Projects '23 Ford Roadster build aka The Incredible Hulk

Love that bead around the shock mount! Great detail & thanks for sharing the tooling to make it!

 

Paul, the bead roller tech is pure genius ! That's going to be a great car.

 

Looking great! I love that engine! What a color.

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Really clever idea for that notch piece!

 

Perfect work, flawless Paul.

 

NICE tight radius on that bead.

 

E brake handle bracket
Make cardboard into steel
hack original bracket
Weld two together

 

pulled the rear today
welding the brackets to the housing
cleaned inside the housing
straightening the housing
reassembling the rear swapping the 3.08 posi for the 3.42 posi
pressed the left hand thread studs from the left axle and pressed some right hand thread studs in their place
the rear back in the car

it will have to come out again to go through the pumpkin, axle bearings, seals, brakes etc.
but it's all welded and straight

 

Paul, curious about how far off the rear housing was after the welding and your process for straightening. Could you elaborate a bit. I am going to be visiting this issue with my 9 inch this fall.

 

The ladder bar and spring brackets get welded all the way around.
I break the circumference into quarters,
weld one quarter then the opposite quarter,
then between the end of the first weld to the start of the second weld ,
then the end of the second to start of the first. All traveling in the same direction.
This balances out the heat warp somewhat.
Most of the heat warp here was caused by the shock mounts having heat concentrated on one side of the tube.
You can see it in the fourth picture.
There is about a 1/16" gap at about 10:00.
I heated the tube in about a dime sized spot opposite the shock mount to cherry red and quenched the spot with a wet rag.
Checking movement after it was cool enough to rest my hand on the spot.
Repeated that adjacent to that spot.
That seemed to square the end up pretty good but it needed to move over more so I heated a spot inboard of the ladder mount,
Then above and below that one. You can see where I heated the spots in the sixth picture.
Again moving slowly and checking between each heat/cool cycle.
Until the end bushing just slips into the axle bearing seat. Seen in the fifth picture.
Both sides reacted about the same.
I picked up the kit years ago at a 4x4 swap meet with bushings to fit a 9" Ford rear.
Later I had bushings made to fit the Olds center.
I cut a spare carrier with a grinder to make it a little easier to work with.

All pretty basic hot rod stuff.

 

Thanks for tutorial Paul. Makes a lot of sense and very helpful. Already feel better about tackling my 9 inch

 

dang, where does the time go?
been busy doing non car stuff,

finally got a couple hours in on the old Hulk
dug out the last of my Olds/Pontiac brake junk
picked the best drums and backing plates,
blasted them and shot them with Zero-Rust non flat,
because that's what I had..

 

I like the look of the straight up early windshield
but it's too rough
thought I'd try some later, '25ish stanchions and lower frame,
because I have them and they are in a bit better shape.
the stanchions lean back a few degrees
but the lower frame is a bit short.
so I hacked up a spare upper frame to use a donor
and extended the vertical legs on the original
to make it about 3-3/4" taller
and chopped the tops off the stanchions to fit

 

swapped the dirt tires for street with caps borrowed from the '27
and rolled it out for a walk around.
it's very important to stand back and check the overall look
every step of the way
before it's all set in stone.

 

That thing is the business @Paul!

 

The visual is magnificent!

 

Looks good!


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Thanks guys!

 

I for one appreciate the "unconventional" use of OEM shocks.
In a world of guys running off the shelf Monroe shocks, Paul is living in style.

 

Thanks, I do like the ride quality of hydraulic verses gas charged.

 

I’d never seen this photo of Gene Chan’s car until it popped up on IG today so I thought I’d post it here!

 

Very cool

 

I have three relatively straight but rusty doors,
If a better one doesn't turn up soon one of them will have to be fixed.

 

I need a decent door before stitching the body together.

I need the body panels at least tacked together before the floor gets fabbed.

But should locate the pedals and battery box before the floor..

Sounds like it's time to work on brake and clutch pedals..

 

Nah, I'll work on the pedals later.

so I started fixing on the door.
Of the three, I chose the one that came on the Hulk.
Missed a photo op but cut a piece of 20 gauge steel,
and used the English wheel to put a slight crown in it.
Made a paper pattern following the inside of the bead
and transferred that to the steel and rolled a bead around.
Bent up an outer door piece.
Blasted the door where the new will meet the old
and cut the rusty stuff away.
Clamped the new behind the old and scribed it to cut for butt joint.
Tacked it in place.
Tacked the new outer part to the door.
Welded all.
started hammer/dolly/filing...

It's going to take a bit of work to make it nice
but it should be ok..
enough..

That's it for today..

 

Stole an hour to get out to the shop
Cleaning up work done on the door
Still looking for a nice original but
this one is just about ready for fitting.

 

...T-riffic job...

 

I've got a pile of those doors. How many you need?




Just kidding. Nice work!