Projects OT: Ratrod reckoning

Wonderful fab skills, I appreciate your thread even though I don't necessarily appreciate rat rods. I agree with some of these guys on here, the guy that built that "thing" to begin with should be taken to court for carelessly endagering the lives of innocent citizens. Later on.

 

We can rebuild it...better, faster, stronger... nu-nu-nu-nu-nu-nu...

 

girls are groady

 

wow looking damn good. its gonna go from ratrod, to bad motherfucking hotrod! i like the way it sits, and the body. looks like thats pretty much all that you are keeping!

 

[QUOTE

Better? Now go put some ice on your swollen clam and have a Fresca.[/QUOTE]

Still laughing at this.....

Someone please explain to me why Elpolacko's tech threads cause so much ass puckering? If ya quit whining you might learn a thing or two.....

 

It was about this point where Mr Funk reached his ultimate frustration with the Scud-Hud. He wanted Dr Marvelus and I to remove the silly ammo box wiring control system, seats and expanded metal drive shaft tunnel to get the floor out. At the same time to investigate why the rear axle was offset to right by over an inch.

What we found made us quicken our pace at deconstruction. There was literally everything from a dollars worth of Nickles to exhaust U-bends, Rebar, All Thread and multiple layers of scrap metal that made up the floor. All manner of square tubing and plate was used to weld the rotten body to the frame. Two flex plates copped it for the seat mounts and they were cut in half so haphazardly that who I assume was Mr Puerile that had done this work, filled over a 1/2" gap with MIG weld to attache the half flex plated to the 16 gauge sheet metal floor.







Now we were getting down to the meat of the matter. Just how so much of this car got off track and why so much was out of square. The frame rails were tapered, narrower at the front than the back under the body. However, the builder squared the crossmember tubes to the right side frame rail making the cross beams not square to the centerline of the car. This mistake was further compounded in the rear kick up that supported the entire triangulated four link system. While the brackets were close to correct on the axle, the frame they were attached to were not.

My judgement was to cut the rear kick up off and the last rear cross beam and try to rebuild the frame from there back. After deconstruction it was clear that there was no saving what was left without many hours of laborious work and for little gain. It all had to go. Out came the Air-Arc to remove my clip from what was left of the sorry frame.

 

Thanks Steve for letting us have a look at your work. Outstanding as usual.......I just happen to be using a torsion bar suspension on my rear motored Falcon.......great timing thanks!

 

Public shaming would be too good of a punishment to the "builder"

Your description on the phone blew me away, the pictures make me laugh uncontrollably

 

Man, that's some amazing work! (and I mean what's being done now)

 

Back to the computer for me. I had to construct a simple and cost effective frame that would actually work well with what I had already created but didn't rupture Mr Funk's wallet. I also needed to reuse as much of what already existed and keep it all under the envelope of the body. I regret my decision (you will see later) but the end result works quite well and Dr Marvelus and I can finally cut this project short and get back to repairing.

I chose a triangulated rear four link system with a air spring mount that keeps the end caps of the bellows parallel to each other.











While doing my set up for the upper bars of the four link system I found the last bit of rubbish I had to deal with. While the lower fourbar/coilover brackets were at least centered on the housing, they were not clocked properly. The right side bracket was at least 15º forward of the left side. This pushed the rear axle back over 1/2" on the right. They had to come off.

 

Awww, you guys pulled out the nickles? Really!? That and the flex plates were the best parts!

 

The lower bars of the rear four link are a bit complex, but considering what I am going to ask of them they will need to be heavy duty. The sides consist of 10 gauge Cold Rolled steel plate, machined bushings and a length of 1.25" CR Bar threaded with 3/4" 16 on the end to accept the Heavy duty HEIM end.







Then the rest of the assembly came together rather quickly. Upper bar and bellows mounts, and damper strut mountings.





I reversed a Corvette steering gear I had lying about and attached it to a mount sprouting out the back of the left front frame horn and then fabricated a new steering arm to finish up the front. A set of engine mounts and transmission pad to tie up all the loose ends before disassemblely and final weld out of the frame.









Off the table and onto the floor for another mock up. This time with the new wheels and tires, no adapters and a whole new attitude. These last few shots are without the bumpstops in place, so yes, the frame can touch the ground. With the stops in place it cannot.

 

There is still quite a bit for us to do yet, but for now it's off the table and is ready for true progress for a total redemption. While it may not be your style of car, it will be a sound and safe driving car with a flair.

Dr Marvelus and I will be repairing more of the bodywork, installing a true floor that seals out nature. As well as adding a few styling cues that will help prevent the Scud-Hud from being terribly dated and keeping Mr Funk happy for miles to come.

 

The work you guys are doing is beyond great! It would've been very easy to have simply taken that original abomination and sent it directly to scrap. You've done what a BUNCH of us on the HAMB wish we could do. Fantastic! Karma is in your favor.

 

Beautiful work mate. But How the fuck can sombody build something that horeie to start with, they must have a pretty vivid imagination to be using nickles etc, or on some really bad acid!!
I would stuggle to get into their head space.

 

Wow, you can polish a turd...

 

Yes!:d

 

Well, there goes the OlSkoooooooooolRodzzzzzzzzzzzzzz cover and tech features. Any idea how much the owner paid to get the original version built?

 

$50? $60?

 

I on the other hand am clicking on the "subscribe" option, I like seeing a master craftsman at work.

Larry
CB_Chief

 

Steve, as usual your work is outstanding!! As for the nay sayers, they just don't understand what you are doing here. You, Sir, are trying to teach!! At least there are some of that understand that.

Teach away, I am ready to learn!!

 

That rear link/bag alignment rod is a cool set up. Very nice.
I think you mentioned it in another thread, but is your graphics program one of the autodesk types ? Like inventor ?

 

he's using Alibre. not sure which version.

http://www.alibre.com/

 

did the prior builder just happen to have an abundance of connecting rods???? All I can say is thats one hell of a recovery, you guys are doing a great job!

 

incoming moron questions:

i see both mig and tig welders. what is the factor in deciding which style of weld to use?

 

Well, ignorance is bliss right?! If you're not smart enough to know that you don't know, then hell ya, he's quite the artiste!

 

Is that bad that I scrolled thru all the 'drama' after page 2 looking for updated posts? Great rebuild on this car.........The thing that sucks is that the OG builder is going to tell EVERYONE at car events that he "built" that car & people will see your PERFECT work and say "Wow! Great ideas".

Chris Nelson
Kansas

Oh yea, "subscribed".

 

WOW. Thank you for getting that shit heap pile off the road and turning it into a very bad ass rod. Looking forward to updates.

 

got any more pics of the original rear suspension? trying to figure out what is going on there is giving me a headache.

 

"The box mounted on studs just aft of the radiator were not sleeved"

This means the box mounts would wear out in short order and dangerous play would occur?