Projects Koz is building a modified, (my next build)

Thanks guys! The Black Cherry rims look really good with the black body, Hmmmm..... It's hard to see in the pics that were taken late last night, but I started to mock up some black painted cardboard for the panels under the headers. There are also going to be louvered panels covering the sides of the frame at the rear where it kicks, up to the tank. The grill shell is a steel '29, chopped, and the driveshaft tunnel will be steel as well. There needs to be a pair of "blisters" where the radius rods die into the body. These will be surface mounted and riveted or machine screwed into place. With the steel door jambs the gl*** body will be less of an issue. It's hard to tell from the pics but the car really has the "look" I am after. The original BLC headlights need to come down 1 1/2" and out about 2" on a bar fabbed off the shock mounts and not on the stalks where they are shown. As both doors will open with Model "A" hinges, the extra bumps will look right at home.

More fab work after work tonight.

 

Yet another look..... My black rims and blackwalls like Bob Knaacks roadster.



Pic of Bob Knaacks roadster. Stolen from another thread of course!

 

I took a little time tonight after closing up to fab a front cradle for the Olds. Nothing fancy, but super stiff. I'd like the fabs on this one to look like the stuff my Dad made in his old shop. He closed up in early '66 and just about everything was still made with a Mig, a huge old bandsaw and monster of a belt/disc sander. Everything was strong and accurate, but not street rod pretty. At least this monster won't fall out the bottom.





I just have the balance stuck on the end there as I have to do a bit of machine work on it. I'm running a six blade, 15" factory fan off the crank. the water pump and crank run at roughly the same speed so I don't think it will matter what drives it and with no belt slippage any small animals I run over shouldn't be a problem.

 

These are exactly the kind of brackets I like. The do the intended job well. They have rounded corners and blended radius. I like to run my hand over all the edges and shape and not feel anything sharp or square. I think we are now turning everything into " Art"!
There were only a handful of Hot Rod guys back in the day who took hours creating the sculptural brackets. The regular guys made brackets the same way you have just made yours. When I built my coupe, I tried to make everything as if it was made by a regular guy, using the most basic of tools, this led to me naming the coupe The "NUFFIN Special"
I do really appreciate the talent and skill that goes into these sculptural art-style brackets,but I don't think they represent what was happening in most garages back then. I see them as being clever for clevers sake!
****, didn't mean to rant. What I meant to say was 'kin great bracket
Cheers,
Stewart.

 

The more I build the more I get rooted in our history. When I was a kid hanging at my Dads shop the walls were covered with pics of cars built right after the war and race cars that ranged from the then new "rails" to "big cars". It has taken me years to discover what Pop loved and lived and dreamed of. I remember well the details of those cars and in my late life nostalgia even remember the unique smell of those simple machines that brought so much joy to my parents. The style of fabrication was so damn cool. If I can just capture a bit of it! I think the best years were the very early 1960's. Nobody had any money back then to speak of and everything was built out of scavenged parts with a lot of ingenuity. Some of those creations were downright dangerous but they were also brutally fast.

Working tomorrow night on the headers. Same mentality. In absolute defiance of what "tradition" tells us, I'm tucking the pipes inside frame and running two 2" chrome dumps under the rear with a pair of Smittys. Now that's cool!

 

I think the tank on Bob Knaacks roadster looks totally "race car" which is cool enough for me. I made this shell up tonight to mimic the look.




It looks huge in the pics but it is very close to the size of the Knaak roadster. In true Koz fashion I can't let anything be simple so I needed to make some extra work for myself. I didn't care for the way the straight tank looked against the rear of the body so I rolled a front panel with a curve to match the body roll. Subtle but it looks really nice up close. Most people won't notice but it just looks right.



The tank is baffled inside and I have 10ga. plates inside to allow the filler neck and fuel sender screws to be tapped directly into the tank. I need to work out a pickup tube that won't show when the tanks finished up. I still want a top pickup so I think I'll loop inside the tank and drop out the bottom. Best of both worlds. I'm gonna try to stay awake tonight and finish up.

 

Any pics of the baffles ? Will be watching to see the filler and pickup-sending unit etc.

Tank appears to be built from regular mild steel, what gauge ? Any advantage or dis- advantage to using mild steel instead of stainless or aluminum ?

