just picked up a 26-27 roadster myself with a pickup bed. hopfully seeing this will keep me motivated! Subscribed
tjm73- I believe the motor is out of an '86 Bronco. The intake and carb came with it and were already on it when I bought it. I will have to check into the motor to see what I have. Thanks for all of the great information! rwenuts- Good luck on your project, the body you have looks super solid. I'm hoping to get myself where I'm not eating bugs, lol. inkstain27- Good luck on your build too!
If it's from an '86 Bronco it most likely is not a roller cam but can be with the parts list I posted. With Ford and the era, it's possible, but not likely it's a roller cam engine.
Not much to show, but it's exciting to me . Frame is mostly boxed in so next step is to grind and smooth the welds and then figure out the kickup in the back.
When I did the pickup on mine, I did it like we built the T-buckets we built at Specialty cars - all 22 1/2 degree cuts, then I swapped the "uprights to maintain the Model A frame's original taper.....always something I was proud of on that car. My wheelbase was something around 93" (Gaspumper- ya wanna go out and measure it?????- I haven't checked it since 1985 when I set it). You can also do it Tardel style and maintain the WB.....it's also a much simpler method (I like doing things the hard way-sometimes twice!). Have fun! If you friend me on FB you can see even more in-process shots..... DAVID RUSSELL GADBERRY.....refer to your bad self as KRAM and voila!
Hey Gadman- I'm still one of the hold outs and I'm not on fb, lol. I think my wife has an account so I'll friend you with hers if I can. Gaspumper was already nice enough to give me the wheelbase and it comes in at 91". I am aiming for something pretty close. I've looked at the pictures I could find of the t you build many times and I will do the kickup similar. The frame I have is nice but the area where the rear crossmember connects to the frame is kind of messed up. I will probably end up having to rebuild that area from scratch but I do want to put a similar taper like the model a frame has.
Again making progress but not a whole lot to show. I got the frame all boxed in and in the process of grinding all the welds smooth. I trimmed the leafs front and back to work with the reversed eye mains. Also got all the metal to make the the spring mounts for the rear spring. I cut the grill shell at the bottom to bring it down two inches so that the top is in line with the top of the cowl. Then got the radiator supports made and bolted on. I just need to make the tabs to mount the shell to it.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the junkyard to get all the stuff to convert the motor back to a v belt (just need to get the alternator). With the mechanical fan in place we could start to figure where the motor is going to sit. Got the motor mounts made with the help of my friend Phil (he's doing the majority of the welding). When we first installed them they were flexing a bit too much so we added a little more strength across the top. They were much better after that. This is the first time I've ever made motor mounts and it was a lot of fun figuring this all out. We also got the transmission mount made, welded, and bolted up. It feels good to have the motor and transmission finally all bolted in!
Cool build!!! I'm subscribed now. Here is a link to a good way to work over the frame and might get the wheels turning about your kickup in the rear: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103232
When you changed your belts around did you change water pumps? The serpentine system uses a reverse rotation pump as the belt spins it the opposite way...
Sweet. Love that drop out trans cross member. Great bit of forward thinking right there. And the engine mounts are nice, simple and strong looking. Please tell me you are not going to run the hideously large and ugly HEI distributor. YUCK! You could run an all-in-one magneto look set up (or real mag but that's BIG$$$$) or a MSD all-in-one with a seperate coil or a Mallory set up. Almost anything but a HEI.
Bilt- Thanks for the link. I have went over Paul's build a number of times. I'm going to have to remake the rear part of the frame a bit. The crossmember is still good but it has been pulled back which bent the frame up pretty good. It shouldn't be to hard to fix though. Matt- I did get a new water pump because the other one was reverse. Without switching it you can't even put the fan pulley on it without it hitting the lower pulley. tjm73- Lol, I am definitely not keeping that distributor. I hate that thing, it's big ugly and sits super high. When I get a little closer to actually having it running I will get a more stock looking one.
I was able to get a bit of time to get a few things done today. Got the front wishbones split and the bung welded in. Also got the hangers made for the rear spring, so I can start to figure out the back end of the frame and get the ride height nailed down.
Today I messed around with the spring pack in the front to get it sitting where I want it to. I have a reversed eye main spring that I got made and then the next three longest leafs. After that we tacked the rear spring hangers on real good. Then put the rear spring pack on. We lifted up the rear end and bolted it in place. With most of the weight of the car it gave us the measurement of where the rear crossmember is going to sit, so now we can start working on the rear kickup. The crossmember was looking pretty twisted but once we cut it out of the the rear of the frame it popped back straight. Looks like the rear kickup is going to be right about 6" and the wheelbase will be about 91".
Cool build loking forward to more. Gotta say the ***le confused me though. The term "tub" refers to a touring car, not a 2 door roadster, right? Not really a problem. On my 27 (see avatar and this http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=665685) I look over the windshield, but due to the profile of the car the wind still goes over my head. I did chop the seat base down 2" from stock.
I don't know how technical of a term 'tub' is. I have heard it used for both roadsters and the front of touring car, but usually when they don't have a turtledeck or bed. I could be way off though. I really like your little rpu lakeroadster! Your seat bases are really similar to what I had in mind for mine, and I also planned to put the electronics in the base. I really like the idea of chopping the base down a couple inches to help get me set down a little further. Thanks for the link.
I ain't ancient, but I do got a few gray hairs . I did a web search 'cause the wife will be the first to tell ya I am wrong more than I am right. Hot Rod Slang: http://www.hotrodsandcl***ics.net/hotrodslang.htm Tub: A touring car or Phaeton can also refer to enlarging the wheel well size to accommodate very large tires, usually in the rear. If it looks like a big ole bathtub that's where the term "Tub" came from. OK, enough about that. If I had my '27 RPU to do over again I would have added 6 inches at the doors. I am about 6'0" tall and the leg room ****s for anything but a short drive. Just wanted to mention that to ya. John
I mocked up the seating and a floor and it will be fairly tight. I'm 6'2" and these make for a pretty tight car.
This weekend I got the rear kickup welded in. I still need to make block off plates for the tubing and do some bracing. This is the first time it's been up on all four wheels and rolling. It's pretty short with the wheelbase right at 91".
nice stance, i'm thinking my wheelbase will be around 96 inches. what are your plans to locate the rear?
I know you're planning to block off the ends of that rear kick, but make sure you gusset and fish plate it too. There's a lot of torsional force right there.
I sure like what you are doing. tjm73- Lol, I am definitely not keeping that distributor. I hate that thing, it's big ugly and sits super high. When I get a little closer to actually having it running I will get a more stock looking one. At one time you could buy a "crab" style cap like the 40'ish flatheads used that fit the stock "points" style dist. Both Ford and Mallory made a dual point conversion back in the day. Now I just run the Pertronic's module. Good luck!
silent rick- I plan on making ladder bars that point in towards the transmission, sort of like the Pete and Jake styled ones. daddio - I plan on both fish plates and gussets to add strength to the back. 48bill- The radiator is from an early mustang and you can get one pretty cheap from almost any parts store. It's really easy to make some supports with a little bit of angle and some plate. hubcap- Thanks for the info. I had some one mention to me that all of the pictures of the entire car are from the same angle. That's simply because we have three projects in a fairly small two car garage. That will be changing soon so the pictures will get better. For now this is the best picture I could take of the rear with the body on.
Very cool modified and you're doing great work too. I can't wait to see this one roll out! Keep it up!
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