1930s Era Champ Car - new project

We've been blessed with exceptionally warm weather for October, so I got out all my little bits and shot them in primer. I see lots of sanding in my future.

 

Outstanding build. Keep the updates coming.

 

Front shackle bolts arrived. They have urethane bushings that are not the same OD as the OEM. Additionally, the OEM shackles had Zerk grease fittings. The new ones have none. That raises questions for me. Should the new ones be lubed? What does one use to lubricate urethane? Silicone? Grease? Graphite?
Should the bushings move on the spring or the shackle bolts? I know there are different hardnesses of urethane and the durometer of the pieces has a lot to do with its load carrying capabilities. School me.
I made new steel bushings to sleeve down the spring eye ID to fit the urethane shackle bushings. I used 1.000" tubing but when I tried to press them in they took many tons of pressure - so much so that the spring eye actually opened up slightly as I pressed in the bushings. I'll bet the pre-finished ID will need reaming before the bushings will fit.

 

Main leaf bushings got reamed.

We have one more week of temperatures in the fifties before the bottom drops out. I am trying to prep as many parts for primer so I can get them painted Sunday - in four days - when upper fifties are predicted. Other than that not much to show. Just the drudgery of sanding.


I need to cap those wishbone spud ends.

 

The weather cooperated long enough for me to get more chassis parts primed, finished
twenty minutes before rain showers arrived. There have been times when rain showers arrived twenty minutes before I was finished painting so I got lucky this time.
My neighbor helped me get the job done before it rained.

 

Man Flyer, you are really closing in on this! Looking & sounding great. I like that bearing packer, cool idea.

 

You bet. My biggest hurdles now are metal finishing the entire body panels and paint. Final paint is going to have to wait until springtime. Watch for a concept sketch as I have a paint scheme in mind. I'm not even considering reassembly as a hurdle - more like a fun voyage of discovery. I like that part a lot as progress is tangible.

That little bearing packer could be a cheap injection molded plastic tool with every bearing kit.

 

I hadn't noticed before. You even made your own clevises! I wimped out and bought some...

 

Yup, by the time I decided on the hole size and the gap spacing and threaded spud size and found some I could trust material wise (forged, not cast) it was just as easy to cut some out and weld up.

 

You ever think about the twisting a clevis endures as the suspension rolls? It's small, but I don't think it's insignificant. That's in a setup like I have. That's one reason why I'm redoing the suspension to 4 bars front and rear. I've got a lot of evidence that 4 bar setups go back to the 30s, if not earlier. Just in case someone says it's not traditional...

 

I hope its traditional. I've got hot rods with 4-bars front and/or rear. Ditto coil springs.

 

There's a t-bucket, the Don Brusseau, that first showed up in Hot Rod magazine in 1951 with a flathead AND 4 bar suspension with cross springs. And it still exists, updated numerous times but still with the 4 bar setup.

I'd add a link, but, well computer illiterate!

Google Don Brusseau T-Bucket: 1949 to Today. It's probably in the voluminous t-bucket thread, but read the line above... me and computers just don't like each other.

So I think we're both safe with 4 bars. And coil overs showed up in the 50s, so I guess they get a pass too.

 

LOL next thing you'll be telling me is a Watts linkage is trad.

 

1935 Miller-Ford - Museum of American Speed

• The four-wheel independent suspension itself was probably the most striking feature of the car. It was, and perhaps still is, the most aesthetically appealing suspension ever put upon an open-wheel car of any type, and stands next to certain of his engines as the outstanding example of the Harry Miller touch.

 

Roarington Metaland: Miller Ford Indy Car

The car's suspension system was highly advanced for its time, with a front suspension that featured independent wishbones and coil springs. At the rear, the car had a solid axle with semi-elliptical leaf springs for stability and control at high speeds.

1935 Ford Indy Car

 

I cleaned up and polished the front axle. I am not a fan of chrome plating for several reasons but, dang, that axle would look good chrome plated.

 

I have been imagining a paint scheme that would have been appropriate for the era. I am leaning toward a base of cream - Ford Corinthian white or PPG Custard - with gunmetal grey metallic scallops and red pinstriping. Not too elaborate, I'll use single stage acryllic enamel (no clearcoating). Maybe get Mr. Josh Shaw to do the numbering in gold leaf or engine polished and other graphics just so I can get his signature on the body.

