Projects So this is how it starts T RPU turned Roadster

Thanks! It's really filling up quick.

 

Looks slick! The really was a nice clean bevel. glad my head full of old ford could be helpful

laying pipe in a ditch sounds like an outtake line from a bob seager song haha

 

Around here it was called snagging. And it was a dirty job! Was fun watching the welders welding on the live pipe when penetration was 101%…

 

Took the opportunity of a sunny day to get some paint on the bed, it sure did take alot more paint markers than I expected and I still have some to go.

 

Looks great man

 

looking good

 

Gonna buy stock in ****m. If everyone buys those pens for “painting” their cars, I could be a millionaire, or at least a hundredaire!

 

The time has come to tackle the missing sections of rocker/sill/subrail. None of the body started out life together, 2 separate doors, a cowl from a ditch *which started it all* and a center tub from a touring out of the rafters of a lumber yard.

The hope was to find a better body or a pair of subrails by now and avoid this. *That dream has failed to materialize*

Today time was spent finding the flattest spot of concrete in the shop to lay out the body on. I'm thinking I'll make a jig to weld the cowl and tub section to and get everything held in the right spot allowing the doors to be opened and closed before I try splicing in material to fill the missing subrail sections. I only need 6-8" per side. I'm planning on harvesting this from the rear of the tub section where it was also cut; each side has around 9" I can prune off with what appears to be the same profile as what is missing in the front.

A few days back the neighbor took a photo of me sitting in the car and I realized how high I sat even without any upholstery which led me to removing the seat riser. This ended up being a blessing in disguise once I started to get a game plan for the subrail repair as it allowed me to remove all the rivets holding the sill plate covers inplace.

 

I also sloshed some paint on various other body parts today, wheeled the bed over to the solar oven for curing which worked beautifully, all the other parts I had hung up where still tacky when I closed up for the day.

 

Sounds like a good plan for connecting the dots

 

I've long intended to make a small and a medium solar oven to bake enamel painted parts in. Who needs Earl Scheib?

 

Things took a drastic turn today. The body I missed out on months back in Chicago showed up local to me forsale by another Hamb'r.

 

Ooooooooh buddy!

 

I've been busy getting the roadster body set in place and a subframe built, found a old owner and got some photos from the 70's which has been neat. Settled on something like 4-5 inches of channel compared to the 10 or so the body once had.

 

Looking good! Gonna be cruising in no time!

 

No earth shattering progress just chipping away at the subframe, body now stands under its own weight on frame. Tommorow the goal is to get the tail of the car tied into this tubular substructure, currently have a few pieces tackweĺded from the rear cross member to the tailpan to support the rear. The way the subframe is constructed I should be able to have a completely flat floor from cowl foot to rear crossmember.
I have a 16gal round fuel tank 29" wide 12.5" tall thinking it will get mounted forward of the rear crossmember behind the seat leaving a well between tailpan and cross member for a small trunk or a possible battery location.
View attachment 6598678 View attachment 6598695

 

Awesome! Be rolling it outside to take a look in no time

 

Great work on the new body, I saw the comments on the other thread & had forgotten about this one. What a cool jigger

 

@Tim came by, lots of good ideas shared. He did a little rendering with a track nose bar and two little nerf bar steps infront of the rear tires to aid in entry. We both like the grill leaned back some, gives it a race look. Burned in just about the last of the subframe today and didn't take any photos of it.

 

Was good seeing you today! Lots of good ideas percolating. Car really has a great feel in person. I think getting it outside for some photos will show it better but it feels, I dunno agressive? Rowdy? It’s a hot rod for sure either way you label it.

 

Great thread

 

That looks fantastic!

 

Wrapped up the subframe with some dog legs that tie in to where the original subframe was torched out extending into the factory pocket about 8 inches, the 1st of 2 holes drilled in this area for through bolts making use of a sandwich plate to really tie it all together in addition to some welding.
A piece of 1x2" was split and used to tie in the factory tulip panel supports to the subframe. This brace stiffened up the body probably more than any thing else. It's a good feeling to grab any point of the body, give it a willful shake and the ch***is and body move as one.


I'm thinking my next step(s) are going to be getting it steering and stopping. Hoping to try out a 36 ford dash ive been saving hopefully it won't put my column too low.
Lots to think about with steering the original plan was to modify my F1 box to work in the A frame but the process of cutting the flange off and welding on a new one seems alittle daunting.
Months back @Tim sent some photos of a car that had a 40-48 cross steer box mounted upside down allowing it to be used in a push/pull configuration and I liked the idea of that.

 

Easy enough to mock up and see! It would also let you really play with steering column angle and minimize what dash modification you may need to make. It’s also going to let you cir***navigate some possible exhaust clearance issues. Always gets tight at the exhaust manifold/ steering column tube

 

Some parts dress up today. Not digging that the aircleaners sit above the hoodline but that's something I should have taken into account before deciding on body placement.

 

It’s not too extreme though. Id say be the time there are radiator hoses and a generator it’ll all just flow together.

dash looks like you already color matched it lol. Malcolm here on the hamb had a 36 dash in his roadster originally I believe. Maybe a jump in the Time Machine back to 2011 will get some how to instructions to chew on?

 

There we go.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/malcolm-model-a-roadster-build.567286/page-3

That should take you to the correct page just scroll down. Most of the photos are still there

 

The hamb doesn't need AI when it has Tim

 

Merry Christmas