My latest project, a 'glass body we brought from England to the Philippines with us when we moved in May: The body was rent asunder for shipping: After we arrived in the PI and I finally found a place to work, I glassed a plywood floor into the body, and re-attached the rear half to the front. My old racing buddy here from years ago has loaned me a mock up 350/350 combo, and a tunnel ram. Lodged 'em together to see what they look like and to work out where to cut for clearance. I won't actually be using the tunnel ram, as he wants $1000 for it and it is not really practical for a road car. I cut out the floor to clear the motor. No room for size 13 boots in there, I fear. The tranny tunnel will need to be pretty close fitting to leave as much foot room as possible. I've scored an unlimited supply of 40 x 80 x 3 box section from a local scrap man, basically brand new steel, but painted white for some abandoned project. The rails were sliced at the rear to tweak 'em in a couple of inches. I never thought this out properly and put too fat a cut in, with the chopsaw. Here is my 'bender and tweaker' apparatus, to ease each one into line: I took my jigsaw to the front ends, to have a go at that tubular thing so many people do. Seems to have worked so far, just got to do a little hammering and welding some time: I'm going for a bit of a cartoony look, so the motor will sit rather high in the chassis, and I then decided to make everything sit above chassis rail height. Thus I marked the shape out on the billiard table flat garage floor in pen. The roads here are abysmal in places, with huge speed bumps of random size and shape, thus I'm opting for a minimum 6" under the lowest point of the car. My buddy forced a pair of huge Mickey Thompson 14" wide tyres on me too, but I already have wheels and tyres, so the will be put to one side for a rainy day. I've scored a 9" rear axle too, just the right width, but it needs new bearings. 3:0 ratio as well, so it should be okay behind a TH350 in a light car like this.
Triangulated four bar in position, with temporary gash square tube links: A bit of diagonal stiffness added: My attempt at 'frilling it up' I'm thinking about putting my 6v/71 blower on it, or probably just a Performer manifold and an Edelbrock 600 carb for now. I do fancy a blower, and it'd be fun making all the drive and stuff up. I've discovered the 'paint' on the box section is powder-coat, so that is going to be fun to remove. Just 30 feet away is wild jungle full of creepy crawlies and snakes and stuff. Progress has ground to a haltm as I'm working in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment. Some extremely generous folk off the Hamb should be hooking me up with a Model A front end in the near future, for when I fly back home from Houston in a couple of weeks. So, I hope to get a rolling chassis together fairly soon.
More progress. An incredibly generous Hamb lady sorted me out a complete front axle system, stripped it down, boxed it up, delivered it to my hotel so I could grab it as I flew through on a one day stay, all without ever having met me. Thanks you ma'am, you're a real lady. Mounting the Corvair steering box, requires an angled oddball bracket, cut from 3/8 steel: The hole is so I can run a brake line, without ducking and weaving around the chassis rail. Looks like it'll work: Tacked in place, Pitman arm end lines up exactly with the hairpin end: good geometry. Clearances look a little tight between the various links, but at ride height it is all good. A little heating and tweaking of the steering arm may be required, but not much. I rose/heim jointed the cut off Model A hairpins, using inserts and joints from Summitracing. They'll be bolted up to the chassis using 5/8" bolts and with crush tubes welded in. Cleared away all the rubbish, blocks of wood, trolley jack etc: I'll drill some cute holes in the spring bracket eventually, to match the engine plate, trim and shape the clamps etc. I just wish I had some hubs so I could get it rolling.
I've made up a steel tube sub frame to go inside the glass body, to stiffen it up, give a little collision protection, allow seat belt mounts etc. It was welded solid in three sections, outside the car, then installed and fully welded together in place. Some more crosspieces were added where the dash will eventually go, to tie the front together. Back half went in first. I'll glass it in place, and if I can find some of that squirt-in expanding foam I'll use it to bond and goo it all solid inside the glass. The square 'cut out' at the rear is for the prop shaft tunnel to go.
I like the look of that car. I can't imagine it running around in the Phillipines. The only bit I don't like at this stage is the front spring perch. Why not make the perch so the frame rests on top of the spring rather than hanging it below the spring? Pete
I started like that, but it looked too tall and ungainly. I'm not 100% sure I like it like it is now, but I'm sure it'll look better with the rad cowl, headlights and all on.
