Hot Rods The "Whatever" project

Finally some progress. Got the rear shock mounts fabricated and tacked in place. I don't know how some of you guys manage so much work in 1/10 or less time that it takes me to do something relatively simple. Stamp collecting is looking better every day! So pictures first:

So if a picture is worth a thousand words, here's 3000 that show just how much of a slacker I really am.

The 1st picture shows the overall rear with the mounts in place. The 2nd and 3rd show the left side and the right side a little closer. The left side is easier to see what I figured out for the mounts.

The horizontal tube slides thru the sleeves welded into the frame rails. The diagonal brace welds to the underside of the upper shock mounting point. The lower end is captured between 2 tabs to resist the rotation and bending of the horizontal tube. By pulling a couple of bolts the whole assembly will slide out of the sleeves in the frame, and I only will have to drill 1 hole each side of the turtle deck to clear the horizontal tube. No big ugly slots, excess cutting and weakening the turtle deck. I estimated loads and torques and did some sums and cyphers to calculate loads and stresses, and feel comfortable with what I came up with.

Currently I plan on using some Carerra coilovers with poly bushed eyes, but may change to Konis with spherical bearing eyes, so the reason why the shock eyes are in single shear (Not preferable, but necessary in this case). The width of the eyes is different by about 3/4 inch. And yes the diagonal tube clears the tops of the shocks, its an illusion that they hit.

 

Keep plugging away at it !

 

Dave , are you going to Capital Area Rods tomorrow ?
We are meeting at Ballard Road Stewart’s at 7:30.
Stretch

 

Dave, you have some nice fits on the weld joints, clean looking setup. Gas shocks are a bitch to use during construction, aren't they.

 

Yes they are! I first learned to use load straps of some sort with an OT sporty car, when working on the Konis I used on it. And with coil overs I saw that pvc pipe trick in an old copy of either Stock Car Racing, Open Wheel, or Circle Track at least 30 years ago. Cut the pipe to a set length and adjust it so that when you tie the shock down it ends up at the ride height you are shooting for.

As to the fitups, I paid attention to a master builder's threads, and try to emulate him. That's you Marty. All the ideas and tips I have picked up in just a year of this site have made me try harder to get things right, and do it just once.

 

So here's a question for everyone: could an old Ford transmission to small block Chevy engine adapter then be bolted to a flathead Ford engine (46-48 say) to a GM pattern transmission adapter, and essentially just be a 2-piece Chevy bellhousing?

The flathead to GM transmission adapter I am thinking about would be the one that uses the old Ford throwout shaft assembly, not the GM throwout arm.

My thinking is that the cross shaft could be extended to the frame and thru so that I could mount the clutch pedal (appropriately sized to get the leverage), and a sleeve could be mounted on the shaft that the brake pedal would be attached to. It would certainly make a lot of things more compact.

What does everyone think? I may just try it, as it would only be slightly more expensive than an SFI bellhousing, and I could always just resell the parts if it doesn't work. So letme know what you think. I figure I have 3 or 4 months before I need to move on something like this at the rate I move at.

Thanks guys...

 

Well I'm plaigerizing Marty Strode again! Ordered some 1/8 inch steel bent at 90 degrees for the body mount. Thanks Marty for showing us how you mounted the bodies on your track roadsters. It's simple and elegant, the true sign of superior designs.

Have a new Vega steering box coming, a Borgeson, should be here Wednesday or Thursday. So getting the body and steering mounted will be the next step.

But for now I'm staying in the basement where it's cool and quiet. Stay hydrated everyone...

 

A few days ago, I got to meet Dave and the “ Whatever” project. We had a nice conversation about a neat project.

 

Thanks Stretch! I got to get over there later this week or next. Is your garage air conditioned? Want to adopt me for the summer?

 

No Sir it’s not . Today I never opened the doors .
94 outside, 74 inside. Thick Block Building

 

Damn! 74 sounds like heaven. Well, at least the temperature is dropping today. Which is a good thing as I got the new steering box today, and some steel for (finally) mounting the body. Now to make all this stuff fit and work!

Pictures tomorrow

 

3 or 4 months?! By then it may as well be winter. You've got that S-10 transmission now, right? Clean up the 327, add a bellhousing, custom length driveshaft, vise grip on the steering column and Bob's your uncle, you can tool around town while you figure out angles and forces and the perfect spring ratios depending on whether you've got 1 tub of ice cream in the back or 2.

More Speedy Gonzalez, less Slow-Poke Rodriguez! (Says the guy with a dead OT Beetle in his garage ).

 

Luv th inspiration from Balt.
In retrospect Dave G. I find is a very devoted family man with a lot of responsibility. His off time is in the Garage.
Stretch

 

Test fit the Borgeson Vega steering box and it looks like it should be a good fit up front in a cross steer setup. The steering shaft will clear the engine engine without an interference problem. This is going to help me get my feet to fit inside the body with 3 pedals down there. I'll be using a spare Mini column which has some electrical stuff on it. Hi/low, horn, directionals. Yes it's Lucas Prince of Darkness but I have 3 or 4 spare switch assemblies so I'm good with it. I get a quick release hub in the bargain.

