Projects The Buntline Special A/Modified Roadster Build

Well,... it's coming along Matt,... If you can, just sit tight till Tuesday before you finalize anything, I'll try to come down early..... Maybe we can work on these together.

 

Well I have been looking at the batwings and they are just plane UGLY! They don't seem to fit the car. So over the weekend I came up with a new design. I am hoping that these will look good when I put them on the axle. To me they look better that the other pair and they seem to flow more. I just have to straighten out the top of the wing. I made a mock up out of some foam that Dad and I had left over from building RC planes and it came out pretty good.

 

looking good matt, keep up the good work.

 

Hi Matt.Looking good.Keep up the good work.It is always good to see the younger set coming into the hobby to keep us old farts on our toes.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I spent the other day mocking up the radius rods. I didn't have any dimensions, just some pictures so I mocked up where the radius rods mount in the back with some sheet metal and then used some PVC for the rods since I didn't have any steel around. I am happy with the way they look so I am going to get some 7/8 tubing next week and start making the real ones!

Crappy cell phone pictrue

 

Got some more done on the the car today. I made the mounts for the rear of the radius rods. I used 1/4 steel then put a support in the back. I am going to weld a plate on the top of it as well so I have some more welding area. I also went an bought the steel tubeing to make the radius rods with along with some round stock to make some weld in thread bungs for the rods.

 

Its been a while since I posted any progress. I have been busy machining weld in threadable bungs for the radius rods. They are still not done but they are close. On Sunday I started working on getting the engine set to the right hight. I had to drill and tap the in/out box (Thanks for the help figuring it out Steve!) The piece that the torque tube clamps to bolts onto the in/out box but my in/out box came with a different adapter. The one that I needed looked just like the one off of a early Ford trans only CAE's version was a 1/4" bigger and I could not drill out the adapter, I had to drill and tap the in/out box. So I took care of all that last night. So I bolted the box back on today and bolted it to the torque tube for the first time and got the position of the motor centered and level. I also mocked up front of the motor mounts. I still have to make a template to finish them. Here are some pictures.







Don't worry. The motor is centered in this picture. I don't know why it doesn't look centered. (probably has something to do with the 4x4's being off). I do have to mess with the templete for the motor mount on the right side.

 

Hey Matt !!!

Looking good there pal,..... More fun than that Nash isn't it ?....

Not to throw a fly in the ointment but a couple things to give consideration to before you start finishing up anything.... Was the engine in the original car mounted level in the frame using the mounting surface for the intake to the block as level ?
Or was it mounted with the mounting surface of the induction system to the intake as level ? (there is a difference)

Also it looks like the frame on the original car had a rake to the frame which can also effect the level or angle you mount the engine at.....

Also your rear axle is a ridged mount,... So the angel of the engine effects the position of where to weld up the rear axle.....

I hope this makes sense to you... If not call me and we'll talk about it... Lately thoughts don't translate into written words for me as well as they used to.........

Take a good look at the picture you posted and you will see the relationship between the heads and the frame rails,.... maybe you can see what I'm talking about.

 

The engine was mounted level with the with intake I believe. I might drop the front of the motor about a 1/2" to get the mounts closer it would give me a little bit of angle. The mounts are pretty close to the frame right now but the mounts seem really noticable. The article above is the 1959 Buntline. In 1960 Gene built a new Buntline with a new frame, solid mounted narrowed rearend, a different mounting style on the front end and Dudley made the body. The only thing that stayed the same in 1960 was the engine.

 

Nice work young man !
Great to see our youth getting enthusiastic about such an aggressive build.
Keep diggin !

 

Looks good Matt. With the rake of the body it seems to make one ponder-Good to see that you are thinking it out. With your attention to detail I am sure it will in the end come out great. Fabrication (and all of the head scratching that accompanies it) is the fun stuff.

