Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[TurboTwo]

That's right, I forgot it was a fordor.

fordor but only 2 are operational by the looks of it both cars are coming along nice!

[J. Robinson]

Thanks. The green was a last-minute decision when he was getting the engine ready to go in. He has named the car "Crankenstein" - hence the green & black theme. He has driven it around the block a few times; that's all. I drove it from here to his house (about 3 miles). He still doesn't have it registered & licensed yet.

That's correct, the rear doors are welded shut. He originally wanted them to be functional, but didn't like the car with the ass-end sitting high enough to open the doors. After he put it down where he wanted, the bottom hinges interfered with the tires, so he removed them and welded the doors shut. They are welded in about 5 places each, so they could easily be made functional again if he ever changes his mind...

[J. Robinson]

Well, with my son's sedan pretty well finished except for a few details he can handle on his own, I am able to start working on the roadster again. The next step I have decided to undertake is mounting the fuel cell. I bought an aluminum RCI fuel cell on Ebay. It measures 16 1/2" square by 9" deep and holds ten gallons. It is a racing fuel cell complete with rollover valve, baffles, foam, and a fuel gauge sending unit.

I began by setting the cell on my motorcycle lift and jacking it up into position. I tried a couple of different heights and looked at the car from behind and from the side. I knew it would be partially visible from the rear; that wasn't the problem. I wanted to keep it high enough that it would be partly protected by the rear axle housing, but low enough that I would have a little room in the trunk for some basic road gear (small tool bag, tire plug kit, miniature 12-volt compressor, & rain suits).

Once the position was finalized, I lifted the cell out, but left the motorcycle lift in place to use as a guide. Next, I cold-bent two pieces of 3/16 x 2 flat stock to serve as the bottom supports. Notice in the pics, the front one had to be formed around the deeper front sump area of the cell. Using the old "cut & try" method, I finally got the supports to fit where I wanted them. I used a level across the frame and another, shorter one in the supports to get everything flat. I, of course, used the trusty measuring tape to get everything square, tacked-welded the ends, then used a combination square to get them flat in relation to each other. When I was satisfied, I welded the supports solid. The last pic shows the fuel cell sitting in place. Next, I need to strap it down...

[Itoldyouso]

Looks like it belongs in there Jim. With 10 gallons and the four banger you should get pretty good range out of it.

Is your Boy going to make Orlando?

Don

[Hotrod46]

Glad to see you're back on the roadster. It's looking good.

Wish I could have used a fuel cell in mine. Only one's that will fit are tiny. Had to wind up building a tank.

Mike

[J. Robinson]

Keeping the cell where it belongs is not a difficult problem. All it needs is a couple of straps across the top. Properly shaped and located, they will keep the cell from moving. I made the straps from 1/8 x 1 flat stock. I began by making four brackets form 1" angle. They are 2" long and have a hole near one end with a 5/16-18 nut welded on the underside. I made them in two opposing pairs (two rights, two lefts).

With the cell sitting in place against the rear crossmember, I used a straight-edge (a piece of the 1/8 flat stock) to locate where I wanted the straps to go. The front one had to be located so it's against the filler assembly to keep the cell from moving forward. I squared up the straight-edge with the measuring tape and then used a combination square to transfer the location to the lower frame rail (see pic).

With the fuel cell removed, I used my welders magnets to hold the brackets in place. I had to do a little freehand grinding to get them to fit correctly. Once located and leveled satisfactorily, I welded them in place. Finally, I put the fuel cell back in place and used the old "cut & try" method again to shape and drill the straps. When I assemble the car for the final time, I will put rubber strips on the bottom supports and the top straps.

[J. Robinson]

Don - Yep, unless something goes wrong with it between now & then he'll make it. He has a bunch of friends in the host club, so this has been a long-term goal. There are a bunch of "rats" and unfinished cars in that group, so his will fit right in.

Mike - Thanks. I'm glad to be back at it... I built a tank for a chopped Panhead Harley I had once. What a pain! I kept pressure-testing it in a wash tub and re-welding pinholes. I was using an acetylene torch. I think I chased leaks for a day and a half. I finally got it done, put it on the bike, and the SOB leaked the first time I put gas in it! I decided I'd never do that again until I got a TIG machine. I still don't have a TIG...

