Hot Rods The Rouster Indy Roadster

Another project we started not to long ago (November 27 2016) is this AJ Watson styled Indy roadster project. It is closely based on the watson, just widened 4 " in the front, 8" in the rear and stretched 10' in the cockpit to make it a two seater for the street. we are building the full chassis, and body in house. i will keep the typing to a minimum since everyone likes the pics more than reading all my BS lol

day 1 Nov 27 2016. set up the axles at what the customer had requested 96" wheel base, stock to a watson. we ended up stretching it 10" after this point when the customer could see how little room would be in the cock pit at 96"



then things progressed, sorry some of the pics may be a little out of order. i didnt take a ton and they got imported in a weird order.


























and fast forward a couple weeks, didnt take a ton of pics of the process















so there it is today Dec. 27 2016. one month to get to this point

 

Going to be "one" to watch for sure.

 

Love the torsion bar suspension. Great , fast work . Any photos of the car you are making a clone of . Subscribed . Blue

 

Oh boy, you hooked me on this one. Keep those photos coming.

 

this car wont be a clone of anything else. it will be 1 of 1. pretty much basing it off the watson roadster styling but all alone on the car itself

 

I'm sub'd. What will the body be like? A widened Indy roadster, or more like some of the Kurtis sports cars - Allard-ish like a the first 500 series or perhaps full fendered like a kk? Gary

 

I like reading,cuz then I know whats going on.Nice work.

 

the body will be like a watson roadster just a little wider and longer. the Root Bros are doing the final body rendereing for it. when i get a pic of that i will post it so everyone will see what it will look like before i start hammering out the aluminum skin

 

I think this is the real deal 63 Watson Indy roadster but It sees there are a lots of versions and several clones of Watson Indy roadsters.
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that is the basic idea what i will look like but scaled up some to make it the 2 seater

 

Cornfield, I'm going to try and build something like this . Hope to take one of your metal classes to hone some of my hammer skills . Two seater ? Anything like these ? Blue

 

nice work there guys.........

 

Nice, great thread!

 

A really good looking roadster build. I have a question regarding the 6th photo
in your post. It appears to me that you are incorporating the lower member of
the roof bar joist as a monorail for the trolley and chain fall. I have never seen this
before and was wondering about the load rating of the joist. I have always under stood
that these type of joists were designed for a span load and were limited as far as point
loading such as a chain fall with a weight on it would apply. Did you have an engineering
evaluation done on the safe working load of this joist? Not to criticize you methods, just
trying to understand something new to me.

 

i did not have any official engineering done, but 2 things. the guy i bought my building from used to hoist grand pianos up from a chain fall attached to a chain around the bar joist. he did this for the last 30 years with no bending or damage to any bar joists. i have also had a handful of people with structural back grounds with these types of roof joists not bat an eye at the set up. so i feel very confident that me lifting a few hundred pound engine or chassis should be fine

 

Love the pistol in the guys waistband.

 

Looking forward to watching this come to life. I dig the torsion bar suspension too.

 

@gearhead Bill:
Me too...one night a 'soul type' walked into my shop where I was all alone, welding. I noticed some 'presence', and flipped my helmet up.
The 30 or so year old says, "I'll be takin' da money..." he had a .22 revolver, dropped it slightly and looked around. I had my .45 ACP out in a flash, scared him so bad he wet his baggy pants...
My local police friend came when I called, asked me "How come you wear that cannon?"
I said "For ballast." Guess I felt 'skinny'.

 

Correct. Structures of your mettle have loads based on water and snow weights spanning the entire mass. Also, those joists don't just sit on the wall tops. They essentially keep the walls upright, and structurally perpindicular. Preventing load forces outward, or load forces inward. You are indeed dandy sir, and this is a badass thread. Thanks for sharing.

 

Too bad Dayton is no longer, you would have had to take it up there to dial it in. Did I miss what is going to power this beast?

 

Good one I really enjoy your work and letting us along for the builds.

 

I would guess a flathead, seeing that the frame was built around one. (Check photos 2 through 6)

Roo

 

My aging eyes were so glad to see cross torsion tubes that I completely missed that, Roo! Thanks.

 

Lots of cross torsion stuff around me. Spike Chassis speed shop is next door and the actual chassis shop is a couple of door down in the same building and I also have Jokerr Fab right across the parking lot. Oh!, and 2016 Silver Crown champ Fred Gormley's (Chris Windom driving) RPM shop is just around the corner.

Roo

 

engine set in place





the owner testing it on for size

 

really kool guys! i have to say, you guys are not afraid to take on anything! this will be something to see!

 

thanks, we just arent smart enough to know what we cant do lol

 

What a neat project. Really like the chassis. I see the engine has a 409 water pump. I manufactured a 409 to FH water pump kit for about 20 years that looked a lot like yours. Just recently sold my last kit. Gary at Cornhusker Rod And Custom

 

I understand your confidence in the capacity of the bar joist. I had not seen this done
before and was just curious about the use.

 

this engine has one of your pump adapter kits