Good seeing you at Milan. You guys did pretty well after the thrash. Keep up the good work-Jim

 

Well I was finally able to finish the batwings and and radius rods. I am really happy with the way they turned out. I used 1/4 steel to make the back radius rod bracket and batwings. The batwings and radius rods will be all TIG welded but for now its just tacked together. I couldn't find any weld in bungs that would fit .095 wall tubeing so I made my own on the same lathe that made parts for the orginal Buntline Special back in 1959!

 

Finally got pictures of the radius rods on the frame and tacked in place!

 

Doing a fine job there Matt,.... Your fortunate to have people that not only remember sharp details of the original car. But how the parts were made and go together.... Keep up the good work !

 

Spent the last two days in the shop working on the Buntline and got quite a bit done! Finally finished up drilling and deburing all the lightning holes. I still have to way all the little discs to see how much weight I saved. I also started working on narrowing the rear axle housing. I cut the ends off and then cut the spring hangers off and started massaging where they used to be. Tommorow I'm going to take the ends to school and face them off on the lathe.


Total of 60 holes, 3 different sizes!




Going to pan for some steel.


The ends of the rear axle with spring hangers cut off. The one on the left has been massaged.

 

Makes my hands hurt just to think about drilling all those holes!...great job so far!

 

I finished up narrowing the rearend today. It went a lot smoother and faster than I thought it would. After I cut the ends off the axle bells and then cut some more out to narrow it up I took the ends to school and turned them down on the lathe so that they would slip inside the bells. It worked out really well. I then took a 3/4" thread rod and slid it through the one end of the bell and put a cone from a wheel balancing machine on it, I then put a cone on the other end that I cut off and tightened it down and used a angle finder to check all my surfaces, and then tacked it in place. Next step is to pick up my t bucket body tomorow and then start on the motor mounts!!!!!!


One end of my homemade alignment bar with the cone.



Rearend after we (Clyde, my mentor) and I tacked the rearend mounts on.


New rearend in the frame!

 

Looking good Matt! Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks for all the compliments guys! I went and picked up my t bucket body today. The body is really nice, it is going to need to be modified but most of that will come along later. Now with the body I can put stuff into perspective. Its startin to look like a car! I'm stoked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Looks great Matt,... I'm excited for you, Youth, Enthusiasm & Drive,.... Can't beat that combination. Don't loose focus and full speed ahead !

 

Way cool Matt, seems like your off to a good start......look forward to
see it come together.

- Joe

 

damn kid your doing a hell of a job keep that attitude and drive and you will have a car soon enough

 

Amen.
Davo.

 

Killer...I will be watching.

 

good stuff Matt..glad I found this thread again..

Rick

 

Thanks for all the compliments guys!!!!! This build has felt like it has been fireing on all cylinders lately! I hope to have some more updates tomorow!

 

great progress man!!! super cool build... I'm planning on building a drag special someday!

 

............way cool Matt .......and I thought you only took pictures.
Your on your way........good job!!

 

I finally got the engine mounted in place! I made a midplate for the back of the engine out of 1/4" aluminum. I made the front motor mounts so that each side is bolted to the frame rail with 4 bolts. The idea was to make it so the engine could be pulled without the having to take the body off the car (the body slips over the engine a little). I also didn't want to put any holes in the top of the framerails. Here are some pictures of the engine holding itself up for the first time.

 

In my last conversation with Matt, He thought you guys must be getting bored with his Buntline Special build.... Cause it seems nobody is interested in it anymore. Frankly I think it's not only a ambitious project for a 16 year old guy..... But how much more traditional do can you get ?..... A Teenager building a clone of a famous old drag car in a cold old garage with minimum tools, Hustling his butt off to raise money to buy everything he needs to complete this project with little more than a massive ton of excitement and energy.

Are we all to old to remember that drive and passion that only youth and desire can bring on ?....Should we keep encouraging this young man ?.... or just sit on the sidelines like old farts ?..... I dunno.... What do you think ?


A little more progress.....