Projects The 100 Day Waltz to LSRU - Model A Roadster Thrash!

Many of you followed along as I attempted to build a hot rod, starting in my mom's garage almost 6 years ago. I was a 22 year old kid who had a MIG welder, a drill press, air compressor, hand tools, and perhaps too much ambition.

Well, that last part is probably still true, but over the last 6 years, I've gone from graduating from college, moving to Arlington, living there for two years, to moving to Austin almost 4 months ago to start working at Austin Speed Shop. In the middle of all that, I worked on what began as a coupster, and is now a genuine roadster, whenever I could.. On and off.

Moving to Austin, the first couple months were rough as I was looking for stable ground. And after that happened, Eric discussed with the owners of ASS and presented me with the challenge of getting my roadster driving in time for LSRU. Well, pressured me into it is more like it, and I couldn't be more appreciative of that! I feel as if the quality of the build has already improved considerably since I began working at Austin Speed than it would have ever in my own garage at home. When I moved my roadster from storage to the shop to start thrashing, I had about 100 days left. I've been using the hashtag #100DaysToLSRU on Instagram whenever I post a teaser or update. You can also follow me at @thenelsongarage on Instagram.

Here's a quick run-down of parts the roadster is using:

Model A frame and front spring
1929 Model A roadster body
1934 axle dropped 4"
1934 wishbone split using CTaulbert's bungs with A tie rods
Squareback spindles
Buick drums with Ford brakes*
1940 Ford 16" wheels all around
5.50s up front, 7.50s out back.
1951 F1 steering box
1948 banjo rear with factory 3.54s, brakes, torque tube, and driveshaft
1926 Model T rear spring
1937 Ford center X-member
1957 Chevy 283*
Weiand WC4D 4x2 intake
Old Hedman 4-into-2 headers
1939 Ford 3-speed*

* = (will elaborate on this later)

There won't be a lot of body modifications.. Mainly interior stuff and perhaps a chopped windshield. The body will be left as found. The frame was upswept in the front and Z'ed in the back to get the stance I wanted.

I want to thank Joyo, Cory, and Dr. Dan for letting me not only work at Austin Speed Shop, but also let me take up precious space just so I can finish my own personal hot rod. If you're in town, you're welcome to drop by any time and see it in person! It will be in various stages of construction.

If you want to go over the old thread, here is the link. Some of the pictures have been lost.. Typical of PhotoBucket.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/project-mattitude-the-beginning.594849/

Here are a few "mock-up" pictures before the thrash officially began.







My immensely talented photographer friend, Jared Kopecky (@JJK) came by and took a few shots for me before I tore it apart. I was able to coax him into sending me a few shots to send in with registration for the Round-Up.





A lot has happened since I moved the roadster to the shop. I'll post up some updates over the next few days and try to get everyone caught up from the last time I updated in the old thread..

Thanks for looking, y'all!!

 

Looks good so far.283s are great fun in a light car like that!

 

Go man, go!

 

Living the dream buddy!

 

Hell yeah!

 

Awesome man. Can't wait to see that thing in person at the show!

 

Went to their shop back in September for Ron covell's class, awesome shop, even cooler dudes.

Good luck!

 

Looks good. Sounds like the first shop I worked in in Waco a bit. Work on customer rigs all day and after hours work on your hot rod for a few hours.

 

Cool! I've been following your old thread since the beginning and am looking forward to seeing it completed.

 

Looking good man! Are you gonna chop the windshield this time around?

 

I'm glad you are back at it and have friends helping and pushing. This was the year I wanted my roadster to be ready for LSRU but …….. I'm sure you will make it and the car will be well built.

 

Go man go!

 

Great project. Cool roadster.

 

Can't wait to see it at roundup man! It'll be here before you know it. Can I call first in line for rides?!

 

Cool - keep on posting

 

I'm excited for you man!!! I can't wait to see it at the Roundup. You're living the dream!

