Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

Anybody know if a "TROPIC-AIR ASSY 50005" was also used in planes? Are these real bomber seats? or are they just ambulance seats?

 

I'm thinking about ordering one of these:

and one of these :

from speedway.

Anybody have any experience with these parts? worth buying?

I like old steering wheels in general, but the quick release would be nice for getting in and out of the car and a 15 inch steering wheel would give a little more knee room..

 

or maybe spring for a Limeworks wheel? In the pics, they look a lot nicer.

 

Four spoke Limeworks looks like the right deal for your car.

Has the feel of a 30's sports car.

3 Spoke and the ones with holes are too...modern?

P.

 

Kinda thinking about just making my own column and adding a store bought quick disconnect.

I have never had any experience with the various designs that are out there. Anybody have a style they like best? Where is the best place to get one?

 

I used a Limeworks on my roadster.

 

Some inspiration for you Flipper... your build remember me the Mercedes SSK, A great Argentinian pilot Carlos Zatuszek was driving this bolid in the 1900 century during a competition dirt track races along the Argentinian country...

http://www.motorlegend.com/competition/mercedes-ssk-de-carlos-zatuszek/6,7850.html

http://www.fantasyjunction.com/cars/470-Mercedes-Benz-SSK Rennwagen-7.1 litre supercharged inline-6

 

Cool, ratamahata! The SSK, or rather its lesser-known unsupercharged predecessor, the 38/250, invites comparison with two contemporaries with very similar layouts and dimensions, namely the Bentley 6½-litre and the Hispano-Suiza H6. The latter two even share the same bore, stroke, and capacity: the Mercedes's extra 10mm of stroke is all that prevents a three-way match. Point is, it all rather recalls the Bentley 8-litre specials of subsequent years (including one that was turbocharged in the '60s or '70s).

 

Ratamahata, thanks for the links. I love ALL of the mercedes racers from the 20's and 30's.

 

Hi! I've been following your build for a few weeks now and just wanted to chime in with a little insight.

To all you guys out there who post your builds, you do us all a valuable service. You educate us with your practical experience and provide insight into many different aspects of a build, without us having to leave our computers. Thank you.

Now for a little insight of my own. Look at the picture of yourself sitting in the seat in post #509. Now imagine getting into a little sideways drift and needing to do some quick correcting on the steering wheel. If you have to saw the wheel to the left real hard note where your left elbow is going to be even with the sheet metal trimmed. It seems to me that there may not be enough room there, and elbows are quite sensitive to objects hitting them. It may be a little more evident in the post above in the picture of your son sitting in the car. He's holding the steering wheel a little lower. Best to consider this in the build than to try and correct it later.

Just saying.

Looking forward to more progress.

Doug.

 

Doug, I'll check that out, but I think I am ok with the body cut out where it is planned. I don't ever recall hitting the side when I was sitting there making race car noises, but then again I was drag racing...not drifting

Oh yeah, I picked up a quick disconnect at the hot rod reunion swap meet. I'm gonna play with it and see how well I can hide it.

 

At the Bowling Green Hot Rod Reunion swap meet, I bought a steering wheel quick disconnect for $5 ...well, I bought half of one. I got the piece that has the steering wheel mount. I am going to have to make the hex shaped shaft adapter.

I may not actually use the one I bought in the end (may buy a new one), but gives me something to play with/think about.

 

Worth thinking about, I'd say. The historical precedent tends to follow a cut-out that is deeper at the back than at the front, with the forward portion about parallel with the driver's forearms.

But I take it that shape is still far from finalized?

 

I'd say nothing about this car is set in stone. I'm gonna check elbow clearance the next time I'm near the car. If I need the room, I guess it will look more like the historical cut out.

 

I've been anxious to work on this thing but have not been too excited about working in the heat and numidity of Memphis in July.

As much as I hate the heat, I'm gonna give it a shot this weekend.

 

This was one of those one step forward, two steps back kinda weekends, but I think the car will be better because of it.

I had planned on trying to work a quick disconnect into the jag set-up (I had ruled out the speedway parts because they looked like "new parts"). When I tore into the jag column, I discovered it was a cheezy design that used felt bushings top and bottom and the shaft was 1" bar stock.



I decided I needed something with bearings.

I dug through my stash and pulled out what I think is a Dodge column and wheel (cheap swap meet raw material). The wheel is kinda generic with a smooth horn button that can be customized.



While mocking up the new coulmn (and exhaust routing), I figured out that the path I had previously picked for the steering sector was too prominent. It needed to blend into the background.









The sector needed to go under the exhaust.

 

To pull this off as simply as possible, I decided I needed a really long steering column (column to sector junction as far away from the firewall as possible).



