Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

Man this build is hot !!!! You could even say ....


... The ROOFUS on fire !!!!

 

I started trying to put the jag firewall inside of my boattail. Jag was at least a foot wider. A sawsall can fix that.













kinda reminds me of beef in a meat packing plant




Trim some more








Jag heater still fits






No telling how many times I removed and installed the floor and/or engine this past weekend. I quit counting after 15 or so times.


The pile of parts kept getting bigger and the floor/firewall got smaller.


I decided I need to lower the motor to get the floor to fit better. First I had to install a crossmember unter the motor.


Chassis spaced up 1.5" = motor lowered 1.5"

 

Manifolds hit firewall now


...and the radiator and steering want to fight over the same spot


But the lower motor could allow a swoopier shape.






I just wasn't feeling it, so I cut off the cowl too.








Manifolds clear now


I got frustrated with the trans tunnel and moved to the front of the car. I needed more beef to weld the front crossmember to. 1.5 x 1.5 angle attached with a ton of rosette welds.




I got tired of drilling holes, so I attacked the other pieces with a grinder. Slots should function the same as holes.

 

Then I fitted the front crossmember better and welded it in.






The I dug into the stack of cop car roll bars again and cut out two bends.


and made a sleeve from another piece of rollbar (cut a section out and made a smaller tube)














Firewall is pretty beefy now.

 

Where I am now. I'm not 100% sure the jag tunnel will be used or not.

 

Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was going to work on my car again this weekend, but......

.....mother nature gave me something else to do.

 

This tree is kicking my ass. ...but it is slowly making its way to the side of the road for the city to pick up.

 

I've been thinking about the car some more. I was impressed with how well the firewall brace worked out, that I am thinking about using more cop-car roll bar. I was thinking a hoop behind the dash would be good. I want to mount it on top of the next node back from the firewall. It should do a good job of keeping my outer frame rails from ribboning(flexing side to side) and give me a covientent place to mount steering column stuff.

 

The photos I usually have crap everywhere and makes dad's shop look like crap....but it is a really cool place to hang out and be creative.
It is kinda like doing metal fab inside a church. We just need to put stained glass in the end.

 

I found new Rally pics today. I think this thing is going to lean towards being Rally inspired ....again.

 

Oh yes!!! This is the way to go!

 

Just found this thread tonite and read right thru......words fail me.....what a cool undertaking. I see you are using second hand everything......that has to be the ultimate in recycling, and to create your vision from scraps ......brilliant. Jerry.

 

I'm glad you like it.

Reading through the whole thread in one sitting, was it real obvious that I had no idea what I was going to build when I started other than "a boat tail"?

 

Same here: I saw the start of it and haven't seen all the progress! It's coming together.

Subscribed.

 

I had planned on taking the flatbed to Beatersville in Louisville, KY next weekend...but now I'm debating spending the three day weekend in the shop.

I really want this thing to start looking like a car.

 

You have my interest peaked. looks great so far.
Subscribed.

 

You sir have a great imagination . I too just spent the morning reading your build. Thanks for sharing.

 

Anybody have an elegant idea for strong motor mounts? I am struggling with how to mount this heavy pig of a motor. Oh yeah, the steering shaft needs to run right through where the drivers side mount needs to be.

More than likely they will be tied into the currently non-existant inner frame rail truss.

These pics show the general area. I am not 100% set on using the stock jag motor mount pieces. If there is a better way, I will fab something.

I am a little concerned that if I run mounts that extend way inwards toward the motor that it will try and twist the frame.

 

Think about running a cross member across from frame member to frame member under the engine and mount the motor mounts to it.

If you can't run the steering shaft above or below the crossmember it might be necessary to run it thru the cross member.

The cross member can drop under the engine and dosn't have to be that thick under the engine.

Maybe 2 pieces of 1 1/4" thick wall square tubing with 1/8th plate welded top and bottom.

I imagine the square tubing being about 3" apart making a 5 1/2" wide cross member.

The sections from the frame members to the under engine section could be made from 2" or larger square tubing and boxed on the top with 1/4" plate.

This will strengthen the frame considerably and since the engine will be installed from the top it shoulden"t be a problem for this kind of build.

Dick
.

 

Thanks for the idea!

You also inspired me to think about installing the crossmember on the motor like a hurst motor mount.

 

Wow. Like others I missed this thread earlier but have just spent an hour reading it through.

You sir have real vision, it seemed to me that you had a plan and stuck to the general direction with a little deviation as required.

Really looking forward to seeing it on 4 wheels.

As for engine mounts, Kiwi Kev had some really cool mounts that I believe are for a marine application that he drilled to look 'Kool'.

Have a look on his Willys build.

P.

 

This was a response on another forum. Do you guys agree with the logic?

 

Makes sense to me.

Yes, there will be a bending moment on the hollow section, because of the rubber bits in the engine mountings and their spacing closer together than the rails. However, i think it'll probably be within the capability of a fairly light hollow section. My inclination would be to build the crossmember out of hollow section from rail to rail, and then build the engine-mount bits on top, so that the crossmember has a sort of beam integrity from end to end.

