haha if they rode decent I would have, I drove thousands of miles in my last car on slicks. I have no idea what you're talking about..... yupp, right on the rim, and this stuff
@BigJoeArt love the new wheels, congratulations on the new addition - of the human kind, I hope all goes well for mum n bub. It's amazing to watch you build the car like you have & just change it till it works, over here, every thing would have to be approved by an engineer before hitting the street!
So I guess over time the graphite spray will wear/wash off? I am impressed with your self mounting tire abilities. I wish I could just get some old ones off a few rims never mind mount new ones. LOL Do you balance them at all? Congrats on the new young'un!! Prayers to baby, mom, big sis and dad!
@drdave it takes a LOT to get it off. I know of guys who have been running it for years and years and if anything if it starts looking shitty it looks even more like a mag wheel lol
haha getting tires off can be a real pain. I have an old school hand bead breaker and sometimes it doesn't get it done. I've gotten a pretty good system with my tire mounting stool, it swivels and is waist height. it takes a lot of energy and sweat but beats the hell outta the bill at the tire shop. And nope, didn't balance at all, drove it on the highway, up to 100, no shakes, no wobbles. good enough for me. Tim is right. @32fenderless has had it on his work truck for over 10 years and they look really shitty, just like old mags. its a convincing guise.
I've been mounting/dismounting wheels and tires at home for a few years now, and I bought a cheap amazon bead breaker and tire iron for the task. Way cheaper than what I would have spent at a tire shop for the very numerous times I have done the task. I also got a bubble balancer and have used it with very very moderate success.
Boy am I behind. but don't worry, I've got a good reason. Baby Mary has been a blessing and a whirlwind, and with her comes some time off work. During naptime and after bedtime, I've been knocking out little things on the roadster. I messed with the gas pedal foot rest some, (I've since revised it again) I added an inch to the bottom, and twisted it around a bit. I also trimmed the base and narrowed it so it would get out of the way of my feet and hug the trans more. I also nabbed up some filters from @Anderson 's business: Anderson Auxiliary and I also asked nicely and he made me a plug for my scoop (for use on overnight trips and such) And I started fiddling with the roof, but that's for the next post. In the meantime, I was able to sneak away after kids nap on Saturday and head to down to Greaserama. I filled the roadster with gas and headed out. after I hung out for a few hours, I convinced Chris to pull his newly finished build out with some bikes to take some photos, and they wound up on the Hop Up Magazine Instagram page! And its for sale! you can contact him through his Instagram HERE I believe it is also gonna be at the ROC! I picked up this little postcard from Marcy, and think its great. After the show I went out to Mexican with some friends. by the time we got done, it was time to head north. A short hour later and I was home. and I had to hang up my best score of the weekend, the banner I designed for the show last year, they gifted to me this year. I have no clue where its gonna go, but I'm stoked to have it. Just last night my buddy came over and we fiddled with the car a little, took some timing out, and put some 91 octane in the tank, and after some driving around, got it dialed. I'm getting stoked, but just wait till you see the top... more to come...
So a little over a year ago, I went and had my buddy make a front visor/bow thing that fit over the windshield, and I finally decided with the Arizona trip on the horizon, I should get the top put together. so I started with the bows I had built previously, and I made these plates to mount the supports to the front, and to create a set of blinder type ends for the visor. I left the metal edge down lower than the top of the visor, so I could round the upper edge more. you can see how it connects to the tube going back to the other bows. I did a little mockup to make sure everything was still looking good. Once I figured out how I wanted the door openings, I decided to make them out of some 1/4" round rod that I had, and build a couple other braces too. and with that, another mockup and a drive to check visibility and comfort. I like it. and I checked profile from the end of the driveway... I like the way the window opening emulates the curve of the back of the tub, with the same flow. but I noticed something in driving it around, more importantly in the entry and exit. The tall shifter didn't help at all. so I decided that since its easy enough to swap, a new shifter could be made, at least for while the top was on. I took a stock t5 shifter and cut the arm off, them bored it out to the size of the smaller shifter, then chamfered the hole so I could let the weld penetrate. It worked the charm. then it was back to the top, I went and bought a new piece of 1/4" round rod, and then started shaping it around the back of the tub, so it will "float" off the back of the body. I then decided it needed some extra bracing in the back. so I drilled a hole and welded a nut in, so I could place a bolt in the center. The whole top floats about 1/8 inch off the back of the body, which will probably close up a little when the fiberglass is added. It attaches with 5 bolts, all using a 3/16 allen wrench. two at the windshield, one on the back, and one on each side, 3/4 of the way back on the body. and AGAIN I had to mock it up and make the top out of tape. looked good, but I still needed to finish weld a few pieces. so back apart it came. And since finally all the bracing and tubing had been added, I was able to take it off in one piece. and this afternoon, I added a final layer of tape, this time, to lay glass on, and I also installed a wooden rear window surround. weather holding, tomorrow my buddy is coming over to help start laying glass on it. we'll see how it goes. ..
