Lethal Weapon, Project A-Bucket

A new build. I probably should finish my other 2 projects, but I get stalled on one and can switch to another. I was originally gonna build a roadster, 26 or 27, when I ended up with the International cab and built the closed truck. I have seen several roadster pu's that I really like so I thought I'd like to go that route. One super nice one is Itoldyouso's son's elsewhere on the board. Some months back R&C had an uphoulstry article that featured a 26 Dodge RPU and that one in particular lit the fire.

Here it is, most of you have probably seen it.
Attachment 47325

I liked the lines. The bead down the side. And the smooth sides, no door openings. Also since I have, at best, minimal sheet metal skills. I figured I could build a similar body, using an existing cowl. Well lo and behold a customer gave me a 28, 29 model a cowl. It's in pretty decent condition. Small rustout on both cowl sides at bottom, but easy, even for me, to cut out and repair. The cowl is from a closed car, or truck, but that even works better as there is no char. line at the top of cowl as in the roadster cowl.

So here's what I started with.
Attachment 47326

I got the cowl about 6 months ago and have been puzzling and doing research to come up with a build plan. Right before the holidays, a guy my son works with, told me he had a Cad 500 sitting in his garage that needed a home. I told him I had a corner in the garage with it's name on the space. I hope he comes thru with it. We were talking on the phone and I told him what I was going to put it in. The roadster should weigh 1600#'s top. 500+ foot pounds torque at 3000 rpm's, it would be a Lethal Weapon. So that's what I'll call her. If the cad doesn't happen, I guess I'll just make a Mouse Trap out of it.:D

And with no opening doors it's like a t-bucket, but an A so it's an A-Bucket. I am drawing more inspiration from a couple of other rpu's. So let's have a look.

I like the way this one sits on top of the frame. And it's do able for me to make a chasis like that

I like your thinking on this one. That last picture really lite my fire also and how I wish I had a set of solid rims and white walls to change onto the "T". I will just have to add those to my "to do when working again list"
Everybody should have aleast one open car to play in,keep the photos etc coming as I will watching over your should on this one.:cool:

Well my computer is not coperating, so now I shall continue.

Here is the other one I am drawing from.
Attachment 47328

This body is kind of a cross of the two.

So I scrounged up the dimensions of Henry's 28 roadster pickup from the H.A.M.B. and started to mock it up. I used some cardboard to make the back and sides then put a seat on the floor so I could play with the lenth of the cab. I wanted to make sure I had enough leg room, and did not want to have the steering wheel up thru the floor like a t-bucket. I think I ended up with a streach of 4 to 5 inches over stock. I am not sure exactly as I had no front to back measurment just a diag. from firewall to rear corner of cab. I also got made fun of, the wife comes out and I'm sitting in basically a modified card board box, on a seat with steering wheel in hand. No I wasn't making the vroom vroom noise, at least not while she was in the garage.......:LOL:

Next I made a patern of the floor on some 5/8 plywood and made a jig to build the body on, and also roll it around. I attached the firewall with some washers and screws. Made the back of cab from the ply leftovers. Then I took some 1/4 ply and made sides and screwed togerher. A little 2x3 for the cab top sides. This should approximate the thickness of the finished side tops. I intend to use 1 1/2 box for the top and bottom rails. I took a scrap bed side top and added it to the back, for a little character, not wanting it to look like a box totally. In my mind I see the bed top rail just below the round on the back of the cab. Here's what it looks like so far.

Attachment 47329

Now time to stare at it from different angles, squint and try not to see the wood grain. And of course sit in it and make the noise. My daughter came home from school and ask if it was going to be made of wood. No, but I told her its easier to mess up 12.00 worth of ply than 100.00 metal. And after doing this I see somthing. the sides are about 2 inches too high. Looking at the ply bone and at pics on puter I knew it didn't look quite right, too tall in door area. See, easy to cut down ply, harder to cut and reweld.

Here's another angle, with a seat, will continue later as it is time to take her to school and start work.

Attachment 47330

Whiplash, thanks for the intrest. I hope I can pull this off. Building the roadster is not a problem, but I hope I can post an interesting build thread.

