Hot Rods Homogenized ‘28 roadster build

Just caught up on your progress... Looking great, keep it up!!

 

X2, I've missed about the last 5 pages. Awesome job. I love it!

 

Lifters…on Cory Taulbert’s recommendation I went with Chevrolet Performance. They have a hardened puck/tip as opposed to the case hardening on most aftermarket lifters. Anything I can do to avoid wiping out a cam, I’m game for.

Timing set, cam bearings, expansion plugs, new balancer, carb kits and cleaner, gasket set, new set of long-slot rocker arms…didn’t get that crazy of a cam but needed new arms anyway so why not. A few other odds and ends. Going to be a busy weekend but hopefully I’ll have all day Sunday to start exhaust.

 

I guess I haven’t mentioned the cam I picked…it’s a Howard’s Rattler. 480 intake with 281 duration and 488 exhaust with 289. Not crazy, but should be a pretty peppy little 283. Stock pistons. I’ve probably mentioned the heads, but since engine assembly is coming soon…they’re freshly rebuilt power packs with some good springs, screw in studs, pushrod guideplates. Hardened exhaust seats. Positive seals. Bought them as is locally a few years ago.

 

About the pedals, my 29 was on a boxed frame and full fendered. 283 out to 292 with a Duntov-30/30 and a four speed. Also had Hooker long tube headers (58-62 Corvette) and a Corvair box mounted low on the frame, a little in front of the firewall. I say all this to paint the picture of how much room there wasn’t. Made a set of pedals with the pivot point just in front of the bottom of the toe kick, Chevy truck duel Master was mounted under the seat and I used a truck bell housing with the clutch fork hole on the pass side. Hydrolic slave cylinder (again stock Chevy truck) and it worked bitchen. Just a thought. Glad to see your back at it.

 

Good to know on the lifters. Notes taken.

 

I'll gladly talk the ear off of anyone who wants to hear about lifters, but bottom line, there is no better piece than a GM/AC Delco lifter. Fortunately, hydraulics are still available over the counter. Solids on the other hand, well, you gotta compete with the muscle car guys who want them for the same reason!

 

Hardened pushrods with guideplates.
But you knew that.

 

We have exhaust. All 2” mild steel built from straights and mandrel bends. Went with Cherry Bombs. I know the outlet from the headers isn’t ideal for flow, but that’s what the header caps are for should the need arise. I really did not want to go outside and under the framerails for the exhaust. I notched the cowl sides and ran the pipe that direction, and it’s kind of a dead area in the cowl anyway. It did require the pipe to be closer than I wanted to the rear primary, but so be it. I have some 2-bolt flanges off of the header since they’ll be visible. But for the rest of the joints I went with v-bands. They’re mostly out of sight. I’m almost out of argon and my stainless rod didn’t show up before the weekend to get the v-band flanges fully welded on, and I’m leaving the rear hangars and the last turn for the tailpipes until the body is together on the car. I have them mostly lined up with the inner two tail lights so far and that is the intention. I left plenty of room for a 3.5” driveshaft but 3” will probably be enough even with the blower motor. The front legs of the x-member will need some more trimming and then reinforcing but I’ll deal with that when it’s time to blow everything apart.

Went ahead and mounted the fuel filter and rear brake hose so I can start on plumbing next. Front brake hoses are mounted too, I made some weld-on tabs from an old shackle plate.

 

It’s not very exciting but the chassis brake and fuel lines are done. Obviously the ones to the body will have to wait until I have a fuel tank and the master cylinders in place. I also mounted a parking brake handle and ran cables. I had intended on just buying the same Lokar stuff I have used in the past but holy cow, the prices on that stuff are off the wall. So I used a late model A/‘32 handle, and the same basic cable setup from Wilwood which was nearly half the price.

It’s a little cheesy…but I needed to stiffen up the ladder bar mounting plate. It’s just a big piece of 3/16” spanning the width of the x-member legs with no reinforcement. I had a lot of thoughts on what to do but in the end…I just welded some angle iron in. It gave me a place to route the brake cables to. And I will make some pieces that bolt to the angle that will go up and tie into the plate that is above the transmission. I could certainly do a lot better than that, but I just need to get this thing going and it doesn’t need to be fancy underneath.



And another development…the slicks I wanted are back in production! I have checked pretty regularly, and earlier this week Jegs said they had a pair in stock so I ordered them with crossed fingers. They actually showed up today! Pretty excited about that. The pie crusts aren’t the look I wanted, and are a little too short. But maybe they’ll look good on the ‘57 (which is getting a big makeover after this one is done and the El Camino is running). I’ve got to get tubes, but might get everything swapped around next weekend.


