Projects Finally My '26 Chevy Roadster Build

Kume. Thank you for the input. I have a vertivlr belt sander and a medium hand held one. I'll see what Steve has at the shop and buy one if needed. I have quite a few tools that will get set up once I get my shop clean enough to work in. Please continue to advise us any time. We do intend to have a set of drawings when this is over and hopefully some instructive comments that can be picked out if the rest of the thread.
Tim. There was mention of a product earlier in this thread that is used to "restore" wood. I have no experience with it. I'm sure you know there are wood kits for Model As as well as drawings. Although it would be a pain depending on which pieces I would replace anything that os not solid. Better now than later. It won't get easier.

 

Thanks

 

Checked back in thread. Was mentioned in pages 6-8 some but you were on those pages. I didn't see a product name. There was mention of one that was taken in with suction and one with pressure. If you have to remove it may as well replace it.

 

Six Ball, I 'll keep my eye's open for two hubcaps.

But I just found a 25 Chey Roadster Cowl ($40), 25 Chevy frame ($50), and a 1928 Motor with a 25 Head on it, compete engine, and trans (Super deal).

I also nailed a 181($125) and a 153 iron-duke ($25), yes with non-cracked blocks! All on this last Monday afternoon!

So, my question for you is, what would it take to get some paper patters from you off of you 25 Roadster build????

I want to make a steel frame for my 25 Chevy Roadster body, to replace my 27 Ford T body,
on my 27 Chevy chassis all because I hate termites!

Craig 541 821-3691

 

That is "Paper Patterns"

 

You might take a close look at the sub rails in the T roadster body. The 26 Chevy and the 26 T have a very similar size and shape. I am going to redo mine as a termite magnet, but I had considered fordicating it with a 26 T metal subframe.

 

Craig, We'll have to see, GG2 has done all of the drawing and the work on the wood so far. All I do is talk. I haven't heard from him since before the Holidays. I've been fighting with my power system but got a little shop time today. As far as I'm concerned there would be no problem with sharing this I don't want to start a business. But like I said all the work is GG2's. The first drawings.tracings he sent were fill size which would be best. The last ones are smaller. I think photos of full scale ones.
Sounds like you found a lot of good stuff. The 153 is not the Iron Duke. It is a 151. I have a nice one of those from a Jeep sitting around from a 1980 YJ with 60,000 miles. If I ever get my roadster done I'd like to build an early Chevy 4. Did you see Ryan's Bob Rufi post? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/bob-rufi-the-pursuit-of-speed.1309331/
Hub caps would be nice. I bought a new set several years but they are the small ones.

chevspeeder that is interesting about the T. The guy I got my body from said he had it sitting on a T frame and some of the bolt holes lined up. I don't know what year or which or how many holes. No Fordicating allowed here. Actually your T body looks good. Beats the Chevy bodies in Ford running gear. But anything rolling is better than what I have.

 

You're right I have a Chevy II 153. But I also picked up that 3 l MerCruiser engine. Has a large Port head on it so I'm making a couple tubular intake manifolds using freeze plugs for both ends and laser cutting all the flanges. Amazing before simple 20s looking log manifolds. As for the exhaust I'll use long sweep electrical conduit tubing looks 20ish and 30ish. I'm going to pull some electronic files off the photographs you put on line to get close on the basic profile of the quarter panels. I have the 1927
Coop quarter panel for some Chevrolet cues. They do have the wood that was left in the front cowl for the basic radius of the sides. But I'm really looking for the foundation from the front firewall to the back of the body itself. It's like what you would see if you're looking up underneath the body from the floor. For putting the body on a piece of paper on the floor and then tracing of the sharpie. Anything you do to help I'd appreciate, nobody wants to make a business out of the hobby with ruin it for everyone. Thanks Craig

 

The sill is the base of the wood frame. GG2 labeled them 1R & 1L. That is the only piece we have cut on the CNC machine. It should be 1 3/4" thick but we just used some 3/4" particle board to test. It worked out nice because the rabbit for the floorboards is 3/4"is it is a nice pattern and reversible. That piece goes from the front of the cowl and has about the first 6" of the frame kick up at the end. Then shorter pieces stack over the pick up to the cross piece at the back which lines up with the back of the body.
Your manifolds sound good. The 181 has a few different heads. Probably all the 8 ports are better than the 153. But mine is already built and Tom Lowe did a great job on it.

 

Yeah my 153 has a 5 port, and my 181 has an 8 port, pretty big port too. I have a bender set up for rolling one by two inch 16 gauge steel tubing. I thought about going the wood route for about 5 minutes but I'm planning for this car to be a daily. I like the extra protection of the steel. Plus for me it's easier than wood. Do you have a dxf file available for the routing of the wood? I can turn that into a paper file for bending metal against. Send some photographs of the poor cowl when I get a chance. I will send the before's first.

 

At least it's not Ford, or fiberglass like my current body. And you have to start somewhere!

 

That one is pretty rough for sure but not beyond repair. I used to know where there were two nice cowls. I haven't seen or heard from one of the guys in a few years. Considering getting one because mine has some rust along the bottom.
I'm sticking with the wood at least until I give it an honest try. The wood is amazingly strong and a bit flexible. I figure if I get in a crash in a roadster I'll be toast anyway.
All I have is on this site. There is no file. We have only worked on one part in the cabinet shop. Hope to get back on it soon. It has been crazy here for the last few months. It take a lot just to live here. I need a few ranch hands but don't have a bunk house.
I'd like to see what you come up with for your 8 port head.

 

Things are starting to warm up around here. I went back to Alabama and picked up the front axle I left behind on the last trip as well as what looks like a useable clutch disc and PP. looking forward to warmer weather as I now have most of what I need to put the chassis together. I am looking forward to seeing more posts on the roadster wood.