Looked at the body mount that I am plaigerizing Marty Strode's method. You are right Marty, it is such a clean simple way to hang the body. I may use it for the turtle deck as well. I'm thinking that I can use lighter sheet for it, say 1/16th.

Well now back to work on the trailer. I have to get it finished and out of the garage so I have room to work on the Whatever project. Oh and a fun interesting little project project for a friend, a folding sort of shelving unit that will lift and lower so that its out of the way for a nice view from the kitchen. Sort of a vertical version of compact library shelving, kind of...

I'm making sketches and working out a lift concept. Fortunately I have time to put all the pieces in place before I have to make it.

 

Dave, for the turtle deck, I formed and punched some .090 aluminum angles, and had my buddy Leighton laminate them inside. They are held down with 1/4" bolts, and nut certs in the frame. Keep at it !

 

I like it! Good idea that I will plaigerize. Thanks Marty...

 

So progress on the Whatever project has slowed as I needed to shift my limited effort onto rebuilding my 25 year-old custom made trailer. I originally built it to haul an OT Mini to auto-xs and track events. A Mini is 10 feet long and 4 1/2 feet wide. Same as a Sprite or Midget. So to be able to get the Whatever project on it, I needed to upgrade to a 3500 pound capacity axle, and widen the trailer so the whatever would fit.

So here it is semi finished with the new axle and rolling stock, and the widened stuff added as well as the new fenders.

You may remember I mentioned somewhere in the past about being a mechanical engineer. Well when I designed the trailer originally I designed for the future potential of increasing its load capacity, so it's still hell bent for stout enough.

The only thing is I have to get some skinny tires and wheels to get the Whatever project past the fenders. I'm thinking that I can get a couple of big GM spare tire assemblies of the space saving ilk for trailer tires. That is if I'm correct in thinking that the last of the big front engine Impalas have 5x5 bolt patterns.

Also started (well continued) collecting parts for another future project, a late 60's, early 70's style caged but wingless sprintcar. Thanks Don for one of the more difficult older parts to find, a CAE in/out box in excellent condition. Don also connected me to an old buddy of his, Tom, who had an older Edelbrock intake manifold that will be better for the Whatever project with a Holley carburetor than the Hilborns which will end up on the next project.
So I also have a use for the rollcage I made a couple of months ago when I was mind meandering through possible potential car configurations (my college expository writing professor would give extra credits for that sentence...). Picture this cage on a 2 inch diameter round tube frame in the image of a CAE sprintcar or that Unser car shown early in the thread.

Now I just have to go to the garage and get to it...

 

Boy, I go on vacation and look at the progress you make! I'm going to have to tell my boss that I need more time off so that you can stay on this trajectory...

 

Progress? We don' need no steenken progress!

Some more welding on the trailer, some derusting, and then paint and I'm done with the trailer.

Meanwhile the Whatever project is idling... I have worked on the steering box mounting. And I have located u-joints I like to get from the box to the column.

And I sketched out a tubing hoop for under the cowl. It should give a good place to mount the column. And maybe even the pedals. I am contemplating hanging pedals with reverse mounted master cylinders. It might work and give me room for my duck feet.

We'll see. That's next week...

 

So after a trip to the urgent care facility yesterday I'm just taking Tylenol and muscle relaxants and actually listening to the doctor's order; take it easy for a few days and rest the back. So sketching out brackets and the like for the steering box mounting and laying out a cowl support hoop.

Next week back allowing it will be time to get the steering box mounted.

 

I suppose a hot rod isn't much use if you're not healthy enough to enjoy it - rest up and take your time!

 

Okay I don't see that I mentioned it here. I procured an older Edelbrock Torker intake manifold for the 327. How old you ask? It was manufactured with pat. pending cast on it. These came out soon after the original TM1 Tarantulas were produced, as idiots like me were trying to use the TM1s on the street. I bought the first TM1 for a 327 I was putting together in the summer of 1972 and I think it was already patented. So probably 73 or so.

It's headed for a bead blast cabinet and then a paint job of barbeque black paint. This stuff was designed to help get rid of heat in barbeques, or rather even out the heat more precisely.

An engine builder I met in the early 70's, Ernie Lemke, swore by the stuff to help reject heat from the manifold. And though I have always been leery of the second part, painting the lifter valley side, it was also claimed that painting the underside with a high gloss white or silver high temperature paint would also assist in keeping some heat out of the manifold.

In the 80's I was employed at a research firm where our group destroyed stuff in the name of science. I learned about aluminum oxide flame coatings that was used to control heat transfer in some cases. It was very durable in our applications as there was a lot of heat and stress induced movement of the item thus treated. I always thought that it would be a good application on the underside of the manifold.

