BAck at it....Well its Bonneville time....Another year and not ready! Shock i know! We will unfortunately not even be attending this year due to work commitments. Anywaaay some updates at least. Thanks for looking. I made new wood for the roof, i get these pieces of white oak from work before they throw them away (off pallets of stuff we get), planes really nice. So i made a pattern for the curve and then planed it into shape. I got a box of 1 3/4 mandrel bends and started making the exhaust, i had been looking forward to doing this. I found it really challenging especially on the drivers side to get it round the steering box. I started with a set of reds headers which did not fit round all my stuff. so i cut them all up and started over. To make expanded joints i pressed small sections of the tube over 1 3/4 bar stock. then i wanted to make flanged tips and exit it out the sides infront of the rear wheels. This is the drivers side, passenger looks the same but was quite a bit simpler. I used flex joints between teh headers. and put hangers om the rails I cant wait to hear this run, i hope that it wont be too loud to enjoy it.
I still needed to make the drive shaft, so i cut one to length then machined the end so it was a tight press fit to a coupling. i had seen irontrap garage do it like this and it looked likes a great way. Then i welded and pinned it together. reassembling it ifound that i had made the torque tube slightly too long once everything was back together The UJ was too tight to the output shaft and was limiting the movement of the speedo gear. so i needed to redo it. cut out about 1/2" then used same method as before to weld it back together. everything went together again nicely.
matt donated a pretty bent hood so i could extend mine the 3" or so. need to get it back into shape with the english wheel and welded it to the front. i used the lower hood rods and magnets to hold it in place whilst i welded it. i was pretty pleased how it came out. I have also done the brake lines, ill have to find the photos of that.
started on the seat using webbing as a base. i put a bar between the two seats hopefully to stop driver and passenger getting in each others business. Im gonna try and make a screw adjuster this weekend. then be close to upholstery.
i made a throttle linkage and carb linkage using some old spring cup linkages. you have to lock the springs out after they are on the ball. so i made a little cup with a set screw and welded it on. without this the spring will compress as the lever is pulled. i removed the tires from the 35 wheels and changed over to kelseys that we managed to gather together. i just rattled can them so they match better with the rest of the bad paint.
i need to start working harder on this. im starting to see the end of it and im gettting excited about driving and hearing it. thanks for listening!
Nice update. I see you have gotten after it again. Those kelseys look ace. Bad ass fab work my friend!
Spent a while today making a seat adjuster. this was probably a bit of a waste of time cos im sure it will stay in the same position. i thought maybe would want to move it forward if the mrs wants to drive it (aint gonna happen). i also should maybe should of waited for one to come up for sale, but seems like they may not that often? i bought a 1/2"-6 nut and bolt from mcmaster (if you havent used these guys, they are amazing, incredible website) Made a plate for mounting to the seat. Then stole a valve handle from my oxy bottle. machined the head off the bolt to make a small cylinder, this will act as the stop when moving the seat closer. then welded on a piece of 3/8" rod - this is how i held it straight. Cut the rod to length, machined round and then machined a square on to fit the valve handle. tappedinto the square #8-32 welded two small cylinders fo the nut to make a the captured nut. and cut out a bit of square tube to hold the nut. welded the captured nut in to the holder, spins freely (on axis) in there to stop the seat getting into a bind. reinforced the back of the plate put it all together and you have a seat that adjusts, its a little slow but works good! think ill polish the handle and remove the "on" "off"
Thats pretty slick. I'm confused at the vise stack up pic. Where in all this, is that long 3/8 smooth rod? Did it become the square nose piece?
ha yeah im confused also. the threaeded mcmaster piece is stickin through a hole in the table. after i machined the head off i drilled a 3/8" hole in it, stuck the rod in it then welded it. its easeir to hold a long one than a little stubby one. thats what she said. then cutt it off and machined it propper true, although it was super close then cut the square on it. the second vice is just acting as weight on the first. like a compensator handle on a hall.
Ha, yeah, I was gonna axe if you drilled a hole in the nose of that bolt. The only way it made sense was for a hole to be in the table. Tits work as usual my friend.
Made some dies for my bead roller to put a bead on the radiator pipes and then made some pipes out of 1 1/4 SS. im not sure i like them though. so may make some different ones. dies came out good though and worked well. i also added a motor to the cheap woodward roller. also strengthened it up. i just used a 12v winch and control. works good.
rear spring work. i am trying to make it a little higher in the rear, or create more slope forward. i have a reversed main spring in the back. i made some shortened shackles first. but this made it even lower. Stretching the spring more, lowered the arch more than with the original shackles. so that was a waste of time. heres the shackles anyway. back to the drawing board. so i decided to unreverse the main. but first i wanted to add air/hydraulic pump to press. it sucked pumping the ram when i did the front. i got a cheap one online. i needed to remake the connection where the plunger is. heres the pump attached - see the clear line this takes the fluid from the cylinder back to the resorvoir in the pump. if you dont add this it eventually builds up enough pressure that a massive shot of hydraulic fluid will shoot across your shop. ask me how i know. heres the spring before and after. i made new spring clamps and shackle bolts (because the new bushings were 1/2") reinstalled it all after matching all the arches of the spring, some were a little off. Gained a total of 1.5" plus a stiffer spring. Happy with the result, but i think that i am now going to find a new axle and drop the front a little. i have not been happy with the axle since i got it - will go to a conventional drop rather than a stretch drop.