I did not cut the outer tube.

For the lower bearing, I used an off the shelf part from Tractor Supply Company (TSC).





I needed a splined end to connect to the toyota u-joints, so I hacked into a 1991 Celica column.





It was stuck together with plastic that acted like shear pins

plastic removed


Trying to figure out how much dodge shaft to trim. The double-D coupler needed to be completely inside the coulmn, above the lower bearing.


a little snip here


a little grinding turned the round shaft into a double-d. It is a snug fit in the coupler (it goes from round to D on the dodge end)




welded with plug welds


assembled.

The new column is 46.5" long

 

Good job on the steering column! Personally, I don't think the steering box way up beside the engine looked bad at all -- had a vintage look to it and there was plenty room. But it's your car, and what you did is just fine! Unless running the exhaust under the shaft is a problem due to the new forward location of the steering box I'd run it under. That will eliminate a couple U-joints and allow a straight shaft.

 

I'm not using a side steer box on this car, it has a rack and pinion from a Toyota (somewhat hidden under the front spring crossmember). I think the rack will function pretty nice, but it is definetly out of place on a 30's looking racer. I am just trying to camoflage it as best as I can.

Here is a pic from a couple pages back.

 

Oh yeah, the new column is going to go through the the current firewall, angled down as if it were going to a side steer type box that was mounted on the frame.

 

Forgot about the rack when I saw the box! Now I see, said the blind man....

 

KEEP THE JAG MANIFOLDS OR BUILD HEADERS?

I really like the "factory" headers that are on the motor already, but they dump too close to the center of the car to look like 30's racecar stuff.



If I built headers that came out farther before going down, I could hide the steering no matter where I ran it. Here are some examples I found.

All into one up high. Exhaust over rear axle

All into one down low. Exhaust under the rear axle

Two sets of three into ones.

 

well, the built headers sure do look cool! Doing them in something that won't burn the paint off and rust would be an issue. You could do what Duesenberg and Auburn did though. Run a solid pipe then slip flex pipe over it. The small air gap kept the flex pipe from getting too hot and burning. You didn't think they ran straight flex pipe did you? Okay, I admit it -- I did!!

 

I am a little unhappy with the dash support hoop. It is screwing with potential dash layouts. It is too flat in the middle. I should have peaked it in the center like the hoop in the middle of the car (behind the seats).

Next trip to dad's, I'm going to cut the hoop off of the car, cut the hioop in half, and add a small section that has a bend in it in the middle.

Hopefully the hottest weather is behind me and I can start spending some quality time in the shop.

 

I didn't have time to do anything more than mock up a torque tube exhaust pipe in two different positions.

Above the frame rail/ angle down




And down low/ through the frame. I think I like this best.

 

I like the through the frame position best.

Some good insulation material would avoid over heating the frame and a flex coupler would eliminate any movement and allow a fixed mount at both ends of the pipe.

Try to keep on your project. I know how life tries to interfere with fun but I try to do something to advance my Mercruiser 470 Model A project every day.

I have had both knees totally replaced in the last 4 months but have worked on the project every day except the few that I was in the hospital.

Many of those days the work consisted of being on the computer a few minutes to a few hours just to see if I can find something that will improve the project.

That is how I found out about putting a Buick Grand National turbo on it to boost the output 100 hp.

Anyway keep up the good work and carry on.

Dick
.

 

Anybody think that this might be a 1932 Ford torque tube?

 

I've been waiting on cool weather to get back to work on this crazy thing and the past 3 weekends have been great, but I've had other commitments (mainly work) that have kept me out of dad's shop.

As of now, I have a four day weekend planned for next weekend! Hopefully there will be a substantial update to follow.

 

So how is the project coming along?

 

I went and played with it this past weekend. I think I fucked up more than I fixed...but I enjoyed the time with my folks and I figured out/rembered what I wanted to do a year ago......

I needed to figure out the transmission tunnel before I could figure out the transmission mount



I tried the jag tunnel again




I didn't fit as snug as I wanted it to, so I sliced and diced it...





I cut it a little more







There was too much air space between the sheetmetal and the bell housing...that space is needed for a gas pedal.

so I broke out the cop car kick panel sheet metal to build a beefy, close fitting tunnel









I realized I didn't want to run it all the way behind the seats as one piece, so I added a center bulkhead to give it something solid to tie into in the middle of the cockpit.



I really didn't like that, so I cut it out



It needed to be straight across, so that it could be the start of the front of the seat. I had to add verticals to weld to.



I ran out of time, but I figured out/remembered that I needed to have a bulkhead that doubled as a seat front and that the spring boxes need to extend to that bulkhead.

I don't like the new tunnel either.... I think I like the trans out in the open better.