I got slightly off track with the inspiration, so I should tell my thoughts on the build. I'm gonna try for a late 50's early 60's look. Steelies, probably no hub caps, Tall and skinny on the tires like the green dodge. After sitting in the cab again, it needs to set on the frame, no channel. I don't want to sit on the floor, nor do I want to sit too high. I would like the door tops just below my armpit when seated. I gotta hang my arm out when driving. This will be a more traditional build, but I am no pureist. Probably a suicide ft end, or semi suicide. Spring behind axle, radius rods or hairpins, ft and rear. I've got a 47 ford truck axle and spindles. I'll mount the same as my International. In fact got the mounts from Noxious Customs today.

I think model a style bed, I like the rounded bed bottoms in those. I'd like to do a model a grill shell, just because I already have a deuce on the other truck, but it's hard to beat a cut down 32 shell. If I do the 32 I think I will make the insert, so it wont look like the other one. Stock type windshield, chopped and layed back some. I may use the closed car posts and move them in some like the roadster posts. I like the bed cover on the dodge, but I want a removable one, maybe just a snap on toneau cover. I want to be able to use this a a truck some. Light duty stuff for work or chasing parts.

Drum brakes all around. I might have a line on some buick finned drums and a set of 12 backing plates. If not I found some chevy finned drums for 11 inch brakes. I'm gonna get a pair for the international. The pilot hole is slightly smaller, but I can turn the hub down easily. I want a dual master cyl on firewall. I'm gonna use the 60's chevy truck unit. I'll be running an auto, th350 but will use one cyl for front and one for rear. I used to make a ballance bar setup for twin master cylinders for our race car, set up so you can adjust and set the brake bias.

Probably make up a set of lakes style headers, Noxious has header flanges for the cad motor, and just pick up a kit from speedway. I think there was a vendor at the Lonestar Roundup that had fabricated log manifolds for the cad motor. Sure would look sweet with 6 carbs sitting on top that motor. Edlebrock makes an alum intake but a single 4 just won't look right. Could use that manifold and run 2 big rochester 2bbls. We used to have to run those and you can get 600 cfm out of some of those. Thats why they changed the rules and made us run the holly 350 2 bbl.

I guess that about sums it up so far. I realized I had no pic showing the back roll on the cab, so will probably cut down the sides an 1 1/2 to 2 inches this weekend and shoot anothe couple of pics. May round up the bits and pieces I have and throw that in too.

For those interested in this, please feel free to comment, and sugest on both the build and the thread. I've wanted to do this since I read Jim's about a year ago. I don't think I can do it as well as he did, but that's a mark to at least shoot for.

Now go out in the garage and burn some steel..........:D

Looks very interesting http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...LEYS/grind.gif

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Originally Posted by roadster32

Looks very interesting http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...LEYS/grind.gif

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I hope so. Considering the exceptional work you do my best will not even come close to what you discard after deaming it a failure. Every time I check your thread I am amazed. And if you ever decide you don't need the talent in the tip of your pinkie, well send it abroad, I sure could use it.......:D

Obviously, I am going to like your new project, I love RPU's. :) Sounds like you have a good plan going and the plywood mocked up version looks about right. What I like about these is that there is a whole lot more room than the T's I am used to, both legwise and also in interior height and width.

You mention the one Dan built (thank you :)) the first version he did was based on little more than you have there. He did cut down a 29 Murray Fordor, but only ended up using the cowl and two front doors and he fabricated the rest. That is the body I am using now on my new project.

I am anxious to see your progress updates, this will be a fun project to watch. BTW, if you need any ideas, I have some pictures from when he did his, and he has a ton of them I can get from him.

Don

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...EYS/thanks.gif http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ILEYS/beat.gifhttp://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...LEYS/grind.gifhttp://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...LEYS/spray.gif

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Originally Posted by dlotraf33

I hope so. Considering the exceptional work you do my best will not even come close to what you discard after deaming it a failure. Every time I check your thread I am amazed. And if you ever decide you don't need the talent in the tip of your pinkie, well send it abroad, I sure could use it.......:D

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Good catch on the sides being too high for good proportion. That's the beauty of mocking up before committing to the final product.

