Projects 1930 Sportster, shortened cockpit, tilted post cowl, door caps.

I dropped in an International school bus seat today...
too narrow at the top,
but for some guys it may be the perfect patinaed but not rotted out raw material for upholstering hot rod buckets.

 

Duct taped the stainless, cut, bent, welded and sanded a '32 V8 headlight bar for my Sportster project this AM...
center to center of my '32 frame rails is 24"... the stainless tube on the bar is 24"...
had to heat and bend the ends out about 2" each...
remember that the light "cups" must tilt forward a little or you will be racoon hunting with them...
I cut some of the outer radius off each end and did not weld there as that will help with clearance for the nuts and lock washers...
.

 

dr.'s app. this noon...
sanded and primed the Victoria / Slant windshield filler panel. [under windshield panel].
sanded and painted the h/l bar ends black...
plotted the '49 poncho tail and '47 jeep back up light locations...

 

Sanded the lower panel and drilled it's [6] mounting holes to align with the quarter's [6] 1/4"-20 tapped holes...
I had added 1/16" of steel on each end...[repop panel was about an 1/8" too narrow].
trimmed the rain gutter back [up] to where it's radius matches the quarter... [about 6"]
will make a couple shrunken 90*s matching the quarter's lower arch and run the gutter from my cut to a hole in the floor...
boxed in the lower rear corners so that they will clear the '32 tank and still let me get at the tank's anchor bolts... the 1.5" aluminum nail locates the left rear gas tank bolt...
.

 

Bolted in the lower panel, need to hog out 1 hole left side to raise the panel a tad...
coming along slowly...

 

Looks good from here.

 

from Kansas to Maine, almost anything would look good...
thanks b...

 

stripped the brown upholstery off the bus seat...
…. free for the shipping...…
.
cut all but the outside on all 4 corners, bent it to be 43" wide at the top, slid a 20"section of conduit inside the bus seat frame, clamped all at 43" wide and tacked it in...
still have to build the RT. anchor to floor bracket as the bus only had 1...

probably a 2" riser...

 

Added some 2" x 3/4" tube on edge to attach the seat runners to...
the widened at the top bus seat frame....

tossed the seat base in … going to have about 14" from the seat to the A pillar...
9" tall now...
.

 

just got this... and it is a high of 12* today... good day to bench race...

 

had a truckload of HAMBERS stop by this am... needed some A scraps... sent them on happy.

 

Geez Smitty, no pics of the group.....I am surprised

 

Went to the Sloppy Jalopy hacienda today with Mike B and another Mike.
9 degrees up there, yikes!
I dug through the snow and uncovered some rusty gold that had to come home with me. Thanks again Smitty we had a nice visit!

 

I thought the "work release program" had all the mug shots ?

 

Package just landed,
bucket seat frame adjuster, for a race car,
but the simple cross shaft can easily be widened and not have to mess with cables as I have before...
oh yeh, it's $18.?? , free shipping... I only need one for my school bus bench seat...
I will run them under the front to back seat frame tubes...
you can mount the runners at any width.... mount them where the bolts are easy to get at...
weld a "stiff / rigid" rod between the cut handle [looks like 3/8" steel rod] so it won't bend rather than lift the far side...
.

 

Waiting for it to warm outside [plow truck starter]…
.
About to mount my cut down '32 V8 headlight bar with a pair $10 dietz lites...
Measured. clamped, drilled and tapped [4] 1/4"-20 holes to temporarily mount the h/l bar...
welded 2 washers on a chunk of 1/4" rod to wire the rad. support rod to the firewall and '30 grill...
.
Grill needs to drop about an inch...
.

 

Nice build I'll keep checkin back on progress

 

Looking good @sloppy jalopies...really coming together nicely...

 

thanks boys,
Curiosity got me down to the garage early this AM...
the '32 rails raise 1.5" as they flow forward from the firewall to the crossmember...
cut 1" from the bottom of my worst '30 grill... not enough... 1.5"... yup...
sat the $400.00 repop hood on and it appears the hood must be trimmed 1.5" at the front to 0" at the rear...
any other guys run into this?
have built and driven 10 hot rods, two with '32 rails, but never ran a full hood... just tops or more often just the sides... … ...any after pix ?
.
motivational …..

 

Excellent work!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

thanks E O W V...
Trimmed some steel to form the 2 halves of the '32 tank cover...
A smaller cover will be made to fit over the sender and pick up...
time for lunch...

 

I assumed that the '32 frame would raise in an arch...
nope, laid a straight edge on it and it is flat from the firewall to the crossmember...
before I trim anything I think the cowl and grill lacing needs to be installed so the hood skin is where it belongs... then cut from flush in the rear to 1.5" in the front...
note the A hood didn't use a bead per-say but instead rolled the skin into a tube along the bottom...[pic] ….
looks like the cut will raise to the right [pic] and clip off the bottom corner of the hold down bracket...
I scratched that line in the primer and I just don't like it...
I posted this so others know what is involved with the A hood on '32 rails...
.
I think i'll run the Sportster hoodless, or hood topless rather than ruin the new '30-'31 hood when not really liking the look from the first scratch...… i'll tape it off and see if it works on me...
.

 

On Old Rusty the hood had to be stretched a couple of inches (or so) so I've never tried to use the hood sides. As your stock length hood fits, there must be something different between the body and grille surround placement on our cars. Is your body forward a bit? Are the rear wheelwells centred? Scratching my head here....

(Old Rusty is my 30A body on a 32 frame).

Mart.

 

Slid the front crossmember back 1.25" and the rear forward 1.25" …
but it is the rise in the frame that makes the hood need trimming... try your tape measure...

 

That accounts for it then. Agree on the sides need trimming.

 

sold it … deemed it too nice to cut... I like the 3 door big car look on hood sides... now to find affordable ones...

 

Guy that bought the hood told me of a surplus store 50 miles away, Marden's ...
they had sheet metal on a couple pallets...
bought [4] 21"x 87" and [10] 21"x 27" sheets of 18 gauge for $37.00 + tax...
future floors for the sportster and the next project, a '30 R P-U...

 

you did good Smitty. Never pass by a Mardens when we are in Me. Have found some great stuff there.

 

Dove into my new steel … fabbed up the front , in front of seat, and trunk ahead of the tank clearance panels...
couple crimps with the break, seems to fit the arch over the rear about right...

 

Grabbed a 27" x 21" piece of 24 ga. from my new steel pile to rough out a tranny tunnel...
buddy just dropped a 302/C4 into the hole that had housed an orange motor in his '30 tudor...
perfect timing for my tunnel measurements... 6" tall, 11" wide and 21" long … thanks Dick...
ran a series of slight bends on the brake...
left a 4" front, and 3.5" rear, flat spot in the center for the Gennie swan shifter... then scribed a mark every 2" along the front and 1/2" along the rear... bent on the marks...
added a 2" flange along each side... it is too big...
went to 1.5" x 1/2" on another sheet, still a little big... so I removed about 1" down the center, overlapped the halves... added 2 cleko fasteners...
should have thought of and did that from the start as it makes it's width adjustable...
still need to weld on a split "tunnel to firewall" flange...