'28 A Modified/Trayless RPU - first build

Ok I think I have enough parts to start a build thread
Last month or 2 I've been collecting parts to build my first rod. The aim is to make it as simple/quick/painless (unlikely) as possible.
I've spent a bit of time researching what I want to build.
The basic summary is:
A chassis, '40 ford front axle and split bones, BW rear on 4 bar and trans leaf, front half of a tourer body, possibly y-block and 4 speed.
I have the 4 bar/front spring/various brackets etc. on their way from speedway motors.
I'm running deitz headlights and 32-36 tails. Bomber seats with padded bases, ammo case glove box and probably a luggage chest on the back to hold a fuel tank, battery, tool kit.
Here is my some what collection of parts so far:



Grill shell:
Somewhat cleaned shell, few cracks to weld, not much:

early days mock up


Gutted the chassis last night and scored some hoops for cheap, just need to find some cheap rims to fit them in.


Installed the racing seat:


Hopfefully the body/axle/rear end parts arrive soon and the ball can roll faster
-Owen-
I scored a 2" chopped shield frame and posts from the very helpful Striper (pete) which I gave a quick flap wheel to tidy them up for now.

 

Great start, looks like you've got most of the hard to find parts sourced.

 

Cool keep up the good work. To me the build is all the fun.

 

looks like a nice stash of parts , hope you keep posting photos , i like these type of cars

 

Good project. I'm unfamiliar with the term trayless. Is it a technical term, or perhaps the name of a builder / style of car? Thanx, Gary

 

Roadster pu with no bed!?

 

Hey Gary,

Tray is the down under word for bed, my mistake.
I wasn't sure what the best words to describe it, it was either that or trunkless roadster?

-Owen-

 

I see, said the blind man. Jeez, you folks from down under have so many crazy names and expressions, how do you remember them all? Bob's your uncle. Thanx, Gary

 

Great start,love 28's ,but what I have too,so on your side big.

 

Looks like a good start. I like your pickup you hauled your tires in....is that a Mini? Makes those tires look huge. lol. Good pile o'parts and it looks like its going to be a fun build.

 

Haha yes sadly my pickup (ute) is still a few days off the road.
I collected my body on the weekend, also in the mini. Here's how things are looking, I'm expecting a fair bit of progress over the next few weeks.





awaiting some more parts to arrive (and some time off work)

 

little bit done tonight.
channeled what was left of the cowl over the chassis and did another mock up.
fairly well pleased with how it all looks so far (albeit only the beginning)
I'm going to half the length of the horns to get the axle fairly close to the cross member because I don't want the car looking too long, I will probably cut about 6" out of the length at the back too because I want to run the diff behind the cross member.







I've knocked up a rough sketch of kind of where I'm headed chassis-wise (depending on the tac response)
i've drawn it up with a 10" kick up at the rear and 2" sweep up front, at the moment ride height is set to 5" however i'm not sure what others are running, I might lift it up a bit.

pretty fond of this car aesthetically so might copy the paint finish somewhat (minus the red wheels)

-Owen-

 

Looking good so far. I just realised that the measurement I sent you for the rear of the body is useless. Mine is a '28 - '29 RPU body so it's square across the back. Different animal to yours.

I also have a 10" z in the rear with a 2" sweep in front. In hindsight I would probably go 8" in the rear with a reversed eye main leaf.

Your sketch looks long to me but I can see that it needs to be if you're using the four bar rear.

Do yourself a favour when you are ready to start fabricating on the chassis and get it blasted. I didn't...wish I did.

Keep up the progress posts. I'm looking forward to this one.

Pete

 

looks like you are off to a good start. good luck with it ,can't wait to see this come together

 

Hey Pete, I'm going to use the measurement you gave me to set the width of the tub where it changes from the tourer center panels to the tourer middle section - I might fabricate a new back panel and have it flat like yours, undecided as yet.
The 4 bar I have is pretty short (speedway kit) so I'm hoping it'll keep the length down..
The body is not drawn to scale so I might measure it up and redraw it.

cheers for the comment hammer!

 

Looks like a good.start

 

Keep us up to date....... Good start

 

You think the Aussies are bad - the French seem to have different word for EVERYTHING.....

 

Looks like you're off to a good start.
Love to give you a hand, but I'm in England for a few months.
Don;t forget to keep up the posts so we can all watch your progress.
Subscribed.

 

Any advancements, watching with interest

 

I'd call it a "modified". Good start.

 

Making a little progress, plans have changed direction slightly.
The driveline is now a '56 322 nailhead with a ford 4 speed top loader (using a offy bellhousing).
Diff will run infront of the spring like a 32 not behind like originally drawn and I will be using a ladder bar setup instead of the parallel 4 bar.
Ladder bars will be made from a set of old '40ish ford rear radius rods and pipe.

with the laws in WA I've had to compromise a little, the axle will still be infront of the spring but only marginally.

I've started working on the chassis now, it should start moving a lot quicker and hopefully be rolling soon since my part collecting is pretty much complete.

 

Ladder bars in the rear will look better. By "pipe" I hope
you mean "D. O. M. steel tubing".

 

Hey Richard, sure do.
Should have an update this weekend.

 

bit of movement at the station, got the front kick up done and tacked together, 4" in the end.
I pushed/man handled the diff into place, the frame is going to need a 13" kick up at the back to give me 4" of travel.
The nail motor mounts will be where the frame levels off again forward of the kick up.
I currently have 670's on the front but I'm going to order some 640 firestones.
With the new tyres and a modified front spring everything should sit at the right height.
the rears will be 820's, I have 9.15 on at the moment which are pretty close to the same OD.
whacked the body parts on just to see how everything goes, I'm going to have to move the cowl back about 6" from stock to clear the nail - I might just push it into the firewall though to keep things looking very short...
put some timber down to sort out the seating position, wheel base and track turned out pretty well.
hopefully the ladder bars don't hit me in the arse while I'm driving.
I threw on my spare half grill surround to see what it will look like, going to need a pretty short radiator..
Started making up some tiny horns out of the bent old horns that will clear the axle.

 

one of the machinists at work was kind enough to machine up some weld in's for me as well as machining down my steering arms to clear the axle.

the swivel perch heads (one dead one live) will have their bungs welded into the split bones and the socal tie rod bungs will be welded into the chassis.

-Owen-

 

Ended up crumbling for some ladder bars, managed to get them on the diff last night, will finish up on saturday and hopefully build a k frame around them. They are the long socal ones, the tube cross member lines up where the original cross member is (now was after the photo).

I had to re-adjust my spring brackets as the perch ctrs weren't wide enough (must have rushed the first time), had to run the gussets on the inside to avoid the hand brake lever.

Have been working on some mini horns for the front to sit above the axle, should have them all done tomorrow too.

 

Nice machine work. I plan to do my T similar, with the spring under the radiator, and just the axle tight to the grill shell; I like the little frame horns, gives it a finished look, I'm stealin' that! Probably won't be parked next together any time soon!

 

I understand they have some crazy laws over there. Can you get the car titled, and then modify it later? Some Buick drums to go with that Nailhead would be the cats ass.

 

Hey Richard, pretty sure annual inspections are required for rods when they have been registered here. I'm thinking about drawing up some covers and getting them laser cut for the discs at the moment (buick drums are pretty scarce around here, it was hard enough finding the 322). I think for western australia (where I live) to run a V8 in a car not originally equiped with one you have to run a disc front end.

thanks for tuning into my build.
working on the K frame at the moment.