I pulled the body off the frame so I could finish the body work and do some additional work on the chassis. I got the F1 pedals and master cylinder mounting figured out. I also got the rear motor mounts figured out and fabricated.
I cut the clutch linkage attachment tabs off the top and will be welding a new tab on the bottom thus changing the clutch action from a push to a pull action. I am thinking I will be able to connect this directly to the clutch fork via a simple linkage. I hope to have something mocked up in the next couple weeks as a just ordered some parts for the linkage.
Mocked up the rear shock upper attachment. My rear spreader bar was not set up for this and I ended up needing to mount the top of the shocks up tight to the bottom of the body to get the shock travel I needed. Seemed to work good so fabricated the mounts out of 3/16 plate and got them tacked in. Tomorrow I am off the Grand National Roadster Show for some inspiration.
The trans mount set up that came with the frame was back to far and was already cantilevered more then I liked so did not want to add on to it any more. I took the existing mount plate and recycled into a new mount. That is temp mock up mount block in the above photo as the trans will move forward a little once the crank is drilled for the pilot bushing then I can install the rubber trans mount block. I installed an original Vega steering box (don't hate me) and got the drag link fabed up and installed along with the front panhard bar then mocked up the front shocks. I cut and repositioned the lower portion off the upper shock mount. These are reproduction F1. Then drilled the frame and installed some threaded bungs I made. They go all the way through the back side as well.
Nice work sir. A lot of similar mods that I did in one for or another with my frame. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Found a great drive shaft shop here in town and they had me set up with a new drive shaft in two days. Played around with the seat to see where I liked it and built some brackets to install the seat slides. The existing mount holes in the bottom of these mini van seats are offset to one side and not evenly. I used some all-thread and small ball joint ends for the connector rod. The slides have to sit on 1/2" risers for the moving parts on the bottom of the sliders to clear the cross members. With the seat bolted down the seat slides really good. Now I am starting on figuring out the bulkhead that will be between the fuel tank and the cabin area.
I am back working on the body. I re-braced the body then removed all of the wood that needs to come out. The only wood I left and that was in good shape was the B pillar wood. I also have been working on cleaning up the inside steel with a 3M purple disks/pads. My rain gutters were crusty so I used spot weld cutter to drill out the spot welds and removed gutters. I will be installing new gutters that I had gotten from a fellow HAMBer a few years back that was making them. On to the firewall. Only 48 holes to fill.
Lotsa similarities with my build. Eager to see how you handle the rear bulkhead. I’ve got to do one for sure.
Did my bulkhead out of wood so I could easily shape it. The rest of the wood in the car will be exposed and stained so thought it tied in well. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I had one big hole in the lower firewall that required a three dimensional patch. My first "great" idea was to build a wood female buck of the shape I needed and hammer in to it a piece of sheet metal. That ended up being two hours wasted as I could not get sheet metal close enough to work. Plan B was to make the patch out of two pieces of sheet metal. This actually worked out rather well. I tacked the two pieces in then with a dolly and hammer rounded the intersection of the two pieces before finishing up the welding.
Great write up! You’re just a little ahead of me on my very similar build (Blackboard frame’d ‘30 Coupe). You’ve done a great job documenting some of the details I’ve been scratching my head on, like the cowel section and how to fill the big 3D hole on the passenger side of the cowel (mine eats up about an inch of the lower rolled bead though). Can’t wait to see how this Coupe turns out. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Great project! If you get time could you take a photo from the front to show how the shocks look? Having them in the back, sort of hides them, out front gives things a grasshopper leg look IMO. Bob
See attached photo from the front as requested. My original intent was to install the shocks in front of the axle using the bolt on lower shock mounts however my wishbones are too thick so the spring perch bolts are not long enough. Now in hindsight I am glad it did not work out as I originally planed as I like this look better.
I got tired of getting flash rust on the bare metal body from my hands or sweaty body touching it so decided to get some epoxy primer on it before finishing up the rest of the patch panels. The bead on the rear quarter patch panels matched well but I found that these patch panels were about a 1/4" to short to fit my car so had to extend them. Here is a preview of my paint color.
Finally got all of my patch panels installed. I thought the day would never come. Also got once side of my new rain gutters installed today. I pre-bent it the best I could then started at the back and tweaked it as I moved forward. I am happy with the way it turned out.
Looks nice & smooth, you may want to flatten that gas sediment bowl area now, and save the "Should of" thoughts after it is painted. Bob
Got the other new rain gutter on today. They sure go on easier then they come off. I did spray weld through primer on the back side first. I also welded some coupler nuts on the inside of my fire wall so I can mount a metal panel for attaching items like the fuse panel to.
how bad were the 1/4 window wood pieces? I am looking for a set that I can use to make my own new pieces.
The Jalopy Journal
