There shouldn't be anything too difficult or dangerous about what
you're describing. Pick your plywood carefully oak might be one
choice, unless you run across something else, and select the
fasteners/fastening system carefully. You'll want some "give" to the
system, so it doesn't self-destruct over a few potholes.


On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:06:32 -0700 (PDT), bartbrn
> wrote:

>I'm working on a project that should make LBC purists and hot-rodders
>alike gape, gasp, and guffaw: I have one of Bill Bonadio's "Dio"
>splashes of the 1959-60 Bill AMes/Dewey BROhaugh AMBRO fiberglass
>bodies, originally intended for a Triumph TR-2/3 chassis or whatever
>it would fit on (the body will accomodate wheelbases from 88" to 101",
>thanks to the trim-able center body pieces), to race in SCCA
>"Modified" classes. (If you've never seen one, it is dimensionally and
>sculpturally about as close as a couple midwestern racers could get to
>a '57 "Knobbly" Lister without generating lawsuits from Brian Lister.
>
>I'm sending this message to three different user groups:
>rec.autos.antique (because of the expertise here on the '64 MGB
>running gear I'll be using, and because of the obvious connection to
>the wonderful plywood-chassied Marcos cars), rec.aviation.homebuilt,
>because I can't think of another group that is likely to have as much
>knowledge of stressed-plywood and fiberglass construction, and to
>rec.boats.building, because of the wealth of experience there with
>plywood and fiberglass craft that don't leak or fall apart in the
>middle of the pond.
>
>I've been trying to get started on this project since I got my
>"Dio" (AmBro splash) fiberglass body in 1997 (aahhh, why hurry?), but
>miserable interruptions and daunting pre-tasks like actual money-
>generating work and my Wreck of the Hesperus garage have kept me in
>the "design phase" for 14 years -- during which time some of you may
>have even seen a post or two of mine.
>
>Well, I'm 63, retired, have my garage half-cleaned (my wife's half,
>unfortunately...), I've discarded entirely the idea of building up a
>steel-tube chassis to drop a small-block into it, and after much
>research, doodling, modeling sections, I have come to the conclusion
>that the plywood semi-monocoque and 1800cc MGB engine and drive train
>are the way to go -- the Marcos GT1800 used (mirabile dictu!) an
>1800cc Volvo engine, the same one as in the late, lamented Volvo P1800
>(aside from the PV544, the best-looking car they ever made. But I
>digress...)
>
>I have long had an abiding admiration for Jem Marsh and Frank Costin's
>Marcos semi-monocoque plywood-chassis/bodies, especially the GT-1800,
>and I found, in Herb Adams' excellent book on chassis design, a
>stressed skin "2 box plus integrated monocoque side sills and
>bulkheads" design very much like that of the Marcos GT1800. Adams'
>design is in steel, and was used for a high-end Cobra replica that
>wasn't any more exciting than any other Cobra replica: except that its
>stressed-skin-and-bulkhead chassis had HUGE torsional rigidity (as did
>the original Marcos and Marcos GT)
>
>My running gear donor is a '64 MGB-GT that was rotted to within an
>inch of its life (so don't fret, "rebuild it from Heritage panels even
>if all you have is part of the floor" enthusiasts -- it didn't have
>ANY part of the floor (did have some nice sellables, like the aluminum
>bonnet, working Smiths heater, several extra 60-spoke wire wheels,
>etc.), but for MY purposes, and at $250 for the whole MGB-GT w/
>complete drive train, INCLUDING the 50-mile tow to my garage, it
>seemed like the perfect basis, especially as the entire front
>suspension and steering rack are mounted to a bolt-on crossmember
>(which itself is mounted to the MG's unit body). By using the front
>crossmember as a whole unit, all that's necessary is to make sure the
>crossmember is mounted to maintain the correct kingpin inclination, as
>is perfectly illustrated in the Bentley manual.
>
>Anyway, that's my double-*******ized sweaty-fingered project of the
>decade. If anyone happens to know of a good website that might be able
>to help me with the dreary details of this project, please let me know
>(I'm thinking plywood boat and experimental aircraft builder's
>forums), I'd be most grateful for any links. BTW, the origination of
>the Marcos plywood monocoque had a LOT to do with Frank Costin's
>previous engineering work at DeHavilland, makers of the plywood
>monocoque DH.98 Mosquito "Wooden Wonder" -- the near-"stealth"
>invisibility of the plywood Mosquito to "Freya" and various FuG German
>radars made it an excellent Pathfinder and Night Fighter. Wonder if it
>works against police radar?
>
>I'm not building this to fool anyone, or to represent it as an actual
>original AMBRO (which has been tried, by the most unlikely person one
>could think of), it's just going to be a driver. My plan to get it
>street licensed by the anal-retentively-regulatory CT DMV is to use
>the matching chassis and engine S/N plates, and call it an "MG
>Special," like the Lester-MG. Will it work? At 63, will I live long
>enough to complete it? Who knows, but as my distant -- VERY distant --
>relative Robert Browning said: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed
>his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”
>
>Sorry for the long post. If anyone's interested, I'll be putting up
>pix of the project elements, design, and build on Photobucket or
>FlickR.
>
>Any suggestions -- other than "get thee to a loony bin" or "go soak
>your head" gratefully accepted.
>
>Peace
>
>Bart Brown