My 26T Coupe build thread

[roadster32]

Well the new year is nearly here and i had a spare day so decided to drill my front axle and wishbones, Hopefully i can get the various chassis parts assembled on the chassis jig sometime next week and get it all finish welded, I should hopefully have a rolling frame in the next couple of weeks









I've been dabbling with some different designs for mounting the gauges in and came up with these, they will be riveted to the dash.







Well made a bit of headway but its taking longer than i thought Its a real pain working with polished stainless as even your fingers leave marks if your not careful and after each stage it needs to be repolished

Well i got the body mounts all in the frame while its not welded together as its easier to handle, they go right through the frame rails and are welded top & bottom. They are tapped 10mm x 1.25











Got the rear x member made up with 3 positions for rear coilovers for adjustability.
This was the worse bit of stainless i've had so far, real grainy and a pig to polish. Maybe i should of used round tube as that always seems to have a really good finish which means less polishing
Its a bolt in jobbie so end caps will be welded on when in the jig.










The chassis is now on the jig ready to be welded so hopefully some more interesting pics next couple of days.

I bought a new TIG torch as welding on the chassis is difficult with the pedal, this one has a roller button on the torch for varying the current, I need to practise for a couple of days to get used to it but so far its very good, another useful feature is it has a flexible head which saves bending your wrist for those awkward bits.









I'm using a 55 f100 master cylinder that will be chromed, I didn't like the black plastic cap it came with and was wondering what to do with it when steve (rustycoupe) produced this aircraft cap, i had to chuck it in the lathe and remove the theaded portion but now fits a treat, thanks Stevie.
It will get polished to take off the billet look later.









Well took a day off today as I needed a hand with the frame and my good mate Des (Tiki Des) came over to help, He was quickly dispatched on polishing duty while i welded some bits up.
The chassis is made in 2 halves as it needs repolishing after each bout of welding with a hand held polisher.






Another good mate Ian (Bigbossman) got me some low tack vinyl stuff to protect the polished surface as its very easy to mark so the rails were covered up.







The postman came this morning with some bits i've been waiting for, They are the fishplates for the inside and outside of the kick up and also the firewall joint in the main side rails, The fit a treat but need polishing before being welded in place. thanks Paul.


Kickup fishplates






Firewall joint fishplates






The main rear section rails are now fully welded so needed to add the rear crossmember to tie them together, also added a kickup spreader and weld in some gussets I had laser cut.














Hope to get the front section finished as soon as and get the 2 halves put together .



the rear x member, So here's how i fitted the rear x member

first the holes are marked and also the large hole in the middle, this is where the bungs get put in. then the 8 bolt holes are drilled to 20mm to locate the shoulder on the bungs, then they are welded in from the outside.






The bungs were spun up for me in 316L stainless on a CNC lathe as there is a few of them, cheers Dazza, There are 2 different sizes, I drill and tap to suit.










Then the plates are bolted in and the x member welded to them.

[roadster32]

Well sometimes things in hotrodding world don't go smoothly
I had welded up the rear corner fishplates and were polishing out the welds amd daydreaming and the next thing i knew i had made an undercut in the main rail It looked terrible and i couldn't believe i had done such a stupid thing, My trusty helper Gomez said it wouldn't show but i just wasn't happy with them, anyways i had to carefully cut off the plates and make 2 more which were slightly longer to cover the c0ckup

They probably don't show in the pic but they are quite deep.







At least i think i got away with it







Coilover x member now finished and towbar fixings installed.







A bit of progress in that I started making up the rear triangulated 4 bar, was originally going with ladder bars but seeing as traction is gonna be an issue i'm hoping the 4 bar will be better

Bars are made from 1" od 316L stainless tube, the ends are bungs that are tapped and welded into the tube. I'm using stainless urethane joints (5/8" UNF thread with 1/2" eye) at the axle end and stainless rose joints (3/4" UNF thread with 5/8" UNF eye) at the chassis end.

Chassis brackets bolt on into threaded bungs that are welded into the chassis, they attach with ARP stainless bolts (3/8" UNF) , these were not lazer cut as i couldn't wait for them so were cut out with a thin cutting wheel and shaped on the linisher, they are 5mm 316L flat bar.

the bars bolt to the brackets with 5/8" UNF bolts and will have castle nuts and split pins as soon as i find some, I may have to make them

These took me 3 long evenings to make so you can see why progress is slow


Here are the bits made up before polishing









Here after polishing and welding











Not much to post i'm afraid, I did get the flip body rear chassis mounts made. Base plate is 8mm and the upright is 10mm, nice and sturdy stainless steel threaded inserts were welded into the chassis first for the attaching bolts.












Also got around to making extensions for the model A wishbones i'm using, they are a little on the short side so i spun up some tapered extensions in the lathe, They are now a nice 47" long, these will be tig welded in to the bones at the weekend so they can go to the chrome platers on monday, rear joints are urethane stainless rodends 5/8" UNF

[roadster32]

Well i'm pretty close to joining the 2 halves together at last, got the wishbone mounts made up and fitted. I'm still not sure whether to use the urethane stainless joint or stainless rose joints on the end of the wishbones or stainless track rod ends, urethane joints look a little klunky whereas the rose joints look more slinky and the track rod ends stick out a fair way ???







All the bolts thread into stepped threaded inserts that insert from the inside of the rails and are welded on the outside.







I made up some stainless cone washers to allow the rose joints to articulate slightly, the larger one goes under the nut in case a joint fails. Suppose i had better polish the inside one too.






Heres the 2 styles of joint.

[Whiplash23T]

Absolutely brilliant workmanship Steve, (roadster32) and I 'm envious of your welding skills ,heck of everything, that I have had the pleasure of reading so far.. Keep the posts coming please as I will be following this build..Love the colour you have chosen too..

[dlotraf33]

Absolutly AWSOME! I am speachless. Can't wait to see the whole frame together. But I'll have to get my shades first. Keep up the great work, and look forward to updates as the come.

[Itoldyouso]

We are going to have to introduce you to Ken Thurm on here, Steve. You both share a passion for absolute perfection. I think you would like each other and have a lot to talk about.

Don

[dmw56]

Wow, absolutely beautiful!