So now if I can locate a good company near me, I might try it. Or maybe cheap out and use high temperature gloss white paint...

And now I can start working on the smaller engine parts as they are light and I can work on them on the bench. Like rebuilding the 650 Holley my nephew ratrodder gave me. And finally finish the tach drive base for the magneto. And build pedals. And start plaigerizing Marty Strode again for a windshield frame. And so many more small parts that if I'm not stoopid again won't re-irritate the back.

 

Glad to hear you’re back at it! I have really enjoyed your thread.

 

Thanks brEad.

It's amazing what the little things that are needed take to make. The steering box mounting bracket needs spacers so the box will clear the mounting bracket. So I started with a small leftover chunk of heavy wall DOM, 1 inch od x 1/4 inch wall.

Now in a really good shop, I would take it to the horizontal cutoff saw andcut off the 3 pieces needed to the correct length plus a tiny bit. Then chuck each in the real lathe and face off to the same consistent length. Maybe half an hour to get them done.

In my little shop of horrors, I use that small Porta-band saw and stand and using a miter gauge from my table saw, I cut off the 3 pieces needed a good amount longer than necessary so that when I put them in the Craftsman lathe shown way back, I can whittle them down to the right length. Because that thing is so under-capable It takes me a half hour to get 1 done. So 2 or 3 hours later I have them done.

Now I just have to take a break so I don't re-irritate my back. Doodle a little bit on some other stuff, and call it a day. So next day pull out the tig welder fixture up the spacers, tack them on, and finish welding. Total time spent 4 to 5 hours.

So now I have the bracket ready but need to position it on the Whatever project frame. That's a job for another day as I have to get the car up on jack stands all around sitting on the suspension. So maybe I will get the steering box mounted this week. Or maybe not.

Oh well it's the journey not the destination...

 

“it's the journey not the destination”

So many people lose this perspective. Good for you!

 

Not only that but I actually made a little progress this afternoon. Of course I took a step back first.

I was going to post a picture or 2 of the little things that I have been tinkering with. I grabbed the steering box mounting bracket and was about to take a picture of it, but that's when I realized that I welded the spacers on the wrong side of the bracket. So here it is just a wee bit ago, after taking the spacers off, making new ones, and welding them back on the correct side. Oh and you will notice mig welds. Quicker and since hidden by the steering box, good enough.

Like I have said before, Better is the enemy of good enough!

Here's the steering box bolted on. I'll probably bore a hole thru the middle once I know where it's going to be mounted for a good weld.

Speaking of welding, I've been rebuilding my trailer and one of the things I am doing is welding nuts in for bolting down the fenders and deck plates. That's what I was doing a little over a week ago when I was incapacitated by my trick back.

Now the old timers and experienced builders will know this trick, but it's worth showing for our younger builders who may not have seen it before.

I'm using 3/8 button head screws to fasten the deck and fenders on. I welded flange nuts in appropriately sized holes. Just tig around the edge of the nut and viola, threads in relatively thin plate, 1/8 inch for most of the trailer. Here's how I do it. Step drill so that the nut fits but doesn't drop thru. Then drill half way thru with the next step of the step drill. This leaves a nice recess that the nut fits but doesn't drop thru.

I have 21 more to do. Then clean up the trailer and paint it. Finish the wiring and back in business. Then its out of the garage so I have room to work on the Whatever project again...

 

Great write-up, Dave! And your photos are very useful, too. Keep at it - you know if I was closer I'd be over to help on the weekends... maybe someday soon, before you're finished with this and on to the next project.

 

Yes before I get too old and decrepit to go to the garage and get dirty.

It was a good day today. All the welding is done on the trailer. Cleaning and paint next. Should be able to get to it by the end of the weekend. Then lights and wiring, shouldn't take long.

So now at least it's out of the garage so so I have room to work on the Whatever project while the paint dries.

Got a little sidetracked today. Had to get a fresh cylinder of argon and see if the welding supply could rewire my tig gas pedal. I managed to cut the wire enough to see copper on a couple of the little wires in there. They are sending it to their repair shop in Syracuse, so I was going to be without it for a week or two.

Walking around the counter area, I came across a brand new one. I have a Squarewave 175 Lincoln welder, been discontinued for a few years now. I got kidding with the counter guys and said give me a discount and I'll buy it. 30 minutes later after they called the head office I got it for $50 less. So I have a new one and will eventually have the old one once repaired as a spare.

I shouldn't be allowed in stores like that alone...

 

Sometimes do all of you feel like deja vu all over again? I went to do something today on the Whatever project only to realize that I had used up the cylinder of gas on the mig welder. So after a trip to the doctor's office in the morning for my wife, and then lunch, I took another trip to the welding supply. By the time I got back I didn't feel like getting dirty today. I hate days like that...

 

geez, I thought it was only me,