Projects Unearthing a StAr DeStroyer! 1931 Coupe w/394 olds-

Thanks @enloe - it's probably a dumb idea to have so many projects going... but I love them all the same. Can't wait to get this chassis rolling like the other two! Hoping to make some major progress this summer!

 

I got a couple hours with the lathe and started to form up the ladder bars-

I want them long 60's style so approx half the wheel base- but I'm gonna go a little more, hoping to meet the f-1 crossmember and pedals.

From what I've been reading you want to put them at the center of weight so being this car will be front heavy I want to get them a little beyond mid point- these brackets on the chrome axle are where they are, they're only slightly triangulated- so I plan to run big bushings on the ends and the fact they will be long rectangles should keep stresses from lifting one tire to a minimum.

Being they're so long I need to gusset them well-

I was going to zig zag rod in between but now I'm thinking I'll make gussets that match the front hairpins I made.

I made these out of 1" .250 wall dom tubing.

 

Such a rad thread! Read all 14 pages. I, too have an old drag model A that ran a 394 with rear fenders that was a "barn find" here in Indiana from the 60s. Channeled 5" over the frame, no chop. Forgive me if you posted in my thread and I dont remember. Things have changed and the set up will be different than the way "The Rod" was in the 60s so I'll let my hopes live vicariously through yours! I will be following.

 

Made a Jimmy White style ladder bar jig to make them identical-


The sleeves are 1 5/8" OD dom with .187 wall I'll use with 1 1/4 OD bushings-

Started making gussets today to match my hairpins up front.

Kevin Bacon calls it a #streethero


I just need to do a small kick in the back- like 2-3" so I'm gonna keep it pretty simple- I could get away with no kick I think but better to have to go up then down to nail the sweet spot.

 

Nice

 

Common Tuck be honest. Just say you love this car already. She's getting mixed signals. You keep playin with those other two girls. But you save for the StAr DeStroyer your best tender touch.


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Listen... I totally LOVE this thing. I can't stop thinking about it...

I've been obsessed with this frame lately and I keep thinking I'm over thinking it. haha... right now I'm thinking... Maybe no kickup? An uncut no- z'd frame With a reverse eye T spring and a channel, it actually puts the top of the tire to the wheel lip. That's where I want it...

I wish I had more time to work on all of them, but I don't... and my threads move along at a snail pace. I was talking to my wife tonight about it because I was saying there is probably something wrong with me because I can't just work on one car... (I try to imagine the outcome if I could) I have to be juggling them all at once, it's just the way I'm wired. I think part of it is that I never get bored- they're always exciting, another is that it gives me ample time to study each move like a chess game, whereas sometimes if I had acted on my initial reaction it would have the same outcome.... and I wouldn't be as happy with it. Aesthetics... hot rods=sculpture

Someday soon I feel like it'll be similar to knocking over dominos I'll just knock them out one, two and three.

BUT... the coupe, unlike the other two hot rod's, I've wanted this actual car since I was a kid. Unlike the other two, I'm making (not modifying old ford parts) most of the suspension stuff from scratch which is a lot of fun. Unlike the other two, this one actually has a real history as a hot rod in my home town. I really just can't wait to get it rolling and back together as a whole car again. To think it spent my entire life waiting around in rafters for me, hung up there the year I was born.... Think of all the other outcomes... or worse case scenarios.... and then look back at the progress in this thread. It's exciting seeing it come back to life! I can't wait to show the original owner and his brother in law Chuck who's hot rod he was trying to beat.

I try and expose my daughter to as much as I can. A lot of people that I've made friends with that are successful building hot rods grew up with it or had parents that built them too... I think that's awesome.

I want to say it's a balance but a balance would imply things are equal... and that's not the case. This building hot rods thing with a family is a juggling act... some balls are glass the kind you can't drop, some are rubber. The rubber balls you can drop and pick them back up again later... family is a glass ball, building hot rods would be a rubber ball... dropping it and bringing that ball back in has to mesh with the family in a healthy way in order to maintain itself in motion.

When I'm at the shop now I usually have Maple with me. Sometimes she loves it other times she tolerates it but I think its awesome none the less. She's learning to do things with her hands and in the company of her dad. I try and get her to help me with everything I can- and usually, she loves to help. If she can't do something she can oil something or help hold something... most of the time with expressed interest... and usually never without her ear protection! She also knows if something breaks we just bring it to the shop and we can fix it... she hopes... even the dead mice our cat leaves on the front step ;-)

Hopefully, she'll be pulling the wheel stands in this coupe some day...

