The Restoration of AYW709

[mikeyr]

Well floorboards are finally done, at least as far as they need to be for doing the seat back. Now i can start on the seat back, I just have to guess everything. I did use prefinished plywood because that’s what they had at the store and plywood cost of gone up a lot since I last bought plywood. Looking good. It took a lot longer to guess where everything should be, but I am happy. Body is bolted down and it finally feels like progress as my car never had floors when I bought it.

[Peter McKercher]

Looking all very familiar. Hope the measurements are making sense to you.

[jeans_old_man]

Hi Mike,
I'm not sure how you are going to hold the floorboards down but I used these inserts and stainless threaded screws. They have been a boon given the number of times I have had to remove the floor to get to the gearbox, battery etc.

[Peter McKercher]

I assume you would use toggles as per original

[mikeyr]

yes, most of the measurements are making sense after a lot of trial and error. For example the 2 beams that go in the middle, my original ones were much longer and would not fit at all, even the new ones that Tim sent with the body would not fit. I didn't know if they needed to be cut or that piece of plywood needed to be cut or what. In the end, I routed out a groove and fitted them under the plywood back, that took hours of "thinking" though before I did it. I didnt want to cut them since i don't know if they support something back there, there is nothing there as far as I know. I also had to lower those beams as the floor would not have been level. I had a choice of putting pads under the body main beams to raise the body a little about 1/4" of a inch or bring those beams down. Tim said I could do either, but he prefers the main timbers on the chassis brackets with no packers (spacers) so i did that, again a few hours wasted thinking about it.

Brian, I REALLY like your idea, I was going to use plain old stainless steel wood screws, I really like your idea.

Peter, never seen those before, didn't know I was missing them.

[Peter McKercher]

I assume they were original. I had a full complement of them on my Nine Sports which had all those sorts of bits as original. Here's a shot of Bob's very original '34 Le Mans as well which has the same cast brass toggles.

[jeans_old_man]

The only place on my '35 4-seater that uses toggles is the metal tray below the rear seat that hinges up to give acces to the rear axle filler plug. I'm not sure if the panel above the battery had them originally but it sounds like a good idea.

The '34 1.5 Sports has two toggles on the battery access hatch:

[mikeyr]

Oh that is NOT FAIR...the 1.5 had them and I didn't even notice them !!!

Ok, that settles it, I will make some of those. They look to be about 1 1/2" long and about 1/2" wide, maybe 1/4" tall in the middle. This is not something that needs exact dimensions. I can cast some of those up in bronze when I cast the inside door mechanism I am thinking on the other floorboards I will use a metal threaded insert and bolts instead of screws like Brian suggested and those toggles on the floorboards in front of the seat that may need lifting more often.

[jeans_old_man]

You should be able to buy them from an ironmonger. They are called turn buttons and are still fitted to cupboard doors. Search on line for them.

[mikeyr]

https://www.amazon.com/BUTTON-GRANNY-CA ... B008EZ7DOE

31Y20BqXCpL._AC_SX450_.jpg (9.07 KiB) Viewed 123716 times

Looks awfully close to the ones in the pictures above...close enough for me, packs of 4. See what happens when you know the name of what you are looking for

Or this one for a lot less money...LOT LESS money in packs of 5 but it looks like they wont ship to US based on the website info, I sent a email asking.

https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/pro ... f-5-519425

[jeans_old_man]

Wow! that's nearly 20 times more expensive in the US. They are having a laugh.

[Peter McKercher]

Too fancy. They look more like this.

product_template.jpg (6.24 KiB) Viewed 123699 times

[jeans_old_man]

They are sold by Screwfix here in UK. 1 1/2" X 11/32" - £2.79 for 10!

[darcy]

Unrelated, but what brand / details is the car lifter/ jack under your car?

[mikeyr]

Bendpak md-6xp. Bendpak is a local company only 1/2 hour from me so it was not the least expensive lift but since I could avoid shipping charges it worked out cheaper. Got it when I was working on a 67 Ford Mustang to be able to not have to bend over the chassis all day and kill my back. It’s really wonderful to lift the car to a comfortable working height. I appreciated it then but even more so now with old age creeping up on me. It’s serious overkill for a singer with its 6,000lb. capacity but I really enjoy it