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 Post subject: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 24, 2020, 11:21 am 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
Sold the '25 roadster to finance the next one. My favourite early Ford roadsters are '26/'27. Living in the rust belt finding one in nice condition is very hard, and way more $$ than my budget will allow. So I bought the starting point. Once home, and the rosey glasses removed, I realized the turtle deck was beyond my sheetmetal skills, so sold the turtle deck, and decided to build what is known as a "modified". This was a class run on the dry lakes in the '40s, Modified Roadster.
Everything mocked up.
Attachment:
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Pictures of various brackets, crossmembers.
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Got it to a rolling stage.
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Whilst building I was always on the look out for better Sheetmetal to upgrade the stuff I had. Bought various bits and parts. Came across a set of turtle deck parts for less than retail. Bought them just to flip, but as they sat in my garage near my modified, I changed my plans!
Sold off the frame I had made and surplus Sheetmetal, and started on a roadster!
The body consists of pieces from 8 different cars! Its become a huge jigsaw puzzle! The front sub rails of the body are from a touring body, the rear from a roadster. Drew a centre line on the table and started putting it together.
Attachment:
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Attachment:
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To be continued.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 24, 2020, 11:48 am 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
Continued...
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Assembled various year early Ford parts from my "stash".
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Assembled front and rear suspensions.
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I was using an early Chevy straight 6 for the modified, but I decided something older, a flathead, but wanted something different. Settled on a Chrysler 6. Started with a 218, but when a 251 came up couldn't resist! The only non-period part is the transmission, a T5 5-speed. These flatheads are all done by 4000 revs/60mph, so a 5-speed made sense for modern traffic. Adapted the Dodge bellhousing to take the T5.
Attachment:
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Mocked it all up with the weight on the wheels. The stance I was looking for.
Attachment:
stance.jpg

Now to mock up major parts. Unfortunately the steering and the brake m/c wanted to share the same space. So change to cross steer instead of side steer. Because I'm mixing various years of Chrysler engine and bellhousing, the starter won't fit with oil filter, so it's going to be a remote filter.
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I want to sit as low as I can get. Got caught in the act, that's what I get for leaving the garage door open!
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Thats all for now, more later.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 24, 2020, 8:16 pm 
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Joined: January 6, 2020, 8:28 pm
Posts: 38
Glad to see another project! I see this one will have liteness added also. I love
It!!!!


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 24, 2020, 8:25 pm 
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Joined: November 21, 2019, 12:09 am
Posts: 151
Location: Wilson, NY
Stewart,
Very cool :cheers: , I will be following with interest!
Regards,
Eric

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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 25, 2020, 3:27 pm 
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Joined: October 23, 2010, 2:40 am
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Stewart, glad you are back at it! I enjoy following your projects.

Keep us posted.

:cheers:

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Cheers, Tom

My Car9 build: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14613
"It's the construction of the car-the sheer lunacy and joy of making diverse parts come together and work as one-that counts."

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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 25, 2020, 7:10 pm 
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Joined: September 22, 2005, 8:12 am
Posts: 1879
Location: 4AGE in S.E. Michigan
Whooa!! That is going to be a great build. You can I.D. your style of building i.e. adding lightest!
looks like you really scored some good body parts [NO RUST HOLES] :cheers:
What are the plans for the engine?
I see you've got a new place, is the new shop any bigger?
Davew


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 25, 2020, 7:33 pm 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
davew wrote:
Whooa!! That is going to be a great build. You can I.D. your style of building i.e. adding lightest!
looks like you really scored some good body parts [NO RUST HOLES] :cheers:
What are the plans for the engine?
I see you've got a new place, is the new shop any bigger?
Davew



The new garage is actually a couple of feet smaller, oh well! The body is made up of panels from 8 or 9 different cars. Still needs patch panels, but the only way my budget will stretch to a '26/7 roadster!
Cheers,
Stewart.


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 25, 2020, 7:35 pm 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
Thanks for the warm welcome guys, I appreciate it.
Cheers,
Stewart (the artist formerly known as Limey Kid).


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 27, 2020, 3:24 am 
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Joined: April 23, 2019, 4:30 am
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Location: New Zealand
Superb stance Stewart, that will look great when you have finished it. Going to enjoying seeing this one come together!

Cheers,
Marcus.`


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 27, 2020, 9:22 am 
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Location: Holden, Alberta, Canada
Great to see you posting your build here Stewart.
I really admire your fabrication style.

