Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

Everything should work just right then!

 

Looks like there is a pretty good chance that I will get to work on my a-arms this weekend.

Hopefully it will be mostly doing and not as much figuring out what to do.

Two productive days and I should have a rolling chassis.

 

Before I got too carried away, I decided to mark up the second batch of a-arm parts


I started on the angled piece this morning




figure out where to trim


trim


add some back?


transfer new cut lines


weld


grind


admire


grind some more (first arm)


grind some more (get rid of open end wrench shape...oh yeah, I welded on the corner pieces too)






start on the next one...

 

Shouldn't you use metric wrenches with mercedes parts?

 

Just asking, not criticizing: Will those welds be good enough, with the different steels and all? And is that enough strength in the arms themselves? Visually it looks iffy but that's my untrained eye.

 

The arms themselves are beefy as hell. ...the welds look good. Everything was V'd so I got 100% penetration and as much surface are as I could. It should be fine for garage art

 

Well, no rolling chassis this weekend either... The idea I had for making the attachment to the balljoints wasn't going to work. Time for a plan B.

I did do something constructive though.

The last time I moved the car, I did something stupid. To balance it on the chain hoist, I ran the chain around the dash bar and the firewall bar. The leverage pulled the dash bar forward and damaged the frame.


Well I worked on making the frame stronger.

First, I cut out the damage and welded in fresh metal.


Then I came up with a reinforcement plate to spread the load out (more cop car metal)




glued in


seriously glued in

top surface ground down


I still have to do the other side....
Next time, I won't lift the whole car by the dash. Engine and trans are coming out.

 

Hi Flipper, always a sight to see how you're working! pretty unique and you must have a huge amount of imagination!! i saw a lot of cool solutions while you're building this, i'm looking forward to see how this car will come out! this will be a one-of-a-kind car, i'm sure! keep on and thanks for let us watch your build.

Cheers, Carsten

 

This A-arm part of your build is my favorite thus far! Keep up the great work. Thanks.

 

I hope this leads to something more than garage art. I wanna see this thing go down the road. Youve worked too hard not to drive it.

 

This build is awesome! The project is just so unique, it makes me excited! Seems I have a future project on my hands. Great build for sure!

Also, any updates? It seems like it's been a while... Keep on Rollin!

 

The wife had dibs on Easter weekend. Hopefully I will get to work on it this weekend.

 

I worked on figuring out what it will take to get the upper a-arms attached to the frame.

I cut these from a piece of 2x4


so that I could do this


The idea is to mount the mercedes shafts on plates so that the arms can be bolted to the frame. The problem is that the frame is not square with the world...the rails are pinched.

The arms need to be mounted at an angle.


simple enough...in theory


now to make it pretty












make mirror image one too...
.

Next step will be to prep the front rails for the arms.

 

Oh yeah, I'm thinking about doing slots in the a-arm mounts for caster adjustment.

 

Hopefully I will get a chance to play over the holiday weekend.

 

Awesome!

 

Welded up the other a-arm kit





and one of the mounting brackets

 

I have been following since the beginning, I hope to see this on the road someday. Updates?

 

Nope. Nothing to report. I'm waiting for cooler weather.

 

Please bear with me...i'm swapping the pictures over to Flickr from Photobucket. It is going to be a bitch to do, but I'm sick of Photobucket

 

Since I just found this thread today, I now understand why I can't see the last 3 years worth of photos! Guess I can only hope you change them over soon. What little I've seen is awesome!

 

Holy crap, I posted a lot of pics when building this thread! I've swapped out build pics to post 400. The reference pics will be the last things to track down.

 

Cooler weather has arrived! Any updates?

Take care,
Jackson

 

Good question....surely something's been done?

 

Nothing done on Roofus recently, I've been playing with a 41 Dodge/Fargo truck that is apparently not hamb-worthy; the thread was closed.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=805081&highlight=damn+dodge


IMG_6313 by Flipper_1938, on Flickr

 

Bummer, I was diggin' where you was goin'.

 

I'm planning on spending a week at Dad's house during Christmas shutdown. Hopefully I can split my time between Roofus and the Dodge ......and get a little something done on both!

 

Any more progress?

 

Just got done reading through this thread, wow!! I admire your use of salvaged and repurposed materials, hopefully an update will be soon. Can't wait to see more!

Charlie

 

I think I finally figured out an elegant way to mount the a-arms to the ball joints. Next trip to Memphis, I will find out if imagination and reality are all that close.