Having cleared out a build that was a pain in the ***, it's time to do something for myself, and nothing gets me more excited than a modified roadster. About a week before Christmas, good old Stock Car Metal sent their delivery truck here with 200 feet of 1.250 tubing and a few sheets of .063 and .125 aluminum and I started bending tubing for this design that has been bouncing around in my head for some time now. I still have some tubing to add to the ch***is and about full day of welding; as presently the ch***is is only tacked together, but I wanted to start forming the amluminum body so I got busy on that during the last week or so. The car is going to be done a "distorted" pre-war era style; though it would have been a stretch that someone would have constructed something like this during that era. I'm cheating in the engine department as I plan on using a Ford 2.3 with Weber side draft carbs. Rear will be a banjo as will brakes etc. Haven't decided on the wheels, though it's likely to be 35 Ford wires. Plans call for a full belly pan and I'm going to build a Miller style nose. I'm also blending some indy roadster influence into the car; this week I'll be making a hard tonneau cover that will have very small wrap around windscreen. Additionally, I'll be running a dry sump oiling system on the engine and will be constructing an externally mounted indy roadster style dry sump tank. Thats about it for now, I'll post more as it moves along. I forgot to mention; that extra length of tubing at the front of the frame is just that - extra, it will get cut off, the front axle will reside in that area, in front of the tapered leading edge of the belly pan.
That is going to be awsome. What kind of suspension are you going to use,leaf spring's,torsion bars? Gregg
Thanks for the compliments guys. Been busy laying out the frame work for the hard tonneau. Hopefully, later this week I'll have the tonneau done and I'll post more pics.
The ch***is looks so small in the pix, I thought it was a single seater until I saw the drawings. Nifty stuff. Gary
The drawings are for JonnyFast's planned modified. He was remarking about how he planned a space frame mod. Mine is a single seater and yes it is small.
It's about time you old dog! Maybe you've posted some of your builds here before I joined, maybe not. But I'm sure glad you are now old buddy.
very cool...gonna enjoy following this build...lookin' good so far...one of these days I want a single seater
Started on the hard tonneau cover. Got the framework for it fabbed and the hinges figured out (that was a *****) and I started the tonneau itself. I'm close on the fit and have to fine tune it and then begin welding it to the framework. I also made the hammer form for the wrap-around windshield. Hopefully I'll have this part of the build done in the next few days. Then it will be on to the bellypan, hood and nose.
I've been dreaming about something like this the last couple days! Nice looking work, I ***ume you have an e-wheel? I'm gonna have to make it so there are no compound bends as I don't have the equipment for that. Looking forward to seeing more on this one!
Good looking project. Looks like it will be a fast build with your skills. Please show plenty of pics of forming aluminum on your e-wheel.
Beautiful! That's so much like the one I am starting right now, right down to the 2.3 ford and banjo rear. I am using a model A frame though and bits and pieces of several bodies to make mine. I wish i had the talent to do the metal work you can do. The cowl area seems to be the hardest part so far. How will you join the trans to the banjo rear? I'm ***uming you're using a manual trans, I'm using the stock 5 speed for the Ford engine.
Thanks Belchfire8, and everyone else for the compliments. Trust me, it's not about talent, but determination. You should see how much I tossed; I told a friend that I'm in the s**** business- but the wrong end! Right now I'm looking for a Pinto 2.3 with 4 speed trans, I'm getting close. I prefer not to use the T5 trans because of space. As far as the cowl goes; that was the easy part, the hinged hard tonnuea has been the hardest part so far because of the radius change and transition. I hope to post more images tomorrow. Here's a link to the latest update on the build: http://http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337183
The T4 (early 2.3 4 speed) and T5 are pretty much the same size. If I might offer a different angle... You could get an early C4 setup and built it with a set of higher ratio gears and a reverse pattern manual shift valvebody. The car is F-ing cool!!
The Jalopy Journal
