Projects Giant speedster project

Excellent! Next time you're out there braving the weather in the shop (either saving the beer or working ) snap an overall photo. It's been a while and I'd love to see how it's take shape.

 

That's a problem. My shop is tiny 1500SF and crammed with stuff. It's hard to get an overall picture. You can't step back far enough. Maybe it will pull out under it's own power in another month. Won't that be special!

Jerry
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You just need to get rid of some of those junky REO parts... or let some semi-local "yahoo" store them for you indefinitely

Jerry, are you working in the shop tomorrow?

 

Jerry,

I like the colored chassis in your picture. The black is sort of normal & generally was used to hide the undercarriage. You definitely do not want to hide this one!

I am working on a 1911 Cadillac that was originally blue with black fenders and a light gray undercarriage. The mechanical parts of a 4 cylinder Cadillac are very attractive. Just something else to think on.

On your brass; I have not tried it but a fellow who should know told me that catsup spread on heavily tarnished brass, then allowed to dry, will help remove the heavy "patina" you are dealing with. Might be worth a try??

Jack

 

I'll be in the shop tomorrow from 1:00-3:00. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood. I know catsup (Ketchup down here) will eat the tinfoil off the spaghetti so it will probably remove the corrosion. 1911 Cadillacs have those wonderful copper cylinder jackets. Love them!

Jerry
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Great post
wonderfull buiding continue sendig advances

 

Great work Jerry!

Your workmanship, ingenuity and attention to detail are an inspiration to us all and have made this an impressively stylish and well built rig!

Keep up the great work!

Clayton

 

Clayton,

Just got back from Jerry's- the pics don't do it justice (and that's NOT a knock on your photography, Jerry )!

Excellent workmanship, creativity, great lines- it's going to be an impressive machine when all is said and done...

and believe you me, it'll scare little children and any size dog when it rolls up!!!

 

Door Locks

Today I set about installing the door locks. To do that I had to cut out some of the door frame. If I was really smart I could have cut out the frame to fit the lock before I welded the door together. Well, here's a little secret. I have no idea what I'm going to do before I do it. I just make up stuff as I go. So I cut out as much metal as I could with a cutting wheel then I trimmed it up with a die grinder. The guy who invented carbide die grinder bits should be given a medal. After a little adjustment the Model A door locks fit pretty well. But I can't really mount the striker plate until I weld on the door skin. Then I can adjust the striker plate to make the door fit better.

Happy New Year.

Jerry
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Yeah, that black chassis is kind of ordinary but oh so easy to do.

Jerry
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Brass

I had to change the air filter and oil in my wife's Dodge Caravan today. I was going to change the fuel filter too but they told me at the parts store it was only available combined with fuel pump and fuel sender. Weird! So I guess you're supposed to wait until the car stops running then drop the tank. Nice. After that I messed around with the brass. I tried to sneak some ketchup out of the house but my wife caught me and made me put it back. She's making meatloaf. So I made up a mild solution using some Sunnyside muriatic acid. Luckily I still remembered that old saying Mr. Mizell taught me in high school chemistry: Do as you oughta, add acid to watta. They say if you do otherwise it might explode. Never tried it. The solution took the corrosion right off except where there was some kind of burned on paint or something. Then I buffed a little bit. The acid trick saved me about half the time. I think I'll use it on all the heavily corroded brass. I even tried a little to see if it would take off some old nickel plating. The answer: not immediately. I've delve deeper into that subject next time.

Jerry
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What? I read through all that and I don't get to see the finnished product yet? Bummer!

Can't add to any of the great praises you've already recieved for this gargantuan speedster project. Guess I've got something to look forward to now.

BTW it takes several hours to read the whole thread. Worth every second and very educational to boot. Keep up the good work.

If you don't go RR blue (my fave). I like the richness of the two tone red/maroon Morman, that's a knockout! Maybe try the same with two blues. What else was there to vote on? Right. NO, on the chasis black. One colour unifies the whole as a unit. The second tone can be added in panels or striping, because your wood will also add tone. May want to think about continuity of the cockpit area by matching the upholstery colour to the finnished wood.

Go Jerry, Go!

 

Thanks for the encouragement Doug. I love that photo of your granddad's hot rod.

Jerry
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simply awesome! this is one of my fave builds here

 

I just read this whole thread.
Really interesting. I will have to try the shellac thing as well.
A trick for remembering acid to water and not the other way, is the alphabet, A to W, at least it works for me.

