Well I had a really productive weekend with my rpu this weekend. My dad gave me a hand, and we tackled some things. Of course, he knows how to motivate me-when we need to go to the hardware store to get things, he lets me drive his roadster, which I hate. Anyways, I got the rear quarter elliptic mounts all done, which thrills me. I welded a base plate of 1/4" plate to the top of the frame for the spring to mount to first. This will hold the spring-eye mounts that I made, as well as the plate to support the back of the spring: Then I cut another piece of 1/4" for a cap/gusset for the spring mount. I heated & bent it to form around the top plate that the spring mounts to. This will make the spring mount look like part of the frame, instead of an add-on: A little grinding later, I still have to weld the front edge of this to the frame, but no biggie: Then I got the bed sides cut out for the rear axle, & we set the bed on. I love it because the skirts under the bed totally hide the rear springs. Unless you really look it's hard to tell where the spring is: Then we got the front-end hung, propped up the motor & ****** on temporary crossmembers, and finally got to check it out sitting on its own springs at ride height-no blocks or c-clamps needed! I am really thrilled at how clean & simple everything is starting to come together. I really only started building the ch***is about a month ago, so I am happy with the progress. Thanks for looking, I hope you like it Dan
That thing is AWESOME! How BIG is that OLDS? If it is a 455 YOU GONNA SCARE YOURSELF! They make lots of TORQUE! Next time I visit the mother in law in FLORIDA I want a RIDE!
Thanks a ton guys. Yeah Jim, it's a 455. I hope it has enough to keep up with traffic. My brother had this tripower setup on his 65' olds as his high school daily driver years ago. It was stupid fast in that 5500lb car, I can't wait to drive it in this little thing Dan
Tremendous work as usual Dan. Do you do anything to finish off the edge of the sheetmetal where you cut it out to clear the axle? On my project I keep looking at the huge cutout and keep telling myself I need to do something to make it look presentable
Is the Tri-Power a factory Olds unit? From say '66? Dude those are quite rare and highly sought by the 442 guys. I think L69 is the option- not many 442's made with those. I 'm pretty sure it was first available (or only available) in '66. Very cool! I hope plenty of Olds fans see it at shows! It belongs in your RPU as much as a 442 anyway. It will make 'em drool!
Nice Nice Nice!!! Love it, man. When you use quarter ellipticals and a parallel 4-link, do you not need a panhard bar? Do the springs keep the rear end located side-to-side? Thanks, Malcolm
i seen these pics on another forum your dad already posted a few as you were making progress but damn i could look at this again and again the truck is coming along *****in ..man i liked your truck before you started all over but this version does look better .. you keeping the louvered bed cover??
Thanks for the kind words guys, I appreciate! I must be getting old, I am dragging today from the weekend. Haha, it's a good thing that I don't build space shuttles-if I did they first one would have never taken off-it would also be stuck in "permanent mock-up" mode Yeah, it was a Murray bodied fordor. I still have some finishing up to do, on the body, mostly little details(cowl patch panels, little stuff on the roadster windshield conversion, etc) Thanks man! You can do a few different things. You could spend a little time with a hammer & dolly to form a small 90 degree lip around the cut-out. It would make it real rigid. The skirts on this bed are stupid thick though, thicker than 16 gauge even. I am not honestly sure though if I will do anything or not though Yes, it is a complete original & matching 66' factory tripower setup. I am actually trying to trade it for a 4-barrel setup though.(just kidding...) They are really hard to find, I believe that only about 1200 were made. I lucked out on mine. My brother had this on his 65' olds that he drove daily to high school years ago. When he sold the car, he was smart enough to take the entire setup off and bag it up. He sold it to me real cheap, and I am thankful!! It is all there, including linkage & fuel lines. I figure it will make a few olds restoration purists angry Yes Malcolm, I will have to use a panhard with this setup. I could have used the quarter-elliptic as a lower link of the 4-bar, but didn't want to. I know it can be done, but I honestly think that it will work so much better this way. The panhard on this will be simple, I can run it behind the axle and parallel to the ground, and it will be pretty hidden Thanks flh! I am happy to see that it is coming together, and that everything I planned seems to be working so far. Sometimes coming up with the plan is harder than actually doing the work sometimes, at least for me. But everytime I don't think things through all the way, something will end up biting me My dad was able to use the entire old bed & louvered tonneau for his dodge thankfully. I didn't want to waste 200 louvers Thanks Aaron! Hey, we need an update on the Atomic Punk btw-it is really looking great
Thats some very nice work and you have some really cool ideas there.. Im glad the old man is booting ya in the *** a little to keep you motivated.. I want to see this finished.. Dave
Where did you get the four link brackets? I used some from S & W race cars but....they are way overkill. I like the simple look of yours. Great Work and keep us posted.
Man, that makes two of us Dave Thanks jj. I made the frame tabs myself, they are actually fully welded on, but made to look riveted. Here's a link: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=238284 I didn't want to do the typical multi hole frame brackets like drag cars use either. These were pretty simple to do, and end up fitting the look a little better. Since the bed is open, they are real visible too. I just set up the 4-bar with all 4 bars parallel to each other & the ground & kept things simple Thanks man, I really appreciate that Evel. The Hamb has been good for me, with so many great cars it raises the bar and makes us all try harder to do the best we can. I've been following your coupe build, and love it. It raised the bar a ton
OK now I am waiving the b.s. flag! I think that we all think that about ourselves on our projects. I always think that about myself on everything I do on my car too. I could easily say that about myself when I look at your firewall recess pics too, that came out great. Thanks for the kind works though man, I appreciate Dan
Thank you for posting these pictures of such fine workmanship. I really appreciate the high resolution pictures since I'm building my 30 truck. I can zoom in and check detail that I haven't been able to see elsewhere. My frame will be plain-jane though. I'm not THAT talented. How much of the body is home-built, if you don't mind me asking?
The Jalopy Journal
