Projects Project Mattitude: the Beginning

Teaser below.. (hint: a lathe would have came in a lot more handy)

 

Chevy guys make jack stands out of those.

 

Hey Matt, Following the whole thread,
admire your fortitude.

Oh, When do you plan on returning all my Vice Grips ??


Smokey2

 

you know, I just checked the toolbox for a pair of vice grips and couldnt find any. I wonder if they are now in Amarillo (Vice grip capitol of Texas)?

Great thread...

 

Thanks everyone.

I wish I had that many vice grips. From what I remember, I only have 5 vice grips and 4 or 5 C-clamps (two has the flat surfaces). I sure could use some more.

I've been laboring away at the parts from the banjo tube, but they're thick metal which is taking me quite a while sculpting them. I thought I'd have one done by now.

Back to laboring..

 

Sick build!!!!

 

While I had the frame upside down, I went ahead and fixed the little "dip" that you can see in the side-profile shot below (just in front of the rear tire). That bothered me from day one but I knew that I'd get around to fixing it. I'm too much of a perfectionist to let something like that disrupt the flow of the frame..




Then there's this..



To tackle the issue of my wishbone not clearing the Z, I opted to move the arms inward so they would clear. Unfortunately, I don't have a bandsaw or a plasma cutter to make some pretty brackets to weld on my axle, so I had to really think about this one.



That's when I thought "Hey.. I've got a couple banjo tubes that are only good for scrap. Why not cut the mounting flanges off one and use that?" So I stuck the very end of the banjo tube underneath my chop saw and learned how thick the steel is on the end of a banjo. My chop saw let me know it wasn't happy with the amount of cutting it had to do either and I had a smoke-filled garage. After airing out the garage, I proceeded to cut the bearing surface tube off the flange, cut it down the middle, then I kinda hit a wall here..








This was a real thick piece of steel I was cutting here. I had no clue how to cut the center out without cutting into the "half-ring" that I wanted to save and use on the banjo. I tried cutting with a cut-off wheel but it really wasn't working out too great for me. Then I had one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments. I realized that I could drill out around the flange where most of the material needed to come out and then grind to shape to fit.. So I started with a smaller drill bit, and stepped it up until I was able to break away the piece. I spent some time with a bench grinder getting it to kind of fit over so you can see how it would work out. I still need to spend some more time getting it ground down so it'll fit snuggly against the tube, tack it on, tack the front mount on the tube, and get it all together so I can test and make sure the arms clear before finish welding it.

My Taiwanese "King" drill.. Surprisingly till going strong after almost 2 decades.







The flanges will still be pretty thick after grinding it to shape and should be plenty strong on the axle. The wishbone is staying unsplit. As soon as everything seems fine, I'll heat and bend the front of the 'bones so the flange is flat against the mounting bracket on the torque tube..

Little at a time.

 

Interesting approach

 

You are a problem solver. This is a great solution done in the true tradition of using what you've got and the tools available while not sacrificing quality.

 

I dig that bracket & in hindsight you could have,used a whole saw befor you cut it in half

 

I like that bracket work, the weld is going to be critical one, nothing wrong with farming it out to a good welding shop if you don't have the equipment. Bob

 

If its steel or malleable iron it will be fine to weld on. I don't think that is cast iron??

You can do it!

 

Nice progress Matt!!!

 

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

I did all of the welding on the frame myself and everything's pretty sturdy. I do realize with this one, I have to take my time to ensure I don't warp the banjo tube, but I plan on fully welding all around the bracket with my MIG. I think I should do just fine considering it's not a bunch of moving parts like a 4-link.

But thanks for the concern.

 

That's a killer idea man! Everyone said you shouldn't build your own drive shaft and it turned out fine for me. You'll have no trouble welding that together with a little patients.

 

Looks like some great progress goin' on. I'll be following along for this ride!

 

Hi Matt, Like what you are doing with the coupster. I am also building one but slightly different (roadster cowl and sectioned sport coupe rear with custom doors. I think i will definitely look at modifying the rear 1/4's like you have. Some good inspiration there keep up the good work.

Matt

 

Thanks everyone! Bit of progress.. A few bad pictures..

Got the brackets ground down and tacked one side on the banjo after measuring it a few times, checking the angle, and eye-balling it. I'll get to the other one later.




After getting the brackets where I wanted them to be, I tacked the mount on the TT.



Elephant = small bites..

 

Geez.. PhotoBucket really has been dumb lately.

 

Me likey!

 

Nice dude!

 

Nice dude!

 

Where there's a will, there's a way.
Nice progress!

 

Yeah Man! Your after my own heart. Nothing goes to waste and if it's old Ford, so much the better. Nice to see you cruizing along on this. Did you check the cam in the SB?

 

Good progress, Matt!

^^ ..and I agree.


Malcolm

 

comin right along, any more updates on the body work?

 

Keep it going. Love this build. Do it with what you've got to use. Like the way it was started.

 

Matts my hero

 

K00l!