Projects '36DD - (My Double Duty 3-window build.)

I can't wait to see what this car looks like in both guises, and to have an idea of how long it takes to change from one to the other when finished. Killer idea, lovely car and excellent skills - I'm sure you can't go wrong.

 

Cheers Clive, much appreciated.

Hoping to make some more progress today (once the Mothers day requirements are met...)

Bear

 

Thanks for the huge compliments, Plywude!
You sure know how to make a guy feel good about hisself!

Truth is, I'm just learning this stuff as I go along, and I get most of my inspiration from the HAMB too.


Got started on my rear shock mounts last night. Nothing new and inspirational here... For the lower mount, I have decided to use the offcut portion of the rear wishbones, same as I did on my T-bucket 15 years ago.

With a bit of finessing, they can be a nice looking piece. I sanded off the original weld (which was just setting on top of the rolled tube section) and ran a thin cut off disc down the seam, then tigged it up and sanded the weld flush.
Then I scalloped the ends to fit up nice on the '36 axle tubes.









I'll get these tacked into place tonite, then start on fabbing the top mounts.

Bear

 

Well, I'm ashamed to say that progress has been near zilch lately - work and life seem to keep getting in the way!
Hoping to get my rear shock mounts sorted in the next day or two, but meanwhile, there's a couple of jobs I did a ways back that I haven't covered on here yet.

This car is being built right hand drive, as is the custom in these parts.

I'm using an HQ Holden steering box (I had considered a repro RHD Vega box, but nobody on here seems to have a good word to say on their quality).
Unfortunately the HQ box is somewhat bulky compared to the Vega, which creates a very busy area around steering, starter, and exhaust.
I would have liked to run a set of 2 1/2" rams horns in this car, but it seems the optimum steering box location is right in the way of that, so rather than mess with the steering geometry, I figure I'm gonna' be building a set of headers instead.

To gain as much space as possible in this tight spot, I decided to relieve the box into the rail a tad, which will give me an extra 5/8" clearance between the box and the block, without losing any integrity in the frame rail.

To do this, I cut a mounting plate from 3/8" steel with the bandsaw, drilled and tapped the mounting pattern, then formed a curved 'pocket' from 1/8" plate for the steering box to sit in to.




The two lower threaded holes were backed up with nuts, to provide a bit more holding power. (The threaded lugs on the box were drilled for a clearance fit on the mounting bolts.)



Here you can see how the mount wraps around the body of the box.







This plate will now be relieved into the inside of the frame rail.
Seems like a whole bunch of work to gain 5/8", but I'm sure it'll all be worthwhile down the track...


Bear

 

Very cool. People on here joke about the RHD being the "wrong" side and whatnot.. But I like variety. It'll be cool to see this with RHD.

 

Nice work!! What are your plans for the rear mount on the engine? Are you planning on mounts at the rear of the engine or the tailshaft of the trans?

 

Hey there, Texas Speed.

Right hand drive is the norm over here, LHD is the novelty.
We're not allowed to build a fresh car in left hook, only if it's been bought into the country as LHD with correct paperwork (and be over 20 years old). My '63 Nova's left hook, but my '03 SS pickup had to be converted (try $25,000 + tax for the conversion)

I'd kinda like to build the '36 left hook but it seems it can't be done (legally), so it looks like I'll have to cut my mint '40 dash into around 10 or more pieces to make it work in RHD!

Still, I figure if building hot rods was easy, every dork would have one!

Bear

 

Thanks Dyce.

To be honest, I'm not 100% certain about the mounts at the rear of the engine idea. I have a rear trans mount on there now, and I'm kinda' waiting till I see what clearances I have around the bellhousing/exhaust before I look at fabricating some sort of support in that area.

Seems there are some very strong thoughts on the HAMB regarding this issue - I'd like to do a bit more research before I commit to anything.

Bear

 

Love this thing man! Hope to one day have one... Great job!

 

I know what you mean. I'm at the same point on my model a, waiting to do pedals and exhaust. Thanks for sharing your build. I know how tough it is to set the tools down to grab the camera.

 

NICE very nice...

 

Thanks for that... I've been wanting one of these for around 35 years!

I'm sure you'll get there one day, that's if there's any left in the US.
There's gotta been 10 of these things come into New Zealand in the last few years... So much for having something different

Still think they're cooler than hell tho'

Bear

 

So, here's the steering mount set into the frame rail.



I set the front of the mount in flush, with the rear setting out 3/8", which puts the steering box close to parallel with the frame centreline.



Bear

 

Neat stuff Bear . Just found ya Thread , , , have subscribed to it.

