Hot Rods 28 modified build downunder

Thanks Glen and Glenn. I did know about the Hills hoist method but wanted something a bit more thorough. I will look at the kbs coatings site for sure.

 

So now that I have the front and rear crossmembers where I want them I can hang some axles under there, drop in a motor and work out the rest of the chassis.

Starting with the rear, I made some hangers to mount the '48 rear radius rods to. I had to move them inboard because the Z meant they would clash with the frame.



I also turned the rear radius rods into a wishbone using the ball from the front wishbone taht I was splitting. Once I had the rear wishbone in place I could position the centre crossmember.





Then I constructed the crossmember incorporating the ball socket out of the '48 frame I bought. I since got a '48 Merc wishbone with the extension bracket that would have been perfect and I wouldn't have had to butcher the Ford chassis. Too bad.







Then I added the trans mount on the crossmember, cut some hole for the exhaust to go through and made some K member legs

 

I know I'll cop some flack for my front end set up. I've read all the arguements about this set up. Maybe I'll die...but I don't think so.









I think the order of some of these pics is a bit out but it's in the ballpark. I mocked the motor in place and built some mounts







I only did the heads on the 401. Hopefully the bottom end will hold together a year or two then it might have a birthday

 

January, the Island, couple of Hot Rods, on the freeway, nothing guna touch
us moit.
said it before, and ill say it again. Good Work mate.

 

I sort of had a chassis at this point but didn't have a body. I had a cowl which had been very poorly channelled, some door skins and a RPU sheetmetal tub section.

First I removed the dodgy work on the channelling. A piece of plate had been welded directly to the side of the cowl on the skuttle panel, 4" up. Needless to say that basically fucked the skuttles both sides. So in removing the dodgy support for the cowl I decided it would be easier to replace the skuttle panels too.

 

January is the fallback date, mate. I'm talking Picnic in Nov....maybe

 

Ended up with a body that stayed in one piece when I lifted it off the frame for the first time



I built a floor frame incorporating seat frames





and also made room for the Muncie in the firewall. I knew I kept that old water heater for something





and an old lawnmower chute







and voila

 

excellent work !

 

One more quick one before I head to the land of nod. Once I had a solid body and room for a motor and gearbox I got to mock it up again. It looked a bit better than the first mockups

 

Dude, this thing is cool as hell! I REALLY like it... a lot... Tons of awesome details, man. Great work!

 

Very slick.....it should flat out fly with that nailhead. Did you ever get the hydraulic throwout bearing to work?

-Lee
Atomic Radio
www.atomicpinup.com

 

Fucking sweet man.

I'm diggin it.

More pics!!!


Chris

 

I have enjoyed the tour. Great fabrication. The modifications look well finished! Curious as to finished weight. Seems like a lot of iron.

 

And all your steel you are using is a strange bluish color? It must be some Aussi alloy.

Looking great. I like the way you made your spring mounts in the front. Looks stronger than going through the wishbone.

Jeff

 

Fucking LOVELY work,can't wait to see it finished!

 

Only just found this and i'm enjoying it, Keep us updated on progress.

 

Wow!!! That thing RULES!!

i'll be watching this build for sure...


I'm glad MFS came through for you

 

This is a cool build!!! Great fab work, keep the pics coming.
I love a nailhead and a manual trans. I'll need a lot of rear tires.
Have fun!

Saint

 

Lee,

I got the Howe throwout bearing but I haven't assembled the clutch yet. It's very high on the list now though

Bill,

Not sure about the finished weight. The framing in the body is thin wall stuff and I don't know of you could tell but the K member diagonals have big holes in them for the exhaust to run through. It's my first build so I might be over engineering some bits.

Evel,

Thanks man. That means alot coming from you

ST 515,

I'm going to run 7.00 16 Firestones on the back. I'm relying on them NOT hooking up, trying to save the poor little banjo out back. If I can get it to last a year or so I will upgrade the axles and maybe a QC.