Are you planning to encapsulate the tape between the fiberglass and the frame? Or are you hoping to be able to pop the fiberglass top off the tape after it cures? I’m asking because I’ve had mixed success using tape as a form. Packaging tape works well. Duct tape turns to a slimy mess and the resin eats the adhesive, from my experience anyway. I think masking tape will hold up, but I’m not sure it will pop off in the end. I have very little experience, but definitely use a little less catalyst than recommended so you have more working time. That’s a big surface to cover with some curves and edges you’ll want some time to get right. I’m rooting for you guys to pull it off!
whew. that was a day. mike showed up at 10am, just as I got back from the store with the plastic drop cloths to mask off the body. we jumped right in and formulated a game plan, we mixed small batches of resin so we could work it a little bit at a time. Once we dialed the mixture in, we started mixing two batches each time so we could each attack a side. I cut the front edge of the tape off so the resin could soak into the wood and form a good bond. We left the rest of the cloth on the roof so it would put a little tension on the top as we glassed it. I don't know if it actually helped, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. we then just kept repeating the same process until we had the whole top covered in a layer of 10oz cloth. this required piecing in the rear a bit, but it worked out ok. As the cloth got wet, it sagged a bit, and we got all of the bubbles out, but we left some of the bumps and ripples that were in our tape form, cause it makes a really convincing cloth top simulation. Then we started on the second layer. We decided to run the cloth side to side, and stop at the rear bow to hopefully hide the seam a little better. how many brushes to do the top so far? 29 cheap chip brushes. that's counting the one that fell apart the moment mike tried to use it. and we aren't done, at least not completely. we decided to let the glass on the front cure before I cut the excess off to start on the second layer on the back of the roof. so tonight after kids bedtime, I went out and cut some and sanded the edge to ready it for tomorrow. I got a little carried away and sanded most of the roof to at least get an idea of the texture and what we need to fix tomorrow. overall a success, and I'm feeling really good about the top so far. once we get the back set up, and the very front edges finished, we'll be able to pull the roof off, and start securing the bows to the inside with more fiberglass. I also tested a small area and the tape seems to peel off the inside, so fingers crossed it just comes right off. more tomorrow. .. .
