Projects Introducing the Roofus Special

Took me 2 days but I read the thread all the way thru, great build. You have to take this past garage art and get it on the road. Do you still have the jag firewall pieces and a title?

 

Yep, I turned it into an I-beam.

 

With the axle up a little higher everything looks much better. You could actually do a parallel arms system with the upper arm pivot on top of the frame. That is going to be easiest. You need to do some modelling to see how the unequal length arms are going to act, and what the inclined upper arm will do. If you have a computer modelling CAD program that would be great, but you can make cardboard arms the same lengths (or scale down) and check that. A full size cardboard mock-up might be the ticket -- easy to make adjustments to get where you want to be then make parts. I did that when making steering arms for the late model T-bird R&P in my Rambler.

I do recall Custom Rodder magazine testing independent vs. beam axle handling in an article a few years ago. They took a pair of 30's coupes, one with a double A-arm IFS and another with a beam axle -- otherwise cars were similar. The IFS had a bit better ride, but there was no discernible difference in handling at all. In fact, I seem to recall the drivers preferred the straight axle as it seemed more predictable in hard turns.

 

"axle up higher" ...does that mean car sitting higher? or lower?

I was trying to avoid the control arm on top of the frame. I want the headlights to end up where they look best...not fit where there was free space.

 

...looking back at this picture, I don't think the I-beam upper arms would be all that much of a distraction.

 

Looking better all the time. Love the 'panel re-cycling' on this project; it's going to look the real McCoy!
Davo.

 

Once this thing has a decent paint job, a shiny grill, swoopy headers leaving the side of the hood and taller wheels and tyres people won’t notice. Just paint them up and make them look inconspicuous, black like the rest of the chassis and front end

By the way, what colour are you thinking when its all done?
I've been imagining it in a deep forrest/British racing green so far.

 

I'm with you on the upper I-beam arm. It will look similar to the lower arm and should blend right in.

Almost any dark color will look good. British Racing Green, A Burgandy/dark red similar to the color on the side would be good too.

 

Paint is a long ways away. BRG makes the most sense with all of the Jag parts being used.

....but part of me says that it needs to be painted so that it will be more visible at night, like a lighter color or maybe metalic silver (tribute to Mercedes GP cars). Red might work for that too.

 

If it's safety-visibility you're after, red doesn't have a good record. Doesn't stop me driving a red DD, though.

 

Corvette Yellow or something like that would sure make it visible! I understand -- good thought on that! Any light bright color will look good on it, even a "lime green" (something like the old AMC "Big Bad Green" or the Chrysler bright green from the 70s).

 

Remember that white with a blue stripe is the official color scheme for American cars in sports car racing...

 

White with BRG wheels/fenders for a Jaguar-based American car?

 

Wow,cool piece. I'm Learning from different approaches to
a build. How bout using dimensions and pickup points
for a M2 front suspension? It's been used on just about everything.
Thanks for taking the time to post your progress.

 

Any progress? Spring is coming!

 

Nope, but I'm thinking about going this weekend.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to do the upper arms.

 

It is just metal. Do something, stand back, look again, bounce it up and down, and realize that you can grind it off and start again. Works for me!

 

Yeah, yeah, I know....just f'n do something!

I've got some 52 mercedes A-arms in the pile that I may try.

 

I thought it was grey primer?

 

Well, I got a chance to go play this weekend.

I dug into a pile and pulled out some 1952 Mercedes front suspension pieces. They don't really work as is, but what else is new.



The cross shaft and spring bucket mount is what is interesting to me.










My a-arm kit...some assembly required.


Yes the wrench is part of the plan

 

Playing with parts














It should look something like this. ball joint bolts will be underneath




This is where I quit for the day.

 

Too fucking cool.

 

So, I'm guessing you like the simplified streamlined a-arms idea?

 

It looks amazing.

 

I realized I forgot to explain how cool the vintage mercedes pieces are and what the whole plan is... coppied from another board...

That is the beauty of using the Mercedes pieces. The pivot bushings are threaded in such a way that the arm can be moved front to back along the shaft by simply screwing the bushings in or out.

The whole a-arm mount will be mounted on a plate that will bolt to the side of the frame and will be shimmable for camber changes.
I have a lot more welding and grinding to go to make it look presentable, but I think I finally found something that has that 30's high tech vibe that I was searching for....

 

That, the aerodynamic wrenches, and the lawnmower dash.

 

Just make sure your steering geometry is right! Look up "Ackerman angle". I had to make new steering arms for my Rambler when putting a rack and pinion in, took a bit of math to get them right!

 

The jag donor was rear steer, the rack donor was rear steer also. I'm hoping it will be close.

 

The problem is in positioning the outer tie rod ends. They have to be positioned relative to the wheelbase and the width of the front axle. If the wheelbase and front track are close to the front end donor you should be close enough. In going over detailed suspension specs on 60s Ramblers (I have a collection of service manuals with the info, being a Rambler/AMC nut!) I found that the exact angle isn't usually used, the suspension is up to 6 degrees off. So if you're in the ball park it should be good.

 

The wheelbase is within 1/2 inch of the jag donor. ...same for track width.