 

ITS going look good went its DONE have FUN

 

Go Matt go! Going to be awesome

 

I'm happy for ya, Matthew! It's very cool to see this coming together. Looking forward to following along and I'll see you in April.

(By the way, I still have those subrail pieces laying around if you need them. Never did get around to drilling the rivets to separate them, but I can get after it if you want them.)

 

GO GO GO!!!!

 

Where are the updates? This thread needs pictures and progress!

 

It's been a long journey... and it'll be a thrill to see you drive into LSR..

 

The first thing I did was check some of my previous work and see if there was anything else I needed to take care of before the frame got sent off to get sandblasted. I also blasted then redid the torque tube to eliminate the center bearing and add a little more length as the wheels were a little too forward in the quarters.







Then I heated and bent the tabs on the radius rods to sit flush against the torque tube mount and finished welding up the radius rod mounts on the axle.. Painfully slowly as to not warp it.




Then I blew it all apart and sent the frame off to get sandblasted so I could finish welding it up. And fix some pretty unsightly MIG welds. Eric gave me some lessons on TIG welding and I welded together an argon tank rack for the shop for practice before anything else. They say I picked it up fairly quickly.. As soon as the frame got back from the blaster, I got to work sectioning the X-member legs to blend in with the skinnier A rails..

The water-cooled welder was my temporary replacement while I waited on new gas lenses to come for my regular welder. I accidentally stabbed it when I went to put the newly ground tungsten in. Oops.










I started on the front legs and finishing up the boxing plates. I still need to box in where I took the old center crossmember out, do the other front leg, and do the corners on three of them. Once the bottom end is all done, I'll flip it over and weld up the rest from the top. All that's left after that is doing the rear rails where the crossmember is, body mounts, and shock mounts then I can paint the frame.

 

Dig it! The frame is coming together nicely.

 

So happy for you man!

 

Shit man you're setting it to kill! Everything looks so great. What a waste of time College was.... hahahaa!!!

 

Hey, everyone needs student loan debt for the rest of their lives, that they can then ignore and use the money to build hot rods.

 

Haha! You guys crack me up..

So, some of you guys may have saw that I'm building RoadFarmer's '47 Ford sedan here at work. He's upgrading a lot of it..

Which means parts from that car is getting taken off..

So I talked to Steven and made a deal. All 4 brakes will be used on my roadster. This was a perfectly good driving car so there's no need to rebuild them. They're 12" brakes so I will be able to use my Buick drums on them as well! I have a whole set of F250 backing plates that I bought for this roadster, but the plan is to get this driving ASAP. So these brakes will work great until later when I'm ready to upgrade the front ones to F250 plates.

Steven also wanted to replace the 3-speed transmission with a T5, so I was able to nab that up. While the frame was out getting sandblasted, I went ahead and blasted/primed a 78 case so I could transfer the gears in there. I also test sprayed the inside of the transmission face with a can marked "Universal Gold" to see if I liked it.. The drivetrain will be that color. If I have time before the show, I might throw the wheels in the blaster and paint them the same color..








I haven't pulled the transmission out from under the work bench to paint gold because I was waiting on gaskets to get here from Mac's. They arrived last Friday so maybe I'll get that done sometime this week if I can get all the welding done on the bottom of the frame and flip it over. I also ordered this spring-loaded locking thingamajig off eBay that Eric told me about. He uses it in his T roadster and says it improves the shifter a lot. I'll have to get that done too..

I also got the gaskets I need to finish the rear end, steering box, and pedal bushings. Enough work to keep me busy for a while.




While the frame was out, I also went ahead and wire-wheeled and sanded down the old paint on the rear axle and painted it along with the torque tube and one of the radius rods. Then I ran out of paint.. After I get Bob Wilson to respline my shortened driveshaft and do my Buick drum to Ford hub conversion, I think the whole suspension is done minus the shock mounts up front. I shortened one of the shock mounts on the axle as well.






Rear shock mounts..

 

I have to give serious props to @RoadFarmer for letting me use the take-offs from his '47. He's a great guy!

Thank you, Steven!