Thanks for all the great comments. The first thing that I did after I got the car was the dash and gauge panel. I didn't take many pictures because I didn't know at the time I was going to be doing this. The car didn't have a glove box door with it. I thought the 3W dash would look better if the door matched the raised panel on the drivers side so it would be symmetrical. A template of the drivers panel was made to cut one out of a piece of 3/8 aluminum. After thata line was scribed about 3/16 in from the edge as a guide to grind the bevel to. The raised panel is not perfectly flat and has a small crown. The crown was duplicated so it will look like a stamping when it is painted. More guidelines were scribed on the face and bevel and a small taper was ground. A sanding block was used to blend everything. A hinge was then fabricated from stainless.
Still alive. Got really busy at my day job and in the shop. Not much free time. I'll try to get this going again. I created a gauge panel in CAD for the dash that consist of 3 pieces - a base that has counterbored holes for the gauges so the lips fit flush with the face of the base, a panel that covers the base and gauge lips and a SS trim ring that has screws through it to hold everything together. The base and panel were made from aluminum on the Bridgeport. I had the trim ring water jet cut from 1/8" 316 SS then finished it. The dash had to have the lighter hole and an extra hole filled. The center of the dash was cut out and a recess made so the insert is just below flush of the original lip.
Thanks everyone. For front wheels I wanted original magnesium 15X4 kidney beans or 16x6 Indy roadster wheels. I had been looking for both for a couple years. I eventually decided the 16x6's would have been too wide even with a 550 tire. Last year I called Vintage Engineering one day for the hell of it to see if he had made any more kidney beans and he hadn't. I did find out that he had cast some 16x5 Indy Roadster some time ago wheels and sill had 2 left. Also said he wasn't going to make any more of that style in any size. These were very nice but way too fancy for me. I wanted them to match my original 16x7 rears so I made some changes. I want to keep things simple and use lug nuts so I already changed the backs. Luckily the pin holes were not drill all the way through on these so I told him to leave them that way when I bought them. I milled off the cast pressure plates and drilled a 5X5 bolt pattern. [ The only thing machined on my back wheels is the center and the edge of the lip. I like the older unfinished look better. I think the machined rim also makes the lip look wider than it really is. To make them look cast I first eliminated the lip around the rim at the transition of cast to machined with a burr then with sand paper with it mounted in a brake lathe. After trying several different things, a 1/4" grade 8 bolt with the corners slightly rounded was used in a die grinder to simulate the cast surface. Very time consuming. After that they were sand blasted to remove the Dow 7 and give them a more uniform surface. The outside of the rims was taped off to leave the Dow coating to protect from corrosion. Red Scotchbrite and an abrasive brush was then used to smooth everything a little. Same as used when finishing the rears. They look shinny but will dull down quickly.
Great work! Your look is such an improvement. I have always thought that new wheels seemed too perfect. The older stuff seems to have a much more "handmade" look. I like how you successfully replicated that here. Thank you! Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I would have rather had originals but finding good kidney bean or indy wheels is almost impossible and the indy wheels are too wide anyway so i saw this as was my only option.
Thanks! I've been looking at running a magnesium wheel, and have been trying to decide between a shank style lug nut or a conical seat style. I was thinking the magnesium might be too soft for the conical seat though?
I would think so. I would also worry about it possibly cracking in the area between the center hole and lug hole. There would be a lot of force there from the wedge effect of the tapered seat. I've seen cracks in old mag wheels in that area that had shank style but who knows what they have been been through. I was mistaken on the brand of nuts. I don't remember. I make sure they have a flat face and a corner with very little to no radius where they contact the washer or they will grab and spin it and/or compress the middle and become conical shaped. The washers are Mcgard though. I use them because they are S.S., 1.06 O.D. and 1/8" thick. They can be ordered separate.
EXCELLENT! This is exactly what I needed to see. This was on my mind, all this past week and I couldn't find any pics of what I was thinking of. So good.
Yes, those wheels are killer. Mine are Halibrand and had the early Ford bolt pattern in them already.
