Back in Black! rpu build thread

Lord Micky, don't make me cut up another

I am finally over the "cut-em-up" phase. I really can't wait to finally drive this finally.

Thanks Micky

 

Dan, do you know what color you are going with??

 

Well Scott, that depends on what day it is-what is today??

A big of me says black body with a white top (on Monday)

I also like a straight(no metallic) dark blue body with a black top (on Tuesday)

Or straight dark maroon body with a black top (Wednesday)

Color choice is REALLY tough. If money was overflowing I would like to have a few renderings done to help me decide. Even though the frame (and everything else) is black I think the car could pull off the right color other than black, especially with a black top to tie it in maybe.

I am always open to ideas though



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What day is pink?

I totally know what you're going through with the color thing! I'm right there too! I'm pretty sure I've decided, but now I have the issue of paint the frame the color of the body or just go black with it. GAH! I get it man! I get it! The RPU will look good no matter what you pick...

 

Pink is more of a Saturday thing really.....

Most cars do seem to do the frame & body the same color, & I get that.

On the flip side though, I like cars with a black frame & different color body too. Not as pretty as matching colors, but I like the business-like look it gives honestly.

Since I wasn't decided on the final body color when I did the chassis, I just went black.

I am trying not to beat myself up about color. I figure the car will tell me what it wants to be.

I could honestly see your car done either matching or not. I could see a black frame too with the no nonsense look the car has. Maybe do some crude photo-shops of your car from a side view to see what you think. I suck at photoshop though, that's my problem

 

As much as I feel that your car is 'born to be black', Tuesday is your day of flavour....

Cheers, and great to see things are 'picking up' for you,

Drewfus

 

It does say "Back in Black" at the top of the page Dan. "Back in Pink" doesn't have the same ring. That said, I am happy with black frame and components with a coloured body.

Good to see you back on it

Pete

 

Drewus,
Tuesday is still a strong contender
One of the biggest things making me not want black is caring for it. I had a black truck years ago, & man was it hard to keep looking good. True with any dark color I guess, but black seemed ridiculous!

Thanks btw, I am extremely thankful for the "picking up" thing myself!!

Haha, you have a point my friend

Your car is a perfect example of how good a black frame looks with a different color body, I really like the contrast.

Pete, did you say that you were coming around this area some time soon??

 

Dan, I just found your thread and this build is amazing. I have always thought RPU's were the ultimate in cool. I just need to say that I am sitting here in absolute awe of your "eye" for detail, and your fab skills. I wish I had a tenth of your skill. I will follow the rest of the build....waiting patiently for updates.

 

Exactly!

Totally agree! I see cars like Pete's and I think "Hmmm... I like that contrast."

 

Well I got a few more small things out of the way this weekend. I got my gas pedal mounted to the firewall. I also built the hinged door that goes over the radio face in the housing that I built under-dash. I just need to find a neat small knob to mount to the face to finish that off.

I also needed to notch the dash above the steering column. With the car channeled pretty far, I lost some interior room. I needed move the wheel up a little to get some room, it was really jammed into my knees otherwise.

I bent up a "U" out of some 1/8" thick, 1" wide flat bar. The "U" will be where the steering column will ride up in. My column is just 3/4" polished stainless shaft, with no cover, so the "U" doesn't have to be very wide. I trimmed the dash to fit the "U", welded it in & ground it down. This made the dash even more rigid than is was before it was cut.

Here's a few pics of where I ended up. Not major progress, but progress at least! Not a whole lot more fab work needed before I can finally get the cowl section into epoxy primer.Thanks for looking

Dan

 

Great approach to getting the leg room & a very tasty way of doing it. Another fine job you've done ....

PACO

 

lookin good, Dan...progress is progress!
Thanks for the update.

 

Yeah. Going to be in Orlando / Cocoa Beach for about 5 days in early Sept. That's still a fair way from you isn't it Dan?

 

Looks super clean man!

OOO! I really like how you got that wood finish to the steering column too! Are you going to stain it??

 

Looks like it was aleways there. Great fab work Dan.

 

Lookin' Good!

 

Thanks Paul, I appreciate. If I didn't do this I'd end up having to use a chain steering wheel

You got that right Keith, anything I can get done puts me one step closer.

Lets see, only 5,951 steps left

Very cool! Not crazy far away really-maybe 3 hours. Lots closer than you are now!

You need to stay a little longer now-come on!

Scott, I was thinking of staining it a nice cherry finish

I didn't want to scratch up the polished stainless shaft, so I went crazy and invested a buck for the mock-up column

George-thanks! It wasn't something I really wanted to do, I just really didn't have a choice for comfort's sake. Once the wheel is on the notch really won't be super visible.

