Seeking a sanity check. New top wood for 26 Tudor.

Is it best to have the wood slightly beyond the sheet metal or flush. First thought is to make it flush and make sure I get some windshield seal/adhesive to fill in any gaps.

Any thoughts?

Dwight,

I hope you can get an answer. I am trying redo the topwood (and eventually the top), and I have had very little support. I am not sure why.

There is a strip that covers the edge of the vinyl and (I think) the edge of the hidem strip, and I would guess that you would not want an overhang.

I am inserting three pictures. They are not my work, and I hope that the people who shared them don't become angry. I hope they help.

Dennis.

I'm also redoing the top wood in my 25 coupe. The kit I purchased (about 10 years ago)seems to fit flush with the sheet metal, but there may be some gaps between tops of windows and doors to be filled with something, perhaps rubber weatherstrip.

Currently awaiting a contribution by a Mr. Jass........

You will need a sealant (roofing tar???? modified bituminous sealing product, perhaps).....

Dwight,

I am attaching a sketch that I made last night to sort out where things go. My Minnie (27 Coupe) was passed to me in boxes, and many of the perishable things had (perished).

This sketch was to decide how to do the inside of the top. I used two 1" x 4" layers (this is probably a problem for leakage, but my top rail is far from straight. I think that it is close to right for a cross-section of the top.

Dennis,
Thanks for the info. The original top blew off the car back in 1960 when my dad was towing the car home, needless to say there wasn't anything left to pick up. But I was only 4 years old at the time.

It's now something that I'm putting back together. Going flush with the sheet metal appears to be the right step, and as you noted the hidem strip will cover up a few things.

Nice sketch, must have some artistic talent or engineering background.

Good luck with your project.

Solvin' problems......yeah, I admit it....I'm an engineer.

Dennis. ;)

When I installed the new top wood on the 26 coupe I noticed these same problems. I had the same gaps as shown in your pictures. The top I got from Lang's came with a tube of glue. So I just left the top a little longer after I put in the final tacks around the sides. Then I used the tube glue and folded it under the wood and pushed it in the seams to help hold it until it dried and left it there. It turned out real nice. You have to take your time. It took me two days but it was worth it.

My top kit mounted flush with the sides.

I too didn't have anything to start with. Somebody had put a plywood top on my car.

I cheated and put chicken wire under mine to give it a little more strength.

Dwight,
I have the original Ford drawings for the 26 coupe wood but am away from home so will do the best I can from memory. The side and rear rails are rabbited to hang over or be flush with the outside of the sheet metal, not be flush with the inside as Dennis guessed. How much if any it extended beyond the outside edge is something that was not addressed in the drawings as they are the piece parts not the installation. There are lots of older posts regarding the 26-27 roof, search them out, you will see some good pictures and descriptions. The 2-door and 4-door roofs had the strips running from front to back to support the top material, but the coupe did not, probably because the bows are closer together on the coupe. Chicken wire was not used until model A but I used it on my top to keep it from looking like a starving horse. Now that I think it through, the top has almost no crown so I do not think the bows would have shown through as much as I thought and the next time I do a coupe top I will not add chicken wire.

Dwight,

It looks like there is some help out there! I am still figuring it out, so it's best to take the advice of those have done it.

Good luck!

Take pictures and identify any difficulties and advantages that you have (I'll do the same), and maybe we can write something that helps the next batch of closed-cap T'ers.

Dennis.

Golly, there sure is a lot of us re-topping '26 closed cars! I, too, am soon to install a top on a '26 tudor. A friend loaned me his store-bought top wood for reproduction. Of course it came with no instructions. I only assume theres a carriage bolt on all four corners. This right? Can someone illumine me as to precise locations of all fasteners and their types (countersunk oval head or flat head wood screws?) Dennis, you have the right idea! Do a 'How To' for the next Vintage Ford!

I'm not the best guy to ask about doing it "correctly". I had NO Model T experience and NO original top to work with. The plywood roof on my car was rotted out and weighed a ton. At one time, it was quite a work of art.
I took the bullet proof route. All the wood is coated with marine spar varnish. ALL the connections on the struts are glued and screwed together.

I went as far as installing the chicken wire, then took the "chicken's" way out. I have a pal who upholsters classic cars for a living. I turned it over to him from that point.

I only found out that the headliner went in first (from posts here), after it was done. I may some day put a headliner in it. My upholstery guy says it's no problem for him but for now, I like the wood exposed. Most people don't know these old cars had wood tops? They all think it's a phony Vinyl roof like the modern cars have until they look inside. On top of that, I'm quite proud of my work. It's the biggest wood project I've ever done. I hate "wood". I can make anything you want out of metal but no matter how many times I cut off a piece of wood it's always too short and I can't fill up the gap with weld.

George, here is some info I posted back in June,but now I'm going for reassembly.

As for the mounting of the wood to the tub, there is 14 carriage bolts starting from the door jam and working your way back to the other door jam. From the door jams forward there is wood screws to hold the wood in place from the underneath side.

The pictures include the old wood frame and you will note the holes that are counter bored to recess the nut & washer.

This rear center panel.


This along the top rail above the rear side window opening.You can see the holes for carriage bolts.


This in the side window area looking up. The rectangular slots is access for the bolts. You first must remove the upper rubber window channel to get to this.


Old roof my dad made from a old wooden fence.

And after the headliner comes the frosted pressed glass dome light . . . THEN the roof. Fantastic pictures my friends! They are a HUGE help. My '26 tudor body is in excellent shape, having been in a barn since '63. The previous owner installed an armored roof. Galvanized sheeting with hundreds of wood screws all soldered to the tin. Took me 3 days to get it off. And he cut 1/4" plywood for the two rear side windows. I need to buy one left side window regulator. I see that Lang's has them as a NEW item. Anyone have any experience with these new repops? Does that circular piece on the end of the window regulator arm rotate or stay stationary while traveling down the channel under the window? Again, the pictures here all look familiar and they'll be referenced continually when I begin my re-roofing project. Many thanks!

Yes, this is great!

Thanks.

Dennis.

There's a roof light? Just kidding, but since we did it backwards like D. Halpin, we haven't gotten around to the light yet. Don't even know if we have one in our magical box of parts. By the way, we used the chicken wire too. The photo on my profile is pre-hidem and we found we had to reposition quite a few staples. The good news was that the cobra grain was very forgiving.