I wanted cowl steering and after looking at the Ranger, F100, BMW and other options I decided on modifying a Mopar box. I wanted it to look like it belonged there and not something adapted and thought the Mopar had the most potential. It also has a 24:1 ratio so I could use a longer pitman arm which would allow it to be placed a little higher for extra foot room and still keep the drag link reasonably low. The first thing that was done is clean everything up and make sure it was usable. Next was to make the mounts disappear. Not much to them. The piece on the cap is drilled and tapped 3/8-24 and has a center in the end. A stud is used to attach it to the cap. It is either chucked on or a center used when turning the box in the lathe. This is the basic design of the box. The output shaft is 1-1/8" diameter so a 1-1/8" solid splined torsion bar will be used to lengthen the shaft. The box was shortened then bored and turned on the mill. A 1-5/8 x .134 wall tube was bored and turned. Holes were then drilled to plug weld a 1-3/8 x .058 wall sleeve that will get inserted. The sleeve OD was .001 bigger so the tube was heated up to put it in. The other end of the 1-3/8" sleeve goes in the steering box. The box bore is .001 under so it will be heated up to install it. The aluminum sleeve goes over both. It is also .001 undersized and will be heated up to install. Should be very strong. The 2 bushings are still in the box so a 1-1/8 shaft was installed and a bushing that fit snug in the 1-5/8 tube and on the shaft was used when the tube was put in to insure it was straight and left in place until the box cooled back down. The tube is long and will be shortened after it's mocked up to determine the final length. The aluminum sleeve was heated and installed over both pieces. 1/4-28 holes were drilled and tapped through everything for 316 SS 1/4" flathead screws. The screws were then installed with red Locktite. Shown is the top getting cut down an 1/8" to make room for a brass lock nut that will be made to replace the stamped steel one.
This is the reason the top of the steering box was milled an 1/16". The new brass nut I made is a little taller. A flange was made next to bolt on over the box cover for a 1-5/8 x .134 wall tube to slide in to. The box cover was faced off and a step put in it. The flange has a counter bore on the back side that fits snug to center it. The through hole was bore .001 under so the flange was heated to put the tube in it. It will also be pinned. For a pitman arm I started with a 6061 torsion bar arm with the 1-1/8 spline in it from Speedway. All of the machine work is done by hand on the mill or lathe so weird shapes are roughed as close a I can get to a scribed line. Then finished with hand tools and sandpaper. The wormshaft adjuster was bored just big enough to hit the bosses for holes so a column mounting flange could be made with a register the same diameter that will center it. The hole are 5/16. I put 1/4-20 Helicoils in them to bolt the flange to. The end of the pitman shaft was cut off to get rid of the splines. One end of the torsion bar was cut off and tacked to it for mock up. It is shown here with the column flange. Both 1-5/8 tubes are still long and will be shortened after side to side location is determined. A hole was cut in the cowl to center the box with the driver. The length of the two tubes could now be determined. The height of the spindle arm was also found.
Now that I knew what the final length of the tubes the torsion bar stub could be cut and a 1/8 hole drilled and reamed in the end. A 30* angle was then machined for welding. The same was done to the sector shaft except a 1/8 tit was left on the end to mate with the hole. The 2 shafts were slid together, clamped in angle and tig welded. When the taper was cut a step was machined for a split chromoly sleeve to be added. When assembling the box the full length of the shaft has to slide through bushings so the sleeve could not be bigger that the shaft. The shaft was straightened .005 then the weld was turned down for the sleeve. Next the sleeve was welded in place. It was straightened again and finished. A 1-1/8 ID X 1-3/8 OD X 1-1/4 long needle bearing and seal will be used in the end so a heavy wall tube was bored to fit over the steering box tube then welded. The box tube was finished in the lathe. The holes were not countersunk full depth for flathead screws in the aluminum sleeve. They were turned flush with the sleeve which left the heads about 3/8 dia. There was still a little of the hex left so a ball nose endmill was used to dimple them so they look more like a rivet. The box was reassembled with the new inner race and bearing. There is a lip seal that goes in the end at final assembly.
The Jalopy Journal