I don't think that 2" is quite going to get you there though. I'll post up a side view of a roadster body just to give you an idea of how deep you really need to go if you want to recreate the near perfect proportions of Henry's original design. It's what makes the '28/9 so popular even if people don't realize what makes it "look so right". Part of what you're doing here is going to be influenced by how you deal with the windshield. I would encourage you to do some mock up of that too before committing to metal. You don't have to reproduce the actual roadster windshield (though that's easily doable), but some channel material coming off the top of the cowl piece you've got would work too. Personally I would still trim down the base of where the stanchions mount just to visually "lighten" the bulk of the cowl, but it needs to work for you.........thus the suggestion to include w/s mock up at this stage. If doing some channel stock a slight to more aggressive slant back will be more pleasing than the oft mistaken job done of just straight up.

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Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Obviously, I am going to like your new project, I love RPU's. :) Sounds like you have a good plan going and the plywood mocked up version looks about right. What I like about these is that there is a whole lot more room than the T's I am used to, both legwise and also in interior height and width.

You mention the one Dan built (thank you :)) the first version he did was based on little more than you have there. He did cut down a 29 Murray Fordor, but only ended up using the cowl and two front doors and he fabricated the rest. That is the body I am using now on my new project.

I am anxious to see your progress updates, this will be a fun project to watch. BTW, if you need any ideas, I have some pictures from when he did his, and he has a ton of them I can get from him.

Don

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Thanks Don, new ideas are always welcome. And seeing the start of your new project helped me get off my rear and finally started on mine. Will keep following your build as well. Hope yours goes smoothly.

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Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Good catch on the sides being too high for good proportion. That's the beauty of mocking up before committing to the final product.

I don't think that 2" is quite going to get you there though. I'll post up a side view of a roadster body just to give you an idea of how deep you really need to go if you want to recreate the near perfect proportions of Henry's original design. It's what makes the '28/9 so popular even if people don't realize what makes it "look so right". Part of what you're doing here is going to be influenced by how you deal with the windshield. I would encourage you to do some mock up of that too before committing to metal. You don't have to reproduce the actual roadster windshield (though that's easily doable), but some channel material coming off the top of the cowl piece you've got would work too. Personally I would still trim down the base of where the stanchions mount just to visually "lighten" the bulk of the cowl, but it needs to work for you.........thus the suggestion to include w/s mock up at this stage. If doing some channel stock a slight to more aggressive slant back will be more pleasing than the oft mistaken job done of just straight up.

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Thats what I was looking at this morning. I intend to move the pillars inward similar to the roadster. I have the closed pillars, he cut them off to ship the cowl and then the deal fell thru and I ended up the lucky recipant of it. I may not lower the sides quite as low as the roadster body, alot will have to do with how I blend in and relocate the pillars. I want them to lean back slightly, but not too agressive. And if you have the roadster handy that you posted the pics of. what is the measurement from door top to the line where the tank seperates from the cowl bottom? That would be a handy piece of info before I cut the ply down. I may not be able to go that low and look right unless I completly rework the piece that wraps over the cowl top below windshield. Looking at several, it looks like the closed cab is taller in this area than the roadster. And I don't want to try to recreate a roadster cowl. As some will tell me it's a poor copy, or bust my chops telling me it isn't a roadster. I think I have the look of the solution in my head, question is will it translate when I start working with the metal. Thanks again Bob

Probably the easiest dimension to transfer would be door hieght at the cowl. That's 24 1/4", which corresponds to the bottom of the stanchion too. But as you say, you don't have to exactly emulate that. The closed car cowl top at the upper portion of that cowl reveal is bulkier than the roadster, that's the part that throws most conversion off. Again, that can be reshaped to look more in unison with whatever new stanchion configuration is done, but the bulk needs to be thinned some visually if not literally.

This angle should give you the best perspective of what I mean.....

