Projects Shade Tree Model A Speedster Kind of Thing

Here's a video, just for kicks.

 

It's as if it's growing out of the woods!
Hood looks great. Good craftsmanship.

 

More great solutions!
Thanks for the video.
The racer is absolutely beautiful overall; I'm really looking forward to your first ride.
Cheers, Harald

 

Well, here you go, Mike. Against my better judgement, but... Actually, it's not that bad to get into and out of. I think I'll eventually add a step on each side so I don't have to grab my knee like that. Getting old ain't for sissies.

 

I want to paint all that aluminum, but we are having a little rainy spell here. I did get the underside of the hood scuffed up, acetoned, and primed.



That dried enough before the rain came that I could put it back on . Since the weather isn't cooperating with my painting plans, I shifted to working on mounting the headlights. Here is what they look like just as they were on the old car:



That's not bad, and the feet of the stands line up with the frame just right, but I built that car imagining that I was back in about 1930 or so, converting a 1928 Model A. I like pretending that way, using the right parts and tools and methods as much as I can. Since I'm using a bunch of 1937 parts here, I had to shift my imaginary time-frame up to about 1939 or so, and something about those lights just doesn't fit for me on this version of the car. I wanted them to be closer to the centerline, so I chopped a few inches out of that crossbar and clamped them back on.



That spoke to me. The only problem is that there isn't room on my diagonal crossmember braces for the long oval feet of the headlight stands. I briefly thought of heating and twisting them to line everything up, but I remembered from modifying them way back when that the uprights are solid, so I decided to drill and tap for 3/8" studs and bolt them through the crossmember.





I drilled the ch***is, bolted them on, and did a little torch bending to line everything up.



That's an in-progress picture. I got them closer. Then I marked and cut the crosspieces and turned a little plug to join them.



That little ridge centers it. I also marked the pads on the bottoms of the stands, hacksawed them to rough shape, and sanded them down.





Then I bolted it all up.







You might have noticed I put the whole suppot ***embly on backwards, which moves the lights in tighter with the radiator, and puts them right in line with the axle. Looks better to me that way. I think my imaginary builder might wish he had some more "modern" looking lights than those old Model T units, but I really like them, so there you go. Also, I'll adjust that grill mesh so that it's plumb with the crossbar. It's just wired in, so easy money there.

 

Really digging the new version! Glad its coming back together!

 

I didn't like the unfinished rear edge of my cowl. Just .050" aluminum hanging out in space. I've zoomed in on an older picture to show what I mean.




That won't do. I decided to try to slot some 1/4" aluminum tubing and see if I could slip it on there. I found a slotting saw for my father's little milling machine. It's .040", so I figured that was just perfect. Made this little jig to push the tubing through.



The idea is that the little hacksaw blade end, which is just a touch smaller than .040", will run in the slot as the tubing comes out and give me a slit straight down one side of the tubing. (The saw blade runs in that other, longer slot.) It worked better than I had any right to expect.





Then I just filed a little bevel on the rear edge of the cowl, hand bent the tubing to fit, and tapped it on with a plastic mallet. Well, it was a little more involved than that. The slot tried to close up where the bends were, but it all worked out in the end.










I'm going to make some little aluminum wrap-around clamps and space them out every so often along there. It seems pretty firmly attached, but I'll feel better with the clamps. It sure looks more finished to me, though. Probably marginally safer, too, for what that's worth in something like this. I think I'm now ready to paint, as soon as we get some appropriate weather.

 

That looks fantastic! Isn't that ingenious? Yes, it is!
I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to mount a metal bracket to hold my light switches and maybe the indicator light.
You showed me the way.
May I use your idea?
Greetings Harald

 

Of course. No need to even ask. Hahaa

 

Very ingenious.

Are you going to "clock" your screws?

 

Nah. Those are self-tapping sheet metal screws through one wall of the tubing. Thin backing and pretty co**** threads, so I just tightened them by feel. Afraid if I got fancy like that, I'd just strip a bunch of them out and cause needles aggravation.

 

That's absolutely fantastic!
I'll keep that in mind for a future project.
Thank you!!!

 

Next time you rip the canvas...just skin the whole thing in aluminum and rivets. It looks pretty awesome as is but I cant help but envision it fully clad.

 

That's a rather neat and useful trick you came up with, top marks!

 

Shoot. Anybody can have an aluminum car body. Hahaha. Seriously, though, I would have a bit of a weight penalty there, and I also think that it would be hard to avoid oil-canning on those big flat panels without any compound curves, unless I went to a thicker aluminum. This fabric is under tension, so that's not as big of an issue. I also just wanted to teach myself how to do this.

If I wanted to leave it unpainted, it might be nice to have it all uniform. I just have never personally been all that fond of bare aluminum car bodies, polished or not. As a matter of fact, I've already started priming my aluminum.



That was yesterday, when it was warm enough. Not quite painting temps yet today, so I've been working on the little clamps to hold my molding on. Just cut some aluminum rectangles, bent them by hand and then in the vise, using the ubiquitous Model A brake rod as a former initially, then a piece of the actual aluminum tubing for the final squeeze. Rounded the flats on the sander, and done.







These will go around the molding and land top and bottom on the cowl. I'll hand rivet them with cut-off pop rivet stems. A bit unconventional, but that doesn't bother me.

 

And here they are in place. I ended up using copper tacks for my rivets. Just easier to deal with, and all I'm trying to do is keep that tube from getting accidentally pulled off of the cowl.

 

Here's the first coat. It was still a little cold for painting, but It's going to warm up today. I'll have to see if the brush marks settle down a bit before I decide on a second coat this afternoon. Might have to give it a few days and do a little sanding. Knowing me, I'll probably decide I can live with them and plug on. Haha.






