Hot Rods The 'General Mischief Coupe' Model A build

Looking really great! Nice job on the tunnel. You're making serious progress on that floor.

 

That's why I made the drivers floor panel removable , in case the hole is too small I can make a new panel to replace it with a bigger hole for my fat hands

 

Nice progress!

 

Perhaps roll matching stiffening beads in it after making it larger? (I agree with @dumprat in that it needs to be larger).

 

Have you thought about welding a couple of little tabs to the master cylinder lid so you could lift it off easy. One for your thumb and one for your finger. You wouldn't need much. I'd like to keep the hole in the floor about that size if I could.

I made a little cover for mine with a flange that hooks under the floor on one side then a screw holds it down on the other. There's not much to it. The edges of the cover are slightly rolled down around the edges that don't have the flange so it fits tightly down.

 

At this point I'm not going to fret over it . I've tried removing the M/C cover and I can do it without trouble. When I do finish it , I can redo the drivers piece if needed.
Right now I'm moving on. I started to replace the roof wood. I took out all the old wood and surprisingly most was not in too bad shape. The ends of the header are rotten and the tips of the side pieces have a little dry rot too. I could probably get away with the side pieces but the header needs love. About ten years ago I bought a roof wood kit at a swap meet. It looks like a homemade kit but it seemed to be fairly well done. Well I started to put it all together and it's not very good at all!. I've been sanding and chiselling and saying bad words. I am going to give it another try today but I may just end up getting a kit or at the very least a new header. It's all getting covered anyway so my poor woodworking won't be seen , but I need the header to be accurate or the rest won't fit worth shit.

 

Now I know why Henry got into the charcoal business. What a pile of work making these pieces fit!
I was able to keep and reuse most of the hardware except for those stupid square nuts! I replaced all the nuts with regular hex and I used those flanged looking locknuts on the 5/16 carriage bolts 'cause I had them. I am fortunate to have a big belt sander and bandsaw so reshaping the header went better than I anticipated. I used black polyurethane stain on all the pieces and painted the carriage bolt heads black. I POR 15'd the metal behind everything I even managed to POR15 my hair and back of my neck. Washing your head with gun wash is a special task I don't want to do again. I'm glad to get that out of the way , I have learned to hate woodworking. You'd never know that I used to enjoy it.

 

Por 15 for hair dye is a trick I will have to try!

 

Awesome build, gotta love those 30-31 coupes!

 

Looking good, if it makes you feel any better I spent hours getting the wood kit I bought to fit!

 

You are correct from what I read there was all those pieces of cutoffs and packing crates leftover and being thrifty (cheap) he looked for a way to make money off them. Teamed up with someone named King and that is why we have Kingsford charcoal today.

 

Just catching up on this now Jethro, love the build. Your work is top notch!

 

Nice work

Sent from my SM-A505U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Not a lot of progress I've been fitting the decklid and I made a trunk holder upper. I've had the decklid off and back on at least 20 times trying to get to fit right. Still fighting with it but its getting better.

 

So what is the trick to get them to fit?

 

Let me know when you find out

 

Great job so far. You do a great job showing and explaining all that you’re doing. Thanks for giving me some inspiration on a cold winter night.

 

A bigger hammer?

 

So I started to work on the inside of the trunk. I made a framework out of some light wall 3/4 square tubing ( a backyard gazebo gave its life for it)and made a skin to go over it. I formed another piece to go at the back and mount the trunk latch striker. Once I get the battery mounted and all together I will have maybe enough room for a six pack and a light jacket and a tool roll, no room for my crybaby doll and drive in tray with plastic hamburgers.
I made my flip top gas cap mount and cut the hole for it.

 

Battery box

 

I've had this gas tank for a while. I originally made it for the coupe back when I made the fuel injection setup for the 292 I was going to use. It was not quite right for what I'm doing , I had to relocate the filler and while I was at it I POR15'd the inside and gave it a coat of bedliner. I needed some straps to hold it in place....here's where I make a short story long.
I needed some material to make up the straps. Nothing in my junk pile , chicken coop , my neighbours junk pile...nothing! I was getting ready to cut some strips from sheet metal scraps that I had laying around but none were long enough to work....UGH! OK , I'm done for the day , production stops right now. Go in the house and have a coffee then take a walk down to my well just to check if I have any suicidal mice taking a bath. Instead of going the most direct route my dog wanted to take me along the train tracks just to change things up . Sometimes I find odd scrap metal bits that I can use....spikes , plates, pins etc. Well I came across what was EXACTLY what I was looking for. It was 1-1/4 steel strapping that they used to bundle rail ties together. I rolled up a piece that was about 10 feet long and took it home. I think my dog knew what I needed and took me there.
So , I cleaned it up , cut it to length , made bolts and drilled and folded the strap. I used my spot welder to hold it all together. I bought it for $139 at the Canadian Harbour Freight , Princess auto! LOVE IT!!!
Anyway now I have a tank and straps , one more thing off the checklist.

 

Been working on the firewall and transition from the hump to firewall. I spent the better part of 2 days making the transition piece. I ruined a lot of cardboard and made a bunch of useable sheet metal too small to use. Moving on to the toe pieces soon.

 

Got the toe pieces finished and made the pedal holes thingy. I just need some pedal seals. I finished the removable trans hump and cut the hole for the throttle and mounted it. I think it's going to work fine. My feet can touch each pedal without touching each other. As long as I don't wear big gumboots I should be good.

 

OK , today is the day I become a man.....again! Some are going to give me grief about it but I am chopping the roof 3 inches. I know East coast style , channel and no chop is a cool look but after a lot of soul searching I just need to chop this thing to be happy. I kind of think about poor old Frankenstein. He's not a bad looking guy , some better clothes , proper shoes and he would clean up pretty good. His biggest drawback is he has too much forehead. Lots of good looking guys rock flat top haircuts , poor ol Frank just needs his forehead lowered a bit. He'd look like a 60's movie star with a bit of a makeover.
So , General Mischief is getting his forehead lowered today!

 

Go man go! Looking better already....

 

Excellent!!

 

Cool hot rod.

 

Just fond this thread, wow, what an awesome build! Just fantastic fabrication and workmanship.

 

Nice going! I like it! You're making great progress too.

 

Still finishing up the welds and grinding but I had to see how I'm going to fit. I took out the bracing and put in my seat ( speedway bomber style) With the bottom cushion in place I've got about 1 inch of clearance top of my head to rear wood crosspiece. Plenty of room! I am going to trim the seat cushion a bit just to maybe get another 1/2 - 3/4 for those hard bumps!