To the others, thanks for the encouraging words. Stay tuned for more details

Pete

 

I wanted cowl steering, so I went on the lookout for a steerring box with a long enough sector shaft to make it all the way out without having to be extended. Found this one. It's a HK Holden box. That's GM circa 1969 or so. Some Aussies will correct me if I'm wrong





Fantastic. Nice aluminium box, long sector, good mounting holes. But it turns left when it should turn right.

I hadn't ever reversed a steering box before but it can't be that hard. I was right. It took about an hour and a half.

Took it apart


Drilled a hole in the bottom end. I can't remember now but there was a reason I used a hand drill instead of the drill press. This bit was hard because the hole needs to be centred but there's no real datum to go off...not for a hack like me anyway. Good management or good luck, I don't know but I nailed it.



Then I was left with a hole at each end



So I turned up a little bung and sealed up where the shaft used to enter



Then all you do is reassemble everything with the worm shaft back to front. I don't have a seal on the top end but it's a very close fit. I think if I need one later I'll machine up a small housing for a lip seal and JB it to the end of the box





That's a reversed steering box

 

thats going to be a nice ride!! i like the gas tank

 

Wow!

 

You have a great eye for the details. Very nice!

 

Oi,

Loving the ride mate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Danny

 

You clever bastard! Looks great.

 

You been hibernating Danny?


I'll post some pics up of how I mounted that steering box.

First of all I looked at the profile of the car and decided that the draglink should be parallel to the radius rod. I know it's not ideal steering geometry but because it's a very long drag link the variation in arcs between the radius rod and drag link will be minimal, therefore bump steer shouldn't be an issue.





then I cut a hole



Once I knew the position I made a mounting plate to fit the box. It was a bit of a bastard because one of the 4 holes is at a different angle to the others and doesn't sit in the same plane.



So I had the position worked out and a mount plate. Just needed to mock up the box in position and make some steel supports. I had a little jack handle that worked weel to simulate the steering shaft so I could guesstimate the angle and postion of the wheel. This is how the whole mounting bracket looked prior to installation



Here it is tacked in with jack handle in place



and here it is welded in





Oh yeah, I just remembered when I saw the pics again. I thought ahead and drilled the bracket to hang my accelerator pedal from. I knew it would be really hard to get to if I wanted to drill it later.

 

So I needed a column. I had made a steering wheel already and the hub on it just happened to be the same diameter as the bell on the end of a torque tube. And I had one laying around. Got another one from Martin and made a column. Recycling at its best







Only trouble is that torque tubes are fairly heavy and also kind of cruddy with varying diameter and rough finish. Just the other day I decided to lighten it up and make it pretty at the same time so I chucked it up in the lathe and thinned it out a bit.

Came up nice but now I might need to make a new column drop

 

Mate this is coming out super sweet! I love the workmanship in it.
When I was building my RPU I wanted to do cowl steering but everyone I talked to at the RTA and the engineers told me it would never get passed. Something to do with the collapsible column rules.
Hope its all BS. (Or you can get Hadfield register it for you!)

PS, did you make the steering wheel too?

 

Yes, I made the steering wheel.

I haven't had any negative comments about the cowl steering from the engineer other than covering moving parts. No problem, I'll have a bulge over the pitman arm. Don't need a collapsible column because the column doesn't go beyond the cabin area so in a head on it can hardly be pushed back onto me.

It's funny the different things that guys have been told by engineers and RTA / Vicroads. I just wish they would get it together and ratify the streetrod guidelines.

On any given day, any modification we do could be knocked back by somebody. In the end I'm doing my best to build this thing to be legal but trying not to compromise my concept. I'll get it on the road one way or another.

Pete.

 

Well its all different types of cool. I hope you dont run into the same pricks I did. I agree fully on the column not being a skewer, WTF is going to pust it back!
Im running into flack with my latest car too and Im still only collecting parts! There are gasser stylecars already out there so why am I being told it cant be driven??