Featured Hot Rods Building my first roadster in Kansas City

I'd just cheat and form the bead on the edge of the sides and skip the making it accurate vs getting it done.

 

That’s 100% what I’m going to do but the “how to make a T strip” was something I could ponder while mowing the lawn haha

 

Seems like I remember seeing a guy take some thicker T bar stock (not sure where you get that) and grinding the radius on the flat side, by hand.

 

I decided not to post any of my reference snap shots from measuring the other day but I will add this one.

Making this body physically canes down to shaping and forming. Shrinking and stretching.

When I read, listen and watch it seems there really isn't a wrong way to do it. If it makes sense in your brain and it gets the result you’re looking for it’s the right way.

That’s why you see guys using a power hammer to make the same panel someone else used an English wheel for.

So while I am working on getting a shaping stump made and possibly a Winfield style pipe bender. I am more focused on learning the shapes of the T body. If you don’t under stand what shape is actually there, and what transitions are being made how can you ever hope to make them?

So the photo is me taping and magneting poster board to the car to see what is really going on. You can feel a lot with your hands, but there’s still plenty to have your eyes fooled by. This sort of thing can really help you “see” what really is.


Edit: video of how to build yourself a Winfield bender for yourself

 

A little back ground project / design project I’ve been thinking about is the belly pan.

I’m wondering how street-able one really is, but I’m ok with having street and race dress being seperate. Most of these cars got dressed up to go to work Monday anyhow.

But I do feel the version of the Weiand car I like the best has that very noticeable front belly pan and if I can pull it off it’s a good nod to those who would recognize such a reference.

Looking at lots of photos I think it went all the way forward and had a small round over in the front at the bottom of the grill.

you can just barely see it here.

it’s not a large one like I sometimes see when they go under/around the front axle but it doesn’t give me the feeling of a pointed piece either like this one

It looks like the gold roadsters front belly pan is attached to the side of the frame rails ending at the revel line in the 32 frame. Might actually have the shape hammered into the pan side a little too.

You can also see there is a pan more flush with the bottom of the rails that ends in that massive roll pan in the back you see in some photos. I won’t be doing that chunk of it.

This T that Hudson Joe has right now has the belly pan sides over the side of the rails as well but I’m thinking I’ll go with them attach to the bottom of the frame rails


Brian’s track roadster makes it look pretty classy up front I’m mostly trying to figure out what this front…. Fairing? Is going to look like.
I kinda dig this one
anybody got some ideas? A favorite photo or car? I’ll be going threw my books like “the birth of hot rodding” to see if anything sparks inspiration.

- the vintage photos of the roadster from front/above and the one with small writing above it are from Jimmy B and the Kohler (I think?) roadster shots are from hot rod magazine online snagged a while back. The rest I tried to crop with where I got them remaining in shot

 

Tissue paper works good. Forms to the shape with folds or cuts and shows where your stretch/shrink needs to occur. Add that with knowing the radius and it's just hitting metal with a hammer after that.

 

Exactly!
I’m used to using muslin to do it in fabric, tissue paper would be a lot closer to that than poster board lol. But both serve there purpose. I’ll have to grab some the next time I go look at the car.

 

Clearer zoom from the Weiand T, sorry didn't reply to DM been sick last few days

 

Thanks @Jimmy B hope you’re feeling better

 

Found the sticker that we can see on the car

 

Here's an approach to making your T strip. Even if you don't make them, this is a great post.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/making-parts-on-homemade-draw-dies.376591/

 

I thought I made a long post here yesterday about forming these kinds of pieces by drawing them through heavy metal blocks. We did some of that in an old blacksmith shop in the 60s. Not unlike the process described in the link above except the metal was drawn through holes that progressively formed the piece. You might be able to fold it part way and then draw it to get the finished shape.

 

Kind of a brute force manual labor pullmax from watching the videos lol. I dig it

 

Turned into a week of sourcing tools and material to make tools for the shop.

I still need a good spot to grab some “scrap” pipe for the windfield bender but I have the plans memorized and I found a spot for it to sit in the shop.
I also picked up this big stump to grind out for a shaping stump its got an interesting horn in the side with a dip under it that could’ve fun to shape over. I’m going to strip it down, grind the bowl and make some steel bands to keep it tight. Originally
I was going to attach some beefy casters under it but it’s almost exactly the right height with this cheap harbor freight dolly under it so I might just try to make this a little more stable and use it/one of them.

