FINALLY! THIS IS THE THREAD I'VE BEEN HOPING FOR. Hi. I love the build project of your Shaw bodied roadster. I met Mr. Shaw shortly after I started a similar champ car replica build. I was surprised that you are doing some of the same changes I am incorporating in my build - stretched wheelbase, C4 trans, hairpin control arms, low(er) cost wheels. I look forward to seeing your project progress and wish you continued success as your project nears completion. Maybe our paths will cross when our cars get running and we can do some hot laps on some mid west dirt track. Good luck. 6re6
Well I am trying to think of something negative to say, Hmmmmnnnnn let me see. Well there is the, . . . uh what about the . . . Nope can't think if a negative thing to say. Damn the luck. Smooth project, I'm watching this one for sure. to the Nth exponent of
Very nice work! Offten one side of spring{rightside was mounted with out a shackel/called a deadprech{ this was so a panhard type bar was not needed] ,also at the center of spring there were wedages put in for adjustmint=cocked spring more lbs to right. The photo exsample showen of a rear end post#30/has locator bars mounted to frame wrong{ should not be flat on frame end of bar,but up n down like axle end of bar if that type of set up is used.
Sprinters like dragsters or Indy cars or you name it got/get tuned per track conditions. Different suspension setup, tires, even gears and engine tune. Doesn't mean that you car can't or won't stay static in its tune, that is entirely up to the usage of the car.
Picture is of the rear end of Speedway Motors Tribute T, this will be a street driven car not a race car. Just wanted something different to show up in at the local car show.
I kind of guessed by the brakes that you were going to drive it. I think the multiple shocks are cool by the way. It should make people guess and that is almost always a good thing.
Not much progress, damn work gets in the way. Also I got a little sidetracked with an off the wall engine build I have going. Lincoln V12, Finned aluminum twin plug heads, two Porsche distributors for their twin plug racing engines, and now a Latham supercharger to put on top. Looking to mount three side draft Weber 45 DCOE per side (four will be just for looks) on the Supercharger plenum so I can have six air horns sticking out. I will make some picture worthy progress soon I hope.
Wow ! I love this build,i,m building a similar car too but with a flatty v8. I also have a 41 lincoln v12 and have been thinking of alternate ignition systems ,please post details of your ignition and how you are doing it?Any details on the v12 would be very much appreciated,the head details ect thanks Johnny
That's going to be a great car. I've been into sprinters, new and old for decades. Man! I can just hear that V-12 screaming off the 4th corner at the dirt mile at the Indy Fairgrounds! Would the rules of that era have allowed that 14" wheelbase extension? Doesn't matter. Great car. That V-12 is cool squared. Carry on and good luck.
I just found this thread, and it immediately brought to mind Gene Novotny, who campaigned a Lincoln V12 powered sprinter in the late forties and early fifties. Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska being part of his racing scene, along with an annual journey up Pike's Peak. Very cool.
I just stumbled on to this thread, and I'm hooked! Mainly because I have all the makings for a banger version of this: Original aluminum body (tail, cowl and nose with grille), Essex frame, modified Franklin steering, V8-60 axle, hubs with 16" knockoffs, and an Alexander OHV banger with full oil, front drive pump, mag drive, cut down AR flywheel and tranny. I needed some info on the body mount skeleton, and your pics are a great help. I really like the round frame nose! Did you fab that from rectangular tubing, or flat plate? One of the holdups to putting the bare frame together. Please keep the updates coming.
It is incredible to see a few folks doing old timey sprinters, and this is typical of the independent thinking back in the day. If you DO want to be authentic and especially if you plan to run some laps you will want to have a way to jack weight. "Normal" way we did it back then was a center bolt on the front perch and jacking bolts on each side of that center pivot. Easy for a guy with your skills to do. LOVE this car, great work!
Stunning thread... When Josh Shaw's name came up I scurried to the first page... Treasure trove of pix, all the 'right stuff'. V8 60 tube caught my eye, Bell steering wheel...your choice of wheels/tires is admirable, as the V12 and stretched wheelbase. A friend here (Lem Tolliver, local Sprint pilot/builder) stretched a Mike Maxwell 4-bar sprint car chassis 12", (pump-injected SBC) to drive on the street. Beautiful finish... Police were 'baffled', as usual...
Again the credit for the welding goes to Jeff at J2 Speed and Custom, https://j2speedandcustom.com. A very intuitive and talented individual who turns my ideas into reality. Here's a few of the finished exhaust.
Terrific build! Great to have a surplus $2500 +/- lying around for something non-functional, "just for looks"! (Well, I guess that arguably applies to just about everything we do!)
The Latham V12 engine project went to Brazil along with the Twin Plug heads and 6 other V12 engines awhile back, I regret selling now but can only work on so many projects at a time.
I apologize for going off on a tangent, but this brings up questions I've been trying to get answered for years: 1) Why were Essex frames so popular? Some have told me that the frame kick-up for the front axle were ideal for the rear, were then utilized backwards, and the frames were long enough to remove the rear (now the front) kick-up. I have trouble believing that there were few other frames available that would have served just as well. 2) What was the attraction to Franklin steering? I believe the Pitman shaft still needed to be extended; weren't there many other boxes with the correct rotation that could have been modified just as easily? I'm aware that Alexander made OHV conversions for various small British 4 cylinder engines (e.g., 1172cc Ford); are you using one of these? Or did they also build heads for the "big" engines, like the Model "A"?
Looks to me like there are Heim joints on the chassis end of the links, with bolts properly supported on top and bottom, in double shear. Heim joints have substantial angular movement capability, well beyond that to which these will be subjected.
Your right that a Heim can work some in its angular capability,but it's very poor engineering to use that as main movement. The photo had them wrong,an was only used as a idea of what was going to be done to a cool race car build. Best time to help with ideas,is before hard work is done. Heim's are a bit new for this fun new/old style race car build,but sure looks like it will be fun.