I think it’s pretty much time to blow the chassis apart and prep everything for chrome and send it out. Axle, hairpins and batwings, ladder bars, headers, and windshield will be chrome. Going to paint the spindles. I need to wrap up the drivers side windshield post tomorrow. With all of that out of the way I can then focus on sheetmetal for a while. My new target is a painted frame, grill shell and headlights with the rest of the body in some kind of primer. I’m running out of time and since I’ve never painted a car before I don’t want to rush it.

 

Looking good! Don't sweat the paint, with your skills you can pull it off.

 

Looking great!

 

Looking good. Sometimes it’s hard to find that spot to stop and say it’s not a diamond ring it’s the bottom of a hot rod let’s move forward

 

I am struggle bussin’ lately but I have
ordered so many parts. This weekend is a bust with personal time and Father’s Day stuff. But it’s gotta be all or nuthin pretty soon. Engine parts, battery and wiring stuff, and some road trip tires. And some color choices to be made soon.

 

Fuck yeah

 

I lean towards the brown/copper

 

I am partial to the BLUE

 

Blue!

 

I ran those M&H’s on my race car and did not use tubes, just coated the inside of the tire with Dawn dish soap. Been doing that on slicks for years with no problems.

 

I’ve never been in the racing world and don’t know why these tires use tubes? But I got them anyway. What does the soap do that takes the place of a tube?

Speaking of which, my front tires will not hold air. I finally checked why, hoping it was a valve stem issue. Nope, leaks all around the wheel lip. I put these on the wheels myself but didn’t screw anything up. Gotta get them dismounted I guess to see what’s up with the bead. I don’t mind running tubes in the fronts if I have to, but they are supposed to be tubeless tires.

I ordered my driveshaft last week and picked it up yesterday. Them thangs are expensive. I did end up going 3.5” but it has plenty of room.

We have a car at work getting disassembled for the paint shop and a whole bunch of stuff heading to the chrome plater. So I’m going to be doing a lot of chrome prep tomorrow and the rest of the weekend so I can send my stuff at the same time. It’s going to be the front axle and hairpins, shock mounts, headers, and windshield stuff. I plan on chroming more but this will do for now. I would also like to build and install my driveshaft loop and get the rear quarters and stuff blasted this weekend. Going to be a hot one…

 

Side walls on slicks are thinner and the soap helps seal them.

 

Part of me wanted to leave the welds on the headers, seen a lot like that from “back in the day”. But then I got kinda carried away. I was a bit lazy and didn’t finish them out in areas where you’ll never see the welds. I’ll let the chrome guys polish those and it’ll be good. Got the headers and caps, front shock mounts, pitman arm and nut, steering stops, and one windshield post finished last night.

 

Those should great shiney

 

Chassis and exhaust look great. Gonna be a good one.

 

Purdy!

 

Live updates…it’s too hot and I needed a cool down. For the live end of the panhard bar mount, this is what I’ve got. Machined a bung and welded (just tacked so far) to the axle. Made a filler piece for the batwing, welded it in and smoothed it out. Cut out a double shear bracket and welded that to the batwing. Then cut that filler piece back a little for both style points and tie rod clearance. I think it’ll work alright. Working on lower shock mounts now, more on that later.

 

I have NEVER seen it done that way and that is super SLICK!

 

Trick!

 

Thanks y’all!

I was ready to leave the bolt on shock mounts on there, they don’t bother me as much as many other folks. But then I welded the spacers (that makes these 2-1/4” batwings fit the 2” perch boss axle) to the batwings…and it was looking pretty thicc. So what the hell, cut the bolt-ons apart and welded them onto the lower boss on the batwing. Last picture is a “before”. Looks a lot cleaner now. I can use a tapered Ford castle nut on the spring perch now too, which will look pretty good with the original looking shackles I got from Roadster Supply. I finished welding the panhard boss onto the axle tonight. Tomorrow I will prep the axle for chrome and get the rest of the front suspension ready to send out. Maybe a couple other tasks. Did I say it was hot already?

 

Last update this weekend. Everything that’s getting chromed this round is ready to go. I would like to do more, like the rear suspension (ladder bars, spring hangars) but that will have to wait. None of it is perfect, I left some pits here and there and will let the chrome guys do their thing with it all. If I were doing this on a car at work I could easily spend another week on all of it, but that’s not the kinda car I’m putting together. I also knocked out the driveshaft loop. I wanted one for my own peace of mind, but in case I ever actually run this thing down a track with the slicks on, it might be required anyway. That’s pretty much it for the chassis, other than some final welding when I blow it apart. I have nothing else to do now but sheetmetal work and stuff inside the cowl (pedals, steering, dash etc.). Oh yeah, and the engine…