Hi Everybody, Just would like to compliment Ryan and everyone else on a great forum. I can't believe I'm just 'discovering' it. I've been into traditional rods and bobbers for years but have just gotten to this bulletin board. The Jalopy Journal was even in my favorites! Duh! Anyhow here's the spiel: Me- I'm a mid 30s single guy who lives alone in the mountains, so I have a good portion of both my funding and free time to spend on my cars and bikes. Now if I just made good money, I might be able to finish one or 2 of my rides! But I do all my own work and I learn as I go, so it works out. I've got the 'way too many projects' syndrome, which I'm sure a few of you are familiar with. I've been working on cars and bikes for most of my life, but am just starting to be able to afford to put together some neat rides. The most relevant to this forum is my '40 chevy pickup which I'm planning to build in a traditional style: straight axle, low stance, chopped top, very abbreviated flatbed and a 348 up front and exposed to the elements. I'd also like to do sprint car style steering with the exposed steering shaft. Haven't figured out yet how to drop the front, but the parallel leaf springs have to go and I want to move the axle forward about 8-12". Using a '36 chevy pickup grill shell as the original is longish and not styled to my liking for this kind of rod. Also planning to use the original 16" steelies up front and some 15" artilleries (wider) out back. I've also got a '50 chevy pu with all the vanilla stuff underneath, SBC, must II, etc. Sure is fun to drive and plenty cool for my tastes. '68 Triumph 500 that I'm building as a '50s era bobber, due to be completed over the winter. '29 Indian 101 scout that I'm building as a '40s era bobber. This one is the money hog, but it's going to be sooo cool! Can't wait to get it done. Here's a pic of the '40. Thanks and nice to meet you all! Dave
This isn't my 101 scout, it's in pieces and spread out across the country, but this is the direction I'm going with it. I'll try to get a pic of the trump later this evening. Cheers!
I think i have been here long enuff to say welcome.....sold my "101" a few years back actually traded for a new BMW....miss it now. any way welcome, pictures of the bikes?? CT.
Welcome to the HAMB! I like your ideas on the 40.... I have done a lot/few of them on mine (40GMC) I've been tinkering with the idea of moving my front axle forward too, like to just behind where the shackle hangers are now. I figure it will take cutting those horns off right in front of the front crossmember/radiator mount rivets and welding in a "FadT" type crossmember with transverse spring mount and then run some square tube radius rods back to the stock spring mounts. Or maybe I'll just keep driving it the same way I've been driving it for the last decade. Here's a pic.
Thanks to all for the welcome. I'll try to get a pic of my trumpet up a little later. And I'll do progress pics through the winter as well. I'm planning to finish the triumph this winter (had it for years, just now getting around to building it) and do the rolling chassis of the 101 this winter too. The 101 is a really new project to me and is pretty exiting as I've always wanted one. I'm having the motor built as I don't want to screw this one up. I'll pick that up in the spring. I'm getting a bunch of the big parts shipped in from New Zealand. Stuff that another Indian nut had spare from another project. DrJ, your 40 Jimmy is pretty cool! I like the inverse front fender treatment, seems to hide some stuff pretty nicely and looks very custom. How much did you chop your top? It's a pretty nice chop. I'm thinking of chopping mine around 4", maybe a little more. I want to do it myself too, a little nervous about that one. I was thinking of doing the front end with a transverse spring and home-made radius rods as well. I think that will probably be the solution. I had wanted to do the quarter elliptic springs in the front, but just don't know much about those. With the transverse spring, I should be able to tuck the axle just behind the bottom of the grill. That would be pretty nice, I think. I think the front of the frame rails will have to be reconstructed as they dip down. I think they will have to be pretty much straight out. I'd like to use the stock axle and have it dropped by MorDrop if they're still doing it. Dave
Well, I can't seem to take a pic of the Triumph that has a small enough file size to attach. I've got one as small as 70,038 but still no dice. Can anyone help? Thanks, Dave
I chopped 3" out of the "A" pillar on the angle and 3-1/2" out of the back below the rear window, right in the middle of the belt line actually. I leaned the rear of the roof and back window forward rather than lengthen the roof. The "A"pillars are stock angle. If you can round up a copy of Custom Classic Trucks from June 2001 there's a six page how-to article in it on this top chop. It's cozy, and I was 5' 9" in my youth, before i started to "shrink" After I chopped it I put the stock seat in it and got in and I was looking through that hole where the windshield wiper goes. So I cut the front corners off the foam cussion of an Astro Van back seat, recovered it and clamped it to the floor with some Model A front spring U bolts. Hey, that's what I had sittin around at the time that looked like it would work! The lower the seat goes the closer the pedals are to your*****. I've driven it to Vegas, but I wouldn't want to go a whole lot farter than that in a day or I'd need a cane when I got out! The front fenders still have the original inner fender panel which I cut the fender off of about 2" out from the hood and hammered what you see out of a VW type 3 square back roof.
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