Projects Jordan's 29 Ford Roadster

I've been trying to build a hot rod since 2004. Initially I was inspired by @Marky 's Spider-Bite build and the Ruffrodders community. The original plan was to build a lakes modified like his. I stared building a ch***is around that idea using mandrel bent 2x3 tubing. As I got older and started making better money, I decided I wanted to build a roadster instead. I bought my first house in 2010, bought a beat down roadster body and dedicated the garage to that pursuit. Naively, I decided to continue on modifying my narrow frame for the purpose. That initial attempt was do***ented here... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...rd-roadster-build-thread.699933/#post-7787729

In 2013 I got married. In 2014 I sold my home, bought a different one and continued working on the roadster




I got pretty close to having a hot rod that was drivable. I had spent damn 14 years working on it off and on. It bounced from shop space to shop space, garage to garage, storage unit to storage unit. During that time, I was also progressing my skillset as a tradesman. I had become a better designer, welder and machinist. My tastes evolved along with my skillset. After all those years of dragging my project around, I couldn't shake the feeling that I would never love it, unless I made a major change.

In 2016 my first child was born, and I came to a crossroads. Get rid of it, or start over...

 

It hurt, but I made the decision to start over. The original ch***is was chopped up and s****ped.

 

Well, as a wise man once said, if at first you don’t succeed try, try again.

 

All kinds of cars have inspired me along the way. However, I've always been drawn to cars with a high level of fabrication / design but still subtle in some ways that keep you guessing. Many of the mid 2000's cars from Pinkee's Rod Shop had a heavy impact on me. Especially a few model A's on sectioned deuce ch***is like this one.
When I thought long and hard about what kind of car I really wanted . I never got too far from the Pinkee's cars. Something about those sectioned frames really did it for me. I made up my mind. Even though I had just had my first child, I decided I would build my own, and I would do it to the best of my ability. No matter how long it took, or how difficult it was, I was going to hang on.

 

I started by saving up some cash and taking a road trip to So Cal speed shop in Sacramento. I bought a pair of ASC reproduction frame rails.

At the time I had access to a large fixture table at work, so I started by building a big frame jig for the house

 

Next, it was time to start removing 1-1/4" out of the frame rails

 

Tried to bump the metal around as straight as possible...
Then I set up the perimeter jig using measurements I found online from Wescott's.

Pinching the front end. Lots of relief cuts and some torch work. Probably should have skipped the torch

 

Wow not seen rails done like that before.

 

Not too long after I got the rails pinched, I had to take a break from the hot rod again. My second child, Ivan arrived on my birthday in 2020. Our home is spilt level and the garage lies right below my kids rooms. Noisy work has been really tough to get done around nap schedules and kids needs. Once things settled down a bit, I got to work breaking down the engine.

The engine came out of my 72 C-10 that I had in high school and was last run somewhere around 2003. The engine sat on a stand outside for many years. Granted it was mild bay area climate and covered, but i wasn't too hopeful of its condition.

Most everything came apart pretty easy, but there was one stuck piston and a some pretty good rust on one wall. It had definitely been rebuilt at some point in its life. It had a 10-10 crank, .020" pistons, well worn bearings and a cam from a long defunct local camshaft maker.

 

Once everything was broken down, I took the block to Hubbard Machine shop. There is DEEP local hot rod history and there. I can't say enough good things about Wade and the gang there.

They ended up decking the block, hot tanking, sleeving one cylinder, boring and honing .030 over, putting in new cam bearings and freeze plugs. It came out absolutely beautiful.

 

The engine had some lame smog heads on it, so I picked up some 291 camel humps that were on a 68 Camaro. They were decked to 62cc had 2.02's, comp springs etc. I think I paid $250 for them.


For the rest of the internals, I bought one of the Summit Pro packs. **** crank, hypereutectic pistons, Summit rods etc. XE268 from Comp Cams. I wont be using their lifters however. Too many horror stories as of late.

 

Your doing some nice work. Good on you. Though you do know with a sbc the car wifade into a sea of reguer sbc powered street rods. There are a lot of other engine options that would set it apart from the rest.

 

I'm ok with that. I'm not worried about winning any shows. They are affordable to build / run and maintain, plus incredibly reliable. I'm putting a 5 speed and 9" behind it. I plan on putting lots of miles on it!

 

On the noise vs little kids: eons ago, one of my acquaintances told me how she got her kids to sleep thru anything: When they were very young(like < 1yr old), she'd intentionally make noise during naptimes/etc - vacuum cleaner(incl under their beds) dishwasher, etc. It did take some concerted effort due to timing. So I had to ask, & Yes, it caused troubles sleeping at 1st, but they quickly got used to it, & not long after, kids slept thru literally anything - she didn't/wouldn't tiptoe around the house like all her other mom-friends did. & they disagreed w/her tactics, but her kids got, & maintained the best sleep, even into adulthood. By then it was too late to train... . FWIW. .
Marcus...

 

The block got bagged up in the garage and is waiting its turn. Then I got back on the ch***is. The front crossmember and pre fabbed K-member came from So-Cal speed shop and were fitted in place.

I wanted the ch***is to be "step boxed" like the so-cal versions to give me a safe place for fuel / brake lines; So I machined this little widget to position "back-stops" that would hold my boxing plates at a consistent depth. I also welded in pieces of 1/2" stock under the body mount holes for drilling and tapping later

 

After making chip board templates, I got to band sawing and fitting the 10g boxing plates

Then I started clamping everything and slowly welding all the boxing plates in place.

Then more welding, and more welding, followed by more welding

 

Ch***is Welding by Cali4niaCruiser posted Oct 20, 2022 at 4:04 PM

 

After the front 3/4 of the ch***is was all boxed in, it was time to test fist the body and start planning the back half.

IMG_0802 by Cali4niaCruiser posted Oct 20, 2022 at 3:54 PM

 

Using a cut down plywood wheel to start planning rear ride height and crossmember location

 

Very sano. This will be a nice roadster. I’m following along.

 

I did mucho business with Vic Hubbard's speed shop in Hayward since the late '50s. Then, in 1976 I rebuilt a customer's '59 Corvette that had 200k miles on the Vic Hubbard engine, built in '62 by Hubbard machinist Jerry Light.
Your engine has a pedigree.

 

Made some stands to position my axle and spiring hangers. Rear crossmember now has its height set to design the frame back-half around.

 

I got my rotating ***embly balanced at Ed's Crankshafts in Hayward. The rods and pistons are back with Wade at Al Hubbard's machine getting built up. I've got just about every piece of the puzzle to get this engine together!

 

Sweet roadster.

 

Pistons and rods all ***embled

 

I started working on the back half of the ch***is. I went from a CAD sketch to a 3D printed prototype

I had the 2D profile laser cut by Send Cut Send

I machined a jig to help me line it up over the axle
Then the profiles got tacked in place

 

I machined a bending jig for the top and bottom of the frame rail out of a s**** piece of plate

 

Then I got to work fitting the pieces and welding them up

 

I also got the ladder bar mounts fit and welded