I decided to use all the old Model A joints for the steering, no idea what they are called, so I had to bend a few levers and extend the drag link, make a pitman arm etc. I needed the Model A bottom ball and the Corvair top spline , so some cutting and grinding and welding was required, then some bending to line it all up. I ground it all smooth and checked the welds, then cut and welded a plate that follows the rear of the arm, top to bottom, welded fully around, strong and discrete. The bits in the background are the redundant ends. I forgot to take pics of the finished item, but it should be good 'n strong. Bit of heat to coax it into shape. Steering arms needed raising a touch to clear things. Mr gas Axe assisted most ably here. Bit crowded in here, but it all clears. That welding on the drag link looks awful in photos, but not too bad in the flesh. :? I keyhole welded the extension tubes on in a couple of places, as the drag link was solid 5/8 bar and I used seamless 'pressure tube' to stretch it. All the bolts holding the dampers etc are just temporary mock-up stuff, as are the wheel 'studs'. Some details of the front end: I found an 'auto surplus' yard locally that let me dig around and I dragged away a pair of complete front of hubs of something apparently called an L300, some sort of Mitsibishi people carrier. I made up a caliper bracket, got the caliper hung, but I still need a couple of adaptor sleeves making to sort the bearings out. I made the mistake of buying bearings to fit the spindle before I bought the hubs, as I originally intended to make the hubs to suit, as I (thought) I had suitable Corolla discs and calipers, but it turned out they were not a matching pair. I got ripped off.... Oddly enough, the hubs have Ford stud pattern, but strangely I have Chevy pattern wheels for the front, and Ford for the rear end. I might just swap them for something that fits straight on, Ford all round, save more engineering. The top extra area is for when I mount some cycle fenders and will be cut and shut to suit. Gotta think ahead. The whole plot fits quite deeply into the wheel, and I'll make some sort of ally old-timey vented cover for it one day, maybe... Just lashed into place with some washers and spacers, to set disc clearance. Finally rolled it out into the warm sun for the first time today.
I admire your resourcefulness. I spent a year and a half stationed in the PI and know how bad the roads are.A RPU in Angeles City should be unique.Are you going to doll it up like a Jeepney?
Good grief no, it's going to be 60's old school show car wierd style. I need some skinny front tires, and I have some massive rears to go on. Contrary to popular belief, most Jeepneys belong in the 'Death Trap' thread that running. They really are pieces of shyte.
I have no idea what the MC is off, but it started out with a big booster diaphragm thing on. That is now in the scrap bin, no faggy powered brakes on this bad boy hot rod. Then a lever, gas axed from a chunk of 10mm steel plate. I did this ten o'clock last night, out in the street, with the steel G clamped to the garden gate, as my 'shop' is full of hot rod. The neighbourhood kids thought it was great. It is actually made from two pieces, welded together half way up the long bit. My scrap pile is getting depleted, down to rag ends now. I found an end boss designed for four bar suspension, with poly bushes, so that was grafted in the middle of the lever. And a tube welded into the chassis rail. A 5/8" bolt secures it all good and snug. I plan to make a bolt-on foot pedal, to some design of interest at some stage. I got medieval with the rear end, as it just looked too long, and space is limited in my mini garage. So, I cut 12" off. The bed can still be as long as I want to make it, but a bolt on rear bumper device will provide protection from impacts. I made a tubular seat frame support: Brake pedal appears to poke out in the right place, good guesswork. MC stashed under seat, will be connected by a looong push-rod, maybe lightweight aluminium tube to stop it bouncing about on rough roads. Dimbo here chopped the cut-out in the wrong place. Still, it all needs another layer or two of 'glass all over, so repairs and tidying will be done then.... Just a couple of little things done lately, as I've been busy with loads of other stuff. Started to glass the body to the stiffening frame: Various seat belt mounts welded in: Got to work out the doors too, they are pretty basic: I got the steering column and Corvair steering spindle splined to suit a Jap U/J, to save messing about welding something onto either shaft.