Hey dlotraf33, heck you are doing just fine with the written word now and the pictures are excellent size and detailed. Now you will just have to give us your first name or nickname so that we can encourage you.:)

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Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Hey dlotraf33, heck you are doing just fine with the written word now and the pictures are excellent size and detailed. Now you will just have to give us your first name or nickname so that we can encourage you.:)

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Thanks Whip, I thought of that earlier today. It's Charlie. For those who havent caught on my user name, which started as e-mail, is old fart spelled backwards..............:LOL::LOL: And thank you all, for the info and words of encouragement.............:D

Thanks Charlie for that and yes I answer to Whip most of the time but I have been called far worse at times.:LOL::LOL::LOL:

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ley-sex014.gif

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Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Thanks Charlie for that and yes I answer to Whip most of the time but I have been called far worse at times.:LOL::LOL::LOL:

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Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Thanks Charlie for that and yes I answer to Whip most of the time but I have been called far worse at times.:LOL::LOL::LOL:

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I was having a lazy moment, I hate typing when the hands don't want to comperate.......... I'm bad with names. I think I know what yours is but you won't catch me in a lie this morning.......:LOL:

Question for you A guys. Crown on bottom of windshield or top of cowl. Same roadster to closed cab? I know it narrower, but not sure of radius.
Bob?? Don?? Posted question in hot rod talk, but didn't know if you guys saw it.

Thanks Charlie

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Originally Posted by roadster32

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ley-sex014.gif

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Steve where do you get those great smilies?
Charlie cool thread, I have been watching this one, but have no experience with these old ford tbuckets, roadsters and rpu's but am learning from what your posting!

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Originally Posted by dlotraf33

Question for you A guys. Crown on bottom of windshield or top of cowl. Same roadster to closed cab? I know it narrower, but not sure of radius.
Bob?? Don?? Posted question in hot rod talk, but didn't know if you guys saw it.

Thanks Charlie

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Don't have any 28/9 closed car to compare to, and haven't ever seen any authoritative commentary. The best I can do is put a straight edge across the bottom of my roadster w/s frame. At the center it measures a nominal 1 7/8" to the bottom of the arch of the w/s frame without rubber.

So we now know what Sue got Steve for Xmas and it wasn't a new pair of shoe's...... no no no it was a new set of SMILIES !!!!!!....

Steve i found them on the net.

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Originally Posted by stovens

Steve where do you get those great smilies?
Charlie cool thread, I have been watching this one, but have no experience with these old ford tbuckets, roadsters and rpu's but am learning from what your posting!

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Originally Posted by roadster32

Steve i found them on the net.

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Yeah, Steve has all this time on his hands. He only has like 20 car projects going at one time, so he needs something to do he other 23 hours of the day! :LOL::LOL: Sue must be pumping him full of vitamins. :)

Don

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Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Don't have any 28/9 closed car to compare to, and haven't ever seen any authoritative commentary. The best I can do is put a straight edge across the bottom of my roadster w/s frame. At the center it measures a nominal 1 7/8" to the bottom of the arch of the w/s frame without rubber.

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Thanks Bob, that should help. I can trace arch of closed cab on cardboard, then mark the ends of roadster windshild frame, I have bottom width, and figure out how much arch there is. Thanks Again.........

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Originally Posted by dlotraf33

Well my computer is not coperating, so now I shall continue.

Here is the other one I am drawing from.
Attachment 47328

This body is kind of a cross of the two.

So I scrounged up the dimensions of Henry's 28 roadster pickup from the H.A.M.B. and started to mock it up. I used some cardboard to make the back and sides then put a seat on the floor so I could play with the lenth of the cab. I wanted to make sure I had enough leg room, and did not want to have the steering wheel up thru the floor like a t-bucket. I think I ended up with a streach of 4 to 5 inches over stock. I am not sure exactly as I had no front to back measurment just a diag. from firewall to rear corner of cab. I also got made fun of, the wife comes out and I'm sitting in basically a modified card board box, on a seat with steering wheel in hand. No I wasn't making the vroom vroom noise, at least not while she was in the garage.......:LOL:

Next I made a patern of the floor on some 5/8 plywood and made a jig to build the body on, and also roll it around. I attached the firewall with some washers and screws. Made the back of cab from the ply leftovers. Then I took some 1/4 ply and made sides and screwed togerher. A little 2x3 for the cab top sides. This should approximate the thickness of the finished side tops. I intend to use 1 1/2 box for the top and bottom rails. I took a scrap bed side top and added it to the back, for a little character, not wanting it to look like a box totally. In my mind I see the bed top rail just below the round on the back of the cab. Here's what it looks like so far.

Attachment 47329

Now time to stare at it from different angles, squint and try not to see the wood grain. And of course sit in it and make the noise. My daughter came home from school and ask if it was going to be made of wood. No, but I told her its easier to mess up 12.00 worth of ply than 100.00 metal. And after doing this I see somthing. the sides are about 2 inches too high. Looking at the ply bone and at pics on puter I knew it didn't look quite right, too tall in door area. See, easy to cut down ply, harder to cut and reweld.

