Projects 28 RPU "problem child" build thread "first try at a hotrod"

Looking good!!

 

Thanks I really appreciate it!!

Thanks!! i believe i bought a set of pedals off ya on IG...seen your roadster at Bonneville couple years ago.. awesome ride!! hoping to get this thing done and bugs worked out by end of the year to be ready for Bonneville 2016

 

Been working a some basic things.. Ran the brake lines and had some hoses made up for the front and the clutch..



Made up a simple hold for the front T.. Just a simple j bend and tapped the side..


Turned out a little stub to fit it the hole in the T and drilled and tapped it in the lathe..

Needed a brake line straightener since I was running one piece of line clear to the back.. Ran across the idea on YouTube


Couple packed of patio door rollers, 2" square tube, 2 half inch bolts,and few minutes drilling on the mill and ya can have a roller for about $35



Switched to a hairpin front due to the steering bar hitting the old wishbones..

 

Bought a Holley 390 four barrel and went to set it on and it was hitting the thermostats

Made a deal with the friend I bought the pickup off of.. Traded him the new carb and my intake for his 3x2 manifold and enough 97s to have 3 good one..


Had to fix the issue of the old stand being to tall..


The 3x2 has the ports in the front for the stand pipe and road draft.. So this was the thought I had...


Heated and took the steel out of it and milled it down shorter.. Also had to mill a little off the top down inside where the push rod was at...

Turned out a cap out of some scrap I had..

Drilled and tapped a 1/2 hole in the back side to hold the cap on..


Cut out a board for the seat pan and drilled some holes in the seat pan...


Lastly I was a little concerned about the middle of the cast aluminum steering wheel being to thin so I welded up the recess front and back..


Used a file and sanding block to do the back


And due to the front being recessed had to use the mill


Smoothed the front up to take the milling marks out


Went ahead and and bleed the brakes and clutch out and they seem to be working pretty good..

Hope to get the carbs tomorrow so I can get them rebuilt and hopefully get it running

If I do I'll probably drive it out of the garage at least which will hopefully get me moving really fast on it..

 

Took a few days longer then it should but was able to get three large number 97s and dropped them of two weeks ago this Friday..


Figured I would toss the intake in the blast cabinet and bead blast it.. It has some sort of corrosion or dust inside the runners that couldn't be washed out... The glass beads did a good job of cleaning them up though..



Kind of makes the heads look really bad.. Will blast them when I go to paint and re-seal the block


Made up a 3/4" column drop out of some scrap aluminum tonight and with the little I dropped the mount on the tank it should be low enough to clear the windshield.



Tossed the hood and grill shell on to see how they would fit up.. Couldn't help but to toss a fender on so it somewhat looks like a vehicle again..

 

looking good, keep it going

 

I dig the mock up, looks good.

 

Looks Really Sharp!!!

 

Really enjoying this low-key build. Highest quality, great look.
Thanks for some great ideas too.
Love it.

 

Thanks guys!! Called about the carbs today... Should have them done by end of the week..

Stopped by a old guys house.. He is friends with a guy I run around with.. And man what a collection of 38-40 fords..

Picked up an original banjo wheel of him for the truck..

The cast one after looking at it awhile just looked to shinny/light in color.. Looked to street roddish..



Needs some cracks fixed but nothing major..



Now it looks like I'm gonna have to make a new steering shaft since this one is different.. Kinda also seems like I need to shorten the tube also..

But in all I'm glad to have an original ford wheel on it..

 

Man this thing looks great! Your killing it. Love watching the updates on Instagram, glad to find you on here. The RPU gonna make it to Cinci this year?

 

Thanks man.. Still need to get with ya on a wallet, just haven't had time with everything going on around here.

It might make it to cinci just might not be in the finished stage... Was going to bring it last year but cut the back of the frame off couple weeks prior haha...

Anyway small update got the carbs back and looks like the guy did a great job..



Just trying to get some time to get back to work on it.

 

VERY NICE!

 

Great job indeed! They will look good topping off that flattie.

