Technical The Geoffrey Skene 1932 Roadster

Hooray!!

Glad to see you posting in this again. Cant wait to see the progress.

 

PART 9

After pie cutting the X legs as necessary I also used heat to fine tune the fit into the frame rails. This is one of those times where things have to get a little ugly before they get pretty. Just keep in mind if you’re doing things like this, it’s only metal! Once satisfied with the fit and verifying the X assembly is centered I match drilled 2 holes on each side that will be used when the car gets assembled. On top is the forward firewall foot bolt and on the side is one of the front fender bolts. After tightening the bolts, the clamps were removed and I began tacking the cuts and for the larger gaps making little filler wedges to weld in. The idea here is not to completely weld all the cuts that were made but to do enough that everything will stay put so the X assembly can be removed to work on outside of the frame.









At this point the X assembly is removed from the frame and all of the remaining welding, sanding and smoothing is done. As these X pieces were stamped by Ford there is extra, uneven material left in the 4 inside corners of the channel. They were marked and ground into a smooth radius.

















The X assembly was reinstalled using the previously matched bolt locations to check fit which, thankfully, is right-on.

 

PART 10

This part actually happened before any of the frame work began. This is the front axle setup that will be used. I didn’t get any pictures during the process but below is a description and pictures of the finished setup.

- Dropped original 32 axle by Greg Haynes / Anson Axle
- Original 32 spindles. Steering arms modified to fit axle by me. Brake mounting flanges modified by adding material, welding original 3/8” brake plate holes and drilling new 1/2” mounting holes in the 1937-1948 pattern by Neil Jennings.
- Original 32 style tie rod.
- Original 32 spring perches with mechanical brake supports removed and sculpted.
- Original Kinmont brakes.

 

I don't know how I missed this. You are a true craftsman.

 

Looks good, thanx for keeping us updated. Where did you source the tie rod ends, are you happy with the quality?
Tom

 

Hi Tom. The tie rod ends are from Snyders Model A in Ohio. Very high quality and look identical to the originals. There’s others on the market that are just awful.

 

Is the tie rod itself from Snyders too? Is it a thick wall tube?

 

Yes, the tie rod is also from Snyders, it is solid bar like original Model A’s. One could use tube like 32-34 but you will need to install 2” long plugs in each end like original so that when the tie rod end clamp bolts are tightened it doesn’t squeeze the tube.

 

Thanx for the info, Dennis.
Tom

 

Dennis, This project is a great collection of correct parts and I'm always amazed when I see another set of Kinmonts that look brand new. This will be a terrific build when completed. Ron

 

One of the signs of a craftsman is that he makes pretty even those areas that do not show.
Well done on the X-member. Wish that the caveman that did mine had been one.

 

PART 11

With the front of the X now fitted and the front axle assembly mocked up I felt the best next move was to offer up the front end, a mock up block and the transmission to see how all this stuff would play together. You can plan and plan and measure and measure but you just never know until you put it all together. Big thanks to my friend “Hudson Joe” Buffardi for donating the crusty mock up block!

I was very happy to find that everything I’ve done so far looks like it will work nicely just as I had envisioned. The transmission fits perfect through the X and modified saddle. For now I have installed a pair of original 1932 front motor mounts as a means to properly locate the engine fore/aft and am using the smaller parts of the motor mount biscuits that would normally go on the underside of the cross member to space the engine upward 1” which helps fill out the under hood and provides lots of clearance for the tie rod. The bottom of the firewall will require some trimming as expected.

The pedals are 1934 making them a bolt-in with the X and aside from some minor tweaking are already well positioned. I also mocked up one of my 1933/1934 master cylinder brackets which fits beautifully but after some discussions about rear suspension design with friends Derek Bower and Peter Eastwood, this will likely be abandoned.

The shocks are going to be a full set of reproduction Roto-Flo. As this project continues it will become apparent that there will be a prominent aluminum parts theme.

 

So cool that the pedals lined up well with the floorboard, just by positioning the X with the stock wishbone. I’ve got a 40 frame that could donate its X, and wonder how well the pedals will coordinate with the firewall and floor.

 

@Dennis Lacy is that at vent tube, coming from the pass. side?

 

That tube is part of my 33/34 hydraulic conversion bracket kit. The front parking brake cable runs through it. I had it there to see if it would fit around the trans.

 

PART 12

After breaking down the mock-up it was back to working on the “X”. Where the front legs converge with the rails I needed to slice above the lower flanges and spread them down to fit the rails exactly.





After taking a slice on both sides the flanges were spread down and clamped in place.





I made some slivers of filler material out of some scraps of 11 gauge sheet.





I tacked the filler pieces in place then removed the X so I could fully weld and finish the areas.











The X was then reinstalled to check the fit.









Finally, the front legs of the the 33/34 “X” are a factory-like fit into the 32 frame rails.

 

PART 13

With the front legs of the “X” fully fitted I needed to address filling some unwanted holes in the frame rails where they converge, before committing to final installation. Here are the holes circled in black. Four on each side are original (in a diamond pattern) for mounting irons for cars with fender mounted spare wheels. The other 3 holes are non factory that didn’t have to filled at this time but I figured I might as well while I was at it.





All gone!





There are also some holes that needed to go away on the top flanges of the X legs as these are right in the area where the firewall and cowl will bolt through. (I forgot to picture them but I also filled one hole on each side of the X legs, just ahead of where you see the bolts through the sides in the finished pictures later in this post.)









All cleaned up and the X bolted back in place.









I thought I was finally done working this area, just kidding! On the bottom flanges of the 33/34 X legs there are two original rivet holes which will ultimately be riveted again. You can see by the drawn on arrow that at the rear rivet holes there are holes in the 32 rails underneath that partly overlap. They will need to be filled so matched holes can be drilled later.



Almost there!

 

PART 14

I still need to fill those last couple of holes but I needed to switch gears mentally to something else for a minute so I decided to finally start addressing fitting the rear “X” legs. Initially, I was thinking I would make the whole section fit into frame rails and that would require tons of pie cuts, filling those large, round holes and general manipulation. Then, I realized I was making it way more difficult than it needed to be trying to fit the whole thing. I’ll be making inner continuation channels anyways so why not just cut most of the leg ends off? They were marked and cut off accordingly (left of pic below.) I also marked and trimmed the front ends roughly an inch where they will reattach to the rest of the X (right of pic below.)



I braced the loose rear legs of the X with a piece of 1x3” tubing and put some 1/8” spacers between it and the X legs to simulate the thickness of the top flange of the frame rails.





I then went through the process of pie cutting the loose rear pieces just above the lower flanges. I snuck up on this a little at a time until the fit into the frame rails was just right. I got a little over enthusiastic cutting on the left side but that’s what the TIG machine is for.







I made a few tacks on each side then removed the pieces, fully welded and finished them inside and out.









Then finished pieces were ran through the sand blaster then fully clamped into place. I’m quite pleased with the results!















At this point I think all that’s left to address are those couple of holes up front mentioned at the end of the previous post and I can commit to welding the rear leg pieces to the rest of the X. I need to make darn sure I’ve addressed everything because once those rear pieces are welded the X is captured permanently.

 

Great work as always Dennis.

 

Don't know how I have missed this thread, will be following along from now on.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures,Very nice attention to detail,

 

Wow! Your details are spot on. Nice work.