I am pleased with the look, though. Seems much more cohesive than it did with the bare aluminum/painted fabric combination.

Our local police department has a charity car show at the end of April every year. I'm going to try to make that. Knock on wood. I'm not a big car show guy, but this is for a good cause. Also, shy as I am, I'll admit I appreciate the affirmation. I had the old car in that show several times and it was always interesting to see how different people reacted to it. Almost all positive, but with widely varying levels of enthusiasm and/or puzzlement. This one should be the same, hopefully minus the damn Chitty Chitty Bang Bang comments. Haha.

 

You really sit in that nicely RW...I have to ask...windscreen? I may have missed the mention...

 

Thanks, @Stogy

I think I might repurpose the already repurposed MGTD folding job from the old car. With alterations, of course.

 

Perfect...like an old friend...you need a place to hang some mementos. Mind you I have come across vintage discards many times and thats always a treat to see even if its too far gone

 

Hey RW, I really like your edge treatment on the cowl piece. When you mentioned the entry/egress method, I thought about a couple of farm buggy steps like were found on grain wagons that you also rode on. I bought a couple at a flea market a few years back, thinking I'd restore an old farm wagon I still have from my grandad's farm. I think they were cast iron and said Studebaker on them. Something like that might work on your speedster. Just bolted on.

Al Hook

 

Thanks. I actually had a pair of those on the first version of this car. Thought they were cast, as well, but this one sure bent during that wreck.



Even if I managed to get it back straight, though, I've lowered the car enough that they just won't work now. I'll figure something out. Or just keep grabbing my knee. Haha

 

^^^A little heat and torque and that step will look perfect on "Speedster 2.0"
Andy

 

I agree that the style fits, but they now hang below the level of the radius rods. That's just asking to be bent again. Haha.

 

Been working on the leather straps to hold the hood down for the last couple of days, after pondering on it for much, much longer. The springs were the problem. Most people seem to buy the zig-zag ones, but those are pretty expensive, and I'm kind of a cheapskate. Seriously, though, my oft-stated philosophy is to find and/or make my own solutions as much as I can, so I wanted to stick with that. I was pretty much set on buying some music wire and bending up some zig-zags when I saw a YouTube video where the straps on a Bugatti Type 35 were briefly shown. They looked like regular old tension springs in a leather wrapper, so I did some internet sleuthing and found a company in England (gentryrestorations.co.uk) that specializes in Bugatti restoration parts, and they had pictures.





I hope that citing them makes it OK for me to post those pictures.

I went to the big box store and got what seemed to be appropriate springs.



I'm not going to house my springs in a metal tube like Bugatti did, but I am going to steal the shape of the top end where the buckle is attached. I turned some aluminum bar stock down to just over the diameter of the spring.



Then I slotted it for the spring. Notice that one ear is shorter than the other, and chamfered, to account for the spiral and keep it all lined up.



Then I cut to length and tapered the end.



I made a paper pattern for the leather, oversized, and cut out four pieces.



I wet the leather and clamped it around the spring/tapered nose combo.



Let that dry and glued it up with contact cement.



Installed the buckles. These are the same old bridle buckles I found and used on the old car.



Then I sewed, trimmed, dyed, and trotted out to the car to see how it looks.





That rivet p***es through the leather, aluminum, the top hook of the spring, and out the other side. There is a framing tube right at the bottom end of the spring. I'll figure out how to attach them at the bottom, finish up and attach the belts, and then we'll see if the springs are strong enough to hold everything down.

 

Very cool! Being a low-life heathen of a hot rod guy, I had never seen that type of spring loaded strap. Just mostly seen the zig-zag stuff or just straight straps with a buckle. Thought of just getting either old belts or straps off of old luggage bags at the thrift store or off of FB.

 

Haha. I really have no idea how those Bugatti springs work. Could just as easily have a compression spring in there? At least they got me thinking, though. The trouble with straps and no springs is that leather stretches under load, so you eventually find yourself between belt-holes with a rattling hood. I would have preferred to find some used leather, but I’m sure the new will wear off if this stuff soon enough.

 

Could you make a notch and bolt it on the the top of frame or on a 90° angle iron bolted on the inside frame side with step attached to the angle coming down from behind...

 

@Stogy, I have time to figure that out. No telling what will happen there.

I need to attach these spring doohickeys to the body. Fabric does make this kind of stuff more complicated, but I think I have a workable solution, knock on wood. I have this old bronze half-round, so I decided to see what I could do with it.



First step was to cut a couple of 5 1/2" pieces and narrow one end of each. The good old edge sander worked fine.



Then I flattened off the rounded tops, except at the very ends of the narrow noses.



I had already checked on the car and decided I need about 3/4" of stand-off for the spring ***emblies. I don't want them touching the fabric, but also need them close so that they will keep the bottom edges of the hood panels pulled in flush. It was a simple thing to bend them and drill a hole in the end of each one for the spring hook. Here is one with an extra spring hooked on for a test fit:



And here one is held up against the car to give you an idea. They will be through bolted to the framing tubes that cross them top and bottom.



You can't really see the top tube because the panel is so flat up by the radiator, but it's there. I need to get a long 3/16" bit to drill that bottom tube, unless I want to take the whole body off again, which I don't. I'll pick one up tomorrow. Still have to figure out a way to anchor the belts on the other side, but I'm making progress. I'm a little worried those spring hooks will be too flimsy, but if they are I can adapt and overcome. The springs are rated at around 5lbs each, so that should help protect everything. We'll see.

 

I have seen what looked like sheep's wool seat cover material used as backing on hood straps to keep them from marring the paint, you might want to look into something like that. Even a synthetic version would provide some protection to your fabric sides where the buckles are.