The Total Performance King T - Hot Rod Girl: Part IV

As much as I've enjoyed building the Total Performance King T chassis, I've been waiting for the point where the body would go on. Lowering the body into place is really gonna be quite a transformation and a real leap forward.

We're back again with the latest peek at the goings-on in the Rizzo garage-hereto known as Candy's garage, at least for another month or so.

At this point, the chassis is pretty much handled, the suspension, plumbing, driveline, and brakes have all been installed and double-checked, and it's finally time to make this baby look like a real hot rod. Sure, it does look neat with the chassis all together, sitting on those Coker Dirt Track tires and Vintiques wires-but the body is what's gonna make the King T (though, shouldn't this one be called the Queen T?).

As I mentioned at the start of the build, the Total Performance King T is the culmination of the talents of two industry leaders, Total Performance and Superior Glass Works. Both companies having served the street rodding community for years really made my decision a no-brainer, as I knew the kit would be of the highest quality and any support I may need during the build would be first rate. For those who have just recently started following the build, Total Performance joined forces with one of the best fiberglass body manufacturers in the country, Superior Glass Works, to sheath its track T chassis. From what I understand, Total had envisioned the whole Track T Kit concept around the Superior body, as TP is of the opinion that Superior's quality is every bit as good as anything Total Performance itself builds-saving time, research and development, and the end user some hard-earned cash in the process. In all fairness, I do want to mention that not only does Superior Glass Works make great bodies and components, but it also has a complete custom chassis shop.

Now that the foundation is complete, Jim and I turned our attention to the coach work and set out to install the body. The King T body is modeled after Indy racers of the day. Actually, it's a custom body combining the styling of both a '23 and '27 Model T. Superior widened a '23 T cowl 4 inches and grafted it to a '27 T turtledeck back half, giving it a unique look. Plus, unlike others, this one is available with a working door on the right side. The body is really stout, too. I've seen other 'glass bodies right out of the crate, and this one is by far one of the nicer examples-the finish is smooth and there isn't a ton of seams to smooth and fill, which will make things a lot easier since I don't have much in the way of bodyworking skills.

That said, this stage of the build is going to require Jim's help a bit more than I have needed so far. I've decided that, along with body prep and paint, Jim and I are also going to tackle as much of the upholstery as we dare. So with this in mind, I let Jim loose to add some wooden structure to the roadster's cockpit, so we'd have a framework to use as tack strips for attaching the upholstery-besides, I can tell he's having a hard time watching someone else do the work while he stands behind the camera. So, let's take a look at what I (we) have accomplished since last time.

