Hot Rods Rocket 32 build

Not much to update the thread with these days as its mostly finished but i've made a few mods to various bits, the ladder bars had the normal type of stiffeners and i never really liked them but couldn't think of anything at the time, recently it came to me in a flash rocket shaped stiffeners, I drew up a shape and sent it to Paul for laser cutting, Paul suggested a 3D type of rocket, Paul sent me these bits which i spent a few hours polishing and assembled together, just need to TIG them by the wings in place tomorrow, I think they came out pretty cool




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Pretty sweet idea!!

 

Steve, Love the 3D rockets.

 

Dave i can't take all the credit as i originally was going to go with just plate rockets but Paul G suggested a 3D look and TIG them together leaving a polished naked weld, I was just going to start with the welder when i thought of the art deco look and rivets so changed my mind.

 

Thanks for the headlight conversion tech, that's exactly was I was looking for in this thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90642

I should do the same thing in the near future.

--mika

 

Funny how we are never happy with certain things, I originally was going to have some piping to finish off where the back of the seat touches the body but thought i would continue the stainless trim around instead, a couple of people asked a while ago how i made the trims, I remembered to take some pics thus time

There are other ways of doing this i'm sure but this is just how i did it.

I started off with some 304L 12mm x 6mm stainless flat bar, this will take a radius cold quite easily but any thicker and heat would be needed.





Next i made a rough template in card and clamped the bar in the vice behind a large socket and started tweaking it slowly







This piece was a little more fifficult to do as about 150mm from the end it curves down as well, Again it was tweaked slowly to form the curve, you will find as you bend one way the other will try and straighten out so you will need to go back and retweak.





Once the desired shape was acheived i drilled 3.3mm holes where the holding studs were needed, the pillar drill was setup so to prevent braeaking through the other side, these were then tapped for 4mm stainless grub screws.






Next i started to radius the edges, first i ground a 45 degree chamfer on the edges with a angle grinder fitted with a 40 grit flap disc, I found a worn disc to work best as with a new one it was possible to remove to much metal too fast.






Next i added chamfers either side of the first so ending up with a hexagon shape, Then i started to blend & fettle to a smooth radius.








All the sanding will alter the shape slightly but its quite easy to reshape later after polishing.
Next job was polishing so i started with a 80grit on the polishing machine working down via 120, 180 to a final 320, this left a very smooth and shiny surface that just needed buffing with a sisal mop to remove the light scratches and was finally buffed with a cotton stitched mop to acheive a nice shine.





Here it is refitted





I've got a rivet theme going through the car so i then marked out the spacing and drilled 6mm holes for the rivets, the rivets are held from the rear by tiny tack welds, the whole thing was lightly repolished and fitted. The seat material now has to be restretched to fit snugly under the edge of the trim but i will leave that to Tom the trimmer as trimming isn't my forte

 

That's neat! Dig the way how you build highly finished parts from scratch!!!
--mika

 

Where did you get the stainless from? I need something similar, but only 10mm wide? Haven´t been able to find anything.

Loving all the interesting little details going into this car!

 

My local stainless supplier 10mm is a standard size so shouldn't be a problem.
Got 6 metres of 10mm x 5mm here but i guess its a long way to come to get it

 

Oh, cool! I´m in the UK pretty often - I´ll have to see about picking it up.
Or is there some kind of reference number for this stuff that I could quote and find some a bit more locally? I just draw a blank googling for it.

 

Just ask for 12mm x 6mm or whatever size you require ask for 304 or better still 316L.

 

It ain't right for a man to be so durned talented and resourceful. Just ain't natural. Super Craftsman Langey. Wish someday I could meet you. Best Regards. Perley

 

nice, clean very creative.
thanks for sharing!!!

Josh

 

Well i'm on more or less the last job of making the folding hood frame, its being made from 20mm x 6mm stainless flat bar and will get a nice polish The ash bows came from LeBarron Bonney in the states, I found a guy in the UK that could make them but at £90 each The one's from the states were £105 for all 3






I couldn't make my mind up about shape & profile of the roof until i saw my friend Rchards new roadster and my mind was made up





First job was to route out the clearence for the hand wiper in the front bow.







Next a trip to the local chandlers turned up the brackets to fit the windsheild posts.









I had already put in the mountings in the body but needed some thumbwheels, the chandlers had a selection but all were big in diameter and looked clunky so I found some offcuts in my scrap bin and made some that looked better sizewise.






Next job is to cut the stainless flat bar to size & shape and attempt to make it all hinge and fold flat

.

 

Ah, ok - thanks very much!

 

I've been trying to decide how I was going to do the R/PU seat I have for the greaseslapper. Did I want a big bolster that was the style in the '60's, or did I want to somehow finish the upper edge of the 'glass body and leave the upper part of the seat as is. I think you have made my decision for me. This is as clean and uncluttered as it gets, and allows for easier removal of the back portion of the seat.
This is one of the most beautifully built cars I've ever seen. I would love to see it personally.

 

i just ran on to this thread, this detail you do is awesome !!! i love watchn this buildup, keep it up man. thanks for sharin
goatboy

 

Thanks Mike, i'm pretty pleased how it came out, my seat back hinges forward for access to the electric dept and i wasn't really keen on having a california roll type, I think it looks better in the side veiw if you don't see a big lump of seat sticking up.

Not sure what RP your building but i built a 29A for the wife a few years ago and finished off the back of the cab like this HTH

 

<!-- message --> Got some good progress made last night, the main bow seemed to be too wide for some reason so I checked with a few roadster owners I know and it was actually 1" too wide, Everyone came back with the same measurement as I had between the body mounts so it had to be narrowed

Now what i know about woodwork you could put on the back of a stamp so this is possibly not the correct way of doing this job

I started off my making a dogleg cut and then trimmed it to fit back together, I then drilled to accept 4 stainless screws and copious amounts of wood glue, I also inserted a stainless pin for extra strength each end. Seems to be good and very strong










As I had bought stock bows the legs of the main bow needed trimming to match my 2" chopped screen, I removed 2" from each leg but will trim to a suitable length later.





The screen clamps I got from the chandlers got ditched as the thumbwheel came out at an angle and were difficult to use so I made up some that are more stock style, I reused the thumbwheels though.

I thought this job would be easy but working from pics isn't as easy as I thought

While i was there I dropped the header bow over the screen as much as possible to get a more chopped look.






Next I needed to locate the main bow to get the required look so made up these side arms, I then positioned the bow until it looked at 60 degrees to the door top edge and was 1/2" higher than the header bow and secured with 2 screws either side temporarily.







Folding hoods always look best if the rear vertical part of the roof reflects the angle of the screen so a bit of adjustment was made.







HopefullyI will get the rest of the various arms made tonight, there's a lot of them

 

Steve, if you had a shop in So Cal I'm thinking you would be a rich man by now......

 

Ha ha ha too many good guys already there mate, no money in building Hotrods Geoff or is there ???

Had an opportunity to go several times but never had the bottle to see it through, maybe if i had been younger

 

Looking great Steve

 

Limey Steve seems to do OK

I know a bloke called Dale Reardon in Cornwall - he was a pro-builder who went from Rods to choppers because they were quicker and easier to do - i.e. more money in it.

 

I know what he means, I do a lot of my work for classic racecar owners and never known any of them moan about the bill but hotrodders want everything for nothing

 

Dale went from choppers to gardening & fitting upvc windows.

 

Well after making 3 sets of top irons from photo's I finally have a set that actually fold I would like to say a big thankyou to Jim Rutter who has now lent me his complete roof so i can suss out where i was going wrong with the folding action.

Here's a few pics how & what i did if anyone fancys making one thereself

Started off with this 20 x 5mm stainless flat bar, It won't take a sharp bend so it was sliced with a 1mm cutting wheel and then welded and ground smooth.














This is Jims roof on my car for a visual

 

Looking good, keep a pattern will need one of them for my next project!

 

Dave i've got several patterns 8-(

 

i just been out there and most shops are quiet,you need to sell stuff to make money

 

This has by far got to be my favorite car..wow!!!!!