Projects The Geoffrey Skene 1932 Roadster - Full Build by Early V8 Garage

PART 19

With all of those extra holes filled it was time to start making the inner frame channels that will make the legs of the 33/34 X-member continuous to the front and rear cross members. Doing this doesn’t just look neat. It doubles the thickness of the frame channels where they need it the most, ahead of the firewall and through the S-bend up and over the rear axle tubes, the latter being a very common place for fatigue cracks to occur.

I started with the rear extension channels since, because of the S-curve, they will be more involved to make. I laid out, cut out and dressed two pairs of 11 gauge X 1-5/8” wide flanges. To shape them I pulled out my highly sophisticated 4” tube clamped to the edge of my welding table with some 1/8” spacers under it (you can see this first used earlier in the project when I modified the center saddle.) Works like a charm.





There’s nothing special about this process. Just keep tweaking the pieces until they are a good fit. Once I was happy with all 4 flanges they were clamped in place.

Note: I made each piece 1/2” longer than need to started and did a final trim after they were fit. Always leave a margin. Nothing worse than forming a part perfectly but having it come up short!









With the upper and lower flanges fit it’s time to move onto the side pieces. There’s different ways to go about making a fitted pattern and I considered them all but landed on using blue masking tape. I cleaned the inner frame rail thoroughly with lacquer thinner than applied tape 4 layers thick, making sure to overlap the seams of each lower layer so that the tape would be sturdy when removed.



The tape template was then stuck onto a piece of 11 gauge steel and traced with black Sharpie. The tape was removed and the piece cut out leaving just a hint of black line showing so I could sneak up on the fit. Simply repeat for the other side.







The side pieces were slowly fit by repeatedly sanding and checking. Ultimately I ended up with a pretty exact fit on both sides.













Happy with the fit I pulled everything apart and sand blasted the new inner channel pieces.





Then the insides of the frame rails were cleaned thoroughly to bright steel and everything wiped down with lacquer thinner to prep for welding. I then went about fully spot welding the channels. This included more fun of turning the frame on its sides and upside down by myself again! I also added what will eventually be rivet holes and put temporary bolts to hold everything tight.









The next step will be to fully weld and metal finish to make both sides look like one continuous part of the X legs.

 

Fantastic work Dennis! Great thread!

 

PART 20

It’s been a while since my last update as I lost momentum with this project until recently. These last few weeks, though, I’ve been hitting this project hard and a lot has happened.

The next step was to fully weld the rear inner channels that I had previously made and tacked in place. Each long run has two p***es. The first using 1/16” filler rod to join all of the pieces followed by a wider fill p*** using larger 3/32” rod to ensure there is enough material to sand into an inside radius.









Then came hours and hours of sanding the inside corners and blending the end joints into the legs of the X so that the X and channels look like continuous stampings back to the rear cross member. I’m about 97% satisfied and will do a little fine tuning later to get that last 3% but overall I’m very pleased with the results.





















The lower flanges of the X are narrower than the flanges on the channels so there was a mismatch that needed to be addressed. A couple of filler wedges were made, welded and blended. Much better.

 

VERY NICE WORK!

 

Needs a pair of Smithy’s. Hehe.

 

Great work and welds

 

PART 21

With the rear inner channels essentially finished it was time to move onto the front. The process is the same as the rear except that there are no curves to deal with. First, I made upper and lower flanges, clamped them into place, made masking tape templates for the side plates, transferred the templates to steel, cut out and fine trimmed to fit. For some reason I only took pictures of the p***enger side after fitting the side plates but the drivers side is a mirror image.

The lower flanges end at the back flange of the front cross member while the upper flanges and side plates extend further forward to the back edge of the spring channel section.

 

PART 22

Before permanently installing the front inner channels I needed to cut a window in the drivers side inner plate for the steering gear. The gear box being used is from Neal Jennings and we also have a beautifully restored deep column drop to potentially use, also by Neal, and it’s modified to fit up to a 32 dashboard.





The gear box was built before this project began and it’s made for a stock frame, not one that’s double the thickness. It’s only 1/8” difference but I don’t want to take any chances that are going to cause problems down the line.

I made a card stock template of the steering flange with a 1/4” pilot hole.



