Hey fellas, have another build thread but its a bit long winded and in a different section.. thought i might start a more current one to keep updated. So heres the specs.. '28 Roadster body (Original cowl, doors and grill. Brookville subrails and rear end). '28 AR Model A ch***is. Boxed, F1 style trans crossmember and stepped frame height in the rear. Front suspension consists of a 3.5" dropped Model A axle, reversed A spring, split '36 wishbones and '46 - '48 spindles. Juice brakes all round, of course. Steering is all parts from a '46 - '48 Ford. Engine currently is a 24 stud, but will be running a built '37 21 stud engine. No internal plans as of yet, but will be running the Ford factory aluminium center water outlet heads, and an Edelbrock Super Dual with two 94 carbs. Gearbox is a '39 Mercury, and the rear end came from a '48 Mercury. The rest is sort of explanatory.. i'm aiming for a '40s era build.. Brush painted black, aluminium louvered hood and deck lid.. not entirely sure on interior as of yet. Anywho heres some of the current pictures of the car! These rivets are solid aluminium rivets i picked up off ebay. I put a thread on them to hold the side panels to the cowl and grill. Love that it still looks like its rivetted though. Very handy alternative to actually rivetting it in place. Dimensionally, it is identical to an original hood side. Thats why there is a gap underneath between the hood and ch***is. Heres one i took midway through louvering the second panel. The headlight bar is a chopped '32 and the fog light actually works. Love to see what you fellas think of my car! And will continue to update the thread from here.
Couple more pictures since we all know everyone loves pictures. These rod ends are a requirement for us over here to run split wishbones to the frame rails. Its only been in recent years (possibly even only the last two or three..) that split bones to the rails has even been allowed at all. Regardless, i think its a small price to pay to have an overall awesome look of having split bones, and the advantages you gain with it. You can see in this pic the heads i'll be running on the 21 stud. Well thats about it for now.. will keep this updated as the car progresses!
Bit of an update.. have really been hating the "deck lid" i've got. Its a frame made from 25x25mm angle that i've cut a ton of slits into, bent the sides to form the shape of a deck lid and then added some bits between it and a little mount for a handle and '37 Ford latch at the bottom. This is where i've been at with it for ages. Until yesterday when i cut the bottom and pulled it out to follow the curve of the lower panel, took a few mm out of the width of it to get it to fit a bit nicer.. and then cut a sheet for a top for it. Punched 138 louvers into the sheet and then wrapped it around and thats where i ended up today. I also added some rivets to the top and one on the bottom.. i want to rivet all the way around the sheet not only to hold it down a bit on the top (its hammer and dollied over the edge) but also to give it a bit of a different / possibly aircraft look. So heres the frame.. I'm normally a gigantic perfectionist being a qualified boilermaker by trade.. but this frame ****s me something chronic. I hate it, can't stand working on it.. and i got to the point I just didn't give a **** anymore about it and wanted it done and out of the way. The handle area.. How i got the curve in the side sections.. So after louvering the top sheet i started fitting it. This is the first time i've ever done something like this, and reasonably happy with the results. It still needs a bit more finessing.. more rivets and some sanding mostly.. After getting the sheet wrapped all the way around, and putting some rivets in the top i decided to plonk it on the body to see what it looks like. Also have to drill the holes for the handle to run through, and probably will put a sheet on the inside to stop water leaks. I also rolled it out for a look, haven't rolled the car out for probably over a year now.. and not with all the v8 running gear and split wishbone / dropped axle front end. Really stoked on how this is comin along..
Thanks Larry! Very cool to have a guy like yourself commenting on my car, as i've seen that old coupe of yours and its amazing. As for the hood top, its a bent ****ty original only used to see what it'd look like with a hood top. I'm going to make an aluminium one to match the hood sides eventually.
Thanks mate, the gear knob was an idea I had had for a long time and finally making it happen was really neat. Few more pics from this afternoon. For the most part, the deck lid is done. It needs some sanding to bring back the originally nice finish.. its an old seconds sheet so its a bit tarnished. Also may end up using some box latches each side similar to what guys use for holding a hood top down with because it fits nice in the right hand side but the left sits a few mm out. Enough that it annoys me. I can always just use the handle to lift it up i suppose.. We will see how it goes. May be able to twist it a bit and weld a strap on the inside to keep that twist held in. I'm not sure what direction i'll go with that.
Not really too much to report at the moment, but i finally made a start on building some feet for my bench seat. I've been putting this off for SO long.. really just couldn't think of a nice way to do it.. then had an epiphany a few nights ago and the idea just came to me out of no where. So the day after i started building stuff! I don't think i've mentioned it, so here goes. The seat frame is out of a roughly late 80's Ford Courier (maybe a Ranger in the states? Any late 80's ute bench seat will do the job..) that i had to shorten about 230mm as it was too wide. I also removed the seat tracks off the bottom to get it lower to the floor pan. As the original track mounts were right above the ch***is rails.. i couldn't utilize the original threaded mounting holes.. so i had to build something instead. Heres one of the two front mounts done and read to weld to the seat frame.. And here is the first of the two tacked to the frame. I've since pulled the frame out and welded the mounts on. Now just have to build some rear ones and i'm good to go. I also got the holes drilled in the floor to suit. I will also be making up a plate that will weld underneath the floorpan to sandwich the floor pan between the seat and the plate underneath. I think this MAY be a requirement here (i'm not 100% sure on that..) but even if it isn't.. it really just gives a little added security and does not really take all that long to weld some plates in underneath. I also picked this up this arvo for $50. ****** bargain, and surely will save me a heap of 1mm cutting discs. I really do get tired of constantly using a grinder to cut stuff and i'm sure our neighbours probably get over it at times too.. so this will surely make us all happy.
Hi mate, I run a reversed Model A rear spring, and have removed a few leaves and placed them under the pack. I have to shorten the next one up from the main leaf and i think it may drop it a tad more when i do that. As for the louvers i have a press that punches them out. Just a manual press.. same as any other louver press out there but without the hydraulics.
This is my first time seeing your thread! I really like your car! You're making some quick progress too Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I was wondering when you might drop by! Thanks man, i appreciate that from a fellow Roadster owner! Yep its coming along quick now but im sure it'll slow down sooner or later. Thanks lol. Typical, theres always someone to comment on the steering wheel
Today is a good day, because this arrived in the mail from New Zealand (Bought it from the same fella i got my 21 stud heads in the background from). This sure looks better than a single carb..
Cheers Ross, John and Mike! To have one of the owners of the Austin Speed Shop diggin my car, now thats cool!
Not really much to show, did manage to get my bench seats feet fabbed and welded onto the frame and got the seat bolted to the floor.. Hopefully get a bit more done over the weekend. Think its about time i buy some more parts..
No, I think he just reversed the negative before he posted the picture. The roadster looks great. I've always wanted to build an aluminum hood and decklid for my roadster.
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