so i've been collecting parts

Rick what a great collection of parts for a neat roadster. Can't wait to see at Charlie Horse.

Jim

 

tell us more about those landrover trailing arms, o'all length, years ?

 

i had to remove brackets and things that previous owners had welded to the various parts. the pieces are piling up.


this was the old pitman arm from the bmw box. i cut the splined piece from the arm and asked a friend to turn it down on his lathe so that it just fits inside a length of tubing.


what's left of the pitman arm will be welded inside the tubing. the tubing has just large enough of an inside diameter so that the socket to tighten the nut will fit though.


i'll add more pics of this later. i need to weld a piece of 3/8's to the tubing after i taper it and add a dogleg bend to it. i first need to determine how long it needs to be. here's a reproduction of a 40 ford wheel i plan to use.

 

i also removed the spring mounts from the banjo rearend. it's from a 46 ford truck so it came with open drive. it had some pete & jakes(i think) spring hanger brackets to use a 40 ford spring mounted behind the axle. i wanted a model A style spring over the axle.


i found some bitchen wheels for the rear.

 

i'm only kidding about those wheels. they are left over from my sand drag and dune running days. i did get the other three kelseys sandblasted and in primer.


and i sandblasted the headlight mounts i got off continental john at hotrod chassis's spring swap meet.

 

i partially boxed the frame rails in order to weld in some motor mounts. i have to use a front mount because of the fenton exhaust i chose to run. so bolted the muncie to an old truck bellhousing with mid mounts and stuck it in place.




i have about an inch between the firewall and distributor and am very pleased with the clearence between the exhaust and frame rail. i'm shooting for around 6 inches between the ground and the pan. so far things are looking good. it even looks like i have enough clearence to run a hood. even the shifter location is good.

 

Lookin' bueno.

 

i plan to mimic the hurst motor mount when fabbing up the midmounts. i don't know how well i'll like them. just a thought. i started by cutting some heavy duty 3 inch washers from 1/4 inch plate. i'll weld these to the x member for the rubber biscuits to rest on.





once the 283/4 speed is mounted to the frame i will determine my driveline angles. i can then set my pinion angle and get my spring hangers welded to the axle. i'm using 46-48 front bones as trailing arms. i'll get them tacked in place and study them.

i know where the radiator will sit and i have to move the front crossmember. i haven't decided if i'll run the more traditional spring over front suspension or spring behind the axle. ride heighth will sort of dictate that. i 'm shooting for a 105 inch wheelbase. we shall see.

once the front end is under the car, i can finish work on the bmw cowl steering. i'll post some more pics in about a month.

 

You got me going with those aluminum wheels.. Haha.

Other than those aluminum wheels, I'm liking everything that you've been toying around with. Are those Fenton manifolds the real deal?

 

repops

 

there's a ton of little stuff to do. like the hurst mount is a tad bit too wide. i'm going to take about an inch and a quarter off each side and slick it up some. it's the little things. now that this season of glee has ended, i can spend more time in the garage.

 

Looking great Rick!!!

 

i got a couple small things done. it's been too hot to work out in the garage. my kelseys are getting painted gloss black at the moment.
i finished up my mid-mounts. i tried to mimic the hurst motor plate,





the ends on the stock model A springs have the corners nipped off, they look very angular. i rounded them off and beveled them slightly on the bottom so they won't dig into the leaf underneath when they slide against each other, then gave them a coat of paint.
stock leaf before i rounded the corners.


and after


assembled

 

i went ahead and chopped the windshield stanchions. i came up with the idea of a brass plug to help hold the pieces together and keep weld out of the hole the windshield stud goes through.

 

Love the look of the Fenton headers.

 

i had to weld the spring perches on top of the axle. i needed to find the center and then measure out 24 1/4 inches so that the hangers would be 48 1/2 inches apart.

first thing i did was get the axle up on jackstands and set up my pinion angle. i C clamped the drum to the backing plate to keep the drums from turning. i then drilled 1/2 inch holes in some angle iron to bolt to a wheel stud. i layed some 1 1/2 inch square tubing across the top and C clamped it to the angle iron after i squared everything up.
the angle iron represents the wheel mounting surface so measuring across and dividing by two found the center. i then marked the tubing on top where the center of the spring hanger should be but how do i transfer that line down to the axle? i can drop a plumb line and have someone hold it while i tack it in place. that could burn a few fingers and blind a thousand eyes. no, there had to be a better way.

i modified one of my speed squares. i had to nip the corner off and drill a 3/4 inch hole in it, but it worked out great. it keeps the spring hanger perpendicular to the axle and by drilling the hole 3/4 inch of the end, it made it easy to line up with my mark on the tubing. it made it a one man job. ingenius, i know.

