Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

This car from the 2009 Miller meet picture thread might just change the direction of the build. I can't decide if I like the track nose or this nose better.

Also thinking about adding something that looks like real frame rails that would be welded to the spaceframe.

 

Good job man, Once you get concrete on your shape , she'll come together quickly.

You comin up to the streetrod nats this weekend. I'll be there early tomorrow hopin to score some cool crap from the Swap meet.
By the way were do you find all the vintage tin to cut up. Around my parts there is nothing to get and the few that do reside in the yards are too nice to scrounge.

 

The caddy was free. A friend wanted it out of his yard. I saved it for about 5 years before I cut it up.

The jag roof came from a parts car that we bought for the suspension (for next AD truck).


Yep, I'll be there in the 49 flatbed. Say hi if you see me.

 

you french townfyler and cm325 nrrd to get these cars together in one place man these cars are crazy !!!

 

Awesome build thread! I really like the way you use existing body parts to fit what you need. Nice work.

 

I'd be happy just getting it off of the workbench. Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it this weekend.

 

I came to the realization that I need to work out some of the function details before I get too much farther with the form. I need to figure out the mechanics of the front half of the car.
I slid the back end of the car back a couple of feet so that I would have room on the table for the motor. I ended up making a saw horse out of a suzuki samurai roll bar.

IMG_0466 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr


IMG_0465 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr


IMG_0469 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr


IMG_0467 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr

 

Turns out the XK transmission won't work with the bellhousing that I have, front bearing retainer and seal are way different. I pissed away a good bit of time trying to figure out if I could swap input shafts....I finally accepted defeat and decided to use the OD trans. Spent a couple hours getting it clean.

Good news is that I found a new clutch and pressure plate when I pulled the trans.

Bad news is that the engine needs to move rearward a couple of inches to make everything fit in a 100" wheelbase.

Break out the sawsall!


IMG_0472 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr


IMG_0471 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr

I laid the stock jag front suspension on the table to see what 100" looked like. Don't worry, only spindles, hubs and brakes will be used.


IMG_0482 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr

 

wow this is cool!!!

 

Right now there is a tube that goes under the sump in the oil pan, I am going to re-arrange the framework so that I have a hole for the sump/belhousing to fit in and lower the motor a little more. That jag motor is a tall son of a bitch for a little car.

 

I haven't figured out if I am going to make the firewall look like it is recessed or make it look like it has extensions on the lower half for the footwells. Any comments?

 

Due to the height of the jag motor, I may be diching the caddy track nose and go back to the original idea of copying the little blue car....which I have found out, due to the HAMB, is a 1930-ish RALLY.

Here is a different one. I think they are beautiful and the hood line works.

 

I can dig it.

Jeff

 

I say go for it.

 

No pictures to post, but I spent the weekend playing with front end parts. Mostly taking the jag front end apart amd cleaning everything up. Looks like I need to replace lower ball joints on both sides. I also picked up a manual rack and pinion from a Toyota Tercel from Pull-A-Part this morning.

Still sorting out what I want the A-arms to look like.

 

The Miller design for the control arms aligned the arms with the center of the wheels due to the fact that the Miller arms encased the drive axles. Top arm dipped down, the bottom arm dipped up and hid under the top arm.

Since I don't have to work around front drive axles, I am thinking about "dropping" the control arms....lowering the attachment point on the car and the upper control arm would come out flat like miller's design and then bend up the outside end to attach to the spindle. The inside end of the upper arm would also be raised up (inside the bodywork) so that arm geometry would be closer to parallel.

Anybody see a real problem with this idea? ...other than the fact that the upper arm will need to be beefy?


Miller's beautiful engineering.

 

Really like the plan! I'm building something kind of similar right now. I call mine the Tribaker. A 37' Stude boat-tailed speedster, with three wheels, like an old Morgan, and have gone thru some of the same thought processes. I started out from the frame and am working towards the body. I will sure stay tuned to your build!
Thanks for sharing.

 

Subscribed just to watch! Love where it's going and having fun laughing at how you make things work (making a sawhorse out of a Samurai roll bar). Great work so far!

 

I just looked through your sketches and build pics.... pretty neat idea for a car. Good luck with the build.

 

The "camber curve" of the front suspension will be affected by the relative locations of the control arm pivot points, regardless of the shape of the arm itself... If the upper arm mounting location is too low relative to the upper ball joint, the tire will see radical camber change as the suspension travels.

Some Indy cars of the 70s and 80s mounted the upper arm and ball joint down almost at the spindle centerline. This gave the low look you are trying for without a lot of camber gain. The down side is that the lower arm and balljoint were very close to the ground, so you're looking at serious damage if the tire goes flat. I would stay away from putting much angle in the lower control arms, as this will cause a lot of tire side scrub as the suspension travels up and down.

 

All most a month and no Update...

Whacha been up too?

Jeff

 

Stuff other than playing.

I have to tear into the transission on the daily driver next.

Hopefully I will get back to it Thanksgiving weekend.

 

I subscribed as well. This thing is awesome! Way freakin' cool! Can't wait for more updates!

 

Awsome build man! Makes me wanna build one

 

Another idea for IFS

I-beam shaped upper and lower control arms that will mate to the jag spindles and use a "traditional hairpin" as strut rods to control front to back motion.

If the arms were close to equal length and close to parrallel, would a single hairpin live? or should it be two seperate links?

 

You´d need some kind of pivot point where the hairpin meets the axle, or?

 

Who are these guys and what are these cars. Ive only heard them called 1920's and 30's boat tail speedsters. does any one know exactly what they are?? These cars might be the most beautiful machines Ive ever seen!!! I have to know more!!! I've done a little research here and on the www but a lot of stuff i found was in German...HAHA. Pics are nice but I'd like to be able to read and understand what i'm looking at!! Are there any good "english" links, pics, or books to read on cars like this?

P.S.--subscribed and will be watching this cool build!!

 

I can read German if you want a quick translation.

 

Isn´t it a Rally or a Amilcar. Etherway, it looks beutiful.