Projects Giant speedster project

It's a mimographed, spiral bound "personally" published guide to building "specials" in the British style from about 30 years ago. Let me have your email address and I will scan the relevant pages and send them to you.

 

More hood

After I finished welding up the hood frame I found a piece of 20 gauge galvanized steel laying around and cut it into a pattern. I wanted to make sure there would be a smooth curve from radiator to cowl. I had a little trouble springing the metal in there but when I did it looked real good. A few phone calls located some 4 X 10 cold rolled 20 gauge. I'll pick it up in a few days. The rest of the day I spent fitting some ash to the frame rails under the hood. I'll put some walnut on top that way the hood will have something pretty to sit on. I can't figure out the dimensions of the lower hood until I have the walnut in place. I also ordered some 3/16 X 1/4 rivets from McMaster-Carr to rivet the hood sheet metal to the framework. Love those rivets!

Jerry
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More hood

The hood is slow going because I've had to fit and refit the sheet metal. After taking the metal on and off to trim it about twenty or so times I'm getting close. The dimensions are too bit large for my shear so I have to cut the metal using a nibbler and a straight edge. The setup works pretty good but the going is slow. I made up a heavy bar as a drill guide to keep the rivet hole spacing exact. Tomorrow I may be far enough along to begin riveting in the first panel.

Jerry
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All those holes would kill me. At least there small...

Jeff

 

Hood

The hood is very tedious. All those holes to drill and deburr--bummer. After shooting a coat of red oxide on the parts that touch I got down to serious riveting. Unfortunately a little screw up on my part made it impossible to beat the rivets in traditional fashion without rebuilding my hood frame. I have long held that the better part of skill comes from the ability to turn a screwup to your advantage. Following that belief I made up a little clamping jig, cinched up the rivets with it and welded the back side. It's not at all pleasant to look at from underneath but the topside shows no difference.

Jerry
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Hood

So I fit rivets and welded all day until my back hurt. Then I hoisted the thing onto the Seagrave for a fit check. Looks pretty good. I'll save the sides for later. I've got to contemplate the openings around the exhaust pipe. That side will have to be split. But should I have individual holes around the pipes or one long slot with rounded ends to encompass all the pipes? If I go with the later, I could make an identical slot on the carb side of the hood. Then you could see the engine with the hood down. You could actually see the Seagrave Special on the intake manifold which would be cool. Anyway I've had enough hood work for a while. I think I'm going to work on the pedals, cooling and controls.

Jerry
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Wow that has the perfect look. Good workaround on the rivet challenge. I vote for the big openings on both hood panels - maybe with some sort of screening on the intake side if it ends up too 'open'.

 

i like it good save on the rivets the hood came out nice

 

That came out really well...nice job on tackling the hood task from a different direction! Simpler, and excellent results.

Just think...in no time you'll be at your first show listening to someone explain how they had one just like it when they were younger.

 

Have you thought about removable pannels in the lower hood sections?

 

Or how they know the guy you built it, in europe back in the 60s.

 

My devious side has always wanted to create a history for a car--grainy photographs, tattered wills, sales documents... I guess I can't do that now that I've made this build public. LOL

Jerry
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I won't tell. Your secret is safe with us

Jeff

 

Nothing wrong with good fiction.

 

Do it...great fun to give the "experts" information.

 

X2 on the screen over the intake. I really think it would showpiece your acid etching, but under a screen it wouldn't be too "HEY LOOK AT ME". more like "Oh, don't mind this fine craftsmanship over here"

 

mums the word.

subscribed to build.
​

 

Have you considered doing something like the hood sides on the Duesenberg seen in today's Jalopy Journal feature? I expect it would be a lot of work, but the results could be super cool looking, to say the least.

 

Nice. I'm going to do something similar except the opening will have rounded ends instead of rectangular. Also I think I'm going to wrap the pipes with glass cloth. I don't recall any early 20's cars with stainless flex.

Jerry
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Misc.

I worked on the pedals shortening them to give me a bit more leg room. I also needed get in there and finish up the master cylinder and gas pedal etc. So the body had to come off. Besides, since I had only tacked the body framework together, I needed to complete the welding. To fasten down the body I added some tabs. They don't look like much but since the wood under the body will be bolted to the frame I think they'll be sufficient. I also added some metal around the top of the body to bolt down the perimeter of the wood deck.

Jerry
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That's gonna look pretty darn good, I think.

 

Body

I had to take some time off from the Seagrave to look after business and go rappelling with my son. It was the first time for both of us. Interesting, hanging by a rope on a rock face 60 ft above the earth. When I got back I took the body frame off the car and painted it. Then I painted the wood platform. It's getting down to crunch time on the colors. I want the frame and running gear to be the same color as the body and I'm leaning toward a dark, dark green--BRG maybe with a lighter green for the upholstery. I'm going to paint the body frame black because you won't really be able to see much of it when the car is done and the trim is inside. BTW I'm selling a 1914 Buick touring car on ebay if anyone is interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1914...8720169?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4cf2a9ab29

Jerry
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Body

I sprayed some black on the body frame then began drilling holes. I'd planned on using #10 carriage bolts to simulate rivets so I needed a way to square up the holes to receive the head. A squared off air chisel bit did the trick. A few raps and I had a square hole. After squaring about 32 holes, I started on sheet metal. My Chinese nibbler halved a 10 foot sheet of 22 gauge which I then clamped to the frame. Drilling from the backside I made some holes for the carriage bolts. After I had enough bolts in to hold the sheet metal in place I again used the nibbler, this time to trim off the excess sheet metal. A few minutes of hammering and I had a nice rounded edge. You might be able to see all this in my not so focused pictures. Bending the sheet metal around the tail will be the next challenge.

Jerry
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Nice trick with the air hammer. I'll have to remember that one.

 

Sheet metal lesson

Having all my holes drilled and squared, I had just started bolting the sheet metal in place when a funny thing happened. Instead of laying flat as I anticipated the sheet metal started curling and curving the farther back I went. This was not an unpleasant event. I had long been concerned that a slab sided body would look unsophisticated and amateurish. A slight rounding of the body sides would be much better. To accommodate the curve I had only to make up some hardwood spacers between the metal ribs and the sheet metal. They will not be visible once the interior is in. Feeling just a little proud of this unexpected outcome (even though I had nothing what-so-ever to do with it) I proceeded to peen over the top and bottom edges. The finished product looked so nifty I laid the opposite side sheet metal in place and started drilling holes for the carriage bolts. I'm thinking about colors now--three tone--chassis, body, fenders. I need something out of the ordinary--something awesome--something that befits a behemoth of the road. Any suggestions?

Jerry
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Holy cow that body metal looks thick. Really nice the way it came out and with the spacers in there heck, that's not a bug, it's a feature. Nice contour gauge, too.

This color suggestion might be way off but how about frame and fenders gloss black, fly yellow hood and body sides and green deck top?

Once it's all done take some photos and some of the guys here can 'shop it in different color schemes.

 

Jerry,
I liked your idea of British racing green. I can see this monster in BRG with black fenders and ivory or yellow wheels. I think the green would complement the tone of the wood deck as well. BTW, you are an inspiration! This has to be one of my favorite HAMB threads ever...

 

I'm going to remember that contour gage. Nice work Jerry.

 

Great job with this project!

 

More bodywork,

I pulled everything apart. The wood I sprayed with Bullseye and the sheet metal I painted with red primer. Next I'll bolt on the sides and weld the perimeters. I was thinking about a real dark blue for the chassis and a somewhat lighter blue for the body. But what color upholstery? Ivory? Nah, it needs something outlandish. Purple?

Jerry
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