It's a good thing that XK six has the distinction of having a front oil pump and a rear sump ...

 

Hi Flipper,
Cars from the 20's and 30's ran very stiff springs and frames that flexed a lot, so on a one wheel bump the chassis twisted a lot. (this caused cracking, which is why the Brooklands racetrack officials insisted that Brooklands racers not paint their frames, so that inspectors could see the cracks forming). The long heavy engine blocks are stiff and the designers used motor mounts at the corners of the block to use the stiffness of the block to strengthen the chassis in twisting (torsion). As suspensions got softer and chassis got stiffer, designers moved the motor mounts central under the motor and softened the motor mounts to let the engines rock more, with the intent of reducing vibrations transmitted from the engine to the chassis. The comment is correct that an additional cross-member under the motor mounts will stiffen the chassis. Every time you add a cross member the chassis gets stiffer. Triangulation members stiffen the chassis even more per pound. The torsional load that the engine puts on the frame is pretty small (200-400 foot pounds) compared to a one wheel bump at 3G (1000-2500 pounds), so the reason for the tubular crossmember motor mount is more for chassis stiffening than for motor loads. That is also the reason motor mounts can run one fairly small bolt compared to a wheel or suspension). On race cars motor mounts are spread out to reduce the load on the rubber of the mount, and sometimes to make motor swaps faster. Motor mounts also see their highest load when the car hits a bump (think huge pothole) with a stiff suspension. So it is good to think in terms of the motor being rigid and the frame flexing and bending around the motor mounts. BTW the Jag motor is only slightly heavier than a SBC by about 10%, or 50 pounds, mostly because it is longer, which will actually make the chassis/motor combination stronger with the Jag motor. Note that on drag racers the chassis loadings all change quite a lot, with much higher horsepower and smooth dragstrips without potholes...

 

True. The concept of the Vintage high-performance car was not so much a ladder with stuff on it as two two-wheeled carts with a torsionally-flexible coupling between them. That left the handling balance to be determined by everything except roll stiffness; that is to say everything we who are used to the stressed-box concept consider to be of relatively minor importance, namely weight distribution, roll centre heights, unsprung mass cg heights, camber, tyre footprints, tyre pressures, etc. (I include weight distribution here as the scope for changing it on a production car is to some extent limited).

Given a relatively stiff vehicle structure the tendency has been to render the effect of the above factors as close to zero as possible in order to maximize the effect of any change to the front-rear roll stiffness mix. The great advantage was that handling balance was to a very large extent separated from weight distribution, which enabled the compact and practical nose-heavy layouts common today. In the '20s and '30s a car with weight distribution suitable for sporting use was of little use for anything else: since 1970 delivery vans have been built that outhandle such cars.

Has one therefore a choice between a torsionally-stiff vehicle structure and near-equal weight distribution? Certainly not: I recommend looking very closely at a Citroën 2CV.

 

You might want to just make a front motor mount plate and use a rubber insulator/mount low on the frame. That would prevent flexing.

As for the radiator, move it forward! Either a shorter one above the big front crossmember or mount it in front of the CM. In front and leaned backwards would be nice and sleek!

 

I went to dad's house for the long weekend. It took me quite a while to clear out a path to get the 48 out and free up some work room. My dad is pretty darn productive for a 73 year old....he tore down the wooden deck that was on the back of his house and built this (brickwork, iron railings...all of it)!

The new deck is impressive, but he left a heck of a mess in the shop (it is his shop after all).

I finally got around to my project. I am a little baffled about how to make the transmission tailshaft mount area beefy enough yet still have room for seats. I stuck the seats from the Dodge WWII ambulance in for mock-up. I think these are the same seats as went in the airplanes.




Insert your favorite racecar noises here.
Actually, I was really trying to figure out steering column placement so that I could make motor mounts.



It was not nearly as perfect for the 6' 6" 15 year old.

 

I cut up another cop car roll bar for a dash support. Lots of stuff will be tied into this piece.

Here it is being mocked up.
straight up

angled forward



I figured out that I really needed to know what I was going to use for a steering shaft before I could do the motor mounts. I went to pull-a-part and found a shaft from a toyota four runner for the front u-joint and collapsible section and a 70's GM big car for some double D material.

The double D will go in the section next to the exhaust. Damn that is an ugly mock up!

In this picture, the motor is 1.5" too high.

The 2x4 got replaced by bailing wire once the dash support was welded in place


I have plenty of room below the shaft for a motor mount.


The barn was filled with racecar noises

I also dug out the cockpit mock-up pieces that I made a while back.

 

This is the new version of the "thinking chair"

and the views



It is a pretty nice spot to just chill and think up strange shit like this.... a floor buffer grill and wind deflectors (it is cast aluminum).

The center portion would be cut out for the grill shell.

The round part would be cut into semi-circles and mounted on the cowl.

...along the lines of this

I may end up saving this for a single seater build, That way the wind deflector could wrap all the way around the cowl.