Featured Hot Rods 32 roadster…another build saga

Super duper simple trunk upholstery. Just thin plywood with carpet cut to fit and just spray glued to it. Easy in and out with four screws (black) per panel.
Battery box cover is another cheese box I had kicking around.


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*** close up shot of my cheesy tail lights. .
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This pic shows how I ran the battery cables out of the trunk and a closer look at the s****y fuel filter set up on this ch***is. I usually use the acdelco canister fuel filters mounted in the same place or between the rear axle and the fuel tank on the crossmember. When I bought this frame from SoCal it already had the mounting plate welded on to use their fuel filter, so I bought one of theirs. All I had to do was drill and tap the mount to accept the fuel filter base. Easy peasy.
If this build was going to be more of a show pony, I’d either texture the cable mounting block or polish it, but it’s not so I won’t…


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Most of the interior panels were back in and I started to finalize the firewall insulation and cover before winter hit. Now I need to finish that project and order up some more carpet. Need to do the front carpet again because in the last version I used a different firewall and a floor that utilized a round trans tunnel. So the old stuff won’t fit/work.

I guess we’re almost caught up to current state.
Lots of things to do and figure out still, but my timeline is shrinking so I better get after it.





It’s been so long since I put in any serious effort that I’m going to have to go front to back and recheck all my work. Oh well, never hurts to do that anyway.

 

Cleaned up a little bit around the project today and snapped a pic.
Now to go forward, I gotta go backwards.

 

Nice, detailed work. I respect that.

 

I like it a great deal. It’s. Well thought out and detailed nicely without being overdone.

 

I like the looks of your heater, what is the brand/ where did you get it? Have you used one before? How well do they warm up a roadster?

 

Thanks brother.
Means a lot from someone like yourself.
Your detail work is amazing.

 

Thank you. That’s exactly what I’m shootin for on this one.
Really want to be done and drive it to LARS this year.
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I had this one mounted on the firewall on the last version of this roadster and it worked really well. My copilot (da wife) really liked it as it was usually aimed right at her…well you know…
It’s a speedway product.
Bought it because it was cheap and high btu’s.
Just looked and they still sell it, but the price is crazy now.

 

Did this type of mod to the bullnose emblem surround on the last 5W and really liked it so did another one for this version of the roadster. Just trimmed off the lower point and re-polished it.
Thinking of doing a SoCal emblem this time for ****s and giggles. Bought a few emblems for some buddies to do it as well.

 

Had a nice little break in Mexico and then finished up some other little projects on the other rides, and now it’s time to get back after this thing.
Wife’s going to start looking for pit stop hotels and somewhere to stay near the LARS event this week…and seeing this poster has me motivated again. Tick tock, tick tock.



Started putting together the wiring I’m going to use but no use showing the spaghetti until I start routing it. Good news is that these little roadsters don’t need a bunch of circuits and there’s lots of room to run the wires.
Can’t recall if I’ve posted a pic of the dash yet, so here’s what she’s looking like (dusty and grimy from sitting on my work table for so long).



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It got cold and snowed again (more dang shoveling), so sitting here resting…trying to get my heart rate down, I’ll share a little on the dash “look”.
Aka: The dash dilemma.

The last post skipped over some more of my sad obsession that I have with these dang projects. I always seem to get ****ysis paralysis. My buddies think it’s just me being a perfectionist. I’m thinkin it’s more just being plain old wishywashy. Even on these little parts of a project.

FYI: The second version of this roadster had an engine turned insert and I liked the look (did a **** ton of firebirds/TAs in the day and still like that vibe). Absolutely nothing wrong with it, but could I just leave it well enough alone…NOPE.
What’s life on a project without a little more SCOPE CREEP.

In all fairness, I had just redone the Tudor dash insert and had lots of material just sitting there…staring at me. Long story short, I cut two mother of pearl colors to see which I might like better given steering wheel and shift knob ideas at the time. Note: posted one of these pics before (sorry for repeat).

As you could see from above post, I’m leaning towards the grey one (matchy match with the Tudor), but if I go ivory steering wheel and ivory shift knob I may do the standard mother of pearl.

Pics for process and visual.



