Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

Yep. Seeing cars like that kept the ball rolling for me.

 

More progress this weekend and more pics of stuff that I should have taken pics of anyways.

I ditched the cut/bend/weld subrails that I made last time and cold bent new rails over a gear that was about a foot in diameter. Much nicer. I also mocked up some of the major pieces to see how seating room would work.

The crossmember that runs under the belhousing is where the firewall will be.







43 inches wide at the "firewall" is gonna be nice and roomy. No, that's not where the exhaust will run on the finished car.

 

I wasn't real happy with the short driveshaft...and the shifter position,



so I raided dad's parts stash and pulled out a 1959 XK 150 gear box Shifter moves back about a foot and driveshaft grows by about a foot too. Win/Win



Here are pics of the current wheels They will probably get turned into larger diameter wheels.

 

Now for more of the Roofus part.

Two sides, a little trimming, and some duct tape.

 

that is sick

 

A little more trimming, some more duct tape ......and it starts to look like something.

 

thats pretty damn cool. looking forward to seeing this come along.

 

bitchin! looking forward to the finished product

 

when can we see more, this is cool!

 

Since I first started playing with the the idea of building this car it has evolved into a slightly wider car than a real Miller Ford,but it is still going to very swoopy looking in my opinion. The current layout should allow for a decent seating position. Cutting the body where I did allows for more swoop in the door cutout area.



The forward cut on the rear section gives a hint at the reclined seating position. With a little luck, it will work out so just my head is sticking up over the cowl.



Also, the cowl section will be fabricated out of other pieces of metal so that they blend in with the hood better (kinda like the first cars pictured.

 

I think those chassis rails are gonna need to be a shade thicker...

 

This stuff is all I dream about.
Once the other projects are done, I'll be on it. Been saving parts for three years at least.

Good luck...

 

As far as I can tell, these manifolds are just black.

Kinda having a hard time deciding if I should keep the manifolds or build headers.

It is a harder decision than one might think. I want the exhaust to run down low on the car, with just a single pipe exiting the body. Manifolds just might work as good as headers.

 

Look good Man! Keep up teh good work & the up-dates!

I'm a little weary about your Frame choice though... Do you think that 1 x 1 is enough?

Either way, it's lookin' Bad Ass!

 

The 1x1 is for the body structure, not the chassis. Although I have kicked around the idea of building it as a unibody.

 

Man! COming right along! Damn good job. I'll keep chiecking in.

JD

 

Hey Josh, when did IFS become the norm for Indy roadsters? (as compared to straight axles).

I am having second thoughts on successfully being able to re-create the feel of the Miller-Ford style front suspension. Ford I beam would be way easier to set up and look good.

Would I be wussing out by going I-beam?

 

Looks Real nice, Great use of old sheet metal.

 

I'm gonna try and get the body framed up this weekend.

 

I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped.

The plywood sheet worked OK for mock-up, but it wasn't working well enough to build a real car.

I have a work bench that is almost big enough to build on, but it is buried under 4 years of grinder dust and misc accumulations. Half a day was spent cleaning off the table.

Finally got the table cleared an my subrails on the table. Table is about two feet too short for the body to fit. No problem. I built an outrigger to support the point of the boat tail.

Time to start building body structure out of 1x1. Square tubing may be great for building boxes, but it sucks for the complex shapes in this car. Got one hoop done in the rear body and tried to make a hoop for the cowl. Succeded in making lots of scrap out of 1x1 . On to plan B.

Make the cowl from 16 gauge flat sheet. This was my first real project with the horrible freight shrinker/stretcher. I think it went well. I think it would have been easier if I made my angle 1x1 instead of 1.5x1.5 (oh well).

Here are the pics.

 

looks like it's taking shape.

 

I forgot to mention why the rear hoop is so far back. .....I think I cut the door opening too far forward.

I will wait until I get a little farther along before I finish out the door opening and seat area.

As it is now, it is a tight fit when you imagine pedals and a steering wheel. The current hoop allows the seat to come back 6 inches.

 

Don't know if this is too late, but the way some Europeans dealt with a two-passenger narrow body was to stagger the passenger's seat back by 4-5 inches.

This saves shoulders and elbows bumping, especially during lively driving.

 

I think the staggered seat cars are neat, but it won't work for my build. I am building this one kinda low and have a driveshaft to deal with. If I jacked up high enough to run a flat floor, the car wound be over a foot off of the ground. Normal seating works best for this car.

Thanks for the input though. As of now, a lot of the details are not fully thought out. I am flying by the seat of my pants on this one.

 

This is wy too cool!

 

I am really digging this build. Looking forward to seeing the body finished and the start of the frame building.

 

very impressive sir, very impressive. I love the old boattail cars, yours will be an admirable tribute indeed.

 

I added a poll to get some input on the IFS idea.

 

Its a small sample size right now, but I am actually kind of surprised that the IFS is in the lead.

The real Miller stuff is really neat, but I didn't think it would be accepted by the HAMB on a car that is not a true replica of a Miller.

 

Flipper: Depending on the front sheet metal, a solid front axle,
I-beam or tube, would give you a look more like the Aero engine Specials.

The Miller design is much more distinctive.