Earlier in the thread I repaired the steering gear area of the frame rail because it was all butchered so measuring off of another 32 frame I located the center of the gear shaft and drilled a 1/4” pilot hole. I then used that hole to punch mark and drill a 1/4” pilot hole in the inner channel plate.





I mounted the template to the inner channel plate and traced the template in the stock position and tilted back 20 degrees.





I connected all of the peaks to create one solid shape.



I then found a hole saw that matched the corner radius’, held it in place and used a transfer punch to mark the pilot holes, cut the holes and then cut the straight areas between with a die grinder and cutoff wheel.







Here, the inner channel plate is in place with the gear flange template showing the stock position and rotated back 20 degrees. Now, later on I will have the ability to mount the steering column in the stock location, with the deep drop shown above or anywhere in between.





Satisfied, the hole in the outer frame rail was cut with a hole saw to 1-1/4” for the gear shaft to p*** through. I’m not going to drill the 3 gear mounting holes until later on, once the column position is finalized so I made a piece of tubing to sandwich between the frame and the pitman arm nut so I could hold the gear box in the frame in the meantime.

 

PART 23

With the window added for the steering gear box I sand blasted all of the front inner channel pieces to ready them for welding.



Before I installed the channels permanently I had one more thing to finish which was the backside of the repaired steering gear area on the frame rail. All of the voids were welded and sanded smooth.







The insides of the frame rails were cleaned thoroughly, the inner channels installed and fully tacked in place.





I had one area of misalignment where the inner channel meets the upper left corner of the left X leg. The was quickly solved by cutting a slit in the corner, clamping side of the X down flat, tacking and then welding the slit.





At this point I settled in and fully welded the channels. Same as the rear, an initial p*** with 1/16” rod to join the pieces and then a fill p*** with 3/32” rod.

 

Nice work.
The fillet welds in the inner boxing plates was a LOT of work. Wow.

 

PART 24

After welding the front inner channels it was time to match-drill a bunch of holes.

On each side there is an upper 5/16” hole for the front fenders and two 1/4” holes that are original rivets from the removed K-member which I will utilize for rivets again.









On the tops of the front rails there are holes for the front hood latches and center hood side bumpers.









The previous builder had also drilled holes on top of the original hood latch holes so the extra holes were welded and sanded smooth.









The frame was flipped over and I match-drilled the 4 holes on each side that were originally to hold the engine filler pans. I also increased them to 5/16” from 1/4”. These will also get rivets.









Right side up again, fully welded and bolted. By this time the front of the frame feels significantly less flexible when picking it up by the horns and trying to twist it.

 

PART 25

I need to stock up on sanding supplies before I attack the front channel welds so in the meantime I moved on to the next project. Earlier in the thread when I was carving out the center saddle I was asked if I was going to make a plate or strap across the top to keep the center of the X from flexing inward now that the cross section of the saddle is so much thinner. My answer was no and that I had a different plan.

This fancy French transmission is already bulky on top and I don’t want to add any more bulk that’s going to be intrusive to the future floor so the alternative is to build braces from the center of the X out to the frame rails. An idea gleaned from friend John Swander’s ‘33 Roadster.

At the center of the X I’m able to use 2 existing rivet holes and drilled a 3rd hole in-line. Then, using my trusty pipe clamped to my welding table I made a curved flange out of 1/8 X 1” flat bar and drilled it to match.





I then spent some time coming up with a card stock designs for the main top plate (didn’t take pictures, sorry) and transferred my favorite to steel and made the first piece.



From there I added a 3/4” step-up at the frame rail, side flanges and gussets under the step-up. It was then test fit.













Satisfied with the fit and appearance I made a mirroring brace for the right side, fully welded both and sanded the outsides smooth.













The finished braces installed. The other neat thing is that where they attach at the side rails they make use of the 3 original K-member holes on each side. I had this in mind way back when I was still fitting the X, which is why I never filled these holes when I was going around filling dozens of others. With these installed the frame feels yet another level of stiffer. Now, it’s downright STOUT.

 

Yes it was! From the moment of the first tack to the end of the final bead was about 4 hours. That includes having to prop the frame up on both sides and flip it over all by myself. I’ve gotten pretty proficient at man handling this thing around at this point, LOL!

