[1wild1]

I am looking for some info on getting my fiberglass t body ready for upholster? Some people say fiberglass wood inside,some people say put a metal frame inside. Info with pictures would be nice. Would somebody please tell me what all those little icons are for, as this is my first time. Anyway thanks.

 

[Shawn Asseln]

well, In all reality you should have both in there, steel for the strength and wood for the interior to be tacked to. I put wood around all openings and corners in my coupes so the interior guys have something to go off of, but I also back everything up with a solid steel frame to keep everything where it should be; ie door alingment and so fourth. wood moves about the same as fiberglass where steel does not. Use a hardwood,, as mounting stuff to it will be stronger. do not adhere anything to a exterior panel on a fiberglass body ar have anything touching it as it will "track"through leaving a bump on the oposing panel. So when glueing in your wood try to keep it around door and window jams. I have pics of our inner structures on my web site if you are curious to see some. bestbuyrods.com on the 33-34 page you will see structures

 

[Dan Griffith]

A good friend and me are building a t bucket each and have some experience on the interior but not a lot. I've used square tubing but it's hard to bend around the rear corners where you you have to bend the corner and it drops at the same time.We made a bender by welding a piece of quarter inch square key stock around the center of a piece 3" pipe about the width of the square tubing. welded the pipe to a piece of channel iron and put a round cap on(just a circle cut out of 1/4 plate) to keep the tubing from buldging out. They make gate frames like this. you'll need a stop at the beginning point to hold the tubing while bending. I used a small piece of 1/4 thick flat bar. the key stock collapses the inside of the bend but stays real strong. Now that works good until you have to put a drop in it like at the corners, and I haven't worked that out yet. But the uses of the square tubing are endless in fiberglass cars or metal cars. I did have a lot of luck using this meathod at the cowl where I could anchor the windshield brackets and support the steering column. Anyhow I hope this helps.