@Willows , Yes, getting close! Thanks buddy. Will do @Tim . @continentaljohn thanks very much my friend! @uncle buck That's cool man! I would love to see his place. He is a cool guy, I got to hang out with him a bit at rpm. I jumped at the chance to get one when I saw the other fellas out there thrashing the shit out of them. Cheers buddy!
Looking good Matt. I like the photo of Pineapple looking at the QC and box. Probably thinking,What no cat food.
@WiredSpider Thanks man. Ha, yeah it's one of my favorites. I remember when I was unboxing it, he was really curious for some reason. Such a weirdo.
They do say that pets resemble their owner[/QUOTE] Well he is quite charming, and I may add.. Stunningly handsome. So.. Thank you my friend!
Here's a few shots of trunks stuff. Not many good in progress shots of the tank mount, but it's somewhat self explanitory. And of course nothing with the tank mounted.. Sorry.
Her's a few of the trunk floor fabrication. Of course none of the finished product. I will get some this weekend as the weagther shall be pleasant for working. Anyhow, the folly of a recluse means not asking your friends for help even if they do have a brake. You just make dreams from materials at hand, which yields marginal results that work just fine, at a loss of many hours and a gain of many beers.
Last few evenings I have been working on the rear end, it's all rebuilt now with new bearings/races,seals etc., mismatched ring and pinion, early dana 44 axles with the 11 tooth spiders, pitted teeth on the ring gear, total fucking timebomb... Or dispelled lore? We shall see. I thinned rust oleum from the quart jar with mineral spirits and shot semi gloss black out of a gun tonight. Looks nice. More updates coming. Thanks for listening.
Little update here. @Tim , the wheelbase is 106" which I think is 32 ford stock wheelbase, sorry it took me a year to answer that question. I took a couple pics of the hammerforms tonight as well. As you can see, they are super crude, you just cut a big blank and bolt it through the top and bottom, aneal and hammer.. anneal and hammer, then sand and polish smooth, cut excess away for a flange finish.
I dropped off a load of stuff to a chrome shop 2 hours east of here around 3 months ago. I got all that stuff back a couple weeks ago. So stoked on this, I wish I would have taken more stuff out there.. Maybe for version 2.0. This is my hairpins, batwings,headlight bar, tie rod, drag link and all early ford ends for same. Came out awesome.
I did not take many pictures of this process because I feel like it is a pretty well known swap. I originally had built the front end with 40 ford round back spindles. I made my batwings in such a way that the tie rod could not go through the hairpins as it would crash the batwing before turning too far. Consequently I ended up dropping the steering arms to run the tie rod below the hairpins, this made my steering arms very short. Earlier, I also welded a pitman arm to the spindle to fashion an upper steering arm for the draglink to attach to. While I am confident in my welding etc. it still bothered me. I had a pair of 32 spindles I was saving for a model A roadster that I have stashed. I decided to switch over to them instead. I get more lowering, integral steering arm from ford and longer lower steering arms. I had one of those kits to adapt later hydraulic brakes as well. That piston ring thing is super lame, I machined my own adapter rings, I copied what @NealinCA did basically, built up the outer perimeter of the spindle and re drilled the bolt pattern for later hydraulics. I did use the dumb valve seat for the seal/spacer, just welded it on so it would not spin. I also used Neals part numbers for the torrington style kingpin bearings.. Thanks for the info Neal! Car steers nice and has a good feel to it. Jumped up and down on the front as well, bump steer is less with the 32 spindle than with the 40's. Longer steering arms? Dunno. Happy with it.
I also cut my engine mounts down around 1.25. I'm not sure why I built them up so high in the front intially. It had an Ed Roth feel to it which maybe I wanted before? I dont know. Anyhow by chopping them down I gain fan adjustment room and the engine sits level and looks more old time hot rod than monster cartoon.
Howdy folks, I'm going to post a bunch of pictures that will bring this thread current. I decided that the only way to get this thing done was to have a hard deadline, otherwise I would piddle fart around with it forever. I have been going to rpm nationals the last few years with some friends and having a blast. This event happens over my birthday weekend which makes it a special treat. Last year my buddy Willy let me race his rpu, ol number 9 , for my birthday! Man what a blast! This year I will turn 50, which is a reasonably big birthday I think. Anyhow, I decided, what better way to celebrate than to get my roadster done, take it out there and break it proper good like. So thats my plan. These photos will include, some more fabrication, chassis assembly, painted chassis, body work, paint, louver punching, pinstriping, anod some final assembly. If all goes to plan, I will have time to make an interior as well. I have a relicate leather hide and a yard of german square weave carpet waiting. I know.. total street rodder.
think i sorted it out.. A couple of those last shots show some anti chatter rods I out in, makes a huge difference on the enginge movement potential when you push in the clutch.
last bit was some throttle pedal stuff and battery box. these will be painted assembled chassis pushed out into the yard for a month while shoveled bondo on and sanded it off.
next is body and paint work. I'm not the best body and paint guy, I can do it, but not fast or spectacular. I'm on a deadline and this is supposed to be fun so I hustled up, cut a few corners and had the supplier put 15 percent flattner in the acrylic enamel so it wouldn't show to many lumps n bumps. The firewall is painted with some 16 year old single stage urethane leftover from a 57 chrysler interior resto I did. I mixed it with primer hardener and random reducer, shot wonderful. On the body the paint fought me every step of the way, dry edges, orange peel, you name it. Whatever, I'm happy anyhow.
Thats where I'm at as of now.. Wiring, plumbing and all the small shit that takes forever. Putting repop guide 903 j tags on the lights, wiring double pole double throw relays so you can use an old 3 wire signal switch, getting a cable made for an old stewart warner tach drive.. I'm particularly fond of the fender welt I sewed up from ivory english pub naugahyde, I think it really sets off the doo doo brown finish. My striping is a bit clunky these days, but as I said, I'm having fun with it.. no pressure to create some show car. I likely will never wash it anyhow. The only thing that was not built in this garage was the radiator, aside from all the parts built by ford etc.. Cheers to anyone following along still, hope to get in the mix with all my roadster buddies soon.
Looks really good man ! ....except, every car I've ever built I went to great lengths to have an air tight fire wall, and you punched a bunch of holes in yours! I dont get it, but thats just me, nice car, enjoy
I know, silly as it is.. I have a toe board arrangement that isnt shown yet that blocks the louvers off entirely, although I'm not kidding myself thinking this is airtight. I think of a T roadster as more or less a 4 wheeled chopper so I can let creature comforts slide a bit for now. I've got a 40 coupe next in line that will be my comfy hot rod. Thanks for the post my friend. cheers. Matt
Yes, I should not have used the term "fire wall", as I realize that is really ahead of the toe board, so not really directly into the cockpit. However, I look at it like a heat shield. Any application that uses a heat shield, like around a fuel pump, or a catalytic converter on modern junk, you would not want holes to allow the heat to pass, sorta wipes out the porpoise of having anything there. I'm picking nits, nice car,.....I'll go lay by my dish now
The Jalopy Journal