 

The midpoint struts are along the same line as Henry’s in the 1940 frames. Except yours are vertical and his were horizontal. And his always get in the way of exhaust pipes.

 

Such an excellent thread. Keep the updates coming.

 

Thanks, man! We’re all caught up now but as I press on I’ll be posting.

 

Great work as usual! I can only dream about doing that level.

 

What's your process for smoothing out the welds on your boxing plates? Nice work as always!

 

PART 26

After finishing the X center braces I still wasn’t ready to grind and sand the front inner channel welds so I decided to head back to the rear of the frame and start addressing modification to the rear cross member to accommodate the planned Cyclone Quick Change and Model T rear spring.

Warning! A nice original 1932 rear cross member is about to be butchered

The owner had sent me a 1925 and earlier T rear cross member which still had stubs of frame riveted to it so before anything I had to get those superfluous pieces removed by grinding, drilling and punching all the rivets out.



It was marked to be trimmed 1/2” from the centers of the outer holes where the sides start to taper up.



After cutting the ends off the cross member was sand blasted.



I carefully laid out a center line across the stock cross member and then I drew 2 rectangles with outside lines exactly the same length as the T cross member and then I drew front and rear lines the exact width.



I then cut along the front and rear lines about 6” down from the outside lines and cut along the outside lines and folded (hammered!) the two resulting flaps down and set the T cross member into the two holes which requires mild tapping with a hammer. A tight fit that exactly locates the T member. From here the original rear cross member will be systematically removed in sections to maintain as much structural integrity as possible during the process of blending the T member in.







After measuring many times to confirm the T member was centered and level I welded the front corners about an inch to hold it solidly in place.





After much thought I laid out cut lines to remove a section of the original cross member, fully exposing the end of the T member.





The topside of the original cross member was heated and pushed up even with the end of the T member, V’d out with a cut off wheel and then welded across.







A 3/16” thick filler plate was made to fit in the gap then welded, sanded and blended.







After completing the right side I copied the process on the left side leaving the top and back side of the T member blended into the original.

 

PART 27

The next step was to remove the center of the original cross member. At least this portion can be used to repair one with a damaged center if ever there’s a need.











My trusty pipe was clamped to the edge of the welding table again and I shaped a bottom flange for the cross member out of 3/16 X 3/4” cold roll flat bar. Once I was satisfied with the fit the flange was tacked on along the bottom edge and then, like the inner frame rail channels, fully welded with 1/16” filler rod root p*** and 3/32” filler rod fill p*** so there’s enough material to be sanded into an inside radius.















After about an hour of sanding the blend of the flange is about 90% finished. Still some areas to detail but I’m happy with the factory-like appearance.

 

PART 28

With the backside all figured out it was time to move to the front side which looks like it might be a little more complex to blend together.







After a bunch thought I removed sections from the ends of the original cross member.









I then made some 3/16” filler pieces, welded and sanded them.











This is as far as I got before having to close up for the weekend. Next will be making a bottom flange like for the backside and blending in the lower front areas of the original cross member. Not to mention flipping the frame over and finish welding and sanding the insides of all these seams.

 

Such nice, thought-out work. Thanks for sharing.

 

Your ch***is is a work of art.

 

PART 29

Continuing on with the rear cross member graft. Like the backside, I used my trusty pipe and formed a flange from 3/16 X 3/4” flat bar and welded it in place.





The lower front corners were final trimmed and the flange was continued around to connect with the stubs of the original.















I filled a couple of rivet holes on both sides of the top surface.





After a bunch of sanding the front of the new cross member is about 90% finished.














And, the pile of s**** that was once the original cross member.

 

PART 30

After finishing the outside of the rear cross member I flipped the frame over and welded/sanded all of the seams on the underside. I also went back and sanded all the welds for the front inner channels. Same process as the rears so I don’t think it’s necessary to show it. Just know that as I locked up the shop for Christmas and New Years all of that work was completely done.