 

No progress on wood here. I haven't heard from GG2. I imagine he has his hands full with winter still and ranch work. We have 14" of new snow this morning and still falling. I wish I could send it the Texas Panhandle. I've got folks there.
I am almost done putting a 3-way DRO on my mill. Then I'll tackle replacing a broken gear on my lathe that I have avoided for years since I got it. I've had no power feed. This is all part of the shop cleaning and reorganizing the shop. I ordered parts for the big belt/disc sander today. Leroy came up a couple of days ago and we drank a few beers in the shop and made plans for the chassis attack. I showed him some pieces he had not seen before and we discussed the suspension. We'll have access to the cabinet shop soon and I hope the wood will be done before summer. (HOPE) There is just so much other stuff. The snow will be going and the weeds coming.

 

I did some goofing off this weekend. I hope you guys like them.

 

It was more than 60 degrees today and the sun was shining so I worked some more on retrieving front springs from an old farm trailer made out of Chevy and model T parts. I got one spring off, it is the correct dimensions but both of them are pretty rusty. One has straight clipped ends which I am assuming is an aftermarket spring. I have another pair of fronts off of a later Chevy truck that are about 2 inches too long. If I can salvage the proper main leaves I think I can piece together a pair of springs. Also hoping to save the spring bolts and shackles. Tomorrow I will take another try at the other spring. Trying not to cut the U-bolts but I might have to. I also need to gather up the hardware from the bed and put it away. My uncle told me years ago that it was made from a kit purchased from Sears or Montgomery Ward. ( the trailer came off his farm) The bed hardware looks the same as that used to build a depot hack or slip-on truck bed.

 

We're up to 18" of snow but it's about over for this storm. Now it will be in the 50s next week most of it will melt and we'll have floods. I hope I can keep most of it off of my road. That's what screwed it up last year.
I spent most of the day in the shop and tried to be productive not like like Twisted. (Those are cool Larry!) I got the third DRO scale (Z) mounted. I have one more bracket to make to re-make. They sent a bunch of pretty neat aluminum brackets but you have to make them fit. On this one the scale will be fixed & the reader will move. If I stay home tomorrow it should be done. I'll be able to do the modifications I want on the axle. I need to bust a trail out of here and get some supplies.

 

Thank You. I surely don't miss that snow.

 

Looking for some opinions. The front springs for my project are really rusty and I am sure the metal is fatigued. So even if I spend hours grinding, re-arching etc, they will probably be marginal. The specs are a 7 leaf 1 3/4 spring 36” eye to eye. Exact reproduction front springs are $799 a pair plus shipping. Now it just so happens that the early jeeps used a 1 3/4 wide 36” spring with 8 leaves. I can get them shipped to the house for about $110 each. Still trying to find specs on the bolt sizes in the eyes. What do you all think?… both vehicles are probably about the same weight in the front. Haven’t found arch specs yet that I can understand.

 

What ever works. The axle on some is not in the middle. be sure the check that.

 

Do you happen to be a steel detailer by trade?

 

Good point, I checked that the spring was symmetrical about the “center bolt” and also found that they use the same size shackle bolts as the Chevy. I went on and ordered them. I know I will have to trim the ends of the 2nd leaf as they wrap around the main leaf. I don’t know the proper spring terminology. My plan is once I get them, to compare the lengths of the leaves to the Chevy spring and see how much work it will be to rework the leaves to the Chevy lengths and make a 7 leaf spring. I found some deflection rates on line and the jeep spring has a higher rate, but that makes sense as it has 8 leaves and the 2nd leaf is as long as the main leaf. If they are about the same thickness I should be able to make them work. I will post pictures once I get them and evaluate. Should be interesting.

 

A steel dealer? No I'm a wood monger. We just had a tree fall in our yard at our cabin at Tahoe. I think I'll carve a Chevy out of it.

That spring looks Like a pretty good match and good starting point. You can do a lot of mix & match. I have a good set that came from a 50s Dodge pickup. They have a bit more arc and I may use them with the Chevy main leaf. I'll have to put some more arc back in it.

 

haha! Your drawing/sketch in one of the post's looked a something a good steel detailer would have produced.

 

I kind of have my hands on some NOS never used never had valves 153 and 181 heads if anyone is interested.

 

Mine has bigger valves, but someone may need some.

 

The new springs came today. They are the right length. If I throw away the smallest leave, the rest of the leaves match up within an half inch or less, except the 2nd leaf which will need to have the ends cut off. The new ones have a little more arch, but they are new. The only issue is they do not have bushings in the end, which isn’t an issue except one eye is slightly larger. Worst case, I might have to make some bushings on the lathe.

 

Man, I'm sold! That is a great find & price. What year & model Jeep? It's worth $110 each just to not have to disassemble & clean up the old ones. Do you have a full length comparison photo?

 

I ordered 8 leaf front springs for a 1941 Willys CJ2A Jeep. They are the same for a few models/years. Omix brand number 18201.01. I paid $95.09 each with free shipping from ebay. The spring industry number is A612. Several vendors list them. I found some cheaper but they were out of stock. I haven’t figured out the bushings for the eyes yet, as one end was set up for a rubber bushing, and consequently one eye is a little bigger than the other, but I am convinced there are some brass bushings out there that will work. I will share the info on the bushings when I find them. If you lay the new spring on top of the old one it is about 1/2 inch shorter, but I think it is because the new spring has more “crown”. Except for the end wrap on the second leaf and the little eighth leaf, they are almost the same. Leaf thickness looks the same as well. If you zoom in and see how rusty that spring is, then you understand why I ordered them. One thing though, the ends of the ends are straight cut and the clips are a little different, so if you are going for originality you will have to do more work. I will be happy if I get mine going period, I will keep it original as is reasonable.