Here's another angle, with a seat, will continue later as it is time to take her to school and start work.

Attachment 47330

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Man that Candy Red one has always been one of my favorites. Lookin forward to seeing your build.

Well the weather STINKS! Really it's only cold here, but I guess Dallas got some ice. My distribution center is closed, and if I get a truck today, doubtfull, all the product I wanted to install today and tomorrow has already been delayed till monday. Crap! Oh well might as well make some metal dust.

After looking at the mocked up cab for a couple of weeks, I decided, as Bob pointed out the cowl in the pillar area was just too bulky. After studying it for a bit, it looked easy enough to narrow. I just had to cut a couple of rusty bolts, and some really bad welds, looked like old coathanger welds, to remove it. Rrilled out a couple of rivits and we have three separate pieces.

Attachment 47624

I cut out the corner, that wraps around the gas tank top, so sides could be slid inward. Once fit I'll trim the removed piece to fit the cowl top and weld back in the pillar.

Attachment 47625

I slid the sides in to give me what I found to be the most pleasing ammount of reveal and clamped into place. Then I trimed the top so it would fit. All sitting in place, and then step back and eyeball from several angles. Yup that should work.

Attachment 47626

Marked all the holes so I could drill them. A quick trip to TSC for some bolts and a new set of bits and we can finish this step. Holes drilled and the pieces bolted back on the cowl.

Attachment 47627

Although I stated I am not trying to copy the roadster cowl, this does look more pleasing to the eye. It did look too fat at the top of the cowl. At this point I decided not to put the pieces back into the pillars, where they wrap around the tank. I want to decide how to handle the windshield posts. I havent yet decided weather to use roadster posts, modify the closed cab posts, or just fabricate some of my own design. I think I really need a windshield frame before I box myself into a corner, and have to redo somthing.

Here is a couple more angles of the cowl so you can see the improvement.

Attachment 47634

Attachment 47629

Maybe today I will re-cut the back of cab, as this modification will change the angle of the radius and cut down the sides and put back together to see how these changes will look.

We'll travel back in time about 2 weeks and look at the front axle I'll be using.
It's a 47 ford f1 axle I picked up with center link, springs, and drag link for $40. I wish I had gotten ahold of the guy a little earlier, he sold the brakes to another guy. Oh well still a good deal. The width is just 1/4 wider than the 32 stock axle. So it should work good.

I trimmed off the spring pads and smoothed the axle some.

Attachment 47630

I ordered some radius rod, spring behind mounts from Noxious Customs and when they arrived I fit to the axle and tacked them in place. I have to finish weld them later. I have to find me another stick welder. I loaned mine to my brother in law, you guess the rest........:mad: I just hope he electrocutes himself with MY welder........:D

Attachment 47631

Attachment 47632

The brackets need to be smoothed some. They were a little rough on the cuts. Also not sure about the points, they may need to be rounded. Overall I like these better than the mounts I used on the last one. These actually fit the axle with no modification to the cutout that fits inside the web of the axle. And they wrap around the top and bottom of the I beam.

Now Charlie, that was worth the effort wasn't it? Looks terrific! Cleaned it up nicely.

Here are a few suggestions on the windshield. In order to carry off what you've started you want to make sure you maintain the trim look, no heavy posts/frame.

The first two pics are of folding stock style stanchions. The first are the cast bronze ones I've got, the second are more economical cast aluminum ones that a guy named Williams down in SoCal makes. It's not that much further of a trim job from where you've taken yourself now to cut away the tops of the cowl ends, weld in a bracket and emulate the stock roadster. But you said you might not want that. Okay, then the third pic for ref. This is a set of stock stanchions that have been pie cut at the bottom and slanted back. Old timey mod that's not too uncommon. These are available in steel and could be welded in place rather than bolted to a bracket as stock. As a fourth option you could use some channel stock and fab your own and either use the channels to drop in a piece of glass or make them to hang a framed glass similar to the stocker. The key is to put the same kind of taper to the post as the stockers, or start them thin toward the bottom and maintain the dimension to the top (though that might look more street roddy than traditional). Whatever you choose, you don't want to clutter it with a bulky look.

