Hot Rods Thunderbirdesq Builds a Roadster!

nice build way to go..

 

Andy...that ****er is gonna be sweet...diggin the dash and all of the little touches...might have to give ya a discount on your tee shirts to help fund this project...wait a minute I need to finish mine...like I was saying there will be a slight price increase on your tee shirts...way to go Andy it's gonna look killer on the salt!

 

Andy, that dash looks real nice and so does the heads. I guess it was worth hauling from end of Hershey to the other!

 

Your so tall and dreamy..........

good looking car too.

 

Thanks dudes! Ken we're gonna be talking real soon, I'm about out of a few sizes here and I want to get some girls' tees too. I'll PM ya in few days...

Yep, thanks John!

Got that right! I'm downright hot, even!

I got my steering box fit up and ready to be installed, pics and details coming tomorrow...

 

great hot rod

 

dude i tore my garage apart and cant find that other headlight ring...i know its around i have like 2 of everything else for the headlights but that...ill keep looking and get it to you when i find it

 

Holy **** man! That is kick ***! Beautiful!

 

Sounds good Andy...I'll trade ya for the roadster project!

 

Haha, that would be a rather LARGE quan***y of shirts!

 

Holy ****, that looks great! When did you start ***embling the car? I might have missed that, if you mentioned it already. Great overall job!

This gives me motivation to get my wagon going - I've been sitting around, ignoring that car for too long!

 

Okay... For some reason, my camera decided to corrupt all the pics except one that I took of making the new steering flange and getting the column set at the right angle. I thought about using the tapered shim, but I figured I could just make the box fit the frame and it would be cheaper, quicker than waiting for the mailman to deliver the shim, and the outcome would be nicer too. Plus it would buy me another fraction of an inch between the engine and box, every little bit is needed there for exhaust routing die to the stock wishbone. Basically, I cut the stock mounting flange off an F1 box and made another slightly smaller flange from 3/8" plate. I cooked the box with the torch until it stopped smoking and wirewheeled the weld area. I ground a healthy bevel in both sides of the large hole of the new flange, made sure the body was in the right spot, clamped the column in place, clamped the flange to inside of the framerail and tacked it to the box. Then, I heated the box up nice and warm with the torch again and burned the two pieces together nice and HOT from both sides, with three p***es on the outside of the flange. Then, I had to go to work...booo....

 

Very nice start! Keep it up!

 

Okay, I finally got the regulator adaptor I needed to use my new big Ox-Ac tanks. I dropped the steering arms to clear the axle/bones and promptly found out that the new tie rod that came with the car is 2" too short... the rod ends only thread in a few turns before toeing out the tires considerably...WTF... gonna have to fix that now...


I made up a drag link from half an old ford tie rod I had laying around and gusseted up a hairpin arm and bent it to fit and please the eye...


"tweaked" my pitman arm to put the rod end on the inside and keep the draglink from rubbing the tire at full lock. Seems to me I had seen this done on an old dirt track car once only to position it on the outside. I kinda like it...

 

I also modified my header to run over the steering box instead of into it... I figured it would be easier to install that way... I still need to smooth out some welds there...

 

Sap alert! I gotta take a minute here and thank some of the great folks I've met on the hamb... Their generosity is unmatched and I really feel honored to know true Hot Rodders willing to help out a buddy in need... I know it might not seem like a big deal and I might embarr*** them by even mentioning it, but I'm doing it anyway.

After months of searching, and buying several units that weren't even good for cores, ****ster27 hooked me up with a screamin deal on another chrome 97 to top off my engine. He's a good dude and went out of his way to help me out. If you need carbs, induction pieces, air cleaners, kits, whatever... give him your business. Thanks ****!!!


My guitar pickin' pal Mike Collins (mikeco) up and sent me a beautiful headlight bar, thanks man! It'll be perfect (with some gentle m***aging!) No pics yet, I'll cover this when I build the bar/shock mounts...

And last but not least, my fellow WNY hamb buddies, Tony and jrblack30 for hooking me up with these hard-to-find parts for my pedal setup. I got the 32 pedals from Tony(by way of Jim...) Mooch-***-gr***y-*** bro!
I was talking with Jim about how I had to fab a long clutch arm for the 39 trans to work with the 32 Pedals. He walks over to his truck and pulls a BB hog's head out with the long arm attached and says "have at it"... Unbelievable... Thanks Jim...

 

Awesomeness. The chrome 97's look killer dude.

 

Very cool build Andy...

 

I know, right?! haha, just kidding, thanks... Im gonna pull 'em apart a put new kits in them and put matching bases on them this week at some point. I got new stainless hardware on the way from ****ster too. Couple more small pieces and I might try and fire this engine up for the first time...

Thanks Mike! You'll get to see it up close and personal this spring fo sho!

 

damn...

 

looks great man

 

Looking really good Andy...I dig it!

 

OK; I'll bite. What is, 'roadster pinch'?

 

Looks good!

 

Looking good Andy, enjoying your progress...If you have any more of those chrome junkers let me know.

Jerry

 

It usually refers to when you rest your arm on the top of the door and quarter panel, You hit a bump and the gap pinch'es your arm

 

Holy cow this thing is awesome

 

Thanks guys, I'll keep forging ahead!

Thanks, I had been toying with the idea of heading to Jalopyrama, but my daily driver 64 Econoline decided to pop the radiator while traveling in PA last week and I need to get that squared away instead. Bummer... See you at the showdown!

Thanks Jerry, will do! I'll let you know the next time I'm down in PA, I want grab that decklid from ya. Probably like two weeks or so?

Yep! or even worse, bombing a twisty backroad and your door pops open! Without a roof and door top structure, there's very little rigidity to a roadster body. With an unboxed A frame, they're pretty loosey-goosey. With the 32 frame it should be better, but I still want to shore it up a bit without boxing it.

 

Hey Andy, nice little roadster ya got there. I'm gonna haft to oogle that at the showdown, nice work. I need to get back to work on my 40, haven't touched it since the begining of August. later shawn

 

Andy, glad to be able to help. If Jim hadn't gone digging in the dirt neither of us would have ended up with those pedals! I still have the remains of the frame and X member..
The car's looking good man..

Tony