 

I'll see him tomorrow

Do you want me to put in a good word for you?

 

Sure. Its been a long time since I told him of my plans to do this car. He gave me a tour of the Zakira complex. I hope he's still doing resto paint detailing.

 

After a winter hiatus I'm back on the job. Surveying the steaming pile of dudu that will become a champ car I've forgotten half of what I've done or what I need to do next. Being a little reluctant to pick up a piece of sandpaper and get busy sanding parts I started off doing a little finish welding on the bustle. There was excessive crown along the sides so I pie cut and welded up the sides. Since the bustle won't fit inside my english wheel I'll planish the sheet metal part by hand.

 

I did some more tappa tappa on the bustle. I used some specialized tools - long reach hammers and a slapper that me and my dad made for getting into deep places easier. It is close enough for me to start skimming it with a thin coat of filler. I had originally intended to bolt the body back on the newly primed frame to finish the filler work, but the more I thought about it the more I did not want to see my frame dusted in Bondo powder and subject to nicks and scratches that would inevitably occur, so instead I braced the bustle with wood so I can take it outside and place it on saw horses and file/sand on it there.
That did raise one additional issue though. I did not install the recess for the gas tank filler. This was somewhat intentional so I could get the body surface real close to net shape before I installed the filler cap cutout. Now I have the choice -
Install the gas tank and bustle back on the body to finish the gas cap - or -
Finish all the filler work and then put the body back on for the final cut-n-fit of the filler, with minimal damage to the frame primer
BUT
that would mean grinding off the filler locally to do the welding.

I'm leaning toward Bondo filler first then install the gas cap last, with additional filler to be done locally around the gas cap well.

Of course Murphy's Law kicked in and my orbital sanding disc disintegrated so I am waiting for a new one to arrive. And so it goes...

 

The pads are considered consumables

 

A few loose ends need to be tied up prior to paint and reassembly. One is the aforementioned fuel cell filler neck. I counterbored the fuel cell lid to receive the filler stub pipe. I think I'll put the bustle back on the frame carefully and align everything and install the filler cap in the tail section.

 

I want to du-uglify the headlight stanchions a little bit.I made sheet metal airfoil fairings over the stands. It was a bit problematic since the hold-down bolts needed access holes so I fused some tubes into the fairings. Now I need to skim coat them with some Mondo to finesse their final shape.





I also discovered one of the headlight swivels would not move to allow for light aiming. I thought it was rusted shut. After repeated applications of rust penetrant I disassembled the light to find that the mounting post had been brazed to the bucket, making movement impossible. That is going to require that I un-braze the mounting post. Hopefully I can save all of the components.

 

@THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER outstatnding work! Apologies for not seeing it before but whats the history of that front axle? Is it from another car and made like that?

 

Thank you panhead_pete. The front axle is from a relatively common early '50s Ford F1 pickup. Look closely at the photos and you can see that I removed 6 inches from the middle to narrow it. In addition, I removed the parallel leaf spring pads and drilled it out. Then added bat wings. Front drum brakes are stock Ford. I also converted the Ford pickup steering box to cowl steering.
Enjoy my build.

 

Thanks! It kind of looked familar, now I know why, well sort of. I better find some time and go back into thread where you covered that. Thanks for letting me know what you did.

 

Sorry Pete, looking back I did not cover the construction of the axle. It just showed up in my post #41 pics.
I remember making a wooden jig to hold the kingpin bosses in alignment with each other. I was real concerned with getting a defect free joint in the middle too. I made sure there was a sufficient root opening with a proper bevel. A root pass on each side followed by a top pass seemed to work, using a TIG torch with a foot pedal current control.
Hope this helps. FTF

 

Thanks so much! I did look for it in the thread but couldnt see it. Did you bend the axle in the middle to get that slight V/Dip in it?

 

No, the bow in the middle of the axle was there already. I think some Dodge/Chrysler axles also have a bow in the middle, and I liked the look of that; it looks like it was there to lower the chassis.