Thanks for the pic's Bob. Yeah it was fairly simple to do that. And only took a couple of hours to do, including the trip to TSC, and a few smoke breaks. I totally agree, it makes all the difference in the world. I have seen some where they just left as it was on the closed cab. Makes you wonder why not do what I did. And I don't have that much real talent........:LOL: I'm just a shade tree mechanic, with no shade tree.........:LOL:

On the pics you posted, I really like the first one. The look and shape of the pillars. Second is ok, although slanted back too much, but could be adjusted for less rake. The stock pie cut, would be ok, but again too much rake, to me the windshield looks broken. Also after seeing these shots, I'm not sure I like the stock windshield frame that much. I really like the tubular one in the first shot. I like the look of the fixed glass on the green dodge at the beginning of this thread, but with my clumsy ass, I am afraid I'd grab the windshield and break the glass. I can do some stupid stuff sometimes, and then think, hmmm maybe I shouldn't have done that......:D

Back to the first pic. A couple of questions. First where'd you get that frame? Stainless? And what is the diam of the tube? Ok maybe more than a couple of questions. On the pillars, does the base wrap around the back side of cowl, in other words three sided and slips on then bolted. I am looking at that and I think I could make something similar out of steel. Hmmmmmmmmmm might could even make that frame, I guess I could do stainless...........Hmmmmmmmmm...... I think a scale drawing is in short order.

Thanks again for the pics and input.
Charlie

Yeah, a couple hours work for a "lifetime" of proper look.........but then that's what attention to detail is all about. Some get it, some don't.

The frame is from Speedway; http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Garage...ome,30596.html

It's 7/8" dia, with a 3/8" channel, could be done in stainless if you've got TIG for the lower corner welds.

Here's a pic of the backside, yes, it wraps and fastens to a "tab/or stub" inside the box section that has a floating nut plate for adjustment.

If the pics don't show it's because I'm tired of the crappy server timing out, I'll post up later if necessary.

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Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Yeah, a couple hours work for a "lifetime" of proper look.........but then that's what attention to detail is all about. Some get it, some don't.

The frame is from Speedway; http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Garage...ome,30596.html

It's 7/8" dia, with a 3/8" channel, could be done in stainless if you've got TIG for the lower corner welds.

Here's a pic of the backside, yes, it wraps and fastens to a "tab/or stub" inside the box section that has a floating nut plate for adjustment.

If the pics don't show it's because I'm tired of the crappy server timing out, I'll post up later if necessary.

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Thanks Again Bob. I'll ask another dumb question. Are all the roadster windshield frame tubular? Or just this particular one. Stock roadster frames to be more precise. I cut down sides, and it looks better. Will take pics and post later or in the am. Thanks
Charlie

Yep, the open cars are all tubular.................totally tubular man........:D

Well I got it cut down and mocked back up today. Cut the sides down 2 inches to 24 1/2 inches from top to bottom. The change in the front narrowed the rear at the top aprox 2 1/2 inches and it looks right. See for yourself.

Attachment 47656

Attachment 47657

Here is the rear side view, you can see the roll that I am considering incorporating into the rear. I bought an import bead roller, back several months ago, just for this project. I liked the bead down the side of the green dodge and am thinking I might run one down the side even with the peak in the rear roll, maybe run that pannel to produce more of a bead on the peak.

Attachment 47658

After looking at Bob's roadster, I have decided to make my own windshield sanctions. I did some measuring and made a few patterns and I think I have it figured out. I had intended on scanning those drawings, but as luck would have it I knocked my old scanner off the bench and broke the lamp....:o I have another that my son in law gave me but I have to download the drivers, so those will follow later. I did cut some 3/16 steel and cut down and capped the ends of the windshield filler. They extend down about 4 inches into the cowl posts, I'll plate the inside of cowl posts with more 3/16" so they can be tied together later.