 

Your realization of "no wrong way" is similar to what I've learned from watching sheet metal repair videos on YouTube. Some guys claim you have to do TIG, some claim you have to do MIG, but after viewing a ton of videos I concluded that you can do whatever lets you finish it as nicely as possible.

 

There are a lot of things that there isn’t necessarily a right way but there sure is a wrong way to do it lol

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1187165039080677/?

 

They’re out there!

I’ve been getting the stump clean so I can dish it and wrap it with steel bands. Grabbed one of these this morning. Reports say it’s great for making the bowl, also great for making you need a trip to the ER. I believe both lol

 

You can remove a lot of material to rough out by making plunge cuts with a circular saw if you have one available. Then just bash the chips away. Smooth with your grinder after that.

 

Yeah I’ve seen a lot of people make the dish by making basically a depth gauge for a circular saw and making a lot of cuts with the center all the same and then doing as you say knocking the remnants out.

Sorta related note I was surprised how many stumps I see with additional shapes cut into the sides. Now I’m having extra fun stripping the bark off because I’m finding additional pre existing shapes that I could put to use!

 

Yes! Emily has a favorite crack or two in the top of hers she loves to utilize when she is shaping stuff.

 

I’ll have to take a peek next time we make it over.

I found a little ripple in this last night that would be great for popping a quick tuck into something.

 

While on the topic of making things smash into with a hammer I got started cleaning these up as well. and a before so it looks like I’ve done something. been making good progress during what feels like “tool week” cleaning, greasing, painting and polishing stuff. Like a garage spring cleaning and prep I guess

 

Tim, I watch this fella on the tube. He makes his own tools and is quite a fabricator fwiw. Has a lot of tips and tricks.
Make It Kustom - YouTube

 

Man I had heard his name for years but didn’t start watching/ subscribe to his channel until maybe a month ago. Great teaching style and covered everything from building tools, how to use that tool, and cool stuff being built with it all together! Great place to spend a rainy day watching videos!

 

I think if I’m optimistic I can get the rest of this measured and drawings made for templates/first draft templates made in two more long afternoons. Ordered a 12” contour gauge that should make this much less of a time suck. Thanks for the heads up on that one what this all looks like before I then make it a clean digital drawing so more than me can read and under stand it like some of the previous sheets.

gettin’ there! Hopping by July I’ll be done and moving forward on some chassis stuff and the 1/5 body

 

Might help with this and doing frame stuff. I'd want to square the body level to the floor, either the bottom or the top, so it's repeatable.
Spending your money again! Still a LOT cheaper than a 3D scanner.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKVG6NJK/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

@RodStRace I’ve got one. And it is extremely handy!

it is a little fussy when it comes to say lining center of a car from the front. If it’s not sitting exactly center and perpendicular your laser line from the front spring tie bolt to the back one can be off simply because of where you put the laser.

but vertical and horizontal it works pretty quick and accurate each time. Not nearly as fussy. I guess it is a level after all lol.

I’m likely going to build the subframe first, get that nice and square etc and then work off that. I’ll have a dedicated table to put it on and a painted land mark on the table or floor for placing the laser level to check stuff.

I’m currently thinking subframe and then cowl, tub then doors and then move onto the deck. Likely build some temporary bracing as the panels go together and then put the beefy stuff in sorta at the same time it all goes together with final welds.

maybe I’ll make the temp bracing part of the table and have a vertical riser that’s at center. Then I can measure side to side with an easy reference often.

guess we are gonna find out! But I am hoping that building the subframe out of beefy box tube will do the heavy lifting of building this thing square

 

BTW, I misspoke. 3d scanning is cheap, even free! I don't know how the heck you can get it from the scan to a usable format for banging metal into shape, but I'll just drop this here and let you explore the possibilities. If nothing else, you could scan a body, scan your attempt and look at where it's different, I guess.The site has many other articles. I'm sure there are other sources, too if this doesn't answer your questions.
https://www.3dsourced.com/3d-software/best-3d-scanner-apps-ios-android/

 

It’s neat to see how fast tech in this area trickles down even if I am an analog kinda guy