Thread: A Low-ly Deuce

Tweet

In another Deuce thread ("deuce body rumors") we posted a little info regarding the Dearborn Deuce body that Hot Rods and Horsepower is selling. Our car arrived Aug 16. Now that we have had two weeks to touch it and work with the thing, we are more impressed. This thing has had a lot of thought put into its design and construction.

Our goal is to build a really low car without channeling or sectioning the body and NO Z in the frame. Not just a low car but an "in the moss" car that comes close to touching the road. To do so, we bought a frame from Hot Rods and Custom Stuff in Escondido, CA (www.hotrodsandcustomstuff.com). They sell a frame that should be in an art show....the workmanship is fantastic; the welds are textbook quality. Their frame is a deviation from a stock profile in that they sweep the front upward 3 inches more than stock, raising the crossmember (in effect, lowering the car). Also, they add 3 inches to the wheelbase forward of the firewall so that everything fits under the hood. Recently, they have developed a raised rear to match so that the car sits lower without having to Z the frame (a crime to the beauty of the deuce rails).

The attached picture is the latest mockup. The front tires are 23.5 dia while the rears are 31". The rear reveal will have to be raised 5 inches to be made concentric with the tire. Bob Parmenter asked us if we had the skill to cut a deuce above the wheelwells where the compound curves get tricky.....no, Bob, we are trusting this to the guys at Hot Rods and Custom Stuff....they are much better than we are. By the way HR&CS has the steel bodies in stock in Escondido....no waiting. They also have the frames in stock (or close to it) if you need a package.

Our other project goal is to keep the front view clean with no springs, no shocks, and no brake calipers showing in the wind. We plan on using hidden ShockWave bag/shock combos that are hidden between the frame rails and laying horizontally. The car will have about 5 inches of total suspension travel at both ends so the ride height will be about 3 inches above the picture height.

The car has an 2004 LS6 engine with a GM 4L65E transmisison. We will have to cut the floor out for the tunnel since the driveshaft is a tad above the frame. For reference, the hairpin hole in the frame (see pic) is 2 1/2 inches off the road.

More to come

tech , he is using airride so he can sit low but drive it ,
i have a 33 cabroliet with a pete and jakes frame using airride hidden in the frt crossmember . you will not be able to see it. thats going to be a sweet looking 32 , good luck

Kenny, does the motor height in the car seem to affect the handling much, or is the CG still ok????

i am not changing motor height , instead of using a leafspring i am using bags to hold up the car . unless you mean when the air is out does it change the cg then , probally but that dont have any affect because it is parked on a fairgrounds or in the trailer .i set the car up at a measured air pressure every time , example on my blown 55 it was 75 psi , vs my willys with a lsi it was only 45 psi . but that was ride height where i alligned it at and drove it at .
how is the ranchero comming ?

Geez Richard! You get into Streets medication?

Mike was good enough to share some of his build plans with me and from what he's told me it sounds like he's got this pretty well thought out. Air ride suspensions have sure changed the build perameters.

As for hitting the fill lids, or manhole covers etc., that's one of the challenges for lowered cars, and moreso, the drivers. You take on the responsibility of having to be hyper tuned in to all those things. Having had a couple "cartoon low" cars, without air suspension, I can say it requires different driving patterns. And brain farts make bad, bad noises!

Worm burners unite!!!!

pms ? he will be back to normal after lunch .

When we decided to build a really low car, we realized that it would generate comments...some comments would include the "stupid" tag. Yes, it has air bag/shock combos that raise the drive height by 3 inches. When driving, the front axle is the lowest point on the car....just like a typical "hiboy" now.

Originally, the idea was to build a roadster using the Hot Rods & Horsepower steel body with the folding top because we live in Tucson and it gets warm (not hot like Phoenix). After looking at a zillion roadsters, we wondered why no one built a really low car; the Bob Lowe car was an exception. Now we think we know....it isn't easy to do with store-bought components. We are designing the suspension using SolidWorks so we see our mistakes before we cut metal.