 

Looking real good. I just picked up my '28 rpu this last weekend and plan on a AV8 like yours. It is very inspirational to see what you are doing and insightful to see what i will be doing in the years to come. Keep it up, can't wait to see it done!

 

Thanks!! im just finishing up my daily driver this week and going to be getting back on this pretty hard... almost to the point of wanting it done bad enough if the house catches fire ill just roll it outside and keep working on it...

I seen your wanted add... are you wanted an original A column? im not going to be re using mine

 

You know, I haven't thought of it too much. I would like to do a banjo wheel like yours, but things can always be changed over time. What are you looking at getting out of it?

 

It's not worth much to me.. Not sure what shipping would be on it.. We could check into it if you are interested..


Moved things back around to normal last night after work since I was able to get my daily driver back together after painting the under side of it..



Put the f1 back in the old bay in the house so I have more room..



Set the carbs on and tested to see if the linkage would fit\work.. Anyone have any tips on setting these up?



Buddy gave me a steel wheel cause I told him I was looking for one more 4" wide wheel.. Said I could have this one and he wasn't sure the width but he didn't need it.... How can a sane person turn down free old ford parts..

Anyway dismounted it and the 18" wires I bought to run on the RPU when I get it done and I couldn't be happier.. The steel wheel is a 4" wide and decent shape inside... And the 18s look like brand new inside!.. Had to cut off the old tires that were all dry rotted.





Hope to get a battery and do some wiring here before to long..

 

Started laying out some electrical stuff..

Made up a stand for the solenoid to locate it under the seat..

Cardboard is my friend.. Don't have a break or anything so I made the box out of three pieces and welded them together.


Measured up a space for the batter and left some room around the edge.


Made up a template for the batter size and one for the plate underneath.. Taped it to the frame and crossmember to make sure it worked


Torched out a plate then drilled and ran it through the mill for the hold down bolts/clamps

Tacked the plate to the frame and crossmember... Now I just need to make a hold down and cover for it..

Next will be exhaust i suppose

 

Finished up a battery hold down out of some scrap aluminum..





Always learn something while doing this project.. Messed up the layout of the holes


So welded them shut and machined them off


Re drilled them with two less holes and tried my hand at making the top look cast by using a hammer, also shaped the ends and drilled holes for the hold down bolts..

 

Not to many pics of this but got the exhaust welded up.. Needed to get a 2" pipe in a 1 5/8" flange..

Pie cut and beat in slowly with a hammer till it fit...


Welded it up out of some 2" 90 degree bends with one long leg on them.. Waiting on band clamps from the parts store.. Just have them clamped and zip tied to the hanger




That's where it's gonna come out.. Figure if I need to put tips on it I can always cut it back...

Off topic here but I was fortunate enough to be able to lend a hand in riveting a floor in a buddy's roadster..



Built out of Brookville seconds by a buddy who is around 82-83 and seems to work rings around me.. Hope to be able to do half of what he can someday..


And to top it off cruised up Sunday with him in his flathead powered 32 roadster to get dinner..

Anyway hope to keep rolling and get to wiring and get it running

 

Was able to get a few more things done..

Started working on some exhaust hangers..






Will hang from the normal old rubber straps.. Always hated the look of the standard u bolts..

Next on the list was to get the banjo wheel on the cut down model A shaft..

The taper on the A shaft is a little larger in diameter




This lathe has been a godsend worked out to be about 88.6 degrees of taper.


Keyway is back in and seems to be good to go now..

Not sure if the link will work but I uploaded a clip of it running to Instagram so I'll paste the link and give it a try

https://instagram.com/p/73UTe2y9MT/

 

Reworking a few things and waiting on the radiator to show up,

Not 100% done the bolt and spacer are just to hold it. Will probably weld a bar in between and tap the one end for the original shock mount I used.. This should move them in about 3.5" to put a lot less angle in them





I don't have access to a router so tried the mill as a substitute, cut a 3/4" wide recess around the pedal opening for the new plastic plate.


