Projects My '26 Roadster / Vintage photo search

I have to agree on both counts Brent I was quite pleased with how they turned out.

 

I really get a kick out of this:



Please tell me the boater is yours! I think it makes a great casual hat, if you've got the panache (and the gow job?) to back it up.

-Dave

 

Of course it's mine ........I actually have 2

I always liked the look of the straw boater myself, might just have to bring that one back into style!

 

*UPDATE*
Made some drawings... but not much else

I haven't made much progress in the last two weeks because me and the girlfriend (SaucyNordicTart here on the H.A.M.B.) are in the midst of a move. I have had some spare time to work out some of the old, still present issues with the suspension. After waking up with the "light bulb" of progress at 2:30 am, I scribbled out my ideas and refined them into the tech drawings bellow the next day:

The Front Wishbone Setup:
I had intended to do something different for the wishbone and front suspension on this car as early as 2009, but never could work it out like I wanted. The Model A wishbone idea just hit me after staring at it for countless years on a friends T...DUH! The only thing I was not satisfied with was the ball-joint ends at the frame...what to use? They couldn't be newer style, just wouldn't fit...then It hit me: Model A Tie Rod ends! Model T Ball caps and Tie Rod ends have been used in split-bone setups on dirt track and speedsters throughout the 'teens and 20's ...and they are far more "scary" then the Model A rod ends, plus you can buy them complete new tomorrow


The Rear Lowering Brackets:

The rear axle has been giving me a bit of "bottoming out" problems as of late and I'd like to give the car a slight rake (not too extreme, but she is sagging a bit these days). The only problem is that I have no room for adjustment with the current setup.....then I got this idea for another spin on my current lowering technique. My current spring is hung from the bottom of the axle (with the tubes flipped R for L), This design would flip the tubes back and hang the spring from the top but give me almost 12" of adjustment of ride height.



Knee Action Shocks:

Chris and I copied an original '14 Hupp shock and made 4 more that I will mount on all four corners of my chassis


Let me know what you think of my designs. Still working out the final details, but I think they will all work just fine!

More to come! ...

Clayton
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When you do the rear drop, weld a bushing through the radius rod for the bolt. I used a length of 7/8" DOM with a 1/2" i.d. on mine. Those stock rods aren't rear hefty. You might find you will need a shorter spring too.

Ron

 

I agree on the bushing and had intended on adding one for sure...this time everything will be "over built"

...Heck, the original design I used as that gave me the idea of this didn't even have a bolt....just a big hook that hooked under the radius rod!

The beautiful thing is, this design is meant to use all the stock components and will not change my current wheelbase, drive shaft length, spring location, spring length, etc

 

Bump for the late crowd....and for the morning crowd too...

 

Great drawings Clayton.

 

The "shock" is interesting. I assume the washers are softer and "sacrificial" changed often? I'm sure the temptation to use something modern like teflon came and went.

 

Thanks Cactus! Making drawings like this is only way I can put my mind at ease when I get a "bee in my bonnet" about something, plus it helps me work out these designs. Glad you appreciate

The shocks turned out good (will post pictures, just haven't had a chance to take any yet). For the friction "pads", we used rubber conveyor belt material because we had a ton, it is durable as heck and we could cut it with a hole-saw and a drill. It should work great, but it will be an experiment. If it doesn't work, we might experiment with Teflon or perhaps something else....brake lining perhaps?

 

I can totally sympathize with this. I can't draw very well, though, so I tend to make lists or even describe what I want to do in writing.

-Dave

 

I'm a list maker too. Everyday the first thing I do after turning the lights on is make a "To do today" list. Most of the time i'm splitting my time between my projects, (of which there are several) and the out the door stuff. The list goes on a clip board with a sheet of paper to sketch on. Works for me. I also have a scratch pad on the stand next to my bed.

