Well I had a chance to get a roadster and took it. Always liked them, but figured I'd never come across one I could afford or one that I could rebuild that I could afford. I had to stretch my budget, and will be learning a lot to get this one on the road, but I am happy to have one at all. At first glance it looked horrible. Resin-soaked carpet for a makeshift firewall, wood glued to the lower edges of the door to make the body line, fibergl*** everywhere.. We don't even want to talk about the subrails. The good side is that it came with a fullsize pickup bed full of new and spare parts. I have complete new subrails, including the front pieces, rear crossbar, and cross pieces. 2 1/2 hoods, 3 front fenders, 2 rear, 2 windshield frames, all the needed patches ,etc.etc.etc. Lots of parts. I don't have any progress pics yet, but I've been working on it and it is better than expected. After pulling, prying, and peeling off fibergl*** mat from every panel, I found out the guy just couldn't weld. The lower edges do need some help, but the body line at the bottom is there in all cases, the guy just couldn't patch the tiny patches it needed so out came the fibergl***, then the bondo, and finally the wood to recreate the bodyline on top of the 1/2 inch of bondo. I have lots of parts to find and collect, but I have a plan. Out of my stash of engines I decided on a '57 pontiac 347 for the power plant. I need to find an edelbrock p-22 or similar 2x4 intake for it so i can use 2 WCFBs or 2 AFBs. The 347 will be warmed up a bit at work, but nothing crazy. Manual trans.. of course. Still need to decide on older 3spd, or laydown the money for the bellhousing needed to run a muncie. Found a '62 corvette T-10 that I am leaning towards. I'm pretty decided on '32 frame, not sure what rear axle yet. More to come as I get more work done, but as you can see I have a few projects going on...
Cool. do you have the stickshift parts for the pontiac? if you can find a 59 or 60 bellhousing that t-10 will bolt right up. very cool project im balls deep in in somthing similar just with a channeled car...those pontiacs take up alot of room.
small update. Been working quite a bit on it. Cut the gas tankup and left the "dash" area. Not sure what I am using for a dash yet so I wanted to leave my options open. I decided to break this thing down to the bare essentials to get everything painted and rust free. I started with the cowl and removed the cowl side panels. I'll clean up the posts, and braces and get them painted, then reinstall the panels.
keep the updates coming. like so many more here. too many projects not enough time.3 times I cleaned house down to one project. last time was 5 years ago. have 4 project agian.we never learn.
picked up a '40 frame to get the x-member. I'll graft it in with the '32 rails. the engine planned so far is an improved pontiac 347, but I have been thinking recently about a hemi. I have a desoto 271, dodge 241, and chrysler 331, but... eveyone has a hemi right? pretty sure I'll stick to the pontiac, I've got a mallory rev-pol distributor, edelbrock p-22 2x4 and a few other speed parts for it so far. Been looking at enlarging the valves, but the short stem length on 347s makes it hard to adapt anything. We're moving to a huge shop in the next month or so. After that I'll have tons of room to work on the car. Right now it is a bit cramped in the garage.
Welcome to the 1930 Ford Roadster Owners Groupe! Mine is in the same condition, I have new full cowl panels from Brookville, and original sub rails from 3 different bodies. My advice would be get the cowl blasted, primed and new tin attached then ***emble the rest of the body. Having a stock a ch***is would be a big help aligning things befor you cut away things for the '32 ch***is. Keep the updates posted.
Yup, '72 Formula.. another project collecting dust. I do have the original frame which is in good shape. Since I have to ***emble the repro subrails I planned on building it back stock, like you guys suggested, then once it is a complete solid body doing what I need for the '32 frame swap.
The Jalopy Journal
