
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 Canadian built coupe, 1924 TT C-cab, survivor 1924 roadster
- Location: Charlevoix, Mi
- MTFCA Number: 28034
- Board Member Since: 2006
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
Wood naturally moves with humidity by expanding and contracting across the grain, even plywood moves but much less, way less. New paint is flexable and can move with the wood untill it hardens over the years to the point it cannot keep up with the wood and the paint cracks and chips. Old hard paint shoud be removed down to the wood or the old hard paint will continue to crack under the new paint.
A crack in the wood is a different problem. The wood crack will take the brunt of the natural shrinking and swelling, no paint or body filler will hide it for long. Depending on the structural integrity of the panel and the depth of the crack, cutting a V to open up the crack and filling with epoxy may hold, but if it dosent hold, you will make a hard to notice naturally occuring crack a unsightly goobered up crapy repair gone wrong. I would not trust a regular run of the mill auto body shop with this. Wood body repairs are even beyond the ability of many auto restoration shops. Modern air powered sanders and grinders can cut into wood like a warm knife through butter, in fact typical old paint may be harder than the old wood.
A crack in the wood is a different problem. The wood crack will take the brunt of the natural shrinking and swelling, no paint or body filler will hide it for long. Depending on the structural integrity of the panel and the depth of the crack, cutting a V to open up the crack and filling with epoxy may hold, but if it dosent hold, you will make a hard to notice naturally occuring crack a unsightly goobered up crapy repair gone wrong. I would not trust a regular run of the mill auto body shop with this. Wood body repairs are even beyond the ability of many auto restoration shops. Modern air powered sanders and grinders can cut into wood like a warm knife through butter, in fact typical old paint may be harder than the old wood.
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Topic author - Posts: 86
- Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:23 pm
- First Name: David
- Last Name: Herring
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 13 Touring, 14 roadster
- Location: Sarasota
- MTFCA Number: 22001
- MTFCI Number: 24521
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
Many thanks for the advice
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- Posts: 975
- Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:16 am
- First Name: Richard
- Last Name: Gould
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1910 touring, 1912 roadster , 1927 roadster
- Location: Folsom, CA
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
I have the same problem with the body I just purchased. It has a crack in the rear door caused by mishandling. Because the crack was not caused by the body twisting as when the car is driven over on uneven surface I have no problem using a wood filler. I am tempted to hunt down someone who restores horse-drawn carriages to see what they recommend, however.
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- Posts: 1922
- Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:23 am
- First Name: Rich
- Last Name: Bingham
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1913 runabout
- Location: Blackfoot, Idaho
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
Richard, yielding to temptation would be a good thing !
"Get a horse !"
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- Posts: 153
- Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:09 am
- First Name: Steve
- Last Name: Hughes
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 Touring 1921 Centerdoor
- Location: Raymond, NE
- MTFCA Number: 216
- MTFCA Life Member: YES
- MTFCI Number: 23070
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
I would use West System epoxy. It is used extensively on wooden hulled boats and is designed for wood. If you want someone to do the work, try finding a boat repair shop to see if they would do the work.
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- Posts: 273
- Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:18 pm
- First Name: Walter
- Last Name: Higgins
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1911 Open Runabout
- Location: Realville, PA
- MTFCA Number: 396
- MTFCA Life Member: YES
- MTFCI Number: 153
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
Strip to bare wood (I prefer a heat gun / scraping followed by hand sanding) and then coat, sand, recoat as needed with West System to block to your desired level of flatness. No need to V-out the crack. Over time with the different rates of expansion you will faintly see the crack line telegraph through and there is nothing you can do about that, but if you V it out you will see a line the width of the V where the epoxy is more dense.
This was one of several cracks in this body fixed in such a way and none have come back and cracked the paint. The second photo is the same area eight years later. If you catch the light just right you can just barely see it and the other cracks on that panel. I've had success using this process on another body much worse than this. It's a bunch of work but prep is everything if you want it to last.
This was one of several cracks in this body fixed in such a way and none have come back and cracked the paint. The second photo is the same area eight years later. If you catch the light just right you can just barely see it and the other cracks on that panel. I've had success using this process on another body much worse than this. It's a bunch of work but prep is everything if you want it to last.
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- Posts: 364
- Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:25 pm
- First Name: Dick
- Last Name: Fischer
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1912 Touring
- Location: Arroyo Grande, CA
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
+1 with the guys who recommended West System Epoxy. The only two things I can add are:
1. West has a first rate staff of technical advisors who will work with you to find the best solution for your particular problem. These guys are great and there is no consulting charge. They even have a toll free number for you to call. The name of the business is "Gougeon Brothers Inc". West Systems is the name given to the products that they manufacture.
2. Expansion and contraction with humidity is a real problem. You can minimize the effect by coating EVERY surface of the item. If you coat the entire part, the moisture absorption rate is drastically reduced, and thus the wood becomes dimensionally stable.
1. West has a first rate staff of technical advisors who will work with you to find the best solution for your particular problem. These guys are great and there is no consulting charge. They even have a toll free number for you to call. The name of the business is "Gougeon Brothers Inc". West Systems is the name given to the products that they manufacture.
2. Expansion and contraction with humidity is a real problem. You can minimize the effect by coating EVERY surface of the item. If you coat the entire part, the moisture absorption rate is drastically reduced, and thus the wood becomes dimensionally stable.
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Topic author - Posts: 86
- Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:23 pm
- First Name: David
- Last Name: Herring
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 13 Touring, 14 roadster
- Location: Sarasota
- MTFCA Number: 22001
- MTFCI Number: 24521
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
Thanks everyone who has posted some great advice which I will be taking, I will post some pictures of the finished body.
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- Posts: 663
- Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:15 am
- First Name: Tony
- Last Name: Bowker
- * REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1914 touring
- Location: La Mesa, CA
- MTFCA Number: 32
- MTFCA Life Member: YES
- Board Member Since: 2005
Re: Advice needed painting a wooden body Touring
I used the West System on the 1909 I am restoring. I had many cracks and some complete loss of wood especially around the rear fenders. The only problem I found was that it works better if it’s horizontal, that’s why some of pictures show the body balanced on its nose...
I refrained from responding earlier as I don’t know how it will hold up, but the guys tell me to expect 20-40 years, by which time I doubt I’ll be around to care.
I painted the body by hand using enamel paint and covered it all with Spar varnish which has help up on the boat for close to thirty years.
I refrained from responding earlier as I don’t know how it will hold up, but the guys tell me to expect 20-40 years, by which time I doubt I’ll be around to care.
I painted the body by hand using enamel paint and covered it all with Spar varnish which has help up on the boat for close to thirty years.
Tony Bowker
La Mesa, California
1914 Touring, 1915 Speedster, 1924 Coupe.
La Mesa, California
1914 Touring, 1915 Speedster, 1924 Coupe.