well I'm back. we got back at it on Saturday, and glassed the back section of the roof. we decided that if we glassed the rear front section in one piece, back to the rearmost bow, and then did the rear in one piece, up the back of the roof, we could get away with the least obtrusive seams, and no folds or relief cuts. after some trimming we took the roof off and started prepping the inside. I didn't take any pictures through the afternoon, cause most of it was spent peeling the tape from the inside of the top. (NOT FUN) once done with that task we commenced placing some fiberglass mat over the bows and in places we thought needed help. but that afternoon I had to make a trip north, for some family pictures. and of course the car had to be part. (no photos from our friend that took them yet, but here are my excerpts. . . ) On the way home, I got stopped by a guy with flashing lights that didn't appreciate my urgency to leave the state of Iowa. luckily he just gave me a warning and let me go. once at home I had to put the roof back on cause I have no better place to store it. I noted some places that needed help, and decided I'd get back to it on Sunday. by Sunday afternoon the fiberglass was in full swing again, trying to tie up loose ends and stiffen the roof . Its hard to tell, but all of the tubes have a layer of fiberglass mat over them, tying the glass roof to the structure. I also laid a layer of mat on the inside of the top of the roof, so it has two layers of cloth and one layer of mat. this helps the structure a bunch, but I still wound up adding a support in the center of the long span. after kids bedtime I decided to get out the roadster and see what it looked like under the lights. and once I got home, in the mad laboratory... This morning rolled around and Mike called me to come out and help him on his project, so I decided that today would be the maiden voyage of the top on the highway. well... the top did great.... buut... I had barely made it out of town and shifted into high gear, when I heard something hit the bottom of the car, and saw a long slender thing bounce down the highway behind me. before I had time to figure out what had happened, my clutch pedal hit the floor. turns out, the pin that holds the clutch rod onto the Z bar decided to take a vacation and let the clutch rod exit stage right. so after a hike back to find the rod, and then getting back to the car and realizing I was missing a couple pieces, A neighbor stopped and asked if I wanted a ride back to the shop. I obliged and proceeded the raid dads stash of truck parts. I called dad and he just happened to be heading past the house in the right direction, so without too much waiting, I was back at the scene. In a couple minutes I had it buttoned back up and ready to go. so I continued out to Mikes place. They had just graveled his road, so it was ROUGH. I lost both the bolts that hold the passenger wind wing on, the bottom one on the way there and the top one on the way back home! otherwise the top took the abuse well. Also note my snazzy @Anderson AUX air cleaner! keeping the dust at bay. once it was on the highway, it was smooth sailing. It was kinda nice to not have the wind beating against my head the whole time. but I will say, the headers are WAY louder now. once I got back home it was the same song and dance, roof off, grinding, touch ups, more resin, more mat. Its starting to come around, and I'm definitely learning things that I will do different next time. I took my dad out for a spin tonight with the top, at his request, and it felt roomy (for a T roadster with a top) even with two people in it. I'm working out a few weird areas, like where the front visor blends into the side of the top, and trying to get the rear of the roof to have the right clearance to the body. hopefully with a little more sanding and a minimal amount of clean up, I can get it dialed enough to fog some paint on it soon. . .
That's really nice! I'm such a slacker, you've got a job, wife and new kid, and you knocked out a complete custom top. I can imagine how you have to contort to get in and out. It makes me smile!
It’s easy just don’t go to work lol. The video of him getting in and out is pretty funny. I think he’s got a claustrophobic kink all his cars are tiny lol that being said you are far from the only one to wonder how he gets it all done. I’m betting on little Willy wonka style umpa lumpa’s but his are masking tape blue and listen to ska.
thanks guys! well I would,... if it had one. I have a couple pieces of plexiglass for if I decided to install one, If I do, I will probably just silicone It in for this year, and come up with a fancy attachment later... or never... haha I'm glad it seems like I'm flying, cause it seems like I've only got moments to work on it. I am currently on maternity leave, but that just gains me naptime and after bed to work on it. hopefully well be onto paint soon, I cant wait to see it in color.
I was more meaning the back window frame etc you’d mentioned it’s wood? also you’re not fooling anyone! I’ve got proof! and yes my kids thought this was hillarious
slightly off white, about the same color as the masking tape I mocked it up with. I thought about some Albino Wookie fur (I have some in stock even) but I think @32fenderless probably wouldn't want to pick it out of his teeth all the way to Arizona...
Well Done Joey. Top looks great and fits the car like it was always meant to be there. How many total layers do you think you have on it now? Any movement/vibrating on the highway? Since you nor @Tim felt the need to share said video of you climbing in mentioned above. We are all using our imaginations to good effect. Not having a drivers side door only adds to the visual circus I'm building in my head lol.
you've got enough white hair... thanks Adam, the top has two layers of cloth on top, and one layer of mat on the inside, covering all the bows. It doesn't seem to move at all on the highway, and I've had it up over 80mph.
The Jalopy Journal