Attachment 47659

Attachment 47660

I made one a while ago from 7/8" stainless tube, the first piece went wrong as i didn't allow for the tube to spring open slightly, what i did was to weld flat plates on the end of the tube to clamp to the milling table, i then milled a 3/8" slot a couple of inches shy of each end and then cut the ends 45 degrees, To get it right i milled a 5/16" slot and when cut it sprung out to 3/8"

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Originally Posted by roadster32

I made one a while ago from 7/8" stainless tube, the first piece went wrong as i didn't allow for the tube to spring open slightly, what i did was to weld flat plates on the end of the tube to clamp to the milling table, i then milled a 3/8" slot a couple of inches shy of each end and then cut the ends 45 degrees, To get it right i milled a 5/16" slot and when cut it sprung out to 3/8"

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Hmmmm Steve, I seamed to have misplaced my milling machine.....:LOL: I think I'll just pony up and buy one. I started to make the posts, and looked at them this morning and tossed em into the scrap box. I'd like to think I could make a windshield frame, maybe if it was square, and didn't need to be perfectly square....... but I know deep down, with what I have to work with, equipment and personal talent it's beyond me to turn out one thats decent.

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Originally Posted by dlotraf33

Hmmmm Steve, I seamed to have misplaced my milling machine.....:LOL: I think I'll just pony up and buy one. I started to make the posts, and looked at them this morning and tossed em into the scrap box. I'd like to think I could make a windshield frame, maybe if it was square, and didn't need to be perfectly square....... but I know deep down, with what I have to work with, equipment and personal talent it's beyond me to turn out one thats decent.

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I've also made them in the past by cutting the slot with a thin cutting disc in a grinder, a mill is not necessary but makes the job a little easier http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...EYS/hooray.gif

Alright, I will retract my previous statement. After pondering what Steve said (Roadster32) I thought I'd give a windshield frame a shot. I had a piece of 3/4 EMT, metal conduit, and bent the radius to fit cowl top. After I saw how easy that was to form, and finding a similar tech article on the H.A.M.B I decided to acquire a piece of 1/2" black pipe. $10.00 at Home Depot. Although not as easy to bend, with the help of a couple of trees in my front yard the arch was formed. I thought I took pics of this but did not.

Next, probably the hardest part. Cut a 3/8" wide grove in the center of the top of the arch. I laid out the line with tape and marked the sides in silver marker to give me a good visual guide for the cuts. I clamped the piece in a drill press vise clamped to table and made the cut with a cutoff wheel in an angle grinder.

THIS PHOTO IS FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY!
Attachment 47762

And yes I know........No Guard. I can't see with the guard. DO NOT Do as I DO. OK disclaimer out of the way. I do wear glasses and full face shield, and never put any part of my body in line with the blade. And wear welders gloves. Because I have been hit in the hand with a chunk of wheel before. OUCH....... and actually the best view of the cut is from the side anyway.

Attachment 47763

With the cut made in the arched portion and the remaining piece of straight pipe, I clean the groove with a disk and check the width with a piece of 3/8" scrap. Making sure it slides along the groove. This needs to be straight, or the glass may crack when installed.

Attachment 47764

I made a pattern for the windshield frame out of 1/4" ply. The dimensions were acquired from Speedway. This is based on a 2" chop from stock.

Attachment 47765

This is my pattern. I'll use this to make sure the frame is square to the pattern when final fitting is done and when welding.

Attachment 47766

The next step was to cut the pieces to length. I cut the ends at a 45deg angle. The angle is actually slightly less, but this will allow me to finish fit by slight grinding with a disk. Another reason to do it this way was as I have no chop saw the cuts had to be made by hand and therefore may not be as accurate. I'll take some scrap 3/8 aluminum and insert into the corners when I weld the bottom corners to make sure the groove stay aligned.

Here is the pieces mocked together. Final fit not done yet. I also need to tweak the groove in lower right corner as it's off slightly.

Attachment 47767


Here you can see where the angle needs to be ground for proper fit. Again I'll do this with a disk in my angle grinder.

Attachment 47768

We'll that will do it for today. In the next installment I'll show the finish fit, and welded.

I also found some dodge roadster posts, on the way, that when cut down should work perfectly with caps I made to attach to the cowl posts. I also have to figure how I want to attach the frame top. I need to go back and look at that tech post to see how he did it. I also have a couple ideas in my head. The deciding factor will be what will work and what am I capable of doing.

Good old American ingenuity at work. Couldn't have done a better job with my mill. Great work.

Jack.

Very nicely done!:cool: