I have not been able to get as much done lately on the roadster, but have done small tasks here and there. I have finished 1 header sans grinding. and built a quarter of the other, I picked up a temporary seat (71 gillig school bus) to start getting an idea if adjustments will need made to pedals, steering angle etc. Also have picked up an 32 radiator, that I may or may not use, If I do it will definatley have to have it shortend about 2 inches to get a better flow from the cowl to the shell. I am still on the fence about running the 32 shell or the 29 shell. I also threw an old batwing air cleaner over the 4 barrel until the 6x2 goes on, just for visual sake and to keep stuff out of the engine. I also picked up 9 97's hoping I can rebuild 6 for the intake. I still have alot to do but Over all the mock up is looking more and more like I want it too, hopefully I will have more updates in the coming weeks! I also played with some hubcaps on it just for fun. stay tuned!
It is good that you found your engine has been rebuilt some time in the past. For sure that's worth taking a chance on. I bought a complete 65 Electra from the original owner for $800.00. It had about 116K miles. Got it started and drove it home, about 25 miles. It ran real good but a single lifter would tick at bit on cold startup. Because I knew it had never been apart, I pulled the engine down. It ran very good, but was badly worn out. It now has everything new.
Alright, heres a small update, although i have not got much work done to my project lately, i finally finally have a pretty full mockup. I did finish building my lake headers and sans a little grinding and cleaning up. Fired them up and they sound pretty good! I have collected a bunch more parts, hitting alot of swap meets with my buddy has turned up some good picks for this little project. Recently at a swap meet I picked up 6 matching helmet style air cleaners for 100 bucks new in the box that will look pretty good on my 6x2, i also picked up a trackloc 3rd member with a 3.50 gear in great shape for a great price! Which will relieve duty to the open 3.70 that resides in the rear for now. I also went round and round with what radiator and shell I was going to run. After much internal debate i did break down and decide on the 32 shell over a 29 and a 32 comm i have also. I also bought a vintiques insert for my brookville shell i picked up off the market place a while back. My issue now is i have an old modified stock height 32 radiator and need to either get it recored shorter(1,000 bucks!!!) or find some thing that will work. I do not want to run aluminum, as i am trying to keep a pretty specific look.plus the original style 32 tank just looks too cool! Anyone have insite on the hieght it should be? I have estimated 24.5-25 inches high would probably be pretty close. One other thing i did was start heating and bending my one mangled headlight stand to get it back in shape and check it all out with the shell. I felt this was essential to my decision on what radiator and shell to run, and ultimately helped me finalize my decision! Stay tuned, the big tear down and finishing welding up the chassis is next! View attachment 5396809
Ohh. One last thing i had done recently was found the tail lights i plan to run. While at another swap meet i went back a second day when almost everyone had left. While walking around a set of tail lights from one of the left over sellers jumped out at me. The funny thing is, i had been there the say before and i guess i glanced right over them. They were marked 42 pontiac and had been polished down to the brass on the bezels which looked bitchen! I bought them, even though one had a cracked lense and quickly realized they were infact 42-47 olds tail lights. So i found some NOS lenses on ebay and made the purchase, and went to town macking them up for installation. After installing them, i needed to see how it looked with a license plate, so in remembering i had an extra 50 pontiac rear plate bracket, i went to town mounting that. Now my ideology was to mount the tail lights so that they were centered in whole between the teunk lip and the lower edge of the subframe. But i felt the plate looked better centered in thw panel it self. There is a little modification needed to a piece on the mounting studs on the tail lights( hole needs to be 1 size bigger) but over all heres what it looks like
Hey, Eddie... Your roadster bears a familiar look, bud and I put one together back in 1958 (same recipe) only the Buick was a 364, man what a torque monster. Nice work on the taillights, and the steering. Car has a great stance, that '40 wheel fits perfect.
Small update, some things are changing! Also found another body, but it is beat, the patina on the yellow quarter was bitchen and definatly came off an old hot rod, so i had to at least mock it up once. The quarter i had was way better so its staying, i also took a little artistic liberties with it to see if i could replicae a patina look like how i want it. Radiator shell is now the right height with the right radiator (kinda) and some other changes. I think im almost to the look i want.. oh and i found more old chrome goodies thst are sitting on my mockup engine for now!
Noticed you changed your windshield stanchion to folding ones. Did you happen to pick them up from Matt at Irontrap? They look identical to the ones he had listed. I might be interested in the first set you had installed if you wanted to sell them.