 

Rick, thanks for posting your progress. It's nice to see it coming along

 

thanks jack, i was going to pm to let you know i've updated.

 

i cleaned up the front bones. no speedway 11/16 tierod ends for me. these nos ends are for a 1 1/2 ton truck and are 3/4 inch. what's cool is they have the ford script and USA on them. i really dig the hell out of them.



i have the same size rod ends for the rear bones, unfortunately they're aftermarket and not ford so they don't have the ford script. my rear bones will run along side the frame and mount to the side. a friend of mine turned me some bungs with the required 7 degree taper and then turned a 1/4 inch shoulder on them to fit into one inch holes i drilled into the diamond shaped mounts i cut out of 1/4 inch plate. these will be the front mounts for the rear bones.


then my new best friend, steve at gary bridge and iron tig welded them for me.


i have plans drawn up for mounts for the rear bones to the axle. i'll get my kelseys back from paint and order my stones from coker. go hamb alliance. i have to clearence my spindles a tad to clear the lincoln brakes and then i'll assemble the front end. hopefully it will be a roller by mid august and i'll get some pics of it outside. see ya next month.

 

i decided on the 46-48 front bones to use to locate my rearend. i added gussets to tie in the forged ends to the tubing. i also fabbed up these mounts to attach the bones to the axle. hopefully they'll hold up.




i got my kelseys back in paint and ordered my firestones, they look awesome. 7.50's and 6.00's.

 

swiss cheese. i drilled a few one inch holes in the crossmember and then welded the spring perch on. i bobbed the frame and capped the ends.

 

I love it Rick! HRP

 

VOILA (that's french for wa-la) i now have a roller.

 

killer

 

i'll take a week off, have fun at the iron invasion, maybe fireup the panhead, then get back to work on it.

i need some dropped steering arms and a tierod on it to make it a little more manueverable when i push it around. get the radiator and grill mounted, headlights and shocks. i picked up some houdaille shocks but it doesn't look like there's enough room to use them up front.

then i'll move back to the body and fab up some body mounts. six ought to be enough. the stock seat riser is still intact. i have plans to mount the battery under the seat. half under the floor and half above it, but it will be totally enclosed in a box. i'm using .095 for the floors. i know it's overkill but i won't have to bother with bead rolling it and it should really stiffen the cab up some.

i'll add bracing and stiffen up the cowl for the bmw box i'm using for cowl steering. i'll mount my pedals and master cylinder and make sure it all works and is comfortable with the steering box behind the dash too. i'm still thinking about the dash.

hopefully sometime around december/january, i'll blow it all apart, clean up the frame, finish welding what i couldn't get to and prepare it for final assemble in the spring. i'll freshen up the 283, plumb the brakes and get the rolling chassis squared away before i turn my attention to the body.

i'm leaning towards a glossy copper color for the body with the frame and drivetrain in satin black. i'll keep everybody informed when i have updates.

 

Lookin good Rick. Good to see it taking shape

 

Wow. The stance and proportions are bitchin!

 

Looks great Rick and with the week off your going to finish her and drive her to the iron invasion right?!!

 

thanks, i very happy with the stance. i had visions when i started this build on how i wanted it to look. there's room for the radiator and grill shell between the fan and crossmember. i mocked the front axle up underneath the crossmember but the frame ended up sitting about three inches higher in the front. it would have had a 97 inch wheelbase.
to bring the front down three inches, i had to mount it out front of the crossmember. it added another five inches to the wheelbase but it gave me the stance i wanted. it's close to stock model A measurements now. i figure the new spring under the front might settle a little bit, the rear is vintage model A and i hope it's done with all the settling it's going to do.
i have just a tad bit under six inches of ground clearence under the oil pan. so yeah, i'm very pleased with how it turned out.

 

Looks very good Rick. But I think the new season of Glee is on so may be progress will slow Thanks for the up date. I hope to get started on my J soon.

Jim