[hotroddaddy]

The same thing happened to the tank i made also, and i have a tig machine! I even filled it with water to check it that way, no leaks with water, but as soon as i filled it ,it leaked.

[Stovebolt]

Jim,

what an inspiration you are to grass roots hot rodding

Got me off my but, and into the shop

[Itoldyouso]

I watch them cut up and reweld gas tanks on shows like American Chopper all the time and wonder how they do them with no leaks. Never been my experience. Maybe if you do it all the time. I've even had ones I repaired and they still needed sloshing compound to seal them up.

Looking good Jim, and glad to hear your Boy is probably going to make Orlando.

Don

[Ron B.]

I watch them cut up and reweld gas tanks on shows like American Chopper all the time and wonder how they do them with no leaks. Never been my experience. Maybe if you do it all the time. I've even had ones I repaired and they still needed sloshing compound to seal them up.

Looking good Jim, and glad to hear your Boy is probably going to make Orlando.

Don

They pretty much all use a tank sealer, I have a couple of tanks i've gotten for bikes and they all say to use a sealer. I have a vintage trials bike, the tank had several rust pin holes i took it to a local radiator shop 12 years ago and had it sealed and it's still good today.

[J. Robinson]

I have the turtle deck mounted on the roadster now; I'll have the pics & how-to up on here in a day or two. I also have fabricated the rear bumper, but don't have it mounted yet. I got shut down temporarily by a problem with my computer - seems it got a worm. Fortunately, I caught it in time and took my computer in for a major cleaning and tune-up...

It's interesting that we were talking about gas tanks... I had to take another break from the roadster the last couple of evenings and help my son again. It seems his sedan developed a habit of dying on him, starved for fuel. We replaced all the fuel filters - didn't help. Checked the vent and replaced the fuel pump - didn't help. Carb checked out OK. Finally, we narrowed it down to something in the tank. This evening I took the fuel gauge sender out and looked down in the tank with a flashlight. The bottom of the tank was covered with silver dollar-sized rust flakes floating loose. We drained and removed the tank, put detergent & water in it, added a shovel full of rocks (to break up the flakes), and started shaking it. After about an hour of shaking and beating and flushing repeatedly, we finally got it clean inside. It's back in the car now and working fine. Moral of the story - if you're going to use junkyard tanks, have them hot-tanked first!

[J. Robinson]

OK, back to the matter at hand... I have come to the point where I wanted to fabricate the rear bumper for the roadster. In order to do that, however, I needed to have the turtle deck mounted in its correct position. Using a variety of welder's magnets and wood shims, I blocked the deck in place only to find that it is warped! It's no big surprise, really; fiberglass parts often are found to be less than perfect. Regardless, it was a problem that had to be dealt with.

The first step was to get the front end of the deck bolted in place on the body. Ignoring the rear of the deck for now, I leveled and centered the front flange to the body, then drilled and bolted it in place. This is all pretty straightforward work, so I didn't bother to take pictures. When I assemble the body for the final time, I will permanently bond the turtle deck to the body with bonding adhesive that is made for assembling Corvette body panels.

With the front of the deck leveled and secured, the left rear corner was just over an inch lower than the right. I used my floor jack and a wood block to jack the low corner up until it was even with the opposite side. I used a tape measure to check the height from the floor. I also measured the rear of the frame rails to the floor to make sure it was also level.

Once everything was square and level, I fabricated a pair of brackets from 3/16 x 2 flat stock. These are just simple straps that extend downward at an angle from the rear corners of the frame and then flatten out to catch the bottom rear corners of the turtle deck. The turtle deck has widened flange areas in both rear corners to accommodate the mounting brackets. All that was left was to drill through the fiberglass and install 5/16 x 1 bolts. Finally, I removed the jack. One last check with the tape measure confirms that everything is straight and level.

[brickman]

Nicely done, now that way with the T-Deck I see you have created enough room for one of those little Batterys maybe above the axle? I love the car and the set up, will there be any need for a rear sway bar as light as the car is?

[J. Robinson]

Thanks, Brickman. No, I hadn't intended to put a sway bar on either end. As light and stiff as this thing is, it shouldn't be necessary. If anything, I may need to soften up the suspension some, especially on the front.