Thread: The Roofus Special

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Looks right! Nice work. Hopefully the fumes will pass right by you!

I went and played with it this past weekend. I think I forked up more than I fixed...but I enjoyed the time with my folks and I figured out/rembered what I wanted to do a year ago......

I needed to figure out the transmission tunnel before I could figure out the transmission mount



I tried the jag tunnel again




I didn't fit as snug as I wanted it to, so I sliced and diced it...





I cut it a little more







There was too much air space between the sheetmetal and the bell housing...that space is needed for a gas pedal.

so I broke out the cop car kick panel sheet metal to build a beefy, close fitting tunnel









I realized I didn't want to run it all the way behind the seats as one piece, so I added a center bulkhead to give it something solid to tie into in the middle of the cockpit.



I really didn't like that, so I cut it out



It needed to be straight across, so that it could be the start of the front of the seat. I had to add verticals to weld to.



I ran out of time, but I figured out/remembered that I needed to have a bulkhead that doubled as a seat front and that the spring boxes need to extend to that bulkhead.

I don't like the new tunnel either.... I think I like the trans out in the open better.

Logging in on Dad's dial-up internet connection ....so no pics for now, but I am making really good progress.

I made a trans mount...and figured out how to finish the front half of the spring boxes (driverside mostly done, cutting pieces for the passenger side) and also figured out the frame for the seat bottoms (driverside is already welded in, passenger side is formed). I must say, that I am REALLY proud of what I came up with. The drivers side seat feels great...even without seat foam. ....And looks like it belongs in a vintage racer.

Oh yeah, I think I figured out how to seal the exposed trans too....rubber hose. I am going to form a half round chanel (split tubing) that goes around the flange of the bellhousing. the hose will fill th gap. I just need to make some motor mounts that hold everything in place really well.

OK, here's the picture post.

I started the weekend with a simple transmission mount

What Jag gave me to work with


Donor steel


One of the holes is chevy made


Second part


Welded and bolted in place on the trans with rubber pucks mocked up. There will be a body side mounting surface where the silver washer is.


Last time I tried a square crossmember and hated it. I tried round this time and didn't really like it much either.



A plain bench seat just doesn't feel right. It needed to be bucket-like.

Time to break out the Horrible Fright pipe bender








Better. ...but I didn't like the tube just going over and tieing in to the frame on the outside







I didn't really know what to do with it back in the corner, so I just bent it down..it will disappear under the seat cushion









I realized that I really couldn't finish the seat frame without doing the front half of the spring boxes. They had to be there before the seat gets welded in.

The U-shaped section is where the front of the leaf spring sits.





I doubled up on the spring holder




I went ahead and gusseted the tube that this piece welds to at the front...because I have no idea what kind of loads this suspension places on the frame.









I melted the rubber pad under the spring...oops!


Now I could put the seat frame in place.







Time to make a second one. ...that is a little skinnier (I offset the engine and the trans to the passenger side so that I have plenty of foot room).







For the heck of it, I propped up a 36 ford truck grill to see what it looked like.



I did more, but don't have pics ...my camera bit the dust at the Turkey Drags on Saturday