tach work. i cut a snout off a old crank, cut jaws and indicated it to make sure its concentric and straight. screwed a bolt in and drilled a 1/4" hole thru it. this is the foundation to get the drive centered. then made a 7/8-18 nut to attach the drive. then started making a holder for drive using a 1/4" dia piece in the bolt. welding the pieces as i go. after threading the bar so i can use a bolt to hold it all in place.
whist making this i found a 2:1 drive (same SW one) on the bay. this makes things easier because needed to slow it down to the drive. i got that and made the connection to the bolt. now i just need to make a cable
heres the car all back together. im not sure if you can tell its higher. but it certainly feels like it when you are sat in it - way safer view of the road. thats all for now. thanks for looking. A
Wow! Great job so far. Thanks for taking the time to share all this. I’m blown away at all the machining and tools developed for each job. I look forward to seeing more.
@brEad thank you mate, yeah much better. I also have a new axle pending from anson which I hope will push it over the edge! @unforgiven thanks mate, appreciate that!!
Hi all. Well the car is finished, way behind schedule way over budget, typical stuff. Wanted to at least finish this build thread. Will add more photos perhaps at a later date and maybe any updates. Its been a while since i have posted anything. So ill try and catch you up a bit. Last post i had talked about getting a Greg Anson axle, i did. If you need an axle i would really recommend his service its great. Before paint and final assembly i wanted to run the engine in. so borrowing pinapples run stand we had a drunken night of engine starting and running in. it ran OK but was super loud with no mufflers and the pipes that i had made. ran it for around an hour with rpm changes and irontite in the cooling system and donor radiator. temperatures were good and oil pressure was good. had to change the pipes though. so i built the car and got some porter mufflers and remade after the headers. I didnt actually run it again after that. I then blew the car apart for painting the chassis. I was not planning on paining the body, so i just tried to match the paint on the chop, i know from the layers of paint it had been a few different colors in the past so i just matched theses colors and painted the chopped area in layers and wet sanded them back to different degrees. i made a make shift paint booth and painted the chassis and parts with rustolium satin thinned down to right consistency. this is super cheap and so easy to spray. once painted i put it back together.
After paint and perhaps final assembly i needed to figure out how to make the interior. i had bought an industrial sewing machine a while back and had been doing little bits on it like making covers for welders and stuff. but nothing too difficult i had spoken with Matt quite abit on techniques and watched a bunch of videos online. when i was ready to give it ago i started with the door cards and some vinyl that i had got. bought some ABS sheet, sew foam and glue. made a pattern for the door cards and front kick panels, chalked up the pleather and started sewing pleats. to my amazement it started to come out OK, i had built this up in my head quite a bit so was worried about it. I was having a great time doing it to. its far from the best but im happy with it. HAppy with the panels i found a $40 once high end leather couch on craigs went ant got it. found one with the leather color that i wanted which had large pieces of unsewn leather - like the cushions were one piece on the top. once i got it home i was like this is better than the couch in my house so i started to think that it was a bit of a waste to cut it up. once i had decided i should just do it i went to town on it. anyone thinking about doing this they are a SOB to cut up and get rid of. but you do get quite alot of leather to work with. make sure you get a quality leather couch though like an italian one. not a AFW one. armed with enough leather and some seat foam i came up with a pattern design and started making it. super hard but so rewarding, making something from nothing.
once interior was done (i made a carpet too but no photo) i had matt, fred and ryan came over to help with the wiring. matt is really good at it and i am really not. so i helped where i could and tried to learn what he was doing. by the time that the night was over we were all drunk and we had a car that would start. all that was left was headlights and tail lights which i felt i could manage. then rebuilt the carbs and a few other things. like made a coil holder.
So now it was basically time to start engine in car and perhaps drive it. this would be the first time that we heard the mufflers and boy they sounded good. put all the fluids in and after warming it all went to put it in gear. it would not go. just grinded. started it in gear on the lift. couldn't disengage. applied the brakes with the clutch pressed, wouldnt stall but made an awful noise. my conclusion was not enough peddle throw. i was so wrong. i spent a whole day making a different linkage and clutch peddle movement. increased my travel significantly. started the car and no change at all. disheartened i went inside. next day i decided to take the car apart i really didnt want to do this. took the gearbox off and removed the clutch which was a new fort wayne. everything looked right so far. but then i noticed that the fingers had hit the plate springs. this must of been the noise. i still wasnt sure what was going on so i got an old flywheel that had been holding my trsh can down when it was windy. machined to rust off and drilled and tapped for my 10" clutch. then put it in my press with the throwout bearing to see when the fingers hit and when the disk was released. straight away i could see that the disk was released way before the fingers were even close to touching. suddenly it dawned on me that i had way to much movement in the peddle. course i had never tried putting it into gear when only pressing a half way. if i had of it would of saved me a lot of time.
So this last weekend it was all back together, clutch pedal movement reduced, also changed the brake pedal. and now working good. Matt, Fred and Ryan (whos a very talented photographer and filmer) came over at 10am with burritos and two or so hours later we were driving round the neighborhood and everything for a first drive was going perfect. Still need to do a proper shake down and i am sure that things will come up and will need to be fixed and changed. but for now its essentially done. Ill add some more photos later. The next photos are by Ryan McNurney. Big thanks to everyone who read this and took interest in it. hopefully see you out there. Alan