Thanks guys. I'm off to 'Marvins Stainless Steel Nuts and Bolts' shop today to try and source some door hinges, try to get my doors built/hung before I fly offshore again next week. Doors. I added a wooden rib down each end to get a little stiffness, one recessed so the overlap gave the door something to close against the body. That is how the originals were, kinda tacky, but simple, no recessed flush doors handles in the 20's, no SVA or other safety bollox. Then I fastened them into the final resting place to align them and glassed two pastic tubes in the middle. The tub adds no strength, but the layers of glass stiffens it all up a whole bunch. A little sanding and trimming and they work pretty good. More tidying and finishing will be done later. Rear disc kit is all tacked into place. And new shockers fitted. They are a bit longer than planned. Plus they are fatter, so foul the axle, so I had to move the axle forward a half inch, which now means the prop shaft may be too long.....oh what fun.... I put new tyres on the steel wheels, but they are not the skinny VW type I planned, as they were not available at the time and as usual I wanted them right away, so something similar was used. They look 'okay' but not really what I wanted. I'm now pulling the whole thing apart, for welding and a splash of paint.
I made a nest for the 9" diff, to make it easier to clean up, bloody thing is heavy! Got the casing all cleaned up, ground a bit, coat of rust converter on: Cleaned up and sprayed the wishbones, axle and a few other axle related gubbins. Threw a really embarrassingly crap coat of red oxide on the chassis, as I'm sick of looking at all that gash ugly white powder coated tube. I'm looking for black Hammerite, but nobody seems to stock it over here. I made a sort of handle thing for both ends so it can be rested between two trestles for painting etc. Blagged the motor and trans off my mate, stuck them together, can't wait to get it bolted in place: The shed is getting no bigger either, with all these parts kicking around:
I know this is sorta getting away from core Hamb direction, with disc brakes both ends etc, but you gotta use what you can find, and there ain't too many swap meets, or any sort of Egay where I live.
I just found this thread. I think you're doing great. As my military buddies used to say "actions are based on situation and terrain". I'd say you're spot on based on that.
More paint going on, just rattle can black gloss. Chassis was brush painted, but I should probably have just rattle canned it as it took forever to paint, even with my trusty apprentice helping. I had a bad thread on one of the bolts that hold the hairpin to the axle, and they don't exactly grow on trees round here. A local hardware shop sold me a 5/8" UNF die nut and folder for about £8 and the job was a good 'un. I then decided to cut and grind a bunch of the surplus metal off the actual bolts themselves, an old hot rodders trick from the old days. Before and after pics below, but there was some more grinding to do to smooth it all out. The poly bushes for my front shackles were too big, so instead of going to the machine shop and paying good money, waiting for a week, I decided to turn my bench drill into a lathe. A 1/2" bolt as a mandrel, with a spacer for clearance and a nut to hold it tight, and an old boring tool out of my junk box.... I had 8 to do, took about 30 minutes altogether, cost nowt. Everything is piled up, in the way, in the shed now as it is monsoon season and raining cats and dogs all day every day, and the paint doesn't want to go hard, and I have no room to work.......
I know only about three people a week read my build thread, but I refuse to stop posting. This is for the people who are interested in a glass bodied, disc braked hot rod on the other side of the planet. I started bolting stuff together yesterday: Bit of a problem, the steering cross link just touches the headlight brackets on full lock, so something needs to be fiddled with there, maybe less steering lock. And I think I'll modify the wheels to give less offset, bring them together a bit more. Just need to cut out four welds to release the centres, and hopefully tap them over 1 1/2" and re-weld, but I doubt it will be so easy...... I need some rear axle bearings, so I can get the back end all together and wheels on. Something that has always confused me a bit, but with the hairpins swinging an arc, the leaf spring going up and down at some angle different to the hairpins, steering, and movement all around, how can you tell whether the spring is binding or moving freely within the shackles? So, I decided to fire up my trusty drill lathe and remove the shoulders on half of the shackle bushes, so when it is all assembled and loaded up I can visually see whether my hair pin length is adjusted to put the axe in line with the spring. I assembled it, bounced on the suspension a few times, and the spring 'walked along to one end. A tweak on each hairpin rose joint, bounce again, and it is dead centre. Yeah, I'm a sad man.
Sun was out yesterday, so I fitted the back axles/wheels in place, and rolled it out into the sun whilst I cleaned out the shed. Threw one side of the headers on for a look see. Going to start work on the body again on the morrow.
The Jalopy Journal
