Hot Rods The Arin Cee Roadster

W/o a top, #3. If it gets a top, I'd think #2.
Marcus...

 

Don't I get some input on the chop job, 'Dad? After all, it's me who's gonna be sportin' this kemp when it's finished. So, since you asked...I like Option #2, but Option #3 is beginning to grow on me, especially if it's laid back a smidge. Just as long as it isn't stock 'cuz I just don't do stock, can ya' dig it...

 

Option #2 will help keep bugs out of your eyes.

 

Option #3 fits the car best.

 

Between last night and this afternoon I was able to carve enough time out of my schedule to take out the rear rumble seat riser/floor in preparation for cutting the subrails to allow this body to slide down over the Deuce rails. This body has very little rust but all the fasteners holding the floor down were pretty well stuck. But between drilling, cutting and occasional bouts of cussing I was able to get 'em all out. What's left is in pretty doggon nice shape, too bad I'm gonna have to cut up those virginal subrails...

 

Not all hot rod building is glamorous, but it's all necessary. Raise your hand if you've ever done this...

 

Where's the traditional up-turned bucket?

And I vote option 2 with a close runner up on option 3.

 

Yup, done that too, but the problem with a short me and a tall Model A roadster seat is getting low enough in the car but still tall enough to see over the steering wheel....and be comfortable at the same time.

Back in the day the trick was to remove the bottom seat springs and stuff cushions into the curtain pan to get the driver lower in the car. I have deduced that sitting on the boards as they are in the photo and leaning back to the rear seat cushion support puts me in a very good position, low enough and with plenty of leg room to be comfortable.

But...when one factors in the thickness of the upholstery and the steel lumbar support (!) it just doesn't work. So it looks like I'll have to go with a flat floor and look for a seat that will give me the position I want and still not look too new. Any suggestions...?

 

Eric
Try to find a seat out of a old School Bus it worked for me years ago. I am looking for one now I'll see if I can find 2.
Frank

 

More dirty work today, removing the floors. The floor pans were somewhat rusty, but any one of them could be saved...if I was inclined to have stock floors...which I'm not. I haven't made up my mind for sure but I think I'll use the primo metal floor pans I got from Matt (Texas Speed) a while back. My other choice would be to use plywood as I did in the coupester which worked out well.

Next step is to clean up the cross members and sub rails. More dirty work, but nobody ever said that building a hot rod is glamorous...

 

Been there done that, be sure to wear a respirator and use a wire brush

 

As I suspected might be the case, none of the floor pieces I got from Matt will work in this car, with the possible exception of the curved inner rear panel which is unique to rumble seat roadsters. The others are stock floor pieces including the rumble seat riser and rear floor which will be useless once I've butchered the sub rails to accommodate the Deuce frame. Oh, well...anybody need some nice rumble seat roadster floor pieces?

So, I grabbed some cardboard and made a pattern for the middle floor. I'll use this same technique to make the patterns for the front floor and toe board when I'm ready. I'm using the metal floor piece from the Brookville Roadsters body as the pattern for the forward middle floor. There should be plenty of material in a single sheet of 3/4" marine plywood to make all four pieces. The far rear floor is curved to follow the new frame/ sub rail shape so will be fabricated from sheet metal by rolling it over an empty acetylene bottle. Should be just about right...

 

I didn't plan to, but when I came across an old piece of 3/4" plywood in the back of my shop I decided to spend an hour or so in the Texas heat cutting and fitting the new floor boards. Not a big deal really, but put me yet another step forward towards getting Arin's roadster on the road...

 

Nice job Missy floor boards literally.......and good grainular line-up. Just thinking the heavy wood, would have built in sound deadening would it not?

 

Actually, the weight gain is marginal over the original Model A metal floor pieces. They are pretty doggon heavy! I used plywood for the floors in my coupester which has worked out very well. The front floor and toe board are made of wood in the original Model A construction so using it in the rest of the floor isn't revolutionary, and hot rodders have been doing what I'm doing since forever. The original rivet holes are used along with counter-bored pan head machine screws to make everything nice and neat...and easily removable should the need arise. I suppose the dense wood would give a sound deadening effect, but roadsters are so noisy who'd notice...

 

Its all good...as you said plywood is a proven structural material, period correct and has many admirable qualities. Mosquito fighter bombers were full of it...

http://www.historynet.com/the-miraculous-mosquito.htm

Stain err up real nice

 

So was the Spruce Goose

 

I used Rustoleum semi-gloss black enamel - brushed on - on the floors of my coupester and like it very much. Dries hard and is durable and water proof. And it doesn't draw your eye, which is important to me. I made the floor covering from an old rubber truck bed mat which works perfectly! The silly thing is going to get wet - like a motorcycle - so it better be ready to shrug off a little rain.

As a side note, a painted plywood floor can be easily and invisibly repaired if it gets damaged or if you drill a hole in the wrong place. Just fix the damage or fill the hole with bondo, sand it smooth and then get out the paint brush. Easy peasy!

 

This is a great alternative for sure. Wood is good......Great info and perspectives MDad (no more Missy...).

 

Marine grade plywood is a bit more expensive but works well also.
Frank

 

Yes, marine grade plywood would have been my first choice...if I'd had to buy it. This piece was free. Free is always best!

 

It's too hot to work in a metal building very long. I get up early and open the shop and let the Heat load out and work till noon and call it a day.