Note: I probably shared this before, but for those looking to make their own inserts it’s super easy. Just buy some bulk sheets of material from your local guitar store. It’s just pick guard.
It’s cheap(ish) and the color choices and patterns are pretty much endless. As you can see in the third pic, I still have a few sheets of other colors….hahaha…I’m sick…and I need help…
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Nope. It's insightful for armchair hotrod building. Every little teeny aspect has a zillion solutions, so seeing the way a guy who has built a bunch solves these problems is essentially for me, going to school. I've built engines, transmissions, differentials, and a bunch of other stuff but only one 60's car. How tight everything gets and that it does so very quickly is a shock. Plus, just how long each thing takes. I tend to be wishy washy as well, so having a proven solution right there is a huge bonus.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

 

I was just going to ask about the source of the mother-of-pearl boards. Keep the updates coming.

 

With the ivory wheel, I'd select something similar for the dash insert.

It's a black car, it needs some pops of color.

 

In an effort to avoid working in the cold again today, I’ll share some more of my build ideas/solutions. Not really based on traditional stuff (sorry) and definitely not genius but it’s stuff that works on my builds and for me.

So while this thread is on the topic of dashes, and before it’s all hidden/covered, here’s some ideas that may help some for what’s ‘behind the dash’.

My cars are ‘drivers’ so everything must be able to come apart easily so I can work on it again/later, especially in places like the front floor area (for transmission and shifter work) and even behind the dash. AND it’s important that the work/solution doesn’t interfere with other critical elements that will come into play later in the build. Like ‘final fit’, so even things like the triangulated upper steering mount must be ‘slightly adjustable’ so it can stay loose until you finish with final firewall/body mount and shimming for door alignment. And no matter how hard you try, remounting body/firewall will never be exactly the same once you have paint and powder on stuff.
Love how every piece of these cars, affects every other piece of these cars.
So with that in mind…

My main overarching goal…dash must be able to come out without removing steering column (and vice versa). So all steering support structure must be separate/detachable and to a certain degree as noted…adjustable. And also for me, the steering support structure must be triangulated so it doesn’t float around (I’ve commented before on this element as I’ve seen some pretty ‘loose’ designs). Your solution may differ, but just make sure it doesn’t go left/right, up/down, or in/out. Re: when you are doing some crazy *** driving or emergency braking, your only holy **** grip is the steering wheel.

I’ve tried to note the bigger stuff/elements in the pics, but if any questions feel free to ask. Please note that I haven’t cleaned up or dusted anything (final clean up and paint to come later), so the pics really don’t do it justice, but here’s what’s behind the curtain.
Also, not shown are the 1/4” bolts welded to the firewall for the heater and s**** throttle. Can see them in other pics though.



Really like my design in the Tudor better as it was a one piece, removable tri-mount. This one ended up being a two piece design, but same overall solution. And looking at these pics more…I really gotsta clean this thing up a bit…sloppy…sloppy…sloppy. No bueno.
Again, I hope this helps and if nothing else that it gives ya something to ponder as you devise your own solutions to putting together one of these toys.
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Time to go play with some wires.
Cheers.
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More boring stuff, but at least it’s kinda a build thread.

I previously liked using the little 12 circuit panels with the mini fuses, but I got hooked on American Autowire and bought a few when they were on sale a couple years back. On my last one now. Looking at what prices are today, not sure what I’ll use going forward…..

Big edit: I had a serious brain cramp that the wife caught me on. Forgot I was saving this PowerPlus13 harness for the 53 F100 project, as I’m going to convert it to 12 volt at some point. So had to pack this harness up and find another harness for the roadster.

I’ll fire this subject up again once I find a harness and get back on this project.
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It’s finally warming up a bit here so can play in the garage again.
Hahaha…..SoCal in Southern AB….So funny.
Decided to save the trimmed bullnose for another day/project.

…and yes, I’m procrastinating on the wiring effort.

 

You need to create a SoAlb emblem for your car.

 

The car is looking good!

I know it's almost spring, but the best thing in my garage in the winter might be the furnace. My tools are warm, what I'm working on is warm, it's so nice. I procrastinated on heat in my last garage but If I had done it, I definitely would have gotten a lot more done.

 

Agreed,
But for now I’ll just tell folks that it says SoCal because I’m in South Calgary.
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