Yes they did come from Matt, i am still on thw fence about them, i need to chop them down 2 inches, but if I decide to sell the others I will let you know, are you looking for chopped or stock hieght?
Haha I knew it. I'm good with chopped or stock, I do plan on a chop. I like the look of the ones you had on your roadster before you changed them. I do have to say they both look good on your car, either way you go, let me know if you want to sell either of them.
i do not really need it, i can dig it out let me know if you still need it and we can work something out.
the Slow transform, i am just about done with the final mockup. I will get back to the more technical posts from here on out. so i have been working on the controls locations, working to make the car fit me (big guy problems) overall, the in and out are a pain, but once im in, its pretty comfy. I also decided to purchase a set of folding chopped 2" stanchions from John Williamson here on the board to go with my old chopped windshield, and man they do make a difference in obtaining that attitude i wanted! Another thing I am excited about is I found an original 32 shell with insert at the long beach model T swap, and am pumped Im going to have an original shell to go with this ol beater! Now that Im pretty satisfied with the look minus a few tweaks, it is time to disassemble and get back to the work part of it. stay tuned! please excuse the mess.
ok, it has been hotter than hell out here in sunny Bakersfield. So i have been attacking more of the smaller projects to get something done on the days i brave the heat after work, but every small project is just as important as the big. First thing I decided to do was make my radiator elevation adjustment blocks. the radiator I picked up here on the hamb was well worth what I paid, but being a 3" chop, It was more intended for a slightly channeled car or one on a duece frame I would say. but I had another issue anyways that made this radiator a great fit for this project. Early in the project I had replaced the Cracked front crossmember with a flattend out reproduction. Sinc I moved it forward 1.5 inches anyway, I figured this would be the perfect time to do the swap, and get about an inch or so lower in the front. What i hadent figured on, was that the radiator would sit on the ubolts and would have to be raised. When doing this, the radiator would then sit to high and the radiator rods would ever so slightly move up hill. so i needed a short enough radiator to still fit the hoodline i wanted and raise to use u bolts for the spring, rather that the weld on ubolt eliminators. so I used some long bolts in the cross with multiple nuts on them to use as shims, to shim the radiator up with the shell on, to get the hoodline, once i was satisfied, I then measured the distance from the cross to the top of my highest nut where the radiator rested on for mounting and created these blocks to raise it, they will bolt to the cross, then seperatly bolt to the rad, with pads and springs, (i left about 1/4 out of my final measurements to adjust for where the final hoodline will sit. I also got my wide 5s back from powder coating that I am going to use. V8-60s for the front and 3/4 ton trucks for the rear... They wont be going on until final assembly, but man they are nice!
the next thing i decided to do was work on my headlight bar. I picked up an original 29 headlight bar from a buddy, and planned on how to attack it, after talking with him, I determined the look I wanted to go for, rounding the bar around the 32 shell. the 29 bar is straight, the easy way would be get a 30-31 bar which already has a curve, but I figured I would have to bend it more anyways. so, after thinking about the best way to bend it, I decided to break out my handy large conduit bender and give it a shot. I marked the center before bending, worked from outside to center, then traced the shape onto my work bench and worked from outside to center on the otherside, using my tracing as a template to make sure it was the same on both sides, I cut the end mounts off, and mounted them to some existing holes in my frame. They required a little torchwork to get them level and the same shape, I then mocked up the bar with headlights and set the center of the bar to the dead center of the mounts. when I was happy, I tacked them all together, and am pretty happy with the results. Youll also notice in these pics, I reajusted the f1 shock mounts to mount the shocks to make sure i had clearance, although, i am golden, I think I may shorten the shock mounts in the end. I do like how they look hiding behind the headlights though
I have been determined to run a generator on this thing, I have a 58 buick and mocked up the bracketry from it on this thing. The brackets are simple enough but would not clear the header, there is also a bracket that supports that will attached to the motor mount. after determining that to use the main bracket all that was needed was a little bending at the mount i tried it with the header, and it clears nicely, I will have to make a custom support bracket to go around the header but it looks like everything will clear nice. I sourced a nice bracket from a guy on a facebook group so that i can put the other back on my 58.