 

Just finished putting two air conditioning units into the new shop today. Not enough to cool the place on really hot days, but on days like today - in the mid-90's - it was comfortable enough to work on the roadster with both the new a/c units running at about half speed. Most of the year just opening the big doors at either end and turning on the squirrel cage fan has been enough. I don't think anything will cool it in August though, so maybe I'll just take a vacation and go somewhere cooler until the weather in Texas moderates...

 

Last few nights spent soaking nuts and bolts, trying to get them to "crack" and then soaking them again. Tonight I removed the steering box and column, and then got all the tank bolts loose and soaking in Blaster. The tank that's on the Brookville body has been cut away on the bottom, so I'll keep it and put the functional tank onto the Brookville 'Banger. I'm pretty much ready to swap bodies at this point in time. Once I get that done - with some help from my buddies, of course - it'll be time to put the Brookville 'Banger together and get it ready for sale. Then I'll be able to concentrate on Arin's car again...

 

Big day today! After much research I stepped up and sent Bob Engel (Bengels Hot Rod Seats) a check for one of his custom hot rod seat frames. He's a H.A.M.B. guy ("Metaltwister") and really "gets" it when it comes to fabricating a custom seat frame for a traditional hot rod. Great website, great Hamb-O-dex information thread and he asked just the right questions over the phone. Sure, I could have scrounged a low-buck seat from a wrecking yard, but decided that the comfort and "stance" of a righteous roadster seat was a job for an expert. I've had uncomfortable rides in my lifetime, but not this time. Arin may be a teenage smart ass, but at least he'll be a comfortable teenage smart ass! Thanks, Bob! I can't wait to see this creation!

 

More progress today, nothing major but every step is important in its own way.

I started tearing the 'banger motor down to determine its condition before attempting to get it running. Pleasant surprise is that though the yellow paint is crusty the innards are amazingly clean - at least what I've been able to see so far. The side cover is next...



And, with the help of "51 mercules" who is the owner of this great looking black roadster I've decided that a mild 2" chop is going to look best to my eye on Arin's roadster. Proportions are a very personal thing when it comes to hot rods and everybody has his own opinion of what looks best. Now I've got a number for the look I like - not too much and not too little - so it's just a matter of getting out the chop saw and doing it.

 

It's been done a million times before and it's not rocket science, but I got the Deuce dash built and installed in Arin's roadster today. It's one-piece, bolts in and out, and is ready to be drilled for gauges. The upper part was chrome at one time and is now a nice mellow patena, while the lower part is raw steel and will get painted once it's been drilled. What color? Same as the car body, probably gloss black. I'd love to say I have a set of vintage curved glass Stewart-Warners set aside for this car...but I don't. I'll probably have to settle for current manufacture black face S-Ws instead. That won't make Arin happy, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes...

 

To keep the bodies from tweaking when they get removed from one frame and switched to the other, I made a couple of braces out of 3/4" conduit and bolted them into place. Not rocket science, but will make the job easier. Doors still open and close with proper gaps so I can work on the car without taking the braces off. They will also keep the body from sagging while I'm making and fitting the body mount tabs.

 

In keeping with the track/street / lakes roadster flavor of the '40s - '50s hot rods, I decided to run Ford driveshaft tubes as exhaust...under the car, not as headers. This was fairly common for a time, as shown in Don Montgomery's books on early hot rodding. I like the raw look and think I can get used to the sound. I think it'l be quiet enough without dampening, but am prepared to add baffles if it's too loud.

I got the two '35 - '36 Ford driveshafts from the H.A.M.B. classifieds from a fellow H.A.M.B.er named Josh as I recall for a very reasonable price. So today, armed with an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel and a chop saw similarly modified, I went about beginning the exhaust system by cutting the driveshafts to length.

Here's a tip: Cut the splined male end first, just behind the weld seam. Cut all the way around, just through the tubing, not all the way across. Then heat the tube to expand it and drive the male splined end IN just to break the bond. Then use a long piece of 3/4" conduit inserted through the other (female) end to drive the male splined end OUT. Much, much easier this way, trust me!

I then measured the outside diameter of the tube to determine where the taper began and cut the female end off with the chop saw. The overall usable length turned out to be exactly 47". Now, as soon as the 1 3/4" mandrel bends arrive from Speedway I'll continue to build the exhaust.

Yes, I could have had Joe's Muffler Shop whip up a conventinal exhaust system, and it probably would have been cheaper and certainly would have been quicker. But, as some of you may be discovering, I really am an old school hot rodder. Besides, I promised Arin I'd do his car the way his mentor, Pete Millar, would have done it back in the day...

 

Speedway came through as promised with three mandrel-bent 1 3/4' mild steel "shapes" from which I will fashion the head pipes connecting the '55-'56 Chevy exhaust manifolds and the newly cut driveshaft collector pipes. Nothing fancy here. As the photos show the 1 3/4" exhaust tubing, which is the original size of the Chevy header pipes, will slip right inside the open end of the driveshafts. Should be easy to make and smooth looking when finished. All of this will be under the car, I've just got it laying alongside for illustration purposes.



I also prepped the manifolds by removing the studs and trial-fitting the exhaust flanges I found on ebay. It's all good, and there's even a little ledge to keep the pipes from going too far up inside the manifold during the fitting process. The Speedway 1 3/4" tubing slips right up inside the flange and stops, just like it's 'sposta.