Thread: I couldn't build it for $3 K either!

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Brickman

These are old pics. I don't have any recent shots of the whole car.

Mike

Nice work, I like it. The eliptical springs and the levered shock mount are bad to the bone. Gets her down in the weeds, what is the wheel base of your T?

Thanks, Brickman.

The wheelbase is right at 105".

As far as being low, it looks lower than it really is. I've got about 4" under the oil pan. I tried a 4" drop Super Bell axle when I was mocking it up, but the radiator shell came close to hitting the ground. Had to go with the stock unit and I think it actually looks better this way.

Mike

I didn't get much done today. We had a rare "snow day" around here. Last time we had snow that stuck longer than about 15 minutes was about 10 years ago! It was gone by mid-morning, but, I need to get some fiberglass work done and the resin just doesn't "kick" well when it's cold. I don't kick well when I'm cold either.

I thought I would get caught up on updates. They're minor things, but I had the pics.

I said earlier in the thread that I didn't like the way the windshield frame and the posts lined up. The pivot points on the cowl pieces were too far back and the windshield frame actually fell behind the top of the cowl. I decided that I had ignored it long enough.

The first shot is of the old setup. The new pivots move the post forward about 1/2" and down slightly. I also rehaped them to give a little more adjustablity.

The dash had a cutout in the upper corners for the standard T type windshield posts. I added small extensions to the cowl pieces that will fill these cutouts and keep the windshield "blowing" back from wind pressure. Might be overkill, but if the windshield did flip up and pin your fingers on the steering wheel I'm guessing it would smart a little.

I also got around to slicking up the transmission hump I built earlier. I fabbed it by laying glass over a temporary wood frame covered with thin aluminum roof flashing( sorry no build pics). Works pretty good for simple shapes and the aluminum peels off easy. Trouble is the surface next to the metal is left slick, while the other side is pretty rough. I wanted to finish it now while I had plenty of room to work. I used fiberglass filler for the rough build up and polyester glazing putty for the finer stuff. Since the floor will get coated with bed liner later, I wasn't worried about getting it "paint" perfect.

Another minor thing was the dimmer switch. I have always liked the old floor mounted dimmers and wanted to put one in this car. This presented a couple of problems, though.

The switches that most street rod parts places like Speedway sell mount on top of the floor. That might work ok in a car with thick carpet, but in this car(no carpet) they stick up too far. Just feels awkward.

Under floor switches are available, but the area under the toe board will not be accessable in this car when the inner and outer body panels are glued together. I wound up using an under floor switch mounted to a removable plate. The larger plate is riveted and epoxied to the bottom of the floor. All this will get coated with bed liner. Feels pretty good now.

The switch is from Car Quest. Part #DS50. I don't remember the application(late 50's Chevy truck, maybe?).

That dimmer is trick also, you have some great ideas. The tranny hump turned out very smooth, is the box with the slot on it for the E brake?

Brickman

Thanks. You're right, the box is to trim out the hole for the E brake. I can't glue it in until after the interior piece goes in though.

Mike

I reached something of a milestone this week. I finally got the interior insert glued in! This was one of those make or break things, since if it went wrong the body was pretty much trash.

The marine epoxy I used had a long work time and everything went well thanks to help from my dad and son. I'm just glad it's done. I still have a lot to do, but after this I feel like I'm on the downhill side of the fab work.

After the fiberglass body work, I was glad to get back to metal fab.

The gas tank was next up on the agenda. I tried to find a plastic fuel cell, but had no luck. All the race cells were either to big or too tiny. I even looked at under deck marine tanks. Same story.

Nothing left to do but make one. I looked into aluminum sheet, but it was pretty expensive. Since I already had a good size piece of 14 guage steel, I decided to use that.

The dimensions are 31" long, 6 1/2" tall and 15" wide at the bottom. The back side slopes in to 13" at the top. This let it fit the contour of the seat insert better. The capacity should be right at 12 gallons, which should be more than enough. I added a baffle to help keep sloshing down. I don't have a picture, but I put in a small compartment around the fuel pickup to hold gas during braking and cornering.

The local machine shop sheared and broke the pieces. This eliminated the long seams on the bottom. The end seams were welded inside and out.

I wish I could say it all went together with no problems, but I had some warpage on the top when I welded the fittings in. In the pics, you can see the tourch marks where I had to shrink it. It's a lot better, but not perfect. I pressure tested it and was surprised to have no leaks! Believe me that's luck.

It's getting pretty crowded in the bed! I have just enough room to squeeze in the air compressor and valves.

Your tank really, really looks good. Bet you got some welding time in on that one, huh? Some very long welds there. You would have had trouble finding a tank that fits as well as that one does.

Don

Nice work! And that is a nice unobtrusive place to put the 3rd brake light.

I agree with you; I would rather not have to have them, but I want people behind me to notice if I'm stopping. My coupe has a 3rd brakelight in the rear window. I don't know where I'll put one on the roadster, but it will have one somewhere...

Nice how those marine items fit our builds, huh Mike? When I worked in the business I would dig around on the shelves and find lots of stuff that would cross over to a hot rod...........and the parts are corrosion resistant too.

I really like your bed cover. and that is a perfect place for the 3rd brake light. Tradition is one thing but safety is another thing. You are being smart. If we truly want to drive our cars we have to make some concessions. I have no problems using modern stuff like alternators and electric fans on otherwise old timey looking cars. I want to use my car and not have problems.

With some of the inattentive drivers today gabbing away on their cell phones you need all the help you can get.

Don

Thanks guys.

About the marine stuff working good on hot rods. I think the old Stewart Warner instrument panels and streamlined windshield frames like the Duval were carryovers too.

Mike

I knew early on I would want a third brake light and I had resigned myself to putting something in the back window or mounted on the trunk. But when I was looking at some pictures of a stock 37 LaSalle I noticed the sergeant bars on the back and that gave me an idea. It reminded me of the taillights on a 40 ford. So thanks to ebay I was able to find a good cheap 40 ford tailight and I will eventually fench it or modify it somehow to fit where the original stainless steel trim went.
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