I left off last month with the chassis completed and the engine and transmission in place. So far, the whole experience has been fantastic-everything has come together without a glitch, every part has fit like it should, and every bolthole has lined up perfectly, thanks to Total Performance, Superior Glass Works, Summit Racing, Coker Tire, Wheel Vintiques, Flowmaster, and Powermaster Motorsports.	My King T body has been languishing on the back patio waiting for its time in the spotlight while I've been working on getting the chassis assembled. With the bit of construction we've been doing around the house (Jim finally got his retaining wall and work pad on the side of the garage-which is a good thing, since now the garage is mine), my roadster was trapped out back for a month or so, and it needed a good bath to get rid of all that desert dust when it was wheeled around front.	I know I said this earlier, but the Superior Glass Works body that Total Performance provides with the King T kit is an exceptional piece. The body is strong and smooth, and there is little in the way of bodywork needed, aside from a bit of blocking and priming before paint. The hood, hood sides, and track nose are nice, as well, and together make for a good-lookin' combo. Jim's engine hoist worked great for lifting and lowering the body into place, and I'm glad he's converted his to an air-powered ram-it sure beats pumping it by hand.
One thing I did learn was that the body has to go on at an angle-not tilted to the left, as shown here, but with the firewall higher than the turtledeck. This is because the body has a built-in rolled rear pan and it kind of curls around and under the rear framerails-you'll understand when you get to this point on yours (hint, hint).	With the body in place on the chassis and the mounting wafers (captured nuts) installed between the body and frame, we were then ready for the next step. Now, what I chose to do here really isn't a requirement if you're going to farm out your upholstery, but I decided that we'd do that ourselves, as well-you hear that, Jim?	In order to attempt doing the upholstery, I'd need tack strips to attach the upholstery panels to the car. With Jim's help, I began making some cardboard patterns that I'd transfer to some hardwood. We started at the opening of the turtledeck. I wanted to make an opening and access door that would be hidden behind the seat, so I'd have a place to keep a purse and a jacket, and the like. We measured the width at the top of the opening first and then hunted for a piece of cardboard wide enough to make my first pattern.
With cardboard in hand, I then held it up against the back of the opening and traced the arch of the body to the cardboard.	You can see the line here if you look closely-looks OK to me.	Next, I cut the cardboard to shape and held it in place to make sure it fit.
I laid the template on a piece of 1x4 hardwood and transferred the shape to the wood with a Sharpie.	With the shape transferred to the wood, I fired up Jim's bandsaw and cut the wood to shape.	The mad search for an appropriate adhesive ensued once the first piece of wood was ready for installation. Jim had a tube of urethane adhesive that I gave a try. I spread a bead along the top side of the wood, clamped it into place, and at this point called it an evening.
The urethane I'd used the previous evening worked like crap; it was at this point I handed over the wood installation to Jim. He wanted to use some SMC adhesive in conjunction with fiberglass resin, mat, and cloth, so I let him loose. Personally, I can't handle the smell of the resin, since it give's me a headache, so as much as I hated to, I let him take over.	Jim's notes: Candy asked me if I'd install the wood she had cut since she couldn't handle the smell of the resin-can't blame her; the stuff is pretty potent. Once I removed the first piece and scraped off the glue she'd used the night before, I went ahead and tried some SMC adhesive (SMC is what's used to replace the 'glass and plastic panels on newer cars), which I've used it in the past with good results. As you can see here, I set in place the few pieces Candy had cut the evening before-the uprights at the sides of the turtledeck opening and one of the first tack strips against the sidewall of the body.	I then proceeded to measure and cut the balance of the pieces so I could just keep on going once I began messing with the resin and mat.
With a good supply of hardwood cut to size, I then headed to my supply cabinet to gather up the resin and supplies I'd need to get the wood installed. Luckily, I had a gallon of resin and a few tubes of liquid hardener on hand, as well as a good-size scrap of matting and a new package of cloth. A plastic mixing cup, a pair of rubber gloves, and a few throwaway paintbrushes rounded out my supplies for the job ahead.	I cut my supply of matting into strips that I'd used to bond the wood to the roadster body. If you look closely, you'll notice how loose a weave the matting has. It's woven in a random pattern with countless strands and lots of spaces between them. Once saturated, mat is pretty darn strong and has very good adhesion. Fiberglass cloth, on the other hand is woven more like, say, canvas, with an actual crisscross pattern-but a bit looser, to allow the resin to still penetrate the strands.	I actually read the instructions on the can before I began to prepare the resin. It seems as though different brands use different amounts of liquid hardener, so I wanted to make sure I added it in the correct amount since I wanted a bit of time to work.
The mixing ratio on the can determined how much hardener I'd need, so I followed the recommendation-almost. Since I wanted time to work, I cut down the hardener by about five drops, figuring I'd gain a few minutes more working time.	Since the wood I'm adding is not primarily reinforcement (the body is pretty solid on its own), but rather tack strips for the ensuing upholstery, I didn't go overboard in the fiberglass department. I brushed on a liberal amount of resin to both the wood and the surrounding 'glass walls and placed the uprights at the outer edges of the turtledeck opening and the rear of the bucket.	With a liberal coating of resin on the wood and the surrounding walls, I then laid the strips of mat over the areas and reapplied more resin, making sure the mat was fully saturated.
With the first few pieces in place, I moved on to the upright next to the door opening. Candy had notched this one around the striker mounting on the factory-installed steel door opening reinforcement so it'd fit nice and close; and, I repeated the fiberglassing as I did with the first pieces.	Before my last bit of resin mixture began to gel, I installed the bottom crosspiece in the turtledeck opening, boxing in the perimeter of the opening. Candy wants a hinged (at the bottom) door covering the opening, so she has a secure place to stash her stuff. By the way, I found a rear jump seat out of a Jeep CJ at the L.A. Roadsters' Father's Day Show that will fit perfectly in the T. It even folds forward for access to the previously mentioned turtledeck opening.	While I was at it, and before mixing up another batch of resin, I threw together a hoop to go under the dash for a column-drop support. Nothing fancy, just a 7/8-inch square tube hoop that will be 'glassed into place; you can see the right-side vertical portion just to the left of the door hinges.
	I moved over to the driver side and installed a few uprights, and I added a short one down in the kick panel area after this shot, too.	With the tack strips in place and the 'glass and resin cured, I then made a cardboard template for the side panel on the driver side-a pretty straightforward task, as there's no door on that side.
I traced the pattern onto a sheet of 3/16 Luan plywood, traced it out, crossed my fingers, and cut it out.	Surprisingly, it fit-almost. A little massaging on a couple of edges fixed it up, and I tacked it in place temporarily with a couple of wood screws.	The passenger side was a bit more of a challenge. The door opening stretched my woodworking talents a bit, but it all worked out in the end. In the next installment, we'll figure out how I'll make the panels removable so we can cover 'em and reinstall 'em after the upholstery is attached-that should be interesting. Meanwhile, Candy's pushin' me to hurry up so she can get back to work-she just wants her King T on the road before I finish mine ... but who can blame her?
Here's how Candy's King T sits at the moment-ready for another few hours of free-time thrashin'.	Stay tuned for more on Candy's homebuilt King T in the next issue. She'll be back with more in the way of body prep, like mounting the windshield and frame and drillin' her dash for gauges-should be interesting!