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"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 27, 2020, 10:29 am 
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Joined: October 10, 2010, 10:26 am
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Location: Guadalupe, CA
Nice to see you back building another one Stewart.. Love the mix and match of the old OEM stuff... please keep the pics and details coming 8)

--ccrunner

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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 27, 2020, 10:38 pm 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
So on my '25 T sports racer "adding lightness" was the theme. It was a very lightweight car. When I started on my "modified", I wasn't going to do that again, but the brackets just looked too plain and boring. So I started drilling holes again. Once you start, you can't stop halfway through. I sold that frame and all the brackets that went with it.
So I've started my roadster. I am using an original '28 Ford frame. I modified the front crossmember, putting the spring in front of the axle. This lowers the car about 4" from stock. I am using a Chrysler 251 straight 6 flathead engine. Its huge and bloody heavy. "adding lightness" would be pointless. So with this build I'm trying to make the car look like it was built in the pre-war era, 1939 or 1942, depending on which side of the atlantic you were on. In that timeframe there were no hot rod magazines and very few speed shops or manufacturers. The junk yard was your parts store. With that in mind, I'm going to try making all my brackets (that dreaded word) look like they came off a factory built car. Usually they were stamped or forged. So that's what I'm trying to mimic. So I started picking up various crossmembers and looking at my leftovers stash.
Attachment:
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The Model A frame I'm using is a very simple ladder frame. 2 frame rails and 3 crossmembers. This used a 4 cylinder engine. The straight 6 I'm using is a lot longer, so the middle crossmember has to be moved further back in the rails. The rails aren't parallel, so as the crossmember goes back, it needs to get wider. So I removed the crossmember from the frame and set about widening it. Luckily I had some scraps of another crossmember. I also needed to raise the hump in the middle. The hump was also asymetric, and as I'm going to be adding legs to the crossmember, that was taken into consideration as well. So trying to make it look like a factory part made it into a jigsaw puzzle! It's just tacked at the moment, but once fully welded and cleaned up, I think it will achieve my goal.
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With that modified, I turned to the transmission cradle. The finished car will sit very high by modern standards. The engine and transmission sit very low in the frame. I didn't want a bulky cradle that would be in full view. Back to my stash. I thought about how a factory would make it. Looking at my stash, I decided to use a Model A front crossmember and some other bits. A factory would have stamped this. So corners would be soft radius. First job was to remove most of the sides of the crossmember and then straighten it out. Pie cuts were made to do this.
Attachment:
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I was then able to make a sort of "W" shape. It also needed to be wider in cross section to be able to bolt under the middle crossmember. The raised flat portion was for the radiator. I cut another off another butchered crossmember. Everything was held together with clamps and angle to keep the surfaces level. The missing bits were filled in using parts of a Model T frame. All these bits are .166" so the thickness is consistent, and the radius is the same. Before welding I grind a deep bevel on the edges that is filled by the weld puddle, so when I flatten the weld I'm not weakening the joint. I also ground a shallow bevel on the back side and welded that too.
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So that's where I'm up to. Got the other end of the crossmember to do next.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 28, 2020, 12:18 am 
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Joined: March 19, 2011, 10:22 am
Posts: 2386
Location: Holden, Alberta, Canada
Reading your descriptors and looking at the fab pics make me smile, amazing thought out fabrication.

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Perry

'If man built it, man can fix it'
"No one ever told me I couldn't do it."
"If you can't build it safe, don't build it."

Perry's Locost Super Che7enette Build
Perry's TBird Based 5.0L Super 7 L.S.O
Perry's S10 Super 7 The 3rd
Perry's 4th Build The Topolino 500 (Little Mouse) Altered
Perry's 5th Build the Super Slant 6 Super 7
Perry's Final Build the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 28, 2020, 9:24 am 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
horchoha wrote:
Reading your descriptors and looking at the fab pics make me smile, amazing thought out fabrication.

Thank you, kind sir.
Cheers,
Stewart.


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 Post subject: Re: "40s Style Hot Rod
PostPosted: May 28, 2020, 8:06 pm 
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Joined: May 9, 2019, 9:49 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Lansing, MI.
I had a long day welding and grinding, I'm knackered!
The middle crossmember and transmission are finished. I need to tear down everything that's mocked up, so I can put the frame on my table.
Attachment:
thumbnail_IMG_20200528_180230795.jpg

Attachment:
thumbnail_IMG_20200528_180138319.jpg

Cheers,
Stewart.


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