In looking at it I would notice the curved front to match the body. I may have been tempted to build it with an angle too to follow the angle of the back of the body.

Mine will be slightly different shaped as it will be in the front of the small bed of my RPU.

What is your favored way of mounting the tank ?

 

Interesting thread. I'm not sure why you just didn't build that Proulx car with the flatty you were ranting and raving about. Looks like you ditched the cool steel body you were building for the current body and basically made a duplicate of the original frame you made. Seems like twice the work

 

Looking good Lar

 

Great Stuff! Thank's for sharing.

 

The tank is of 16 ga. mild steel as you noticed. I used that just because I had it laying around. I'd rather use aluminum but the steel works just fine if you line it with Eastwoods tank liner stuff. I've never had a complaint. The tank gets end panels with a bead rolled in that will follow the body arc and close the gap. That's why I left the ends flat to allow the overlay of the end panels. I don't have the a equiptment to roll 16 ga. so I frequently use 18 or 20 ga. overlays. The tank will be mounted with two .125 x 1" bands that bolt into the cradle on the rear of the frame. I've had some bad experiences with welding tabs to a tank to mount them and try to use bands whenever possible.

As to why I switched horses in the middle of the stream.... The Proulx roadster is amazing but it is also labor intensive and expensive to build. I decided to go this route to have a car for Fall Wildwood this year and the simpler gl*** body with some cosmetic steel panels added for a more track roadster look is a much more manageable project. I pretty much work 7 days 12 hours in my shop and don't have near the time I'd like for my own stuff and it looks like I'm going to Wildwood again this year with no car for the fourth year straight. It is just about time and money.

The frame under this one is m***ively different than the last one. When my fixture is set up I can build a frame like this in about four hours so they are pretty much easier to build another, than alter one I already made, even for minor changes. The steel body is stashed in the loft and should I have the time can be easily brought back into play. If I had the time and money I'd build a tribute to the "Full House" roadster but practicality brings me to my senses. Like everybody else..... someday!

 

Get back to work. Enough of this no car for wildwood talk!!


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I haven't written this year off yet!

 

It sounds like it to ME :

Just bustin' yer balls , Koz . I know first hand that it takes a LONG time to build a car "just right" . I've built a few cars in my time (even if most aren't hot rods) & they ALWAYS take more time & effort than plannned on .

 

As I get further into this, as usual, the car tells you what it wants. This one is getting slicker all the time. I have a hard time doing anything quick and dirty so things tend to change as we move along. With the Olds looking so cool it's hard not to do what's right for it. The ch***is is blown apart right now and is all but finished. I do need a ton of parts which are mostly ordered. I still need to score some 2GC's and a bunch of guys PM'd me with them but I can't retrieve any of my saved PM's so if you have them give me a shout again.

I have decided on the 15" wheels as they just look right. I still think this will look best with 6x2 if I can get a usable log intake. Some of the brackets I put on in the first week or two don't suit me so I'm redoing a bit. Not much, just some stuff that could be better. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, the angle mounts on the rear of the Olds just don't cut it so I'm changing them to donuts like the front. The front motor mount is just fine. I want to clean up the steering box mount a bit as well. Also, I'm taking 2" of Z out the rear to allow the rear end to sit a little better. The car is actually just a bit too low in the rear. Everything else is just too cool.

I've decided to ditch the pickup twin MC and use the regular Mustang style split cylinder and a mechanical clutch. I don't like the way the hydraulic clutch feels. I'm having some 7/8"x.156 DOM milled with a 5/16" slot to make a different windshield frame that will follow the profile of the cowl better.

Enough to keep me busy this evening.

 

Took a little time today and ordered my wheels from Rallye America. They seem to be the only ones who can supply me with the rim width, and centers that I want. Jimmy there was super helpful. Petty cool looking for this build. They are supposed to be here in about a week. I've never bought from them before but they seem to have good reviews on here. The shop is a bit tied up shooting the '34 Kess final colors but I'll be back at it in a day or two.

 

Don't know how I missed this one, great build!!

 

Thanks! I've been watching your build as well. It's amazing how much these two unrelated cars have in common even though they are two completely different style builds. I envision mine as a car that was built in the mid fifties, then updated in the early sixties, which is my favorite era of rodding. Most T buckets don't do much for me except for Grabowski, and the later Von Franco clone of the "Lightning Bug", and Dons old black T that has been well covered on here. This one is a combination of the two along with a dozen other great T's in between. Buckets get a bad rap due to the sheer numbers of ****py builds out there but when they are "on" they are super sweet.

