Skuttle...Dash...ideas

[mr.peabody.d]

Ok so here is the story....

I wanna build a BUCK....(a metal working form)... to make an aluminum skuttle (dash for Americans). (eventually a Nose cone too....)

I have the inside, drivers side, measurements and the front side, engine bay, messurements...and I want to put a peice of plywood every 3/4 inch or so (for the scuttle form)....to better form the shape of the peice.

Because of the changes in the measurements from back to front on the outside/topside curves(tappering from rear to front) I want to make an expandable foam square and cut it with an electric knife and smooth it with a sander to the size of a skuttle (an exact replica if I can)...and then cut in into 3/4 inch thick slices (with a hacksaw blade) so I have templates for my plywood BUCK. With the BUCK I can form the dash ( the foam form is only for the changing/tapering angles of the DASH/Scuttle, and transferring that to plywood peices).

Does this sound Do-able?

I have more detailed meassurements of the nose cone but will probably try something similar if the DASH/skuttle works out.

My GOAL is a reuseable metal working form for the dash and nose cone that can be used to produce aluminum peices. (Hopefully no more than double the price of alumium if the idea is viable)


Will the foam idea work? Any ideas? Suggestions? Recommendations?
Comments or criticisms?


Is Derf on Vaction? Anyone else have any expierence? Insight? Or Opinion?

IMAGINE a SHINEY brightly polished LOCOST to impress and be the object of envy of other drivers...all POLISHED Aluminum and mild steel 1" tubing.

Opinions welcomed......

[Sven]

I dunno if it'd be rigid enough to stand up to multiple hammerings and bendings of aluminum ... maybe it will. Another option is to cut the left/right ribs from 1/2" or 3/4" MDF, say, every 4" with some north/south stiffeners.

One can purchase bending plywood, specially designed for forms of this kind. Your local wood shop will know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it's usually about 1/4" thick. You could try epoxy and nails to hold it to the ribs. For higher strength and a longer lasting form to take multiple pieces off of, and not have the form disintegrate eventually, you may consider using 16g steel epoxy'd to the ribs.

FWIW, MDF is terrible if you plan for it to get wet and please wear s dust mask when working with it as the dust is nasty.

-Steve

[mr.peabody.d]

So my idea was to use GREAT STUFF to make a FOAM Form and then slice it into slices as to make templates for the ribs.


I bought 10 cans, 5 cardboard boxes, and painters tarp.I joined 2 boxes, cut out the top and lined it with the cheap painters tarp, and layered each level of foam one on top of another....10 cans.


Word of warning...
The product needs to breath to cure. The plastic kept in the moisture in, now three days later I am still waiting for the bottom half to cure. (It is still sloppy messy wet, I would have been better off to line it with news paper and wait for the layers to cure before applying another) cheaper to guest-i-mate the curves with wood and sand to fit.

[chetcpo]

You can buy a 2 part polyurethane foam and mix it 50/50 and pour it and it will harden in minutes regardless of shape or size. We use it for molds sometimes in the prosthetic business. I did a web search and found this:

http://www.marinefoam.com/polyurethanefoam.html

Looks to be the same stuff. You can shave and shape it with a half-round sureform file. You could easily cut it into slices with a full size handsaw.If I were using it to pour a large mold I would do it in layers to minimize the heat. It gets very hot when it goes off and the heat produced can cause cracks in the foam. Being as foam is a good insulator it takes forever to cool. Do it outside as many of the gasses it gives off while setting are toxic. Once it goes off it is harmless.

Pedilin, seen here is what I use:

Pedilen® combines two synthetic components to create rigid foam which can be used on thin-walled synthetic sockets for controlled alignment of parts, static or dynamic. Pedilen® can be hand mixed quickly and safely. Once hardened, the foam is lightweight and can be worked like wood.

[mr.peabody.d]

So I went out and bought some 2 x 10 inch wood for the scuttle..."Shape to fit" base on the information I found.

So my question is....


If I am using a +442 Mcsorely chassis....Does that mean the the standard Scuttle/dash is is 2 inches shorter?

Or to word it another way...is the back part of the car (trunk or rear end roughly equal to the front scuttle/dash?)

[chetcpo]

Good question. That's why I'm waiting to get my chassis done before I go bucking things up. I just thought it would take out a lot of guesswork to build the buck right there in situ. Sorry I'm no help.

[phooka]

I've been mulling over how to size up things for a scuttle myself. I'm not too clear on this aspect at the moment. If anybody has anything (other than that convoluted boat lofting diagram some guy did) please speak up.

dale

[mr.peabody.d]

Shout out for help to all Finished or semi finished builders.......

Needs some body work (scuttle/dash) questions answered....
Estimates and opinions welcomed

Is the top of your dash roughly equal to the height of your trunk area?


What frame are you using?
Book frame?
Striker?
McSorely 442?
or just a +4?

How tall is your dash?
I beleive that most dashes are 10" tall at the centerline and 9"inches before the outside curves. The driver side outside curves are based on a 4 inch radius curve and the inside engine bay ouside curves are based on a 2.5 inch raduis curve.

