Back in Black! rpu build thread

WOW! This is gonna be one bitchin ride when it's done, keep them pics coming.

 

Thanks a ton guys, I really appreciate the nice words!

Thanks Steve! I'll blame this on you. I saw the cowl vent you put in your 32' & decided I had to have one too

How's the roadster coming along??

Man, thanks. It really felt great to work on it again. I hear you on the life getting in the way thing.

I also had a good friend that said "sometimes good enough is good enough". I want to try some of that too

I bought those from Mike @ Mercurio's Hot Rod Alley. He is a hamb'er, & he did a really great job on the seats

Damn, you sold the roadster?!?!?!?!? I need to get out more, I'm outta the loop! I bet that was tough to see go away man. I hope the next one is Olds powered too. And you probably have time to finish 10 more cars @ the rate I 'm going

Thank you Keith, I appreciate! You been able to drive your car much?

I'm trying to catch up to you DR! You are making great progress, your car looks GREAT!

I also like done cars with cowl vent! I am working on it Pete, I promise hehe

I have heard that they give real nice airflow. I am anxious to see how it works. I did put a small carpet drying fan on pointing at the vent. It put a nice flow of air at your feet & thru the cab.




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Very nice work.

 

Maaan that thing looks great. Im really really impressed!!

 

The vent looks great. Maybe I can put mine in today. Tell you what, I'll lend you a little more support by taking away your rivet tools so you get back to the paint work, too. Don't act like you can't handle it. Your metal work will make it easy! Now grab a primer gun.

 

its done Dan apart from the trimmer putting the top material on, hopefully this coming week

I personally wouldn't be with out a cowl vent as they give a nice blast of air on them hot days

 

It'll have the Roadsters Old Slow engine...!

 

looking great...keep it up

 

Thank you all, I appreciate the support. This little project made me happy, I am really glad I did the cowl vent, I think it will be real helpful.

Scotty, I am leaning more that direction. I'll have to see how $$ is, but it doesn't look like I'll discover an extra bag of money anytime soon. I may try to paint it. Of course, I may also get it sprayed in epoxy prime & say the hell with it, I wanna drive it

I gotta check out your progress, post up some pics when you get your vent done!

Awesome! I can't wait to see it with the top, that will look great. Please post up some pictures when it come back Steve

Perfect, it will be kind of like beating your old roadster still.
I kid, I kid haha. Easy for me to make these jokes when me car is far from done

What do you want to build to put it in?



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I didn't have much time today to work on the car. But, that recent steering wheel thread got me wanting to try putting a bigger old wheel on to see how it looks. My dad had a 17" diameter chevy wheel, so I tried it on. I really liked the way the bigger wheel looks, I'd love to go with a cool old wheel. BUT, I really don't think there is room to make it work with the car channeled so much, plus it's a tiny cockpit as is.....

Here's a pic to give you the idea-what do you all think- big old wheel or my 14" bell style??
Do you think a cool old wheel would look right with my bombers & aluminum interior? I could porobly make it work out if I move the column mount up a little....

I'm all ears for opinions. I really don't know if I can make it work anyways

 

I'm building a Heavier Roadster...!

I love the old wheel with the interior design... although you may have to wash it in Hot water to shrink it down so you will be able to drive it any distance.

 

What's the matter, sick of smoking them all the way down the 1/4??

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I won't do it if it's too much of a pita, or makes is uncomfortable to drive. I think this week I'll play with temporarily adjusting the column angle to see if I will fit with a bigger diameter wheel. If not it's not the end of the world I guess

 

Well I got some more done on the body today. I got the seams between the back body panel & sides welded up. I had to deal with a little misalignment @ the beltline, but I made some piecuts & worked it til it was close enough.

Here's a before pic, you can see the gaps where the beltline meets @ the panels:



And some welding & grinding, it is pretty acceptable now:


I also got the "u" cut out in the rear panel for the driveshaft too. I'm getting there, not a ton of fab work left on the body. I'll keep at it, it feels good to see it get closer. Thanks for looking!

Dan




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Whoa!! that rear seam look excellent!! nice job buddy!!

 

Great build, it's really coming together

 

Nice work on the seam Dan, Looking real good.

 

Lookin' great! Every update show the light at the end of the tunnel! Right on!

Question.... Maybe I missed the details somewhere, but is the loop fixed or is there a way to drop the bottom half? It will probably be clearer once the body is sitting on the chassis again, but was just curious. Looks awesome!

 

Thanks man, it "seams" like it will be ok Sorry, I couldn't resist

Thank you, I really appreciate!

Thanks Steve, it's getting there, I just gotta keep at it!