If it is I'll get over it haha

Thanks a ton, I really appreciate that


/

 

I'm a huge fan. Great work man!

 

This thing is so perfect I don't even wanna look at my coupe now.

 

Thanks man! But I promise you, EVERYBODY feels that way when looking at projects on the HAMB, myself included. Pictures make everything look a little better than it really is in my case

Thank you DMFB. Someday this thing will finally be done, or at least drivable. At least that's what I keep telling myself!

Far from it Dave. Thankfully I am good enough with a grinder
In all honesty the 2 things that help me the most is spending time fitting something up before I weld it, and spending enough time grinding/finishing it after its welded up. I like to use an assortment of different grinding tools, depending on what I need to grind.

Flap wheels are my friend too. I found small roloc sized 2" & 3" flap wheels a while back. Perfect for an angled die grinder, & really handy for tight areas too. These look like smaller versions of the 5" flap discs that we use on normal electric grinders. Maybe I'll take a few pics of these, & other things that I have found handy to grind with if it would help anybody.

I also like to finish some things off with a DA where possible too. It really finish blends everything really nicely. I also have a mini air DA that only has a 2" pad on it. It was a Harbor Freight cheapie-about $20 on sale, but again real handy for tight areas.

Grinding is one of those funny things where every different type/style of abrasive has a useful place. It is lately becoming more like "this is good enough" for my lately, I want to finish this thing in this lifetime

 

Black???? Won't that hide all those beautiful details??? Can't tell you how many black cars deserve more attention than what they get... "Pink" on the other hand gets way too much attention! Hahaha...!

 

Dan,I am also interested in the steps and grits that you use from start to finish. Your work always looks outstanding.

 

Just went through every page. I am stunned and amazed at how gorgeous this truck is! I absolutely love it. I have the remains of a '47 Ford PU that I have been meaning to 'get to'. I think that this is my inspiration!

BTW, if you go with pink, don't forget to buy a Chihuahua, name it 'Mr. Sparkles', and carry it around under your arm at all times.

 

Nice work young man Looks to be coming on well.

 

awosme build

 

Thank you everybody!

Man, I'm to the point where ANY color that I can drive the thing in will be fine.

Plus, when we finally get to line up it will be easier for you to see my pink car pulling ahead of you down the quarter

Sorry, I can never resist giving you sh*t, especially since me car is STILL not drivable

Thanks George! I will put together a little something. There really is no magic to it-I pretty much start coarse & work finer til I get it leveled out & smooth.

I will take some time soon to show some of the abrasives I like to use though

Haha, Mr Sparkles is as good as there! Thanks for the nice words! I also find lots of inspiration here as well. Post some pics up of your 47', sounds like a cool project!

Thanks Steve! I heard rumor that your updating your T Coupe thread- I gotta check that out!



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Well I had a pretty good weekend of progress! I Got my door handles, & wanted to get them mounted in the doors. My brookville doors didn't have exterior handles in them.

I decided to use 32' handles instead of model a handles. I like the style of the 32' handles a little better, plus it should raise the value of my car having SOMETHING 32' on it, right??

I got the dimensions of the center point of the handle mounting spot on 30/31 a roadster doors from a hamber. I honestly always felt that the exterior handles on a 30/31 roadster look like they are mounted a little low for my taste though. After a bit of experimenting before drilling the doors, I followed my feelings & mounted them where I like them.

They are mounted 1 1/4" higher than stock, but I like them here better. I also stripped the brookville red oxide off the doors.

Here's a few pics, I really think the handles add a lot. I still need to make up a mechanism to link these to the bearclaws:







I am pretty pleased with the gaps of everything now, everything is lining up pretty nice!

The next obstacle I faced was building door sill plates. Since the car is channeled, I needed these to finish off the door jams.

Here's an old pic showing what the door jam looks like before I build the sill plate. It leaves a big gap inside where the lower door meets the wall where it is channeled:


So I built the sill plates from some 1/8" plate cut & welded together to form the shape I needed. These sill simply bolt onto the subframe. I will put a seal on the outside edge of the sill plate-that will butt up to the lower door & seal it up nice.

Here's a few pics of the sills done-it looks WAY more finished now, I am pretty happy with it. I still gotta build the driver's side plate, but now that I did one the 2nd will be easier. That's all for now, thanks for looking!

Dan

 

Nice sill plates Dan, car is looking really very good, hopefully get a ride in it on my next visit

 

Looks great, Dan...thanks for the update.