From the driver side looking forward the dash is 42 inches (46 for me) wide at its widest point and tapers down to 37 (41 for me) inches. It is 9 inches deep on the top and 13 inches on the bottom..... Which means (from a top view) the dash tapper down 5 inches on each side.


http://outdoor-living.hardwarestore.com ... tairs.aspx

So the bottom is 13 inches and the top is 9 inches the drivers side slopes away from the driver ( from the top of the chasis to the top of the dash) and is roughly angled at a 42 degree angle.

So it has a run of 4 inches and a rise of 10 inches

So RUN / rise = Angle
SLOPE = RISE/RUN

Slope = 10/4
or
Slope=.42 (?)
Crap.....45 minutes to fgure out an angle as my daugther is climbing on me like a jungle gym....Someone do me a favor and figure that out please. (I think I did that correctly)

http://www.auburn.edu/~garriro/slopeans.htm

Please let me know how easy that was to understand....


I have the meassurements for the tubular Mustang II arms and would like so constructive criticism is welcome

[mr.peabody.d]

OK I am half finished with my scuttle buck. (I still need to do the sides and settle on a high then I can start the nose cone)

I have a question to the general community....opinions, point of views, .02 cents worth, and suggestions welcome.

Background info...I am building a McSorely +442 frame four inches wider, four inches longer, and two inches taller.

So here are the questions...

1. The height of an average scuttle/dash is 10 inches high center line and about 9 inches high before the curves on the dash side. Is the dash on your build levelish with the trunk area? or is your dash a little extra tall? I am concerned that if I build a book scuttle it will be both two narrow and too tall. Cosmetic issues at best, right? read on...

2. Has anyone else built the built the hood last to diminish the differences in scuttle and nose? My opinion is that it will throw of the "lines" of the car. I envission one continuios line from dash to nosecone.

3. Nosecone similar issue as the dash (horizontailly bisecting the nosecone subtracting two inches from the top half and adding them to the bottom half) While the idea is to keep the meassurements as close as possible, I forsee the diameter of the nose opening up as the center line is raised.

General Idea of one cone...


I want to make it look like a seven and not like this...



Any opinions, point of views, .02 cents worth, and suggestions?

[mr.peabody.d]

Old Thread but I want to ask some questions if anybody is still reading.....

UPDATE
The Skuttle is 95% finiished and the nose is started and well under way. Having looked at the options I started wondering about possiblities... How things could be done differently.

Reducing lines and simplifying thing (Danish modern)

Would anyone be interested in a one peice nose and hood that tilts forward? Not interested as in I will pay $$$ for that...but interested in seeing the idea completed. Also I have thought about using the inside of the nose cone to "duct" air to the radiator (is this nesscary?)


I have also thought of ducting the radiator exhaust out the nose/hood (ala GT40 / Elise) Is there enough room? I wont know until later im my build.

As always opinions, estimatations/guess-timations, and thoughts are welcome......

UPDATE
I have finished the 2X4 & 2X8 buc of the skuttle but I want to make it in metal......for those following this thread so far...foam, plywood,2X4 & 2X8's, and now metal. I like to think a metal BUCK would be more durable and more honest than wood.

Not Mine just an example

[locostv8]

I would love to see that, the stalker does that and I like the idea of the nose and hood being one piece. Pay $$$, I'm a poor retired/disabled vet living on a pension/VA comp, aint no way in hell. I'm gonna have to do it the old fashoned way getting a glass nose cutting it up and filling the gaps. I am tinking about making a one piece nose/hood/skuttle up to the windshield with a gap so the wipers can be mounted out of sight. I'm also thinking about a curved windshield using something like the frame from a Por$che $peedster or $Cobra$, but this would only work if I can use Lexan for a windshield in VA. The Westfield has the type of duct you are talking about.

[robertwa]

I like the idea of the one piece hood and nose, here are a couple of my favourites:







Rob

[mr.peabody.d]

locostv8 I am a disabled vet no pension....I think that if it was ever an item that was for sale it would be as a shuttle hood nose combo to make sure that everything lined up correctly.

I was thinking about it as I was building the first nose buck.

robertwa is the top pictire you posted a Dovvorak? (how do you spell that? The car not the keyboard! ) Usually I can tell by the front nose, in the top one I couldn't see the nose.

[locostv8]

locostv8 I am a disabled vet no pension....I think that if it was ever an item that was for sale it would be as a shuttle hood nose combo to make sure that everything lined up correctly...

I shoulda put a BIG smiley, wasnt trying to be nasty. If there is any way your disability can be tracked back to or was agrivated by the service you need to apply for comp it's a PITA but can be worth the wait(I fought them for 35 years and got it raised about 5% a time to finally 100%). Something I realy like is the fairing around the suspension and accent line on the Striker but that would complicate the aluminum project

[mr.peabody.d]

Only rated at 20% recieve a car payment per month from the VA,,,,the car payments are for 4 years..the VA for the rest of my life (No hamdone....my dad is Viet vet and fought the good fight to get his...mine was much easier than his).

Something I realy like is the fairing around the suspension and accent line on the Striker but that would complicate the aluminum project

I understand the purpose on the suspension flairing but what real purpose dose the accent line serve? I am almost temped to order a dash and nose to compare and meassure myself. I have good faith in the guys and gals her (incase there are gals) but I am a hands on guy. I would learn moreral stuff about it in 15 minutes of feeling it and seeing it than 8 months of posting questions.