Ron

 

*UPDATE*
Chicago Breakdown

I also had some time in the last few weeks to pull that Chicago apart and go through it. When the motor was pulled out 2 weeks ago, I found some damage to the Chicago Overdrive..in the form of the input shaft bearing retainer which had walked off of it's threads and been rattling around in the void of the rear ball cap for who knows how long. In light of this, I decided to pull the whole gear box apart and go through it:

The Chicago Mark-E Overdrive:


My original paint work had taken a beating, so I thought it was time for a good repaint.....and a color change:




The gear clusters all looked good...Low gear was a bit munched, but that is common in these accessory gearboxes. All bearings are still tight so they will stay:




The only bearing that gives me concern is the rear output shaft bearing, who's race contains a large chip. I will replace this bearing:

Here is the damaged input shaft bearing retainer. The threads have been wiped out on one side, so Chris and I will need to make a new one:


The input shaft bearing retainer as it fits when installed in the input shaft bearing race retainer:


Once I get the new bearing for the output shaft, I will have more pictures of the assembly process.

More to come!

Clayton
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Howdy Clayton,

that trans is really slick!! Did you braze the ends of the teeth on the gear? Syncro of sorts??

As to the shocks.. they look like a neat idea too. I've seen and heard of people using leather for the friction pads. They slide better (sometimes too good) and don't wad up like thin rubber discs tend too.

My time using 'em is they work OK but require more attention, in the form of snugging up the friction bolt.

 

Gary,

It really is a neat little gearbox....and stout as heck! The teeth have not been brazed-up....just some color reflection from the blanket the part were laid out on for the photograph.

Chris and I messed around with quite a few different ideas for a friction pad material for these shocks. I can always switch it out for leather later, but we decided on 1/4" thick rubber disks cut from an old asphalt plant rock conveyor belt.

It plenty thick and stout and it won't wad up.....We had to cut them out with a Hole-saw on a power drill

 

If your shock isn't stiff enough, cut a reardrop shaped plate and drill a hole in the small end and a coresponding hole in the lower arm. Mount this on the outside of the axle mount. You can now add another friction pad for more resistance. Keep the arms as short as possible. Long arms give you more leverage and a softer shock. You probably had this all figured out already but in case you didn't ....

Ron

 

I had seen a setup like this before, but didn't think it would be needed here. These shocks already have two friction joints: at the middle hinge point and where the shocks attach to the axle.

I feel these will be plenty stiff.

 

Here's a pair of shocks I made for my '27. They have the "helper" plate on them.



Ron

 

Thats great! I was thinking maybe I should get a brown homberg with a duck feather in the band to go with my '66 chevy II wagon. Then I can do 'sixties suburban dad".

 

Okay, so I'm kinda visualizing how this works......Do the "helper" plates (seen here pointing opposite the shock arm) bolt to the frame or the axle?

 

On this one it bolts to the base but it could bolt to the arm. The point is to introduce another friction devise in the system. Notice the hole in the arm? You could add another helper to that stack for yet another friction pad. For each additional pad you will need a stiffer spring. My first one used a Chevy valve spring but it was too light. Now I use die springs.

Ron

 

Okay, now that makes sense. I do have double pads at both hinge points, but I won't know until the chassis is done and I can test it.

 

*UPDATE*
I'm actually able to make an "Update"...Hooray!

It has been far too long since I got the chance to make any progress on the T....3 weeks in fact (moving has that effect sometimes), and I was having withdrawals!

Last night I made it out to the shop and had the whole place to myself, so I attacked the most important "starting point" of the build: The Frame.

When I originally built the T, I "added" a few things to the frame that I was never really happy with...it was also one of the first projects I tackled when I started the project 5 years ago...and it showed I had added some extra bracing to the rear end of the frame, mainly because I thought I would need it for the rumble seat and to add some aesthetic frame "horns" at the rear to match the ones I added at the front.

...This did not pan out well and looked awful.

The frame horns on the rear of the car looked really bad, so I cut them off...leaving the rest of the "monstrosity" (from the end of the "turtle deck" forward) still welded to the frame because removal of the body was required to cut it off. I also had some clearance issues in the rear and did some "cutting and hacking" to try and solve them. So needless to say....that was left to "haunt" me...

..until now

Since I had planned to do a major rebuild and was forced to pull the body to remove and replace engines anyway, I decided to strip it down to the bare frame and "right the wrongs" I had made the first time around. I started with cutting off all the "crap" that I had welded on.

This photo shows the rear end of the frame in it's original configuration with the added "support" frame still in place:


After removing the "crap"....I set about repairing the butchered rear cross member ends. I had made a major (and rather nasty) weld joint right on top of them and had "hacked" on them with the plasma cutter, butchering them pretty good before finally removing them. I had kept the originals that I cut off and had an earlier cross member ends to use as replacements. Sadly, the earlier ends were too narrow, so I decided to use them to patch and rebuild the original ends.

