Thread: The Roofus Special

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The door cut out didn't seem quite right. Played with that some more. Drivers side seat has been cut back 6 more inches or so.

This is what we ended up with. Dad thinks it looks like a WW1 airplane







Looks better. Had to see how it felt.

So now that it starts to look like a car....what are you supposed to do? Tear it all apart and work on the frame.

Did I mention that I was thinking about building this car as a unibody?

All of the 1x1 will be boxed in with sheetmetal.

People keep asking about my tubing bender for the square tube. Here it is. A big gear used as a radius and a stop welded to the side of the table.

Adding diagonals is a pain. They have to be curved so that match the horizontal pieces. Chassis should be plenty stout though.







Door swoop goes down to the frame / truss thingy.


Rear suspension is the next thing to figure out.

"Door swoop goes down to the frame / truss thingy."

On a dragster/funny car, that would be called the top rail. The one at the bottom would be called....ummmmm....the bottom rail.

I agree with dad, it does remind me of a WWI aircraft. But then, what's wrong with that. I like the whole idea and commend you for marching to the beat of a different drummer.

Might I recommend a shark-mouth paint job? Like the P-51 mustang. ( or was the the P-52 )

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Might I recommend a shark-mouth paint job? Like the P-51 mustang. ( or was the the P-52 )

Ummmm...that would be a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk. I have a 12" X 18" color photo hanging on the wall behind me. But that was a WWII aircraft, so a little out of the WWI era. It might be really cool to paint the car in the theme of a WWI aircraft though.....
http://www.allposters.com/View_HighZ...5&sc=False&ct= Eurographics Trend&cw=20&ch=20
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/sha...-1234S-001.jpg
How about an English Sopwith Dolphin....english motor in your car, right?....
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3D2%26hl%3Den
Or the english Sopwith Camel....
http://d1136943.u114.weberz.com/imag...mel_snoopy.JPG

Has anybody here ever built a car from scratch with no real plans? ....given yourself true artistic liberty?

I have a "list" of ideas and a huge library of influences of what makes a cool vintage racer, but nothing is down on paper. I have also given myself permission to change it if it needs to be changed.

It went from this


to this, in a matter of moments


I think it works.



Right now the rear suspension/frame layout is a blank canvas from the seats back.




The rear of the car will be built around the suspension.

I have thought about a triangulated 4 link with the bottom bars on the outside of the body (attaching at the node just ahead of the quarter panel skin). The uppers would be inside the body.

I have also considered hairpins attaching at the same general location.

What would you build if you were not constrained by a traditional frame/floor layout?

I like what you have so far! I think the door line works , but then again i love old aircraft too.

On a car like this, I think I would want to keep it looking traditional. Transverse buggy spring on a Maverick 8" in the rear, straight axle with transverse spring up front. Independent radius rods, 8 total, all anchoring at the mid-point of the car so that they would be as long as possible. Like this front and rear, but with longer bars anchored at the mid-point of the car....
http://www.streetrodcatalog.com/manu...es/3004A-b.jpg

Front dropped axles can lead to handling issues if the drop is too severe. You have a clean sheet of paper here, so I would use a maximum 4" drop.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Spring...dles,3142.html
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Early-...rings,842.html

I see that you already have a differential, but I'm just saying that I would start with a narrow 8" for the clean look.

Oh, and one other thought, NO CHROME, NO CHROME, NO CHROME anywhere on the car. Everything painted or powder-coated.

Somebody on another site sugested suspension based on a 3rd generation camaro layout.

Anybody on here have experience with this style of suspension?

Yes, but I don't have any pictures of it. The system uses a long torque arm mounted on one side of the drive shaft. It holds the rear end rigidly at the rear and has a shackle type pivot point at or near the front universal joint. Then there is a short bar at each end of the rear end housing that locates the housing longitudinally and keeps it straight (square) under the chassis. Finally, there is either a panhard bar or Watts link to keep the rear end centered under the frame. By changing static angle of the short bars by raising or lowering their forward pivot point, rear-steer can be induced into the system. Properly adjusted, it's a great system for making fast runs on twisty roads (road racing, gymkhana, hill climbing). However, if this is just a car built for sedentary cruising, the benefits would never be realized. Ordinary hairpins or a four-bar would be easier to set up...

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Yes, but I don't have any pictures of it. The system uses a long torque arm mounted on one side of the drive shaft. It holds the rear end rigidly at the rear and has a shackle type pivot point at or near the front universal joint. Then there is a short bar at each end of the rear end housing that locates the housing longitudinally and keeps it straight (square) under the chassis. Finally, there is either a panhard bar or Watts link to keep the rear end centered under the frame. By changing static angle of the short bars by raising or lowering their forward pivot point, rear-steer can be induced into the system. Properly adjusted, it's a great system for making fast runs on twisty roads (road racing, gymkhana, hill climbing). However, if this is just a car built for sedentary cruising, the benefits would never be realized. Ordinary hairpins or a four-bar would be easier to set up...

We have never been easy on anthing we have owned. I don't see why we would be nice to something that looks like a racecar

I am making a valiant effort to build it so that it can be driven fairly hard (jag motor, XK150 trans, 4 wheel disc brakes, hopefully a stiff chassis). I know tires are going to be the limiting factor, but I want to make it as sporty as practical.

Doggone it J., I can't find any schematics or photos of the rear suspension you posted. Now, I'm gonna have to go to a boneyard and crawl under. It sounds like some sort of single link ladder bar, but I can't be sure.

Flipper - You're a man after my own heart. Being an old stock car racer, I like cars that handle GOOD. I build my cars to drive and I flog them pretty hard sometimes, too. Back in '06 we drove my coupe on a 2400 mile loop up through the midwest. The curvy roads through the western North Carolina mountains were an absolute blast! Even though it's a beam axle, my coupe has torsion bars up front and coils in the rear (fully adjustable on all four corners) with NASCAR style truck arms in the rear. It handles like a dream; I would love to put it through a timed Gymkhana course sometime and see how it stacks up against the Camaros and Mustangs...

Tech - Yes, the center torque arm is like a ladder bar. It transfers the torsional force of the rear end housing to its front mounting point. This becomes the lift point or "moment center" of the rear axle. The rear end is located fore & aft by the short outer bars (radius rods) and laterally by the panhard bar. This system can be tough to dial in for drag racing because the front pivot point of the center link is usually too low and too far forward to provide good "bite" off the line. For overall handling, though, it can be a great system... I have a picture and a diagram of this system in my file cabinet at school. I will try to remember to get it tomorrow and post it here.