Our opinion on the looks of a deuce may differ from others....we believe that in the side view you shouldnt see the oil pan, the transmission, or any other component except maybe a suspension arm. Also, the rear tire location is critical relative to the reveal and the diameter margin should be minimal. The current Troy T. car is a good example of a nice rear reveal. Just our opinion.....doesnt make all other cars wrong.

Other forums kick people for paying others to do some of the work. We are going to pay people because we are a group of design guys, welders, machinists, electrical techs, etc but NOT body men or painters......our car would look funny if it had a really nice suspension, etc but crummy paint so we are going to pay for quality......some guys are lucky and can do everything at consistient quality.....not us.

Anyway, I appreciate comments and suggestions, even if they are not positive.....the more a person thinks about a detail or a design, the better that feature becomes! Thanks.

That has the be the best stance I have ever seen on a 32!!!! I have always been a fan of Highboys simply because I think it is a shame to cover up the frame rails... This is east coast meets west coast styling... Please keep the pics comming I am very interested in following your build-up...

Awesome Start...

Dave Brisco

robot you refered to bob lowes car and troys , also remember fred warrens green 32 , the rear wheel well was a perfect fit . i perfer the troy 32 ,over bobs car .
are you using a pushrod rear over bags ?
what will look good on the frt is , use a short upper bar triangulated and a long lower 4 bar as on the rear so looking at the side view you see both lowers and no uppers .
keep us informed this is a project i like to see .
has a magazine picked up on this project for a shoot or buildup ?

Kenny, The Fred Warren car is on a BFG poster hanging in one
of the offices here....it certainly does the rear reveal justice. In fact, it was our original inspiration.

Regarding the links, what you described is the direction that we are currently heading. The rear shocks/bag combo is too long to stand up so we are laying them down and articulating thru a bellcrank mechanism. We havent got the sway bar laid in yet. The Bob Lowe car had the lower link attached into the center of the frame rail....kinda interesting. Right now, we have to get the local laser cutter company to make us some C-notches with more clearance since the centerline of the rear axle is approx. at the top of a stock frame rail. The body has a raised floor anyway (but not raised enough for stand-up shocks).

At the front, the goal is to have a minimal of stuff out in the wind. Keeping the shock/bag under the hood an inside the frame rails is a challenge but is do-able. The trick is to get all the links correct so it doesnt go into a bind during articulation. Using the forged aluminum axle limits us because it is not weldable.....cant add tabs and a mount for the steering rack, etc. Looking at the bump steer, mounting the rack to the axle eliminates it but we havent made a decision yet. Aluminum axles look neat. We bough a tube axle to play with also.

thanks for the suggestions, they do help.

for those who arent familiar with the cars being discussed, the Bob Lowe car is black, the Fred Warren car is green

Isn't the black roadster a Jesse Greening car?...

Those two roadsters are among some of my favorite all time Hot Rods... Of course Fred Warren does not do anything half-way... Personally from the looks of your photo above I think your Deuce will give these two fine cars a run for their money!!!

Dave Brisco

Yep, it is a GAC car. We saw it at Goodguys DelMar
earlier this year. It now has Arizona plates on it instead
of Missouri plates (Bob Lowe lives in Springfield, I think).
That indicates that it may have sold.

The car has the rear reveal raised 2 inches the best I could
measure without touching the paint. The Warren car has had
the reveal raised much more than that.

We have another set of quarter panels coming....we think that
the car needs the reveal up 5 inches from stock. The trick
is to get the reveals installed so they dont look discontinuous or phoney....

We will see how the car progresses....those two cars are awful nice....however, our advantage is we are building the car now and can learn from past stuff.... and hopefully improve on it.

Mike

Robot, it's definitely going to be a wild looking Deuce. Anxious to see some pics of the suspension peices as fabrication begins. Keep us updated.

Kenny, the Ranchero is in the corner of my garage (not even in the shop anymore) with a cover over it. Too busy on other peoples stuff. You know how it goes. Either all the money in the world and no time, or all the time in the world and no money !!!!

The green Warren roadster is a Muruc body by Kugel/Marcel. There are a lot of things 'tweaked' to get that rear wheel opening raised that far, without it looking odd.