Thread: Roadster pickup getting closer

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Don, Dan, the car is coming along and needless too say it looks good as you two are really into building nice cars.

I hate to hear about Scooter hope she does ok and get back to what she does best. She will get the best of care.
The stomach reminds me of our oldest cat. About 11 years ago she must of went after a chip monk or squirrel and ended up about 70 or 80 feet up in a tree. Babe was afraid to try to get down so she had a small branch she was trying to sit on to rest but it was not good enough for her to get comfortable. After my wife called the fire department and they wouldn’t come out I finally decided the only way I could get her down was to cut the tree, I thought if I cut it so far it would maybe come down slow enough for her to ride it down. I’m sure When she heard the chain saw she thought I was crazy but When the tree stared coming down she held on until about 12 feet from the ground then she jumped. Her stomach hit a branch and she had an injury we had to keep antibiotic on it along with warm compresses. Babe was pissed at me for along time. She couldn’t understand I did it for her. People said I was crazy for wasting a hard wood tree but I didn’t think so.

I hope I haven’t told you this story before but if I did, like Gilda, Radner would say ‘Never Mind”

Richard

Pets! They have us wrapped around their paws! Teva is my problem this week. My wife is out of town on a work conference, and I work today and tomorrow. So I had to hire a dog sitter, to hang out and keep her out of trouble. If she feels neglected, she gets into stuff, like my wifes knitting, clothes, shoes and such. Since Monique's out of town, she has switched to my stuff. Nothing big, just wants attention. When I scold her she cowers something terrible, which makes me believe she was neglected alot in her previous home, and beaten for anything thing she may have done. We kennel both her and Pretzel if we are going out for a few hours, but I work 10 hours tonight, so thats too long to be stuck in a dog crate!
Pretzel used to do the same when we got him from the animal shelter, but he's gotten to be a perfect little guy over the last year. I hope the same will happen with her
She is tuff on toy too! I bought them a stuffed dog toy that claimed to be made tuffer than anyother toy on the market. 15 minutes after she and Pretzel had it, half the stuffing was on the floor!
Don, the RPU is coming along great! I hope Scooter has a speedy recovery!

Thanks guys for the nice thoughts about Scooter. Today she is pretty lethargic but that might be from the antibiotic we are giving her every 12 hours. I sure hope I don't lose her, she's been with me for about 15 years now. Oh well, what will be will be.

It's about 5 AM and Dan and I just got in from a 15 hour day working on his car. We are really seeing some light at the end of the tunnel finally. Our focus right now is on the subframe of the body, and we probably only have a day or two left until we can start putting in the sheet metal on the tunnel and floor.

It's hard to explain all that we did (especially since a shower and bed are calling me ) but essentially, we got the driveshaft hoops done that will support the sheet metal, and also finished up the passenger side bracing for the floor to attach to. Well, almost finished, we still have one more brace to put from the front door jam over to the transmission hump, but that will be a piece of cake.

Dan and I are really excited because it is starting to look like an interior finally. It is super strong and when the sheet metal is tied to it there should be no flex at all.

Here are some pictures of what we got done today.

Picture 1 is the rear hoop we built that ties the rear crossmember to the body. It welds and bolts in so we can remove the back portion of the body if we ever need to.

Picture 2 is after it was welded in and we started to build the side channels of the driveshaft tunnel.

Picture 3 is after the tunnel framework was done being welded into place.

Picture 4 is another view of the tunnel framework.

Picture 5 is the front portion of the subframe that goes along side the transmission. It ties the driveshaft tunnel to the firewall.

Don

Don

Here are some more pictures.

Don

Picture 1 is the front of the subframe before we installed anything.

Picture 2 is the front after we got the channels for the floorboards installed.

Wow Don,looks great. When I get to my 29,I'll have lots of good ideas to choose from. Hank

15 hours! You guys are seriously dedicated. I can't think the last time I pulled an all nighter! But wow what progress. It's like seeing how to build a car from scratch! Nice welds!

P.S. Don I don't think the antibiotics should make scooter lathargic. Is Scooter eating or drinking? Sometimes if they get dehydrated, or lose thier appatite they can get that way! Also it sounds like she lost some blood initially, so maybe she is just tired from anemia. Hope she gets well soon. It would really throw me for a loop if something happened to Pretzel or Teva.

Thanks Hank, thanks Steve.

The bad part Steve is that we were at the shop Friday night too until about 4 AM. But I love being there from about 8 PM on when it rains and the temp drops to about 80 in the shop. Even with 6 fans running it is still hot, and the noise from the fans drives us nuts. All these hours are paying off though, we are really starting to see progress.

I called the Vet back yesterday and he said perhaps the infection coming out of her body is making her act this way, plus the oral antibiotic upsets their stomach. She wouldn't eat some chicken, and she always loved it, but she did eat some of the canned Salmon I gave her. She also seems to be drinking as her dish is going down somewhat. It's so sad to see a pet sick and they can't tell you what is going on.

Dan has some stuff coming this week that we need to move ahead, like his underdash pedal/master cylinder setup, Gennie shifter, 9 inch center section, and steering arm. With a long weekend coming up over the 4th we should be able to get lots more done.

