Projects #544 XF/GR. Milestone Hotrods + Bonneville!

Less than two years ago we were just bench racing about flatheads at the lakes....now we have a rolling car and engines...time went by FAST. We didn't want to reveal the car until it was close to completion since neither of us want to build up anticipation then fall flat on our face for one reason or another..... the added pressure wasn't wanted.
WELL, it didn't take long to figure out a partnership was beneficial to the both of us.... ya know, this shit isn't cheap!! I had the engines/speed parts and he had the car (parts)
So, without further delay we give to you, "Another Milestone", (the first Milestone car was Logan's '34 coupe...a bit more on that later...). It is a '31 ford on '32 rails... there are two full house flatheads...a big one and an even BIGGER one Early ford 3 spd with Lincoln gears, closed drive line and Halibrand QC. We may or may not run both motors at Bonneville this year, we'll see!



Logan Davis (Milestone Hotrods) put in a monumental amount of work into this car over the course of several months... from the plumbing to the roll cage and chassis work, the drive train as well as piecing the body together... mention should be given to Jeb @ Jeb's Metal & Speed. He fashioned up an excellent aluminum hood and grill insert.

Of course we've had substantial help from various people and business's.... A couple very special THANK YOU's are owed to painter and body man Jerry Armstrong and pinstriper/lettering artist Dave Bond!



Additionally, some might remember Logan's street roadster from the "2010 JJ Roadster Pick" back in Feburary...... and, some of the older HAMB membership might remember his '34 coupe race car with track nose "turned show car", (circa. 2005).. Its racing pedigree was questioned and caused a bit of a rukous..... but check out the picture of the coupe and its timing tag if any doubt still prevails!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=7582
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/plan92/4sale/logans_31rdster_racecar/IMG_2949.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/plan92/4sale/logans_31rdster_racecar/IMG_2947.jpg

We arent chasing records at this point, what matters most is follow through.... a car that can make passes so we can dial it in. We'll close out the season at El Mirage..



It will be getting tech'd at ELMO this weekend... be sure to stop by and say hello, we may even have some affordable support tshirts by then! Everything helps... we still need to GET TO Bonneville haha. There are some lose ends to take care of before Bville so it definitely wont be making passes at this meet. When we do test it, I'll be sure to snap some photos and a video or two for the geographically challenged!
​

#544 XF/GR
owner/CHIEF/Jefe/El Duce - Logan Davis
engines/misc. - Mike Chapman (me)
driver - Al Maniccia


ENJOY

PS - If anyone knows of or has a few rooms open in Wendover we sure could use them... we are ass out due to a fubar while trying to reserve rooms back in January.

 

No early pictures exist.. but these are from December '09 right after Jeb in Long Beach put the hood/insert in...

 

Roll cage fit... all three of us should be able to drive the car. Its also starting to take shape. We'll be running 18's with vintage Firestone Bonneville bologna's and 16's out front.










body off to sand blaster, cage removed from chassis for paint












body back and getting prep'd for paint


Jerry!













final welding on chassis

 

chassis cont.

 

looks great mike, logan and jeb are both great guys with a ton of talent. can't wait to see the car in person.
might make elmo on sunday for a few hours, trying to finnish up my car too and already have to miss a day for the drags saturday. hopefully my car will make bonneville but still have a ton to do.
i'll put a call into a friend and see if he has any rooms open, he got a big block 8-10 rooms for his club guys and every year a few drop out last minute.

 

hey justin, thanks for the heads up on rooms... our alternative is camping for a few days until the crowd starts to dwindle but some creature comforts after a long day in the heat is VERY welcome!!

what class are you fixin' to run in? you using the roadster you found a few yrs back?

 

this block was filled with aluminum... big cam. we wont be running the filled block... using a nice merc block instead.



'34 coupe mentioned earlier in the thread!



partner Drew Pietsch and Logan took the record

 

Forgive my stupidity, but the removable cage has me confused. By the photos the floor board and rear bulkhead are part of the cage assembly, correct? The channel support that sits on top of the frame, how thick is it? Why did you use a push pull steering versus a cross steer? I would think that with the loose salt adding bump steer would be a big issue? Thanks in advance for posting and hope fully enlighting me.

 

Looks awesome! Was going to ask about the cage too, can you bolt it in?

 

Looks good Mike, see you at Bonneville!

 

I remember the tan A roadster...

Those guys cars have always been spot on

Nice too see your competive side.

 

How did you roll that scatter shield. Very nice.

 

Love the car and can't wait to see it sunday.

 

Looks ace! and good luck!

 

Car looks good Logan!! What's the deal with that motor I found for ya? ? You guys gonna chance it?? 404jr!

 

Looks good, I like Logan's stuff. Why not sit in the middle and way back as allowed by GR rules? Seems that set up may help to get to the 153 record.

DW

 

Beautiful piece.

 

Looks like Fun with a capital "F"!!!

I like your number... ours is #522...

Sam

 

no stupid questions that i can see.... but, i cant guarantee your full enlightenment because its like saying TOMTOE vs TOMAYDO... know what i mean? Logan set out to build a race car of the early 50's with little exterior compromises, all within SCTA safety standards. mission accomplished.
i'll defer to Logans explanations concerning his build techniques.

per scta rules the cage can be either welded or bolted in. this cars modular design during mock up (from my POV) made it easier to work on the car.

nothing wrong with a cross steer setup and the same could be said for a '32 ford box with steering dampener....its not really designed to make turns. a similar setup was used on his '34 coupe and it saw well over the 100mph record as indicated on the timing tag... its motor broke on the last run. this is a vintage race car adhering to modern safety regulations.

 

Thans for the pictures, that is a really slick car. I also am wondering about the scattershield?

 

i agree! Logan has a very good eye for proportion... and very humble about everything.

the intention with this car was to make a late 40's to early 50's inspired roadster race car. it was common for guys to race their daily drivers at the lakes and in some cases would dip beyond 130mph.

whether or not this car gets any records is sorta immaterial... it is the experience he and i are after. thats not to say we wont try to scoop up a record, it just probably wont happen this year.

 

Cool!

 

ill start from the top, i was just observing throughout the entire process ... its kinda neat. AL is an engineer and used some formula to figure the sweep of the cone needed to fit over the bell housing. he then made a model with paper so it could be slipped over the bell housing, (NOTE! if using a 2 piece pan you will need to factor in the seam...does that make sense?).

once fitment checked out OK it was taken to an outfit that had the ability to roll the shape ...i can get the name if wanted. it came as 2 pieces and was welded together by Logan. thats about it! .... again, just make sure you factor in the seam if using a 2 piece pan.

 

hey, this is something i can answer. did we pick that motor up from you?
we decided to *borrow* parts from it... i/we felt it wouldn't be worth the risk to run it as is...all peripherals, camshaft/valve train and heads have been transplanted.

the new block is a very nice 50's merc.. i am using 3 3/8's pistons made for a 4.125" stroke crank. the aluminum filled block will get mothballed for a future project.

 

WOW! That car has THE LOOK. That roll cage is the first thing I noticed, I always like the look of a low hoop, not a swing set welded to a car. The hood is another nice feature. I'm taking notes for my '30 on '32 rails. Have fun, be safe............ GO FAST!

 

SAM.. that number is eerily similar haha.

remember i asked if you can put a flathead V8 in your car? wonder if its feesable this year?

 

Looks awsome!

 

I daydream about this stuff but Logan doesn't, he gets it done! I have alot of admiration for everyone on the team. That car is awesome!