Well its been about a year since I posted photos of the tub. I thought I'd provide an update. Gave her a face.
Fitting body to chassis - made body shims out of white ash per Matt's suggestion. Shims are thick because of the up-swept rail stampings. Not Jordan Graham thick... but thick-er than normal nonetheless.
Seeing this build for the first time. Excellent work and great ideas! Making rails and dropping axles yourself is hardcore! Hat's off to you!
Just having a bit of HAMB upload troubles. Some ladies find that smell right up there with Obsession!! Don't complaint too soon.
Chassis at work to get half of the safety inspection completed. Apparently the second half couldn't be completed without the body on. Structural integrity without the body? Guess it makes sense.
Some prep work for the radiator. Earlier I posted a couple of photos of the bottom tank I made up. These pics show the 1/8" bottom plate that was pre-soldered prior before attaching to the tank. I welded some brackets to the bottom plate to hold the horn and a junction block. I don't have a photo but I made a filler panel that fastens to the bottom of the rad to cover the underpinnings so they are not visible through the grill.
As you know, this tub started out as a sedan, and needed some TLC to get it to stand up straight. the original deal I made did not include metal work but I just felt it needed some help. I used a tipping die and a roller skate wheel in my bead roller to make caps for the quarters and doors - and kept going into the dash. It was a bit rough but I was flying through this thing to get it done for Victoria in July.
Stole a bodyman from work for a few Saturdays to smooth out the rear of this thing after I completed the metal work. Not long after mind you - I always stayed at least 4 inches ahead of him
Car was hit pretty hard on the RH rear corner. The damage was obvious but it wasn't until much later that I found it was pushed in about 3/8"... which I couldn't live with. I actually discovered it making the rear bumper mounts.
Speaking of the bumper... this rear bumper was fabricated by a teenager in the late '50s in Victoria BC. It was installed on a '32 3 window coupe. This coupe is displayed in the current issue of The Rodder's Journal, in a half page photo in an article about Vancouver Island hot rodding in the 50's and 60's. Car is now owned by John Foxley and was featured In the current Canadian Hot Rods. World famous bumper - ha ha ha. This photo shows the mock-up - the tail lamps are not really googly-eyed!
Windshield posts are stock roadster with about a 4 inch chop and leaned way back. tough time grafting them in but worked ok. I'm very slow with some stuff. The windshield frame was round tube that had channel grafted in (1/2 X 1" ripped up the middle). I bought a Harbour Freight tubing roller specifically to make roadster windshield frames. Worked way better than I expected. I used it to true the parts of the frame that were supposed to be straight. Simple tool that worked great.
I wanted to make a bulkhead behind the front seat out of tubing but wanted something to snap a tonneau to. Kind of looks like a kitchen sink but wth hey?
Top 5" of doors were supposed to mimic the dash but kind of took on a life of their own. there was a gap that needed to be filled right behind the windshield posts that took some thought.
Here's a photo of an in-the-process quarter panel cap. I could have done these in three pieces but I thought it would lose the "pillowed" look of a stamped piece. The roller skate wheel causes a lot of distortion to the piece as it is being formed. it bannanas it, which is easily corrected with a shrinker - but it also distorts it in the direction of the outside of the curve (bows it outward). I screwed with patterns (3/8' plywood for plasma cutter to cut out blanks) trying to get it bang on but it is totally futile. I just corrected the lines by shrinking the tops with a series of heat spots using a stud gun - then a shrinker for the flange. pain in the rear.
After more 3:00 am nights than I care to (or can) remember, we made it to Deuce Days at Victoria's inner harbour. Thrashed until 10:00 the night before, took it for a quick test drive and loaded it on the trailer. Got into Victoria at 1:15 am. Up at 5:00 (pretty shaky), unloaded it and drove it into the show. This little get-together (1100 registered rods, more than 600 of which were 32 Fords) happens every three years only. Since I missed 2007 by a month with my roadster, and 2010 cause I took the roadster apart to install a Chrysler, and 2013 cause I never got it back together, it was gratifying to field a car at this venue. There was even some other traditional cars there. If I had my sh*t together I would have parked among them.
I will post more photos as it progresses. I will be making a tonneau out of 18 oz. canvas, for the rear this weekend which will smarten it up a bit. seat gets a blanket for now.
I need to make one more post. Something I learned about using side steer and stock suspension components, be careful how much castor you dial into the front end. Simple yes, but I learned the hard way with this one. I set the castor to about 9 degrees in my roadster (the workbench in behind) with home made DOM hairpins and a Vega box - 1/8" of toe-in. Steered straight as an arrow at all speeds - awesome. Did same thing to this car but had to spend a lot of time on the wishbone to match the castor of the front cross member and then mount the yoke accordingly. Too much castor for this setup. I took it for a drive and she develops "epic" death wobble at 15 mph. Super common on worn out sh*t but not so much on a new setup. Even the F100 box is as tight as they get. However, I attached a steering damper and she seems to be okay. I could handle it but it could scare the crap out of the best of them. The damper is my answer to this problem only because of the extent I would have to go to adjust the castor. Swivel spring perches would work but I would have to cut the wishbone all to rat sh*t. No thanks - summer is almost over!
I love my Tub built out of a Tudor, a lot more roomier than a roadster. When it was built Steve put a brace between the side panels so they would not bow out at the top, I have attached a picture of it. Yours is looking great, thanks for the ride
Awesome build! My hat's off to you. You got skills! Always had a idea of someday building a tub out of the leftovers from the restoration I did on my old man's Chrysler. You got me jazzed now. Where abouts was it at Deuce Days I'm kinda bummed I missed it there.
I think the best projects are the ones built out of cast-offs. I've got enuf stuff to build a roadster pickup cab from a tub with a shortened model A box. Kinda like an Ala Kart deal but as a highboy. Yup... on 32 rails I was parked on Belleville about a block west of the Days Inn. It was a good spot to drive a car into the show that didn't even have a VIN! A block from my hotel and truck/trailer.
Actually I think Matt's worried more about air pollution than you keeping up with traffic. My engine makes this car look like a Welderup project... cept its blow-by pouring out of the top of the engine, not diesel exhaust.
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