Nah, SoKal'll do just fine, spent a week in Kansas one day a few years back. Nice place. Hey Tom, whatcha need two seperate front wheels for anyhow? Maybe push'em together like a row tractor. OH yeah, you need'em to hold up what's left of that axle. Lookin' damn good Sir, keep on keepin' on.
Ol' Team Twirl'n showed up at my joint today.. He had a camera in his hand.. I told him to either put it back in the car or it will be confiscated and smashed.Then he started laughing...Just kidding.. Had a good visit..Sad News. His dad just passed away yesterday..Im so sorry my friend.He is now in Gods hands and at peace...
So whats so bad about Kansas.??? It's a good state to be from, About 2000 miles from... The K.C Kid....
AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!! i KNEW i shoulda stopped by... i had to stop at Mooneyes for something and my car just kept wanting to go a little further, but i had to get my wife somewhere.... sorry about yer pops.
It's a reference to a movie, in that part of the movie the group on screen is on their way to a special place, to visit a special person, and they're on an oddly paved street. That group (at that point in the movie) would include the characters, Tin Man, Scare Crow, Dorothy, AND Toto (The Cowardly Lion, as played by Burt Lahr (sp?) had yet to appear, he shows up in this sequence though, hence the 'lion' tie in). And no, they weren't in Kansas at that point.
Well.......been gone to Arizona for the last ten days, my mother in law fell and broke her hip and we had to make a rush trip to get her set up in a rehab hospital along with a bunch of other stuff. Got home today to find a box of parts for the Rabbit that I had ordered came in while we were gone, so it's time to start hanging pieces together and getting the big parts hung in place so we can figure out where the little parts need to go. Probably be a few days till it comes together, but we should have some good progress in the next few weeks. Screw Kansas.......it's good to be back home in SoCal!!
Sorry to hear about the familial health issues. Glad to hear you are back on track (and home, home's a good thing).
64Dodge440, I'm very happy to have found your thread because I'm considering a similar front end. I'll be following your creation with great interest! Please keep the pictures coming. I'm looking forward to a test drive report. I think the front axle will provide a little sway-bar action through your hairpins. The frame looks pretty flexy, though, so I'm not sure how much will be transferred to the bulk of the weight of the rest of the car. Fortunately, it will be going mostly in a straight line so I think it will work out very well. My point is, I think it will turn corners a lot better than it looks like it would at first glance. It looks like it would act like a tricycle, but I think the torsional rigidity of the axle acting on the hairpins will keep the frame from tipping. I think it will be quite stable. Besides, even if it only had one wheel on the front, the solidly mounted rear will not roll (tip) at all. I wonder if a boxed boat trailer frame would work? P.S. I don't know how much God listens to the likes of me, but I'll be praying your health continues to improve.
WS.. God listens to everyones prayers.... I too like Toms concept..And I thought about the spring efect. But after talking with John Ewald, Who has a TF car with the suspension like that.. Everything is cool.. BTW> Your trailer frame should work.. If it can run a boat down the freeway for miles. There is no reason it should not take you down the 1/4 mile. Since I'm in the conveyor business. Guess what materials my frame is made of...I Can't wait to see it go down the track..A kid with a new toy...Dick..
As you said, the solid mount rear will pretty much take the roll problem out of the equation, particularly with the wide track stance involved, and though it looks "flexy", that triangle chassis is pretty dang rigid. I feel that the main thing is to make sure that the front wheels are well balanced and there shouldn't be any problems. That and the fact that the car is designed for the purpose of going in a straight line, not road racing, had a lot to do with the design. As you said, it would work well with only a single front, but that is sort of outside the rules, although it would be a great way to cut weight. Boat trailer frame would probably work, but it's more fun to build from scratch, even if using existing parts like our Model T rails. The line from the song says "if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans", I must say I have heard a lot of laughter this year. It keeps me inspired in the build.
Ewald's car was a big inspiration for me and I figured if it worked for him at the speeds of that car, it should work fine for us.
Quote: Originally Posted by ThingyM: Since I'm in the conveyor business. Guess what materials my frame is made of... Hell, forget the wheelie bar, is the car belt drive?
What are your plans for the shocks, should you need them? Your frame is a long way from the axle. My spring will be much softer so I very likely will have to have them. I'm hoping you've come up with a better idea than I've been able to.
Finally some more visual progress to show, I got the front engine mount to chassis piece put together today. I know that to those who aren't familiar with the early Mopar "Floating Power" engine mounts will look at this and go WTF, but those among you who know this setup realize that it mounts to a point above the timing chain cover on the front of the block as can be seen in the picture in post 67 and that's why it looks so high. The final assembly will have the nose of the crankshaft 6" above the frame rails and the engine will sit at 6 degrees up in the front along the lines of many of the early altereds and the engine will sit above the rails as the previous pictures in posts 67 and 84 show the basic layout. First picture is from the left front of the chassis and shows it pretty well. Second picture from the right front quarter. The liberally ventilated formed piece at the top is part of the original '34 Dodge factory mount and the vertical legs are made from airfoil shaped aircraft streamlined strut tubing acquired from the rebuild of our '46 Aeronca Champ that also calls our hangar home. Next comes the rear mounts and when they are done and the engine can be mounted all of the controls and driveline bits can be made and things will really start coming together.
Tom, that thing looks great. I love the different thinking you guys on the west coast are putting into these cars! Hurry and more pics!! Robert
Does the rubber bushings keep it from binding? The arc of the shock lever is way shorter than the arc of the hairpins. I'm guessing the rubber bushing compressing allows for the different lengths. Exwestracer pointed out to me that a boxed shackle would handle the side loads while providing for the difference in length of the arcs. However, if the bushings are able to squish enough to work, that is a much simpler idea. I like it! A good unintended consequence is that it also provides a nice gradual, gentle bump stop for the suspension as the rubber "squishability" runs out and the suspension starts to bind (in an extreme event, not in normal driving). That would keep the frame off the ground until the suspension broke - if you'd ever reach that point. So, is that how it works? The compressed rubber bushing allows for the different lengths of the hairpins and shock levers?
I think the movement on the frontend is so minimal that the shocks just dampen it enough so you dont get wheel hop or fluttering....
What you said.......the difference in arcs of the hairpins and the spring do cause a movement relative to the spring attach point, but with the relative small travel of the assembly considering the stiffness of our spring and the movement allowed by the rubber bushing of the spring eye, there shouldn't be any conflict in the setup. If the suspension had five or six inches of travel it might be a problem, but with the rigidity of the spring and the weight of the car, I don't think that is going to happen. If we need to make some friction shocks for our setup, the ends of the shocks can be linked or slotted to allow for the movement.
Hi, I'm new to these kind of dragsters.I understand they are like the 50s bug, but what do they call them now. I was starting a front engined dragster, tube construction, but I might switch to one of these ones
Between 60 and 154 hp... '39 and later 239 cubes 100 or 255 cube Merc 125 hp as a base to build a HA/GR engine if you are serious about horsepower. 337 inch 154 hp Lincoln /Ford truck motor ???????? dunno
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