Assembling my 1931 PA HELP!

[TodFitch]

On Bob's 31 PA there was a rubber strip inserted into the channel rather than hidem. Not sure where he got it nor what the profile is.

[Bill James]

OK I'm a dum-dum, I found that 3M and Martin Senour both put out a rope caulk that sounds like what I need. Thanks everyone.

[Bill James]

My 31 is different than the drawing of the 33 and the 29, I think ???? The metal part of the top extends up from the rain gutter about 6 to 8 inches, and then is formed into a channel about 3/8 X 1/4 inch. The wooden header is right under this channel, then the bows attach to the header. There are nail holes about ever 1/2 inch in the bottem of the channel. What I have in mind at this time is to, tighten the chicken wire, cover with the felt, tack the topping material as tight as possible into the bottem of the channel, trim with a razor knife, fell the rest of the way with dum dum, and cover the wole thing with the hydem lace. One problem may be hitting all those tack holes just right, of course the other thing, I have no idea just what dum-dum is. I have in mind somthing like ribbon caulk used to set windows and trim on an RV. If anyone knows of a bettr product, I would appreciate the info. I will take pictures of the project if any one is interested.
I googled dum-dum and all I got was someone wanting to bad mouth our President ::)

[johnRFain29U]

OK.  The 31 may be similar to my 29. The roof fabric goes under the rain gutters. The rain gutters are what actually secures the roof top material to the sides.  The gutters have a U-shaped channel for the Hide-Em welt, which covers the nails (or screws?).  I did not use any dum-dum on my roof, and it has held up fine for many years, and it have been driven in the rain.

[TodFitch]

I am not sure how much help that link to my site will be. . . I took a printed copy of it to show Bob Semichy at last Sunday's gathering. He said the PA was different.

His PA sedan was there too, so I took a pretty good look at it and talked with him on how the roof is installed as compared to that on my 1933 PD. Apparently there is a quite a difference. My take away is that there is a "U" channel around the edge that the roof fabric either goes in or under (not clear) and then a rubber weather seal that goes into the channel. There may be some "dum-dum" between the "U" channel and the car but that was not clear. It has been a number of years since that was done on Bob's car and he was a bit vague in his description.

[johnRFain29U]

In regards to puttingin the roof and "dum-dum", see:

http://www.ply33.com/Repair/roof

[Bill James]

I just got my PA coupe out of the paint shop today, can't wait to start putting it together. I will put the dash back in and start installing the new wiring harness tomorrow. Lotsa fun, but I do have a few ?? How the heck do you pull the steering wheel on one of these? There are no threaded holes in the hub, as in others, for a wheel puller. Sure don't want to bang it up any worse than it already is.? The other project that has me concerned, is the fabric top. I have the material and the hyd-em lace. I seem to remember some one mentioned sealing with dum-dum. I wonder how many products have been called dum-dum. I hope someone out there has gone through this and will give me some hints. Happy new year, Bill James ;D