Today I did some more work on the rear cross member and got it mostly welded in. I got a start on the rear bones but it was getting late. I wanted to have it on off the jack stands today but getting the old bushings out of the 35/36 shackle mounts was terrible! Then I busted the press trying to put one back in. Damn...
So here I thought I had found every picture of every modified, lakes roadster, whatever you want call it. HAMB Member Casper messaged me about a post and mentioned his car. It's perfect! It's an excellent example of the direction I want to go. The stance and general look are what I have had in my head. I had to post it. It's not your standard modified, he said his was built in '46.
Coming along nicely. The link is gone/ not working. ***disregard using my dumb phone surfing and it finally showed up***
So, up until now, I have not been able to sit in the car to see how it will feel. I have went off of measurements I found in drawings, and measuring other peoples cars. Tonight I got to have a seat and see how the geometry is. I still need to track down a donor seat or make something to compensate for the height of the foam. I can already see I'm going to have to make some adjustments. Another quick mock up to make sure things are still heading in the right direction. That's me
I was able to shave tad more off the 35/35 rear rods and get the angle I need. I did a mock up of the rear spring and I need to add an inch and a half more to the height of the spring. So I'm waiting on some more leaf springs. Then I'll have the rear wishbone done! One more shot from the other night. More progress soon. It's almost on it wheels!
Well, after hours and hours of searching through photos, I finally decided that the 26/27 Model T Ford stanchions had the look I wanted. The problem was that the are freaking expensive, and for my car, I was going to have to cut them up. I posted a message on FB asking if anyone had any stanchions and a local buddy had a set off his car. He said they were in rough shape, and I could have them. I was excited. I didn't want to start from scratch. Here's my score! They came from HAMB Member and another local, Twin City Knight. Thanks man!
...and what they look like after spending a whole bunch of time getting them straight and close to looking the same. Still a ways to go, but I'm learning. I had to get clever trying to hammer and twist these back into shape. This pretty much killed my days work, but at the end of the day I think it's a good start for an area of trouble. And some more trimming. They will no be mounted backwards to fit the shape of the cowl. I still have a lot of shaping and trimming but the general idea is there. Gene Peterson used the 26/27 stanchions on his 30/31 cowl. He molded them in to the cowl. This was my inspiration for this idea, but I'm doing it a bit different.
Bump for the morning crew. I spent way to much time at the shop last night...just woke up on the couch! How do you think I should do the windshield? Should I use a metal surround, or have exposed glass along the top?
That car is amazing! I vote for open glass on top that matches the curve of the bottom of the windsheild.
Bevelled edge glass looks great but what happens if you hit something and then bang your face on it?? Do you have any more info on the Gene Peterson car? Cheers
We are already going to wear fire suits and helmets. The rollbar I'm going to put in will probably knock me out after I hit the windshield, so it should be painless. There are only like 4 photos I have found of Gene's car on here. With almost no information. It's a mix of Model A and T parts. Like mine.
Good point about the roll bar - Hey I'm building in fibreglass so I have about as much protection as a push bike !! Go the bevelled edge.. Cheers Tony
USPS lost a money order for a waterfall I purchased a while back. The seller on the Fard Barn is kind enough to hold it for me while I wait the 60 days (and pay $5.50) for my refund after they lost the letter. Grrr. When I first moved into my new shop, one of the old fellas noticed I hauled in a '36 dash. He brought over a box and had the original gauges. Last week I asked them if they'd sell me the gauges and what dash parts they had and they said yeah. I ended up getting a coupe speedo's and the rest of the gauges. The owner of the parts also told me that he rebuilt gauges for many, many years here in Minneapolis. He said if they don't work they will. In the mix, there was also a bent up waterfall and rusted out ashtray. So, today I decided to strip all the paint on the waterfall and straighten out the huge crease down the middle. I did it using a screwdriver handle and some bicycle parts ground down on the bench grinder. I noticed that there was pitting in the surface of the waterfall, and it looked like brass under it. I thought they were stainless. A small scratch on the back and I found out that they are indeed made of brass! I wanted to make brass knobs for the dash, so it's going to get stripped and polished. Here's the waterfall after I did a bit of work to it. I got the creases most of the way out. It's brass so it should be pretty workable. Worth a shot. I'll have a spare if it goes sour! My hippie buddy makes jewelry and has this neat old centrifugal casting machine he acquired from an old dentists office. It was used for making teeth. It's quite the little machine. You make a wax mold, cast it in plaster and melt out the wax it a small furnace. Then put the plaster mold in the machine and it heats up the metal in a little chamber. Once it's hot enough, you hit a button and it spins around and casts your mold. It's WILD! I'm saving old valve stems to melt down for the knobs. Similar to this-
The right side stanchion was busted off just before the lower windshield mount. The left stanchion still had the upper section. I took Twin City Knight's advice and cut the top mount off the right side waste section, and molded it into the busted off stanchion. It worked real nice. Here's what it looked like after the repair. I also welded up some of the deep rust pitting. Slowly getting there. After many more hours, they are finally getting close. I capped the top sections where the upper stanchion was cut off, filled areas that were pitted bad from rust, and smoothed them out some more. Here's were I left off last night.
Sooooooooooo much measuring. Braces welded in and wishbone tacked in. The arch in the spring with the shackles at 45*. Rear spring leaves re-arched. Off the jack stands for the first time. Slapped back together for a stance check.
Bump for my side of the planet. The others side got to see it last night. I didn't take photos, but the braces on the rear are cut out and it's in the springs and rubber! 2 days to wrap up the front suspension. My goal is almost reached!
I'm in a pickle. To channel or not to channel. Because I'm running the flat rear cross member, the gas tank looks kind of funny to me. I think if I lower the body a bit it'll help me out. What do you think? (the tank would be higher than the photoshopped picture)
Put the tank on stand offs/legs from the chassis rails and you can place it exactly where it looks best.
It appears you have the tank sitting on a 3 1/2" block, so channel looks like the next step. I wouldn't go radical, 2" - 3".
It looks cool either way but I vote for the channel, I also had trouble with that style tank I just never got it to look right so... you know what I did with it.
There is a reason certain year cars look right. The proportions of mine are starting to look goofy to me. I need to do some starring.
Stand that gas tank up vertically and think about how that changes the look of things. I love the tall and stubby look your car has going on.
I like the unchanneled look. I'd turn the tank like ^^^^^^^^ said Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Maybe I have the wrong tank? I stood the tank up vertically and it didn't look right since the lettering was angled then. I really don't want to channel it. I also might go back to the stock radiator shell. Decisions. Thanks for the replies.
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