Keep up the awesome work mate

Shrapnel

 

Thanks, Shrappy

Had way... too many distractions lately, but the plan is to get back in to it tomorrow

 

WOW!!!! Great job!

 

And.... true to my word I did get back into it today.
First off, I formed a couple of gussets for the rear crossmember, to spread the loads right out to the edges of the frame rails.



My apologies for the crap photo quality.

Once these were welded and blended in, I tacked the top shock mounts into place. These were all cut out on the bandsaw and sanded up in pairs.




I'm using the long So-Cal shocks which have the perfect amount of travel to work with the airbags, retaining the bags at full extension.

Bear

 

lookin great! you kiwi's turn out some nice stuff!

 

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

See, Outback, we're not all bad. I'm actually coming over to Coolangatta this week to check out how you Ozzies do it!

Meanwhile, I got the lower mounts tacked into place.





And set the shocks in to position. There is a 1/4" spacer to go on the lower mount bolt, which will give more clearance from the mount to the shock body.




I angled the bottom mounts inward at the same angle as the shocks so that the mounts would be hidden from behind.



This wide camera angle tends to show the mounts, where they won't actually be visible from back a ways, but it also shows the clean, simple look that I was after.



Bear

 

Might see you around at Cooly rocks
Cheers Steve.

 

Yeah, could do.
What car will ya' be in?

I'll be with Dion from The Kustom Shop in his black '32 hiboy with steelies/ blackwalls.

Cheers
Bear

 

I'll be in my Mustang fastback, silver with black strips, USA64 number plates.
Cheers Steve.

 

Well, I'm back from my holiday - never did see your Mustang.
Probably didn't see a lot of cars with the way the weather was.

I'm just waiting on a pair of front shocks to turn up so's I can finish off my shock mounts, then I can move on to the exhaust and making the new floor.

Anyhow, I pulled a couple of pictures from my 'archives' to show how I set up the brake pedals.
I had originally intended on going the '39 pedal setup route, but because I had spaced the x-member legs further apart, I needed to reposition the pedals slightly, so figured I would use the original '36 pedal pivot casting, and adapt that to a dual circuit cylinder.
I made up this bracket to bolt to the leg of the x-member, and tried to design it in such a way that it would look like a stamped early Ford piece once it was welded.






I then cut out a spacer plate to offset the pivot casting slightly to allow the new pedal to clear the x-member (the new brake pedal will sit on the trans side of the x-member, rather than on the outboard side as stock.





Here you can see where the bracket sits in relation to the 'x', and how it 'sandwiches' the x-member channel.





The clutch m/c will sit inboard of the x-member on a separate mount (when I get to that stage)

Bear

 

That looks really neat.

 

Thanks for that, Hermit.

I needed to make up some new pedals 'cos of the new positioning, and our rules over here say that there is to be no welding on the brake pedal.

Once I had worked out the correct ratio and figured out the correct shape so as not to hit anything on the way through (several templates later), I had some blanks cut out of 3/8" mild steel plate.



Once I got these, I spent a bunch of time with various sanding discs, finessing the pieces till they resembled an early Ford part. Couple of bends in the vice and a bit more smoothing, then I threaded the pad end to accept the original '36 pedal pads.









Just need to bore the pivot end to the correct size for mounting on the new shafts.


Bear

 

You're crazy, in a good way. so much detailing. I'm sure that will end up being the nicest car in NZ.

Wish You were less than half a planet away : my old '76 café racer would look a look nicer with input from you.

 

Thanks again, Hermit! Very high praise indeed.

I guess I do get a bit hung up on the detail stuff, particularly seeing as this is gonna' be full-fendered, very low, and most all of the frame stuff will get a coat of semi-gloss black. But I really do enjoy making stuff.

Probably explains why it takes me so long to get a car done, but if someone ever gets down and crawls under this thing, I don't wanna' give them anything to complain about.

Here's the pedal assembly all sat together, including the new shafts and oil-less bushings.



The pedals will be fixed to the shafts, and the other ends have double-d's machined on them, for the clutch linkage, and for a toggle to activate the original '36 brake light switch.

Bear

 

Detail is good, as long as you can justify the time to do it that way. My Father always used to tell me : even though no-one will see it, you'll know it wasn't done right.

It's true. If I cut a corner on something it will haunt me until I go back and fix it.

 

Ahhh! A man after my own heart!

My Dad always used to say "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right," and to be honest, his patience used to really piss me off.

Now,(he's 89), when he sees stuff I'm working on he just shakes his head and mutters something like "I don't know where the hell you get the patience from...."

Bear

 

Sad thing is, i've been building my main bathroom for 2 years now. Does the term Anal(squared) exist yet ?

but i'm nowhere your level of proficiency with metal.