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Projects My roadster pickup project.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Don's Hot Rods, Apr 19, 2012.

  1. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Hi Darren. I will PM you a little build thread I did on my 27, it is on another forum and wouldn't be fair to the HAMB to post it on here. I will measure the underdash area for you tomorrow if you like. The body is only channelled 3 inches so there is a lot of height still left there.

    Don
     
  2. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    You are welcome. :D

    Don
     
  3. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    Guess I'm showing my age.:eek: LOL! I've actually never seen a fox body completely gutted out. Trans tunnel area and firewall, bear a startling resemblance to pinto/Mustang II.
     
  4. So then my next question is how long is the whole cab side im trying to figgure proportions for my next A. Im happy with the size of the cab on my modified. I just want a rpu with doors next
     
  5. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,459

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    Hey Don, can you post a picture of the end mount of your steering stabilizer ? I see one end clamps to the cross link. It lools like the other end goes to the wishbone ?

    Larry.
     
  6. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Sko, I will take some detailed measurements for you today and post them tonight.

    Larry, we simply made up a small tab out of 3/16 flat stock and welded it to the wishbone after rounding the outside edge and drilling a hole in the middle. I had to slightly bend the end of the SoCal stabilzer to straighten it as it comes with an odd angle to that end. I will shoot a picture today for you.

    Don
     
  7. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Sko, I took some measurements for you. The overall length of my body (my rpu body, not MY body :p) is 54 inches, from tip of firewall to rearmost part of back section. The door opening is 26.5, the back section is 10.5 and the cowl is 17 inches.

    Now, you have to remember that this rpu body is made from a Murray fordor sedan body and they have a longer cowl than the usual Briggs body or a true rpu body. For example, the 30 Brookville rpu body my Son is using is only 49 inches long overall. Just thought I should mention that. He also made that 10.5 rear section a little deeper than the usual rpu body for a little more leg room. Hope these measurements help.

    Larry, here are a couple of pictures I took tonight of how we mounted the end of the SoCal stabilizer to the wishbone, just a very simple flat tab. I cut a piece off of some 1 1/8 inch stock, rounded the one end, and drilled a hole in it. Then Dan welded it on for me.

    As I mentioned, the SoCal part has an odd angle to the end of it, I guess to allow it to lay on the same plane as the stabilizer when it is in place. But I didn't need that angle so I clamped the stud in the vice and gently tapped down on the end to change it to more of a 45 degree angle. We had to do the same thing when we mounted one on my Sons rpu, but it is all of a 2 minute job.

    Hope these pictures help you out.

    Don

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,459

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    Thanks Don. On a related topic, when your steering cross link goes under the frame and wishbones like that what kind of clearance do you need so that it all works without hitting the frame etc. ?
    Larry.
     
  9. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Larry, the tie rod moves with the wishbones, so just a bit of clearance (like 1/2" or 1" is more than enough. That clearance never changes. As for the other stuff that does move up and down, like the axle, it is best to leave at least 3 inches, 4 if possible. But in the real world a light hot rod only moves at the most 2 inches when it hits a bump, and usually less than that.

    Don
     
  10. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Back in June, when I posted some pictures of my mockup, a member, Model A Fan, offered the opinion that the bed might look better a little bit longer than I planned on. I was trying to recreate an old altered drag car I saw years ago with the bed shorter than the slicks stuck back, but he got me to thinking, and I have decided he was right.

    Yesterday I bought some thin plywood and made a mock up bed that is 5 inches longer than the original mock up bed. It is now exactly the same distance behind the tire as in front of it, and I have to thank Model A Fan for suggesting that change. I think it looks much more proportional. :D

    Here are some pictures from tonight when I got it done. The corners will be rounded on the final sheet metal version, and have some beads rolled into the sides and tailgate.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]



    I also have never seen the chrome windshield frame installed on the car so I dragged it out and got it installed too. Couldn't resist doing that.:eek:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    So now I can cut the sheet metal to match the plywood and start building the final bed. Still not sure if I am going to use the louvered panel I have as a tonneau cover or a floor in the bed, but I have time to make that decision.

    Don
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2012
  11. Coming along great!

    Sam
     
  12. ArtGeco
    Joined: Apr 6, 2005
    Posts: 759

    ArtGeco
    Member
    from Miami

    I love Florida for their easy registration and no vehicle inspections of any sort.
    It's kept me here a decade.
     
  13. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Thank you, Sam. :)

    Art, we have it so nice down here registration wise, don't we ? Pennsylvania has finally loosened up some but I grew up there and at the time you couldn't legally make any changes to a car.

    And then there is the snow...........:eek:

    Don
     
  14. stephane-rod
    Joined: Jul 16, 2007
    Posts: 208

    stephane-rod
    Member
    from france

  15. langy
    Joined: Apr 27, 2006
    Posts: 5,730

    langy
    Member Emeritus

    That looks great Don, you can't beat bolting on a shiny bit to keep your enthusiasm up ..............................


    Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
     
  16. Hi Don, its so cool to watch a vision turn into the real deal.JW :)
     
  17. ChefMike
    Joined: Dec 16, 2011
    Posts: 647

    ChefMike
    Member

    thats a great set-up your a true craftsman
     
  18. striper
    Joined: Mar 22, 2005
    Posts: 4,498

    striper
    Member

    Talk me through the build of the bed Don. I'm thinking about a little shorty for mine.

    Pete
     
  19. 53chevpickup
    Joined: Aug 30, 2006
    Posts: 79

    53chevpickup
    Member
    from Australia

    I love this build. Man Ive got a 394 in my pickup, killer engine that thing is going to be a spritley little sucka....
     
  20. tjm73
    Joined: Feb 17, 2006
    Posts: 3,484

    tjm73
    Member

    Longer bed was the right call. Looks great.
     
  21. Good call on the bed length. I mocked mine up with wood too. Much easier to trim up before final metal fab. :)
     
  22. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,459

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    The bed looks good Don. I ended up going longer with mine than I thought at first as well.

    Mine is similar, it ends like yours at the rear tires farthest rear side.

    I like the look.

    The only thing is that you will have pretty much no inside box space.

    A trade off with dropping the body where mine is more hi-boy style which leaves me some room in my bed.

    With my T dropping the body would have given me no inside room at all, room to sit or anything else.

    Larry
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2012
  23. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Thanks guys, glad you think the bed is going to look ok this length. I too like it much better. I am going to push it outside so I can stand back further and get a better view of it, but I think this is where it will end up.

    Striper, well, rather than simply just starting to cut up sheet metal I felt it was best to build a trial bed out of something else first. I have used cardboard, masonite, and other stuff in the past for making similar things, but this time I went to Home Depot and found "underlayment" plywood that comes in 2 x 4 foot sheets, about 1/4 inch thick. It is cheap enough (about $6 a sheet) and strong enough to hold it's shape better than cardboard.

    I have always thought a bed looks better if it has the same amount of it sticking out in front of the tires as it does behind them, and I was only going to deviate that on this one because of what I mentioned earlier, I was going for a drag car look. But Model A Fan was right, with this body it needed a longer bed to look balanced.

    I measured from the back of the body to the centerline of the rear axle and got 18 inches. I deducted a half inch because the bed will not be tight up against the body, and that gave me 17.5. Multiplying X 2 I got an overall bed length of 35 inches. For the width I just moved the sides out until there wasn't a huge gap between the tires and bed sides and found that about 2.5 inches looked right on this one.

    So that it looks more like an original bed I am using Ford stake pockets on each corner. I think these are 35 Ford, but not sure as Dan bought these originally when this was his body, The ones in the front are stock length but we are cutting the back ones down to 15 inches tall as the bed is shorter in the back. We have cut one down already and still have one more to cut. The reason the front ones are longer is that I curved the bedsides down there to hide some of the frame kickup.

    To support the mock up bed I simply ran two lengths of 2 x 4 lumber across the frame and used sheetrock screws to fasten it all together. Once I get a good look at how it looks outside I can start cutting the 18 gauge sheet metal. Bending that up will be a little tricky as there are some bends going in different directions, so I will have to get creative on the sheet metal brake to be able to fit them all in.

    I will post more pictures when I start bending it up. Hope that helps you out, Striper.

    Don

    This picture will show better how I screwed the plywood bed together.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2012
  24. Subscribed. Great build, terrific technique...worth watching!
     
  25. paco
    Joined: Oct 19, 2006
    Posts: 1,141

    paco
    Member
    from Atlanta

    Good call on the bed sides Don ... it DOES look very proportional.

    It's coming righgt along.

    Paul
     
  26. Bed looks good Don. I think the length works perfectly. Can't wait to see more.
     
  27. n847
    Joined: Apr 22, 2010
    Posts: 2,724

    n847
    Member

    Damn Don thats gonna be a bad ass truck!
     
  28. poofus1929
    Joined: Jan 29, 2008
    Posts: 897

    poofus1929
    Member
    from So Cal

    Looking like a sweet little truck now. :D
     
  29. Don's Hot Rods
    Joined: Oct 7, 2005
    Posts: 8,319

    Don's Hot Rods
    Member
    from florida

    Thanks everyone, sorry I missed your posts until now.

    My Son Dan was back in town today and wanted to see the mock up bed I had done, so we went over to the shop. He liked it, but then I saw the stare that I know means he is thinking of a little better way to do it. :eek: He suggested the sides needed to be an inch narrower and that all of the corner stake pockets needed cut down to be the same size as the back one we already had done (shown in the pictures).

    After listening to his reasons it made sense, so we pulled the wooden bed apart and cut an inch off of the bottom and made the bottom straight across, instead of sweeping down to meet the longer stake pocket that is on there now. Once we had done that I had to admit it did look better. The way I had done it the front stake pockets looked too long.

    He also suggested we flatten out the angle on the little "wings" that are on top of each bed side so they lay down slightly more. That made sense too, and we will either modify the stake pockets I have or make new ones on the brake. Not sure which yet.

    I have to admit the changes do make it look better, but I forgot to take any pictures. I will post some more after we get the sheet metal bed started. The picture below will show the changes we are going to make.

    [​IMG]

    Don
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2012

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