Made the mistake the first time of cutting the plate in two then trying to cut the path for the pedals.. Had a hard time keeping the side from
Moving while cutting.. So this time
Left it all as one did all the milling then cut in two pieces... Much much better


Then cut the 1/4" deep recess into the plastic


Then counter sunk the holes in the plastic and screwed it to the floor.


This should allow the mat to lay flat instead of the way I had it before.

 

Kind of expensive router, but effective! I like the idea of using the plastic around the pedals, naturally slippery so the pedals will work smooth and leave a flat surface for the mat to lay against.

 

That is very true! But I have found it will do so many more things then a router..

Not as easy to pickup though

 

TROG and getting stuff straightened around here have set me back a bit..

Sold the F1 pickup and picked up a 28-9 Brookville roadster for the next project..


Anyway back to project at hand...

Made up a pretty simple batter cover, since I don't have a box brake but do have a welder I made it out of separate pieces and made the raise in the top of it with just flat steel and a flattens chisel..


Couldn't find any good universal pipe kits so figured I would see what a 90 would look like.. Had plastic in the basement..


Got two mandrel bends from summit had to shorten the long side and lengthen the short side a bit..


Not sure I like it 100% but it will work for now... Also got the carbs back, bolted them on and put the linkage on..

The other roadster came with a window frame so I took it for this project due to thinking maybe Duvall style on the other..

Cut it down over the weekend..


Used some thick stock to hold them down and still


Fit up tacked together... Ended up having to take a bit out of the bottom.. Maybe 1/8" to get the gap on the side right.


Cut down the top bar and welded it up.


Ordered some stuff to mount the generator and some tail lights so that kicked me in the wallet so I'm going to do some stuff that doesn't cost anything..

Make an access cover for the brake and clutch master and drill some holes for wiring..

 

Made some more progress and also stepped back a little bit..

Ran the floor board through the mill and made an access for the master cylinder..


The 37 ford led tail lights showed up from speedway with some other parts I need to send back since they won't fit or work the way I thought they would. Anyway made up a few stands for them..

Found a new use for my vinyl cutter since I have quit doing it but still have the cutter... Makes for easy guides to cut by




Picked up an anvil the other day.. (Other hobby is collecting junk) used it to make the square holes for the carriage bolts.. sharpened a piece of key stock on one end, heated the plate and knocked it down through


Used cover tap (masking tape) from left over lettering stuff to make a guide for the top part of the bracket..


Left some around the edge so the front screw would have some material left in front of it..


Picked up a piece of thin wall 1/2" from tractor supply.. And more heat and beat.. Using an old pulley to shape around the inside to help the pipe from distorting




Ground the pipe on top a few times on the truck to make sure I had the right angle.. Then tacked and checked again then welded it up..





Need some smoothing up but should work out good..


Had a good buddy that has been doing this for a long long time come by and give me a hand sorting a few things out.. He ended up spotting something way more important..

The hood was way outta line.. Didn't line up at the back and didn't come out in the middle of the shell.. We worked at it for a bit and got the back to line up but the front was still off..

The center was probably 1" off to the left of the center of the shell looking at it from the front... I don't know how I didn't see that..

He made a some suggestions and left... I pulled the bed back off and checked the cab.. Sure enough I had set it on crooked last time I had it off.. It was about 1.125" off to one side in the back! Squared it back up and also tightened the front down..



And bam! The hood lines up at the back top and bottom the center of the hood is in the center of the shell.. Just need to make a few minor adjustments to the shell..

Must have been rushing and completely missed that..

I feel very fortunate to become friends with this guy over the past couple years... Him and a few of his friends have been a huge help and are on the same page when it comes to taste in cars.. Most all of them are more then double my age which between them there isn't a question they can't answer.

Hope to get some fuel lines ran, carbs tuned in, add some coolant, do some wiring, and take it for a test drive.. I don't care if it's in the negatives by the time that's happens, I'm driving it somewhere!

Shooting to have to done for spring/summer and have it painted for bonneville this year..

It's 1AM I give up till tomorrow

 

Great Build!

 

Thanks!! Hope I can get the carbs tuned in and it running smooth before to long.

Thanks again!

 

I love those tail lights. Great fabrication!