Projects BENNETTS ‘Midnight Special’ speedster

I haven’t finished it yet. Haha. I will get on to that this week and finish welding the grill inserts together.

 

Chopped the frame up and replaced the box tubing with model a rails as per the regulations for the race.. happy with how it turned out. Also chopped the drums off the front brakes and have the axle loosely mocked up. The frame rails are boxed and the motor is back into place. I wasn’t happy with the original trans mount due to the make of room I had for my feet. I cut the original ears off and fabricated a mount and crossmember setup using a stock generic Chevy trans mount. Lots to come.

 

Glad to see you made it back! Sorry to see those fabbed engine mounts go - those were a cool solution to a problem many have tried to solve before.

And only because I'm trying to partially live vicariously through you, when can we expect your next progress video?

 

Front motor mounts didn’t change luckily. Only the rear trans mount I completely changed and for the better! Now I can tuck my legs and feet in somewhere haha. We just released one yesterday and another one tomorrow. Lots more next week. It’s guns blazing on this now

 

“Back across the pond, started more work on the race car, got the front end disassembled and the front axle straightened out- and tackled many many holes.”

- As a machinist I appreciate your workmanship and dedication to creating metal magic.

The amount of time that it takes to simply lay out the hole drilling pattern can take a couple of hours. The initial drilling process takes a lot of time due to the arc of the axle and having to shift the axle for each location (if your using a drill press). If you are using a milling machine you still have to shift the table time after time to relocate each position then re-setup the drill or hole saw. I’ve found that the older axles can have hard spots in them that kill drill bits.

The impression is a H.A.M.B. user see’s a few pics from start to finish. The project appears fairly simple. But to understand just how much work and effort it takes to create the finished product make’s me appreciate your effort all the more. It’s surprising to consider how much time can be spent simply deburring holes

As I watched your video approach with the grill sectioning a person can kind of understand the planning, initial steps, dilemma’s that crop up that force a reassessment and change in direction and how you addressed the challenges.

Nice Job!

I’m curious, maybe I missed it as I was reading through. I thought that you were preparing for a race that was taking place this summer or this year sometime? It seemed like a ton of work to preform to get it ready with a hard date to have to meet…

Once again, you are a heck of a craftsman

 

Looking forward to catching up on the videos, that trans mount is clever

 

Can’t thank you enough for the kind words. I might not be an expert at many things but I’m trying my best every day. Words like this keep the fire going!
It’s amazing how long it takes to create even the smallest tabs from measuring, the cardboard templates then to transfer to steel- find the correct hardware etc etc, just alone the rear trans mount and crossmember took me all day to come out with and create.
The race is called ‘The red dust revival’ at lake perkolilli in Western Australia. All pre ‘39 and should be an experience of a life time, it’s set for September 19-25 so my days are running short! I better get to working as we speak!

 

Great stuff. I can really appreciate how much work goes into every little thing. The researching, the planning, the purchasing, the fabbing, the mistakes, but it is as much about the journey (maybe more) than the finished product.

 

Today I got the car up on the stands, rear torque tube cut and fitted. ( driveshaft next)
Front spring removed, sanded and new bushings pressed. Lots more to come

 

Caught up with some of your vids last night. Didn’t Karl make a set of those sail panels? I could of swore I watched a vid from his channel making one. Can’t wait to see it done.

 

Yeah he used my wire buck and demonstrated how to use simple hand tools

 

Today I got the from led spring cleaned, sanded and radious each end, now for the split wish bones on the front. Question is if I do the rear will it bind or fight against it self using the torque tube.

 

Question is if I do the rear will it bind or fight against it self using the torque tube.
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Morning,
But of course you are on the other side of the planet so it must be late afternoon there.

It is my understanding and experience that the rear radius rods (with a torque tube driveline) need to be as close to the centerline of the chassis as possible. The rear end in a twisting articulation with one wheel potentially rising and the other tire staying in flat contact will potentially “load” the attachment point on the framerail eventually causing it to fail.
In your intended application you are pretty much spending all of your time going straight so it may be a condition that you can accept the compromise with.

There is a H.A.M.B. member (in England as I remember) that addressed this about 4 to 5 months ago. He is/was building a bellytank to run at Pendine (sorry if I got the spelling wrong)

Also hopefully Pete Eastwood is watching your progress and will chime in. He is a wealth of information as are so many of the folks on this site

Go safe, Go Fast

 

As your diff travels up and down even slightly the distance between the diff and the gearbox will increase then decrease off their centreline which a slip yoke usually allows for.
Unless your r/rod mounts are inline with the centre of your uni joint within the cupped housing in both planes something will have to give. IMHO. The torsional loads are another thing all together.
Happy to be corrected.

 

Managed to get the front wishbones done and mounted. I used model a ends and used 32 truck bones. Cut and grafted them in. The top the the bones sit level with the frame, they were larger than the model a ends and added a filled and blended everything. It’s sitting at 7 degrees caster at the moment. (In the photo you will see one welded. I Tig welded them but
mig welded one side to show you can use both)
I used a small amount of silicone bronze to blended after everything has been welded.

 

I used the original brake cross over bad and narrowed it 140mm to work with my narrowed frame, I will figure out where the hand brake will go and the orientation of the brake arms and rods.
Trying to keep it simple.

 

Very nice work as usual, are you having a foot brake? I'm sure you know, but putting the brake lever outside the frame gives more cockpit room, and you can position it so your hand drops right on it. Makes it much easier to find when you need it in a hurry, don't ask!

 

Yes definitely planning on it otherwise on the inside near the trans- going to play with a few places to see what’s comfortable

 

That's a great looking build!


1930's Style Race Car Build
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1930s-style-race-car-build.1266721/

 

Been following along! Looks amazing

 

Got the cowl sand blasted and was able to create and make the lower cowl portion. I added 130mm to it so the fall for the hood was spot on, I purchased a set of rear ‘47 mercury fenders and will be heat next week. So finally I can start the body. And exhaust pipes!

 

Looking so cool now!

 

May I suggest using model A tie rod ends on your wishbones? It will fit the build much better than the tie rod ends you have now.
I used them on my single seater, imho it just adds a bit of funk to the car.

 

I love threads like this. Builds from scratch. Looks great....

 

Thanks Bob!

 

I KEEP LOOKING FOR UPDATES....

 

Started laying out the design for the rivets and subframe

 

Sneak peek.

 

Tomrrow we make headers today I managed to get the mercury rear fenders cut into a million pieces and some what mocked up I added some length to the cowl and did lots of trimming fitting to get it where it’s sitting now. Still unsure on a few things but it’s taking shape!

 

This thing just keeps getting better.