I always thought the Model T hot rods produced by Nylint in the 1960's and early 1970's were cool. This is a typical example below About 15 years ago, I bought two old McCoy Model 35 motors for $20. These would have powered a control line airplane in the 1960's. I always liked tether cars too, so I had the "what if" idea to build my own tether car using one of these motors and a Nylint T. First, I took some measurements from the T roadster, including the wheelbase and the body length. Then I measured the engine. I figured I could front mount the motor, and use a driveshaft to drive the rear axle via a pair of helical gears, for a 2:1 drive. This is a drawing created from the SolidWorks 3D solid model I came up with for the ch***is: About 11 years ago, a colleague was kind enough to machine up the ch***is members for me, which I ***embled with the motor and some SHCS. I cut the hood out, and removed the grille from the lower ch***is sheet metal Last weekend, I finally got around to modifying the Nylint sheet metal parts to fit the ch***is and motor, adding cutouts and flattening some dimples to allow the fender section to clearance the motor and fit flush on the frame. I added tires from a 1950's vintage McCoy tether car, with some temporary axles to mockup the finished car. I still need to make a firewall, and figure out how to mount the old grill, buy the bearings and gears for the drivetrain, and make the axles, but otherwise it's fairly far along. I do have the fuel needle and NOS fuel tank already. I will likely mount the tank in the rumble seat area, and have it vent through the body. Whaddya think?
Interesting build! What are you using for the ring and pinion;is it something you machined or can it be bought? Do you think a ring & pinion from a 1/24th scale slot car might work? How about a starter for the engine? I have a small antique hand cranked grinder that could probably be used by laying the tire against the wheel and cranking it. Reason I ask is I would like to try building one as well.
The spiral bevel gears are a stock item from Boston Gear. You can buy them from Grainger - at one point McMaster-Carr carried them too. I was going to make the driveshaft and axles from ⌀.250" steel rod, and turn down the end to take the drive gear. They lock in place on the shaft with set screws. I was planning to use collars to lock the axles in place on either side of the bearings. The bearings are available from McMaster-Carr. I was going to use extended inner race stainless steel radial ball bearings (3/16" ID for the front axle, and 1/4" ID for the rear). I was going to secure the wheel rims to the axle using a nut. I figured I could use a hand held electric drill with a socket adapter in it to turn over the engine for starting. These are the fuel tanks in my inventory. Not sure which to use yet. The small one is pretty small, but it's NOS and never used. I have a spare .19 McCoy motor if you need it. I also have a full set of dimensioned drawings in SolidWorks format that I can PM to anyone for free if anyone is interested in using those to make their own version. The roadster pickup would be fun to build too! I am going to use it as a reference for my firewall on the orange roadster body.
I added a steel firewall, which required hammering over the edge of the firewall to make a lip to weld to. I also added metal to the bottom ch***is cover so I had sufficient material to attach the grille shell back onto.
A true Hot Rodder taking a light body car and adding a bigger engine . Great job , interesting build , keep up the kool work .
I've been stumped trying to figure out a fuel tank solution for a while. I thought it would be neat to install it in the trunk, but I was concerned about the length of the fuel line that I would need to run from the trunk to the feed line on the engine. That's a long length to prime, and it would be mostly unsupported. I searched on-line, and came across this vintage metal rectangular model airplane tank. The only problem was that the feed line was 3/32" OD, and I needed a tank with an 1/8" feed line. The shape and size were right for the project, though, so I fired up the propane torch and carefully unsoldered the feed line. I then bored out the hole, and made a replacement feed line with some K&N 1/8" br*** tubing that I cut to size. I carefully soldered the large feed line back in place. This is the after shot. The red arrow is pointing to the new feed line. The old line that I removed is shown at the bottom. The fill tube will stick out a little from the cowl vent, just enough so you can fit a fuel line onto it, but not too high so the windshield can still fold down. I will drill some small hales in the firewall, and use steel wire to hold the tank in place. It looks good, and doesn't stand out to much. I will have to trim the interior a bit, but that's not a big deal.. This last pic at the bottom shows what the fill tube will look like. I still need to wire it to the firewall. When I do that the tube will be concentric to the hole in the cowl vent. Once the tank is mounted, I can make another hole in the firewall to run the neoprene fuel line.
Today I drilled the holes for the wire that I will use to mount the tank. The concept is borrowed from older model airplanes. Tow holes are needed for each wire - one at the top of the tank, and one at the bottom. Then you twist the ends on the ends on the opposite side This is just a mockup. I will have to remove and replace the wires after painting the body. I just wanted to confirm that the tank is securely mounted and wouldn't move around. It actually is very well supported, and doesn't move. I also drilled the hole through the firewall for the fuel line. I rounded the edges of the thru hole so the fuel line would not get cut from a sharp edge. I will cut the tubing to length, and push it onto the outlet port of the tank during the final installation.
I fabricated a '32 style dashboard for the roadster today using a piece of thin steel from an old light fixture. I formed it with a hammer over a vise and a 1/2" dowel pin. That work gave it a nice bend on the lower edge for strength. I then soldered it to the cowl. This is the finished dashboard A view of the underside with the hammer formed bottom edge. I will re-use the original steering wheel. It looks and fits well. The dashboard looks good, but also is functional since it also serves to partially hide the fuel tank, too.
If anyone else is contemplating such a build, I have several NOS fuel tanks. I think that they were originally for model airplanes, but they should work equally well in a tether car build. If there is any interest, let me know and I can post pictures.
The Jalopy Journal
