More exciting news from Jeff Bennett and his team as they work on CA&E 316 in the Allan C. William Barn

Welcome back Joe C.!  Joe was traveling for work and has been away for some time. Glad to have ya back!  Andre and Joe had to take one panel back down in the smoker. It just wasn’t fitting right, and they decided to investigate. 

While we always try to use as much of the “original fabric” of the car, some times complete replacement of things is the only way. Andre and Mike had “splinted” many of the roof carlines to get the ceiling structure back in line. However, this particular section was just too far gone. One carline was completely replaced with a custom fit replacement. Another was doubled up on both sides with new ones. The final step was to jack the ceiling structure back into place and install fasteners. This final step is being carefully handled by Joe and Andre.

“One small post for man, one GIANT leap for 316”  

The custom fabricated corner posts were delivered by Greg from Chicago Window and Door Solutions on Friday, 02/26/2022.

Joe and Andre are right at home working with wood, as they are both professional carpenters.

I was amazed at just how much time and attention to detail it took for Andre (shown holding one post) and Joe to plan, then execute the installation of the post. We are very lucky to have these guys on this task!

Guess Joe is happy to be back! Look at this guy, all smiles. He’s shaping the ceiling panels to the arched window opening, so the trim can be reinstalled. Jeff has about six of these installed so far.

Manny diligently spent the whole day with the IR paint stripper, removing paint from the north bulkhead wall. We are finding amazing and beautiful woodwork everywhere. Manny likes to do working projects and has been extremely knowledgeable and helpful in this area. We now call him the “refinishing manager”. 

Almost caught Mike in action.

A couple sessions ago, James Tarbet removed all the stained glass pieces that were broken. This past weekend Mike made templates for each opening so Jeff can take and have our friends at LeWalt glass cut us new ones. We were able to source 12x8 stained glass plates, and have them on hand. When Mike and I looked at each other, deciding on which one of us was gonna cut them, we decided NEITHER. Let the professionals do it!

In the back to right you can see Manny working away at that wall.

Some new, some old, but all right as rain!  This is the compartment above the south vestibule, showing some of the wiring that has been done.

Here Jeff snaps a selfie with his wiring work underway. If you look to the left you can see the wiring diagram I’m working of off.

Days and days of diagramming, ringing out wires and then ultimately installing all new wiring for the lighting, as well as other systems, lead up to this day. This has been a group effort. Ralph Taylor and Fred Lonnes spent countless hours determining the wiring as it was and diagramming it. 

Ralph acquired the special 1000 Volt rated wiring and donated it to the project (not cheap stuff either).

Then Fred comes up with ORIGINAL wiring diagrams for the car! He was able to not only print me out the systems we were working on, but also provide digital copies!   

Here was the happy crew on Sunday. Jeff, Andre, Joe, Mike, and in the way back, Manny, with tools in hand. 

Mike and Jeff are loading the new ceiling panel trim pieces they just cut.

Here it can be seen the trim pieces installed to cover the ceiling panel joints. Mike and Jeff worked for some time developing a system of installation.

Mike, the water boy! Keeping the crew well hydrated!