Whats the ketchup trick?

I look forward to seeing more.

John

 

Perhaps a dark insignia blue for the chassis with the body in the royal blue?
That would give the contrast while keeping continuity.

 

This post is just cool and way BIG !!!!! you are going to have to have a escort when you go out cause you are going to own the road.

 

More Doors

Well, I finally got one door skin welded on. I managed to paint the inside of the skin and the door then the next day I welded it on. After that I did a lot of grinding. Inventive note: I want to invent a spot light that mounts on the end of my MIG gun that comes on when I hit the trigger. My eyes aren't as good as they once were. One more door to go then I start mounting cooling pipes.

Jerry
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Nice job, Jerry! How many hours do you have into that door?

 

The door looks great!

Was thinking about the chassis- have you considered skinning the outside of the frame rails? It take some of the "industrial" look out of the chassis. Can't wait to see this one out in the daylight- it is a fantastic build that really needs to be seen to appreciate all you've put into it!!!

 

Thank you. I'm honoured that you deemed it worthy of posting on this thread.

 

you add acid to water so if anything splashes out, it would be mostly water and very diluted. If you started pouring water into acid and it splashed out, you'd be nailing yourself with almost pure acid! Shouldn't blow up on ya
Roadster is looking amazing. Very nice work on those doors

 

I plan to put some metal under the body then 90 degrees down over the rails. The problem is back in the old days they'd put a nice one or two inch radius on the bend. Today they just put it in a brake and bend it with with virtually no radius. You can kinda see what I mean in the picture of the Mercer. I may have to settle for an abrupt 90.

Jerry

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I thought I'd have maybe a week in two doors but I think it's more like a month per door. At least now I can move on. Let's get this monstrosity movin under it's own power!

Jerry
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Jerry,

You can always roll the bend over a nice length of 2" pipe from Lowes/Home Depot!

 

Actually...that's not entirely true, some combinations can blow up on ya. The acid to water thing is to slow the reaction. Acid and water will react. If you pour water into the acid, the tiny amount of water that goes in first will react with a bunch of acid all at once, and *can* cause a very violent reaction depending on what you're working with. The other way around you have a little bit of acid reacting with a bunch of water...which will be a more gradual reaction.

Whatever way works for you to remember is fine...acid to water is the right way to do it.

 

It sometimes works for a smooth radius if you put your sheet metal flat on a solid bench then clamp a pipe of the desired diameter on the break line - it helps if you weld some flat pieces on the ends of the pipe to clamp on & prevent it from rolling away under pressure. Then clamp your free end of the sheet metel between 2 pieces of angle iron then lift up around the pipe - a helper is good on a long piece. It is best to have lots of extra sheetmetal in all directions so you can trim the part to suit leaving the bend in the correct location. I can show you some very nice model T splash aporons that were made this way.

Jack

 

That's a good idea! Lacking a break, I've always clamped sheet metal to my bench, made from 2x8's, then clamped angle iron to the sheet, and bent the angles that way. If I need a sharp 90, I clamp an agle iron to the bench, rather than bending over the "soft" radius of the 2x8.

 

Last door

I've thought about trying to make a bender using pipe, but the frame covers are 20 gauge and 10' x 2'. I don't think I have the strength to bend a piece that long let alone keep the whole thing clamped down. I'm sure I could make a bender if I devoted a week to it but right now I'm not willing to spend the time or money. I'll think about it. Maybe I'll bend up a small section in a sharp 90 and see how it looks. Anyway, I spent the day making a driver's door skin and screwing it up. The nibbler got away from me and ruined the piece. Disgusted, I scrapped the door skin and made another. It turned out to be a good thing since I found an easier way to do it and the second one came out way better. I got it tacked on and hopefully I'll do the final welding tomorrow.

Jerry

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Misc.

Yesterday I finished up some new striker plates. The Model A strikers were dandy but they just didn't fit right. I used some 1/4 inch angle and some 1/2 square stock. I forgot my camera the day I cut them out so I can only show you the finished products. Now the doors clang shut like cell bars slamming on Bernie Madoff. I'll add sound deadening later. Next, some clamps I found on ebay arrived. They were cheap and fit my hose perfectly. I couldn't bear to put modern clamps on and I couldn't afford brass Sherman clamps either. No work going on today. In case you didn't hear we got a real dusting of snow. That's probably nothing for most of you guys but down in Dixie snow is big stuff.

Jerry
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