Next I mounted my new door hinges, this is pretty boring, but i wanted to get the doors located to get a more meaning full mockup, I also have set the body back an inch and a half for clearance and need to start mounting the sub so i can assemble the body and do the subfram repairs. I also started that, but will probably go a different direction now that I have figured out exactly where the body will sit. The doors are pretty nice but as you can see need a little work.overall, with it all mocked up again, the fit was not too bad and swings freely into the jamb.
so another thing you may have noticed from previous pics is a radiator cap that doesnt belong.... I dont have the original 32 colar and cap, and this radiator does not have a dummy neck on it. I did have an old 34 cap laying around and liked how it looked as a little bit of a custom touch. My shell is pretty beat and will require some repair, but I dont want to fill it as its an original and eventually i might find a patinaed colar to throw on it. anyway with a simple bracktet it is a bolt on now. after doing this, i found a nicer 34 car cap i will replace it with. but you get the idea.
Last thing I have been working on is the rear sub, trying to figure out how I want to piece it together, unfortunatley I think I am going to go in a different direction, but I was able to use what i Made to get the body set to where it will sit, I will probably use some of this for assembly, but think I will make the sub follow the kickup and the floor will sit higher as the floor will be the riser for the rumbleseat.
so theres where Im at, I realized I never covered my strengthening of the radius rods, I will do a post on that later. but you can kind of see in the last set of pics what I did. I have been working on this thing for 16 months now, and althought if feel like its never ending, I found the pic of what I brought home when i started it last year, and it has came a long way. all swapmeet parts and friends that have things laying around is whats building this thing, and its been a blast! so much that I am collecting parts for another one! last pic to show what its looking like after 16 months. Thanks Stay Tuned!
Heres the latest on this thing. Last week I took a week off of work to get some of the major fabrication done that takes more time than the typical afterwork/weekend would take. I only have a 2 car garage. and I keep my kustom in the garage most of the time also. so work space is minimal. The first thing I started was adding a wheel well back into the pass quarter, I had to do the same to the driver, so i had an idea of how to better do it. I started with some Trailer fenders I had laying around from Tractor supply. I wanted the radius a little more rounded rather than a hard brake. so I used the outside radius of the fenders for the inner radius of the wheel well. and some patch panels that came with the body for the centers. an old spare tire cover probably would have worked well also for this. I also had to patch the lower quarter and replaced the lower angle iron brace at the door jamb. Now I have a complete quarter. next I started on the rear sub extension and floor panels. I decided to run flanges on the inner fender wheels and brake another cross brace for the rear to got on top of the kickup, i located rubber donut mounts under this panel which is where i will attach new body mounts for the rear of the body. I then rolled out and bear rolled a panel to follow the curve of the kickup in the frame. in this pic you can see the major pieces made and being preped for bead rolling here. the little hump in the middle is a little high, I will shorten it. I is where my driveline hoop slightly intrudes in the floor panel area.
These next few show the steps in which i took to strengthen up the panels and the frame work i built to attache to the subframe. All of these panels will bolt in with the framwork attached to them
i laid out the front panel over my framework, the fit was pretty good, once I got the fit how I wanted it, I had to figure out the brake/clutch pedal entrance and the steering column entrance. The problem was, My column was way too low. I knew i would have to adjust this eventually, but was waiting to get the body more permanently mounted to the chassis on the blocks before I attempted adjustments. I laid out everything on a piece of sheetmetal, from a side view, to figure out exactly the angle i needed and how much the column should move up rotating at each degree. I also had to miss the header flange and adjust the frame a little to get the rotation needed and have the box in a nice position. all this just to avoid using a steering joint! This was a task that took most of the day, and I will say I had the box in and out of the car about 6 times before it all worked out. measure 6 times, cut once, right?
Once all was right, I cut a master cylinder door for the main floor panel, I still have to layout the bead rolling, that will be done this week.
The last thing I took on was a new dash. Now I was on the fence about changing the dash, I do like the 29, but since I'm not using the tank(previously cut out) and I like some Custom with all my stuff, A buddy donated and convinced me this 33 Plymouyh dash needed to be installed. For some reason I was really dreading this. and brainstormed all week on how to do it. then it hit me, duh, cut it down and attached it to the dash rail and make it bolt up!. I will have to lengthen the ends on it about 1 inch on each side as it was cut slightly smaller that the inside of my car. I should say before i started any of this work i had to center up the body, it was s a 1/2" out on the pass side quarter, so i adjusted that with a pie cut to the quarter brace and some simple pulling and moving to get every thing sqaured. finding the center of the dash (gauge panel) to the center of my car and dashrail, I trimmed the lip at the top of the plymouth dash and trimmed it back for the bolt up on to the dash rail. this all worked pretty smooth and looks pretty slick. over all shes starting to look more solid. Staytuned!
The Jalopy Journal