I sold my old tub years ago and missed it the next day! They are more fun than anything I've owned since. I can't wait to see yours finished up.

 

Haha, we have a very similar thought process! I'm doing mine as though it were built in the '40's and then updated in the '50's.

 

you better have it done for wildwood!! I will be car less -sold my little pick up and bought a 48 ford coupe-so I need some one to bomb around with!!!

 

I'm looking up some parts for another project and I came across these headers. How cool would these be on an Olds with just some turnouts with internal plugs? I just love the way the #1 drops under the next two. 2" center with 1 7/8" front and rear into a three tube collector, 3" if I'm correct. Wow! these are a piece of cake to build. Even neater if they would tuck between the upper and lower side panels ala Jim Inglese "Full House". Now I've got my groove back.

 

Tried to order a set of these today but I didn't get an answer. These will definitely make the header construction easier.



These are from a company called Tanson out of Sacramento. Anybody ever use their stuff? Never heard of them before but they look really nice. Laser cut with 16ga. transitions. I'll try again on Monday. My wheels didn't show, maybe tomorrow. I'm shooting color on Kess's truck today so I have a bit of float during the flash time to order some stuff and catch up on correspondence.

 

Those are nice. Flange could use some work........diamond looking.

 

They come unwelded so If I need to do a bit of touch up it won't be a problem. It's going to be a lot easier than trying to whittle a pair myself. I have some flanges made already but I might end up cutting them apart for separate flanges after I have them fit and welded. Just looks a little cleaner by my eye. The Olds flanges are somewhat diamond shaped and these look like they will follow the contour rather nicely. Probably not much of a cleanup.

 

Koz.

When I made the headers for my nailhead I made separate flanges because it looked tidier than a continuous plate. I won't make that mistake again. They move around when they get hot. You unbolt them the first time and they don't want to go back on. What a nightmare. It was a lot of work to get them to fit again. I considered starting again. They have settled down a bit now but there is a very good reason most headers have a continuous flange plate.

Your car though. Just trying to save you some frustration.

Pete




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Good to know.... Actually, you won't even see the plates with the sidepanels on so I can easily leave them together. I'm used to making them with the split plates and they do move around a bit. I remember on my '29, putting the headers on always required a pin punch and at least two wasted knuckles.

By the way, I remember when you finished up your roadster. Still putting miles on it?

 

Stole this one somewhere. WOW! Weird but neat. I've been busy so not a lot of progress the week before Wildwood but lots of shop work getting done. Picking up some neat parts I thought I'd never own. I'll post pics as they arrive.

For all the naysayers who think you can't run a banjo.

 

I bought a set of header flanges off E-bay for my Y block. Laser cut and as it turns out the guy selling them had knocked off what Tanson makes exactly.

I needed a set of stubs like you pictured shaped to the square ports and ordered them up from Tanson.

He wasn't sure they would fit the flanges I had but when they arrived they fit perfectly, could not ask for better.

Great product, I would not hesitate to order from them again.


http://www.forwhatyouneed.com/exhaust_header_flange_sets.htm

 

I have the Tanson stuff and it is really nicely done. The flanges fit perfectly and they will make the header construction really easy. I'm planning on Gas welding them for the proper "aura". I love discovering new sources of goodies like these. We should have a place on this board where we can post up sources that generally don't bite you with ads daily but make cool stuff. As per Stripers suggestion I'm leaving the plates uncut so as to keep the headers stiffer. I'm making up an Olds fixture to hold them while welding.

Thanks for the heads up Blue One!

As a side note, I have scored a mint Sheifer aluminum flywheel with the bronze insert for the Olds from PA Gas on here, (Thanks Bro!). This will make this one extra fun with the '39 box as they go Upstairs real quick with the light flywheel.

In between the customer cars here, I'm cutting my frame again to drop the seating position another 3", (laying in a Z under the body). I want to get my Carson top as low as possible. Hopefully I'll get by with an 8" windshield if I'm careful. Perfect!

Pics as soon as I can set the body back on.

 

Tic Toc Koz...wildwood car show is right around the corner!