I’m sure I remember seeing this on here before. Love the slower lines, not as ‘hunchback, as the sedan. Looking forward to seeing your progress
Back to our scheduled program... First up was to lift the body off and attack the frame. It was pretty grungy after the years had passed, but cleaned up okay for now. I rigged up a basic jig to make sure everything is as it should be, plus the frame will be boxed front to rear so the jig should help with that too. The plan is for a tail dragger stance, so low in the back, but I still want travel. That meant a C notch was in order. I didn't want to loose any more floor area than necessary so worked out a notch that would allow decent travel with minimum floor intrusion. Also, by tail dragger I'm talking 40's/early 50's, not belly on the ground low. I made good use of cardboard then started with the cutting. Next to come will be fishplates of the outside of the notch, as is required here by the powers that be. (This whole rolling chassis will be inspected in the raw with no welds dressed.)
Yes, that's true, but...I have to weld fish plates on the notch so wanted to clean up the shape so far, while I had access. More welding to come. Thing is, there will be more than enough welding left un touched on this frame for the inspectors to assess whether the work is good enough. That's my plan anyway.
Here is the c-notch with the fish plate welded on. The springs are Holden Rodeo (Isuzu) pickup and I fabbed the mounts to be inboard of the frame for low factor without excessive lowering blocks. Rear x-member the hangers attach to is 100x50mm box, which fits perfectly inside the original member. Then full welded at the ends plus a few rosettes as well for good measure. You can see how I modified the centre of the X member for the transmission. Transmission crossmember is still in the process of being made in this pic. Trans x-member in And this is all I'm going to show of the front crossmember
Wow , that's some really nice well thought out fabrication. This should give your sloper a great foundation!
Subscribed. Love it. Inspiration for those of us in the same Raising A Family boat with a car project on hold.
The chassis is looking real good, I like the idea of the inboard leaf springs. Do you use Rustbuster on bare metal parts? What is the best way to apply? My chassis needs a coat to protect it.
Thanks guys, appreciate the kind words. Jimmy I do use Rustbuster, it's great stuff. Sometimes I'll brush it, but generally I wipe it over with a small piece of cloth. I find it keeps the metal in good condition for a long time, especially if you don't handle it too much with sweaty fingers. Every now and then I might give a patch a wipe if I notice any sign of surface rust developing, usually where I've been working on something.
Yes, hot and humid from now until March/April. Summer is the wet season. My garage is nice and dry I'm happy to say so my stuff is fairly well protected. And usually cool enough to work. Winter is really the best roadster weather here because you can get fried in summer: I know from (painful) experience!
The Jalopy Journal