Don

Dan really has an eye for detail the RPU is coming along great. Has he decided on a windshield style. Watch doing those 15 hour alnighters they will make an old man of you quickly.
BradC

Thanks Brad, and you are right.........I learned a long time ago not to go drinking with guys in their 30's or to try to stay up as long as they do. I usually take a little nap while Dan is doing something not requiring 4 hands, and that takes the edge off a little. But I still pay for it the next day.

I remember when I was in my early 20's, I would come in at 5 or 6 am after a night of partying, take a shower and then go straight to work. That night I would grab a couple hours sleep and hit the clubs and do it all over again. Today I would not live through the first day.

Oh, on the windshield question. He is going to use '32 stanctions on the '31 posts, and chop a '31 windshield frame 3 inches and have it chromed. That is the plan as of now, anyway.

Don

Dan and I have been putting in some 15-16 hour days, and have been making some really good progress. We got the drivers side of the floor subframe done, and can now start skinning it with 18 gauge sheet metal. Before we do that though, we decided to mount his underdash master cylinder and pedal assembly.

He decided to go with a setup from Kugel Komponents that mounts the master cylinder at a 90 degree angle to the pedal. It's a very nice piece, but requires some modifications to make it fit his body due to the deep channel. We were going to build an underdash cowl roll bar like my '23 has, but after some discussion we decided it wasn't needed. What we did do was build a large 3/16 inch thick steel plate that first bolts to the inside of the firewall, and it has some tabs on it that the Kugel piece bolts onto. We still have to build some support brackets that will tie into the dash rail, and add a few side brackets to give it a little more strength. But even now it is pretty sturdy........once the transmission tunnel is welded into the firewall that should beef it up too.

He also got his Gennie shifter and we installed it so we could determine how big the transmission tunnel would have to be to clear it. We were able to mock up a steering column and steering wheel to make sure he had enough foot room, and after some bending of the pedal it worked out fine.

Tomorrow we are going to get his bomber seats mounted to the subframe and do some work on the floor and tunnel. Here are some pictures of what we got done today and yesterday.

Don

Looks great guys, are you going to add a combo cowl vent/m/c access door? I've been trying to come up with a nice clean looking way to hinge the whole cowl top on my 29. It's either that or make the dash panel hinged at the bottom for easy access. [ Not a new idea,a lot of old trucks were made that way,and yes I am trying to be sneaky and get you to do the engineering for me] Keep up with the great work, Hank

Look's like you even have room for a power booster. Coming together fast with you guy's working so many hours.
BradC

You guys do some excellent work! Keep the pics coming.

Don,
It's looking really good to me. Here are a couple shots how I did mine. Not that you guys need any suggestions, if nothing else you can look at it as how not to do it
There is a 1" X .120 wall square tubing under my dash then it angles off at about 45 degrees to a up right that the door hinges are mounted to. This body comes that way and is very sturdy. Then I came off of that to the pedal assembly on both sides. On the right side of the pedal assembly I used that gusset to mount the proportionating valve.
It's just one way of doing it. I hope this will help you and Dan to come up with a even better way.
Ken

Thanks Hank. We talked about adding a cowl vent because Dan likes the looks of them, and it would give access to the master cylinder, but I am doing my best to talk him out of it. First of all, it would require him to cut the tank top and weld in the vent assembly, and with the time it would add to the build it would create one more problem time-wise. The tank top is perfect now, and welding it in would create some warpage that would take some body work to correct. The second reason is that you really almost never have to get back into a master cylinder to add any fluid once it is bled unless you have a leak somewhere. I never added one drop of Dot 5 to my '27 in all the years I had it. Dan also bought their Corvette M/C and the thing is huge. The capacity should be such that he would never have the need to add any or check it. I figure we can fill and bleed the system with the cowl top off, like in the pictures, and probably never have to look at it ever again.


Brad: I had the same thought about a booster, but with the Ford Expedition brakes on the rear and Wilson Welding '39 Lincolns up front I don't think he will need it. I've never had the need to add power brakes to any car, generally they are so light and the brakes upgraded that manual ones work fine. Hey Brad, did you fly out to Ken Thurns house for his 4th of July BBQ?? I told him you have been known to fly to faraway places for a cup of coffee.

Thanks RC57. Yep, you know me and my camera.........I add one little part and I'm snapping away.

Thanks Ken: I showed Dan your pictures when you posted them before. That is a great, strong way to brace it...........that won't be moving at all. As I mentioned, his original plan was to build a removable underdash roll bar like my T has, and hang everything off of it, and tie it into the dash and firewall. But after sitting in the car he realized even a small 1.25 roll bar would encroach on his already limited footroom. The more we talked about it the more we realized lots of guys simply bolt these Kugel type setups right to the firewall and call it good, so if we did that and then tied it into the dash support he is going to fab up, and also into the sides it should be plenty strong.

The main thing we need to damp out would be firewall flex when you push on the brake pedal, so with that large flat plate spreading the load, and a couple of braces to the dash, it should be way strong enough. Is your's a Kugel setup, or someone elses? It looks very nice.

BTW Ken, while I have some downtime at the shop when Dan is doing some one-man kind of jobs, I have been working on my Dodge. I have the Moon tank mount all figured out and am going to cut off the existing spring perch and redesign it to incorporate the forward two bolts of the brackets. That tank looks terrific up there........can't thank you enough. How did your BBQ go? Did you get much car building help from your buddies?

Don