Now, we will jump ahead to early January and I arranged for my friend Eric Justus to come over and help me install 35 hot rivets replacing all of the temporary bolts throughout. My Dad and I had done many frame rivets over the years so I had a perfect handle on the job and the tools to do it. Eric ran the bucking bar, I ran the torch & air hammer and we knocked it out in about 3 hours. Here’s the finished result after I spent another morning detailing the frame with wire brushes in my die grinder and scuff pads.

 

PART 31

A few repairs to the frame worth noting.

1) The front horns had 4 holes each in the top flanges. Some of these are original and some aren’t. The final decision was made just before Christmas to go fender-less so they all needed to go. I made slugs out of 11 gauge s****s and welded/sanded inside and out.















2) The edges of the frame rails were littered with little defects like shown below so weld was carefully built up and then sanded smooth to be good as new.







3) I noticed a crack in the front cross member that I hadn’t caught before so it was V’d out, welded and sanded smooth.

 

PART 32

With the basic frame finished it was finally time to mock up the axles and see if everything I did was actually going to work…

Starting with the rear, I’m pleased to say that the modified cross member worked out great! The axle appears to be centered fore & aft and side to side. I had the original Model T spring media blasted and was pleasantly surprised that the leaves are not heavily pitted or cracked so the spring is perfectly useable. I cut the ends of the radius rods off for now. I also turned down a set of repro shackle studs so that they are a slip-fit in the spring and radius rod hangers to make mock up easy. Here’s the list of components:

- Reproduction Cyclone quick change center
- 1935/1936 axle tubes and radius rods
- Early, tapered Model T spring
- Kinmont disc brakes
- Reproduction Roto-Flo friction shocks
- 1932 shock arms and dog bone links

 

With the rear axle mocked up and test fit to the frame it was time to move to the front. I have previously shown that some time back I had fit the axle, spindles, tie rod and brakes together. What I had not done, so far, was set up the spring.

The first step was to reverse the main leaf. We had previously used a spring shop for this but after watching a couple of YouTube tutorials I decided there was no reason I couldn’t do this myself so I made a simple pressing tool for my hydraulic press, laid out lines 1” apart and worked it until it was reversed to the same arc, which I had traced on my workbench.









Following that, I sanded and tapered all of the leaf ends and polished the leaves too and bottom.





Like the rear, I turned down a set of reproduction shackle studs to be a slip fit. Then came the moment of truth. Did I get the wishbone ball socket in exactly the right spot…

Component list:
- Dropped 32 axle by Anson (Greg Haynes)
- 32 spindles with flanges and bolt pattern reworked
- 32 wishbone
to 1937-1948 size by Neal Jennings. Arms reshaped by me.
- New 32 style tie rod
- Reverse eye and tapered 32 spring
- 32 spring perches with mechanical brake stems removed
- Kinmont disc brakes
- Reproduction Roto-Flo friction shocks
- 32 shock arms and dog bone links
- New steering gear by Neal Jennings

 

PART 34

The next big step was test fitting the engine and trans again but with Grand National Roadster Show approaching fast and the owner traveling out from Wyoming to see his project in person (along with a number of other show visitors) the rusty mock up block I’ve shown test fitting before wasn’t going to cut it. I have had the actual engine this whole time tucked away so I got it out and mated the Facel Vega trans to it for the first time and set them in place using a pair of original 32 V8 front brackets to locate the engine and a thin s**** of wood under the trans.

The engine was built by Dave Tatum of Tatum Engines and is a 59A block displacing 296”, forged pistons, custom ground cam, Reproduction Cyclone heads and intake, a trio of Stromberg 81’ and a Harmon Collins dual coil ignition.

 

PART 35

Next up was getting the wheels and tires put together and getting them bolted on for a look.

The wheels are reproductions of the 1940’s Streamlite trailer wheels which were aluminum 16x5’s with Ford 5 X 5-1/2 bolt pattern. The owner had collected an original set but thought it would be neat to have a narrower pair made for the front so he contracted EVOD Industries to make a one-off set. They are CNC machined and the surfaces textured to look cast.

The hubcaps were an NOS set the owner found on eBay years ago, likely used on a trailer of some kind.

The tires are Excelsior “Roadster” radials with very similar Firestone Deluxe Champion tread pattern. Sizes are 4.50 and 7.50.



The ch***is as shown to the owner and other shop visitors during the week of GNRS.