After much cutting, welding, grinding and shaping I had the had the rear cross member rebuilt and looking almost as good as new!

Here is my handy work:







This photo shows the damage I did to the lower portion of the cross member ends compared to the newly repaired ends.




I also noticed that the front frame horn on the RH side was considerably lower than the LH side...so I cut, re-adjusted and re-welded it back in place correctly at the same level as the other. Placed a Level between them and the bubble was perfect



The almost finished frame


I still have much more to do: Front and rear shock mounts, new cross member "amidships" to help support the Chicago O.D. and a few other small cleanup and repair jobs, but I don't mind because I'm doing it right this time...the way I should have and always wanted to.

More to come, stay tuned!
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The drawings are great and I love your thinking process on rebuilding this frame the way you want to. To me, this is one of the most iconic Model T's yet and it seems like there are more and more gow jobs showing up. I think you're partially to blame for this.

Keep up the good work.

 

Thank you kindly The way I see it, I'm not doing it just because I can....I'm doing it because it needs to be done. It looks like crap and I'm fixin' it! I know so much more now then I did then and want to put that knowledge to use. I also want this to be the last time I go through this chassis...this one last time, because I'm ready to finish the T and move on to another project.

"one of the most iconic Model T's yet"? I don't know about that...there are many Model T's out there far more iconic then mine, but that is certainly one of the nicest compliments I have ever received on this car.

..It certain has built itself quite the reputation though

There are quite a few "gowjobs" popping up these days, but I can't claim full responsibility lol! I know that my T has inspired a few other builds, but there a quite a few other good lookin' "gowjobs" (Brent's, Gary's, etc) that have done there fair share as well....but If I helped "bring back the gow" then I am happy to have done my part

 

Nice work on the rear xmember. I looked high and low for one when I did my chassis. Wouldn't ya know it, two showed up after the chassis was done and a third one was found at a swap a month ago. Oh well.

Ron

 

Thanks Ron!

That is always the way it happens Same thing has happened to me plenty of times.

 

Don't sell the influence of your car short, Clayton. We all drooled over that old, 1952 Bonneville picture of Multy's roadster for the longest time, but yours is the first gow-job T to really show up on the scene in the present day. I think it would be fair to say you've had a big influence on the subsequent builds, and I'm sure the R&C coverage has done even more to influence people.

Traditional rodding started out really focused on the 1946-62 time period. Now it seems like lots of guys are moving into the early '70s, but I like to think that there's also a group moving into the prewar time period as well, and I think your car is a factor in helping people remember that the old bit about "returning GIs were trying to copy European sports cars" is a myth. Hot rodding was alive and well in this country as early as the teens.

-Dave

 

I don't think I will argue with ya there

The entire "gowjob" style really seemed to fade out by the early 1940's and since the appearance of Multi's T at Bonneville from '49 to '52...there really haven't been any cars of that style in 50 years or more. At the time I built my T, there were only perhaps 5 or 6 prominent examples, and most were original survives. I think my car was one of the first of this style to be built in decades.

You are correct, with vintage hot rodding, most prefer and focus on the "golden era of hot rodding" 1946 - '51 and even as late as 1962. Those who dive into the Pre-war era seem to stay within the 1937 - 1941 period...but don't really go earlier, probably because of the existence of the Flathead V8, Juice brakes and a vast abundance of speed accessories and hop-up tech that was a vastly growing industry at that time. Nobody seems to venture back to the beginning much....the "birth of Hot Rodding" or the "Forgotten Era" as I call it 1920 - 1935 because the cars were more frail, poor brakes, speed equipment is hard to find and there isn't as much info. That however, is what I find the most fascinating and the biggest challenge....Making it all "work" the way they used to with what ever they had or could find. At that time 1929...1930...1931 this kind of car was unlike anything else on the street by a long shot and began that love affair with what we now call the "Hot Rod"

It is a period that has truly been forgotten and it seems that now it may finally be making it's comeback. If I was even part of it's return or the inspiration for these similar builds, I am truly flattered and honored.

 

Nice work