Thanks for all the positive feedback in this thread guys- sorry for the long winded philosophical response.

Tuck

 

Tuck. That was beautiful dude. Good perspective.

 

Tuck, one day you'll turn around and there will a bunch of teenage boys hanging around and you'll think they are there to see your progress. Not so much! Peace brother.

 

Word...

 

Shoot the first one and the word gets around

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I found myself thinking and rethinking about your "philosophy" and you're spot on! I dropped the glass ball and I'm paying for it. I didn't have kids, but I haven't found my mojo and my projects are all dead in the water. It'll eventually come back as it always does.

[QUOTE="Tuck, post: 12012910, member: 277" Aesthetics... hot rods=sculpture

I want to say it's a balance but a balance would imply things are equal... and that's not the case. This building hot rods thing with a family is a juggling act... some balls are glass the kind you can't drop, some are rubber. The rubber balls you can drop and pick them back up again later... family is a glass ball, building hot rods would be a rubber ball... dropping it and bringing that ball back in has to mesh with the family in a healthy way in order to maintain itself in motion.

Tuck
[/QUOTE]

I really liked how simply you put that hot rods = sculpture. I think it is an art to pull off something beautiful, head turning and show stopping! Some guys have it naturally, others have to work at it. I'm working at it.

Carry on brother & keep it in balance!

3blap.

 

Just a quick update- I had a day in the shop today and got some time in on this thing- welded the batwings and hairpins and started to blend them smooth... still a lot to do-

I bought shackles, bushings and got all the hardware for the suspension.

I need to make the spring over mounts for the rear-

I bought steel for boxing plates but didn't get to trimming them down yet.

Tuck

 

Love those hair pins, very nice!

 

Glass balls are the most important thing. Right on, Tuck.

 

Olds powered hot rods rule!!

 

Found some f-1 chrome reverse at the local yard and mounted some 5.60 15's on them-

I'm just gonna mock it up as a roller and move it in the corner during my roadster thrash!

Hitting the pause button on this build shortly-

Tuck

 

Awesome. Cool parts, cool car and beautiful work.

 

the 32 with quad headlights you showed was a picture I posted of my buddy Alex's car in the early 60s. I was looking at your build and was so surprised to see it. Love the coupe

 

So this happened today...

I horse traded for a 394 hilborn... I think this car will need a cage. Can't wait to get home and just see how rad it looks! (-;

Picked up NOS 586 ring and pinion too-



And some 394 hedders I'll post pics mocked up still headed home from Milwaulkee with the new to us trailer!

 

Oh yeah!!!!!

 

That's about the only thing I can think of that will look better than SP tops your so addicted to.
Killer!


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I hope you had a great Father's Day.
My son and I went to the Hot Rod reunion on our annual "Guy Trip"
When we got home yesterday we went out to eat dinner.

I have loaded a ton of pics from the trip on the thread that is linked on my signature.

 

Same to you @enloe I'll check it out. We just laid low all day and hung out with family- (-; great grampa and gramma were up from Oklahoma. Ate food and hit the park-

. Here's Jerry (an oil man) and Winter!

Check this out-



(-: (-:

 

VERY COOL

 

One more for fun-

 

If you google the words "Bad Ass" this clearly should be the first image that shows up.


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I feel like this car's build plan has shifted slightly... At first I was picturing this a drive-able drag car... but now there is no going back from a full race drag car. I need to find a front cover and pump drive, ditch all the other crap like alternator and fans and pulleys and find a Joe Hunt Mag.

I found a M/T center section/carrier for the gears too- just need to pay for em.

engine setback, engine setback, engine setback and zoomies that wrap under the frame.

Tuck

 

Hi Tuck.Nice looking SBC.But,that frame looks a little on the scant side."Flexey Flyer"maybe?
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

#

WHAT? Small Block Chevy? Blaspheme! haha- This is where the grudge match calling starts... ah-HEM @Von Hartmann
Three hundred and ninety four cubic inch OLDS... aka the Hemi Killer...

Our three year old daughter has a goat named Salazar. He jumped up and put his hooves on her shoulders and started to eat her hair. She freaked out- I grabbed him and she ran inside. She later told us that Salazar told her "you're breakfast".... and then proceeded to "trim her hair".

So... in the same spirit- SBC? haha- sounds like Breakfast.

Oldsmobile's RULE.