HA/GR - the HORRIBLE ---Build Thread

[dabirdguy]

I thought I'd start a new thread on the car with Build in the title so youse that search that way can follow along.

In the last installment I had finally gotten the perch pins out.
New perch pins have been ordered.

The rear end is bolted into place and the traction bars have been mounted.

The front springs are cleaned up and painted...ready for use.
Question: How many leafs should I leave out?

Next steps:
Re-attach tranny to engine and get that beast inside the rails.
Find a seat
Cut down Drive shaft

Fun Fun Fun!!!!

Glenn

[Rand Man]

I would use as few as possible. For the roughest estimate; if your race car will weigh half as much as the original car, take out half the leaves.

[alteredpilot]

and take out every other one...not just the top half.

[Ron Golden]

If you get it too springy you may have to have shocks also.

Ron

[Drewfus]

If you get it too springy you may have to have shocks also.

Ron

fit some form of shock absorber, worth the effort, scary at speed without them, plus will assist tech inspection issues (ie required in Oz, unless its rigid of course;):D)

Spring, we used simple (and cheap) trailer springs, with 3 leaves, the unsprung weight really isn't much, as I scaled my front end(under tyres) and found that I had about 120-135kg (from memory) load at each tyres ground contact, so you won't need much....

Cheers,

Drewfus:)

[dabirdguy]

We're all ready set up for shocks!

[dabirdguy]

I had a good weekend for a change.
Things that got done:
I got the flathead between the rails:
http://glennsplace.com/images/DSC05632.JPG

Got dem bones cut, cleaned and primered:
http://glennsplace.com/images/DSC05618.JPG

Got patterns made for all the sheetmetal:
http://glennsplace.com/images/DSC05631.JPG

Good weekend.
More pics here: HA/GR the Horrible (http://www.glennsplace.com/ha_gr.htm)

[QQMOON]

You have been Busy looking good

QQ

[dabirdguy]

HA/GR the Horrible may not make it to the Drags this year.

We had major setbacks again this week.

The front perch needs to be replaced. It is too narrow for the springs I have.
The perch was originally set up for a Model A front end. Since I still do not have 220v. in the garage I have been sending out the heavy welding to a local shop. This will mean loading the car onto the trailer for a day's visit to the welding shop. It still is not a roller, as the front end is in pieces.

I put the seat in the car for the first time. The original seat that was going to be used was from a Catipillar Bulldozer. It looked cool, but it weighed a ton. The seat I have sits much lower. With me sitting in the drivers seat in position, the roll cage is a foot taller than my head. I'm not going to change that now, but it looks dufus and means carrying a lot of extra weight for no reason. Fropm the geometry, I think I can take the foot out of the cage without messing up any work I do with the side panels or the cowl.

Due to the move last winter, I have been uable to find the brakes for the rear. They are coleman discs and I had a heck of a time getting hte pads. the paperwork for reordering them is with the pads so re-order will be another hassle....LOL

These are all small delays but they just keep piling up.

On the plus side, the steering is coming together, IF I can find a coupler for the steering box. I turned a bushing on my drill press for the pivot point, and the geometry is working out nicely. Jim Brinkley (Crossthreads here on the HAMB) came up with the design concept and made some of the pieces for it.

[64 DODGE 440]

I had a good weekend for a change.
Things that got done:
I got the flathead between the rails:
http://glennsplace.com/images/DSC05632.JPG



How much thrust do you figure on getting from the fan?:D

[dabirdguy]

How much thrust do you figure on getting from the fan?:D

OUCH.

Thanks, I NEEDED a good laugh today!!

Glenn

[Nick32vic]

Glenn, loookin good. I was looking at the pics on the site. Your pinion angle looks a little high, or is it just the way the pic was taken?

Hurry up! you can make it to the drags! you got almost a month! haha

[dabirdguy]

Hi Nick!
Seems to me we went to great lenghts to set that at the right angle.
I defer here to the designer, Jim (Blown49).
I think it is just the camera angle.

Had another wasted weekend. The steering arm I bought doesn't fit It is the one from Speedway. The bolt holes for attaching to the backing plate are about 3/8" to 1/2" too close together. I can slot the holes, but I'm afraid it won't be strong enough. I will also need to use some 1" standoffs to move the arm away from the plate so that it will clear the kingpin. I made them up from some 1/4" thick walled tube steel. They should be strong enough with grade 8 bolts in them.

