Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

#3, No trans tunnel.
Like Rickabilly said, if its unbearable you can always make a quick HAMB friendly fiberglass cover!

Loving the build too, keep up the good work and updates. You've given me inspiration to build my own some day.

 

HAMBer Spoggie posted a pic of a cute car in Auatralia that has a look similar to what I think the 36 truck grill would look like all cut down. What do you think?

 

It's got my vote. Keep the point though. Cut down the upper portion. IMO.

Doug.

 

That 36 grille looks like the ticket, whether you trim it at the bottom or not. Personally I think I'd go for creature comfort and just make a big tunnel/console all the way down the middle. Armrest in the center, with or without storage under it. You'll cut some road/transmission noise out that way, but then it's a top off convertible and won't be quiet no matter what you do. As long as you can work around the seats you may as well just build the floor and firewall close to the trans (say 1/4" gap all around, I wouldn't go much closer!) and see how you like it. You can always make a fiberglass tunnel as suggested or a big console later.

 

Oh yeah, I picked up a used single chamber flowmaster muffler that I may use on Roofus. I was sticking it where my dad's hand is in the pic below. I would probably modify the "out" side to have two of the 2" pipes that go through the frame and then merge before they enter the cone shaped tailpipe. For the "In" side, I plan on merging the pipes before they get to the muffler.



I've never put a muffler that close to the engine before, not sure what it will do to the sound/flow.

 

After my camera died, I snapped a few pics with my phone. I just now figured out how to get them to my PC hard drive....
This is where I put a cushion on my "seat" and mocked up the steering wheel again to see how much things had changed from the previous mock up. The real seat puts me farther back than the bomber seat did (a good thing)









Hopefully I will get some quality time to work on stuff after Christmas.

 

I'm planning on heading to Dad's afer Christmas and working on the car a little more.

I had been planning on seperate seat backs kinda like bomber seats, but I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with the bulkhead/firewall behind the seats.

I think I may go with a single seatback kinda like this.

 

No pictures 'cause I'm on dad's dial-up, but figured I post an update.

I "raised" the engine and trans back up to where it used to be. I want the car to be flat bottomed...nothing hanging down below the floor. I'm pretty sure this will be a really low car.

I made a hole in the firewall to poke the steering column through. The extended coulmn looks like it will be just the right length.

I cut up lots more Cadillac sheetmetal trying to flesh out the front bodywork. I think I figured out how to make the track nose work...I had the Cadillac hood pointed the wrong direction! The cadillac front doorskins are now going to be the hood. ...and the Cadillac front fenders are now the cowl. I've had lots of fun.

I would have gotten farther, but had to help dad on a project.

 

Where I started this trip. I decided the drivetrain needed to be tucked up inside the car. I pulled out thje 1.5" spacers that were under the frame.





I went ahead and mocked up the single chamber flowmaster where it would fit under the hood.




I made a hole in the firewall for the steering column




this neat little piece from the jag donor still fits


going from the column to the rack looks like it will be easy


It feels right


I decided that I really needed to know the body shape before I could mount the brake pedals (one of the things I needed to finalize the seat design)

Time for the "real mock-up". I tried the cadillac track nose again...this time I turned the hood around. The lower edge of the hood points toward the cowl now. A front door skin is now the hood. a piece of the rear door skin is the cowl.








The grill looked like it would work.




Also, decided to find a use for the fenders

 

decided to try and use more of the fender. The wheel opening is now the door opening.




The car is 14 feet long! It is starting to look fast.


I wasn't happy with the fender top as a cowl. The transition from hood to cowl to body didn't flow good enough. I went back to the rear door piece.










I raised the door opening


insert motor noises


The curves all line up


Time to cut down the rear door piece to eliminate the overlap


tacked to the hood (door)




The fender looks good in pics, but the contour under the chrome would be a pain to deal with and it really didn't match the curve of the chassis. Bring back the 1979 jaguar XJS roof

 

It needs hood sides. VW squareback hood to the rescue








This thing still is a movie set prop


side re-positioned








it's got room under the hood even with the raised motor position


Before I could go any farther with sheetmetal work, I needed to beef up my horrible fright bead roller.


junk from the pile


welded on


It works!


Somehow I had offset the trans too far to the passenger side.


the tunnel was too tight anyways, so I removed 1 inch.






34 olds? dash insert looks cool upside down and looks like it might work

 

more mock-up pics






making plans for the body side of the trans mount

 

I LOVE how the body is shaping up!!!

 

Good Luck!! That is quite a project you are taking on!!! More than I would want to do.

 

I was amazed at how well seemingly random parts fit together.

 

I was also suprised at how small the front frame swoop looked with a grill shell. Right now the car is approximately 31" tall at the dash.

 

Wow, gotta hand it to you, Flipper... That shape WORKS!

 

Looking good Flipper! Nose reminded me on a car i saw at a Hillclimb race in England last summer.

Here it is:

Mario

 

I have been debating pinching the nose harder and adding splash aprons between the nose and the frame.

I started a little narrower and then spread it simply for the fact that it was easier to clamp together for mock-up.

 

It also looks like I can install a sway bar!

I think this is the one that came off of the jag donor car...but not 100%

It snakes around everything perfectly! I will wait until later on to make a final decision. It might be too much of a distraction visually (make people notice the toyota steering too)

 

Wow!! I forgot abou this thread...when I saw the first page I knew there was gonna be some good updates!!!

 

If it were only it were this easy... a photoshopped passenger side!

 

Looking good Flip! I can't wait to see the end result

 

Are you having fun yet?

 

I'm having a ball. This past week was probably the best week I've had since SpeedWeek 2010! I think I have finally seen the big picture for what this car will be. I have had times where I held off doing anything...because I didn't know what in the f*ck I was really building. Now, I just need to do it. I may be seriously optimistic, but I think it may be driveable this summer.

 

Flipper, I've been waiting for this post for ages! Its looking real nice, keep at it you not too far away now.

 

When you build the transmission tunnel leave a couple inches for air circulation. Otherwise you will definitely suffer from heat buildup in the summer.

 

The current plan is for no tunnel. I think the trans is too cool looking to cover up.

I plan on painting the cast iron pieces body color and leaving the aluminum natural.

 

...or maybe molded in bucket seats (picture lifted from the old race car thread)

 

Amazing! Just spent the last 3 hours in front of my pc reading your build. My wife thinks Im cheating on her, ive been on here for so long. Well worth it. Cant wait for more updates. I want to see this thing on the ground!