It's far from perfect honestly. Short of spending stupid amounts of time to form a small patch for where the beads meet this will work ok. I still do need to carefully file above & below the bead where they joined to crisp up the edge a bit. A little mud (shhh, don't tell anybody) & it'll be fine.

I agree with the wheel. I love the way it looks, but if I can't make it comfortable it will have to go

I'll snap some pics up close for you tonight!

What's going on Scoot?? Thanks btw, it does feel good to see some light for sure. The loop is fixed. It tucks between the x-member in the frame. Having it drop out on mine wouldn't have helped, because the rear frame crossmember still sits under the drive shaft. Here's an early pic showing how the hoop sits in the frame:

 

Ahhh! Okay! Gotcha! VERY cool and VERY clean! Great job!

Man, I can't wait to see hot this thing turns out. Love this build!

 

looks killer Dan. I love seeing the progress on the RPU! Keep going!

 

looking good i like it

 

Dan looks great! I can't wait to see this thing in paint.

 

i dont wanna see it covered in paint..thats metal-porn

 

Ok.. just my thoughts here Dan... NO criticisms!
"pretty acceptable"??? Sheesh!
Ya.. you are learning the "good enough" thing REAL well aren't you.
I sure don't mean for you to compromise your work. If you want to do this to perfection... keep on doing that. You will have a ride that will win on the show car circuit. But you will have to accept the time it takes to get there.
Also, will you dare to drive it if it's "perfect"? What will happen if you get a ding in it?
I spent ALL of my "spare" time last summer building the frame for my 27 T Tudor.
It still isn't perfect and all I have to show for the summer is a frame.
IF I would have stopped when it was just good looking and safe I could maybe have a roller. Sigh.
But I AM having fun, so that's great. And I suspect you are too.
Your work is great inspiration.
BTW... that wheel looks nice but too big for that cockpit, unless you are a little fella like me.

 

Still watching.

Gotta go with the Bell wheel. It suits all the aluminium. + drivability.

Pete

 

That is beautiful. What motor is going between the rails?

 

Glad you're back in the groove, Dan. Now I can get on with calling you names and cussin' you under my breath....

Oh, I guess it looks alright.

 

Dan ..... no "new" progress??

First trip down to FL. & I'll be by to get you started on the TIG side of welding ......

PACO

 

Wow, I missed this all earlier-sorry about that! The motor is a 455 Olds with tripower & the normal goodies. Here's an older pic of that:

Man Scotty, everybody else cusses at me already, I don't need any more

I do finally have some more, I'll post it up!

Man, I would LOVE the tig help!! I am dying to get to the point that I can use my tig. Some seat time with somebody that knows what they are doing would help me so much. Let me know if you are coming down our way, I would gladly pay you for some help on that!!

Plus, you gotta see my dad's 46' sedan project. You are partially to blame for this one

 

Well I have been getting lots done, just not a lot of post worthy stuff. I got all the finish welding done on the subframe, top & bottom. I made & welded in all the little gussets that the subframe needed. I also welded the firewall to the cowl side panels, and the body is finally out of "mock-up" mode & together for good.

I also took some time to finish grind the rear body section's cut-out for the channel, rounding the corners & all that good stuff:




You can see in these pics that the rear body section bolts on. I did this for a few reasons. I made brackets that bolt the rear body section to the subframe, that allow a TON of adjustment. This way it is really easy to get perfect door gaps & alignment. Once I got it dialed in, I drilled 2 small 1/8" holes too allow me to realign it easily once I bolt it back on. Here's a couple old pics that kind of show the bracket that the rear section bolt to:








Well now it's finally time to put the floor in for good. I decided to use 3m 2-part epoxy panel adhesive, for a few reasons. It would seal up the floor pans to the subframe really well & prevent any corrosion/rust down the line. I prepped the subframe with a 50 grit roloc to ready it for the panel adhesive:





Then I masked a little to let me have a neat edge of the panel adhesive:


Then we lay a thin 1/8" layer of the panel adhesive over all mating surfaces. You spread it on with a bondo type paddle. Once that is spread out, you put a bead of the adhesive 1/4" away from the edge of all mating surfaces. This lets it seal up between the panels. Kind of hard to see in the pics, but here it is:


Then it's down with the floor pan. I used clecos all the way around the perimeter to clamp it while the adhesive sets overnight. Once the adhesive is cured, I will put 3/16" steel rivets in each hole. Here is one side already done(the day before), & the second side all clecoed up in place:


Once you work the seams a little bit, it looks good & is sealed up really nice:




So there you have it! I am happy, I can ALMOST see some light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks for looking guys

Dan





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Wow that's beautiful!!! I love the gloss on the tranny!!!