I ran into another problem with the steering design. I need to connect
the steering box out through the side of the car so that I can connect to the front end. The mounts we made for the steering box will work fine and the support for the column will fab easily. The problem I ran into is that I did not account for a means for the rod going out thru the side to connect to the steering box. If I use a coupler it is too thick to work in the tubing structure we built. I may have to weld the bar directly to the steering column output shaft. I don't think that this is a such a good idea.

I bought a sandblaster pot from Harbor Frieght. BIG mistake. Spent half the day Saturday building and re-building the damn thing. It shot about 40 grains of the walnut shells I bought with it. They were clean and dry and flowed nicely thu the hole in the bottom when I emptied it out to rebuild it. Cheeap Chineese crap. It goes back tonight. I need to get my wheels cleaned and painted so I can get tires mounted to start doing the final front end assembly.

I did get a cheap radiator. I bought a tiny radiator at the scrap yard for $10. The local radiator shop S & S Welding and Radiator looked at it and said it might be too expensive to recore. He went upstairs and found a small copper radiator that had 4 fitting holes at the top. He added aa second spout at the bottom and some mounting tabs, and all at a GREAT price. It may look goofy, but that is in keeping with the rest of the car.

I think that this build would go a LOT faster if I had a clue what the hell I was doing.

Glenn

[64 DODGE 440]

I think that this build would go a LOT faster if I had a clue what the hell I was doing.



Why should you be any different than the rest of us?? :D

[blown49]

Glenn, loookin good. I was looking at the pics on the site. Your pinion angle looks a little high, or is it just the way the pic was taken?

Hurry up! you can make it to the drags! you got almost a month! haha

When radius rods frame brackets were welded on, tranny was 3 degrees down and rear axle pinion was 3 degrees up. Don't see how that could have changed except for tranny mount being higher or lower. Jim Brinkley had the pads we originally used for the tranny mount.

Jim

[dabirdguy]

Doooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....
My CRS is running rampant.
PINION angle. Not Caster.
I'm in a front end overload stupor.

Slap me upside the head.

The drive shaft / rear end yokes are ALMOST straight line now with the new tranny mount I fabbed.

There are a couple of pics on the site where the rear end wasn't locked in place, and the front of the casing drooped badly. That has been corrected.

Sorry for the dufus.

Glenn

[dabirdguy]

There are more pictures of the build on the website:
http://www.glennsplace.com/ha_gr.htm

I've run into several issues with the car.

One is the steering arm. The one I bought from Speedway has bolt holes that are about 3/8" too close together:
http://www.glennsplace.com/images/DSCI0050.JPG
(yes, I know that the backing plates are 90 off in the photo.)

I also need to add a 1" shim to get the arm to clear the kingpin.
http://www.glennsplace.com/images/DSCI0071.JPG

Questions:
If I slot the steering arm to fit, with the spacers and grade 8 blots, will it be strong enough?
If I do the slots, should I weld the spaces to the arm to hold the position?

[64 DODGE 440]

I believe that steering arm would fit a Chevy spindle. Don't think that Speedway makes that style for the Ford.

[dabirdguy]

The "Correct" one for this front end is setup for cross-steering. That would mean bending the hell out of the arm.

To get a straigt thru steering setup I've had to improvise.

[64 DODGE 440]

The "Correct" one for this front end is setup for cross-steering. That would mean bending the hell out of the arm.

To get a straigt thru steering setup I've had to improvise.

Actually Speedway has three different styles for drag link steering on Ford spindles. Two are flame cut arms and the cheap one P/N 720-4010 is the old style bent "hoop style" arm for $19.99 in their latest catalog.

[Old6rodder]

The cheap hoop is what I'm running on Cassi, works just fine and looks good enough.

[dabirdguy]

With some help from some friends last night the Front shackle perches now align correctly. It took 4 strong men and a lot of heat, but he bones finally saw things our way. Final front end painting and assembly might occur this weekend. THANKS GUYS!


We made some other major modifications...but those are secret for now!

Another issue rose its head last night. Jim Leis (Blown49) had a wonderful set of zoomies made for the beastie. They are Beeeeeuuuuuuutiful. BUT,They no longer fit as the longer '48 bones place the pivot point smack in the middle of the pipes. More fabbing. Damn. Two steps forward one step back.

Work is progressing. Since we are so close, I may bring the car down to the drags for your viewing pleasure and social commentary, but it won't be runnable.

Glenn