Thread: Followed Me Home II

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Oh man, don't lighten up now Roger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put a set of 4.11's in the back with a spool, some big sticky Goodyears and go play with the kids on Saturday Night!........Then put the 3.70's with the posi back in when someone tells you to act your age!!!!!!!

Old story and probably told you.....Had the Nash 5 speed, (2.64 low) 6.00's on a spool and 10.5 X 29.5 Hoosier DOT slicks, and one of Scott's 408 Windsor's in a Maverick that was my Saturday Night Special for a few years-------Absolutely the most fun you could ever hope to have in a car (clothes on, that is)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6's w/ a 2.64 is a 15.84 mechanical advantage out of the hole!! That first gear must have been done in about 75 feet!! The 3.06 and 3.7's is 11.3 which is pretty deep for the street!

Originally Posted by DA34GUY

Glad you've taken some of my suggestions Rog, it outta turn out killer.
Another suggestion,get your color for the body picked out, then your interior
color. Match your wheels to the interior color and Bingo ! Clean, simple and SWEEEEEEEEEEET.

Windshield and top ordered !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny you should mention the colors, Don. I was at the paint store yesterday afternoon picking up some black & clear for the loose frame parts, fanning out color chips and talking to the two young artist's in the back about complimentary colors for wheels. I'd like to get the wheels painted in the next couple of weeks so that once the frame's sorted out I can get it sitting on rubber. The black top is going to look great with black frame, dark body, black top. Now for interior that adds some pop without looking funky....

Oh, and the six little words that are so often found to be false when strung together, '...the check's in the mail!!!'

Can/t go wrong with a worn saddle look roger, in either black, dark blue, dark green etc

Originally Posted by DA34GUY

Can/t go wrong with a worn saddle look roger, in either black, dark blue, dark green etc

.....or with the right medium dark blue on the body maybe a dark charcoal gray in the cockpit. I foresee another hour or two at the paint shop with the color chips

When I got back home from a late afternoon errand Big Brown had dropped off an offering of four new tires for the project!

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I set one of the back tires next to the BFG P285's on the '33 and they're just shy of a full inch taller, which is soooooo cool! They measure 31.7" diameter and should fill the wheel well perfectly with a strong 8" of tread width at less than 50% of Coker's price for the big meats on the '33 Four tires for $410 at my door. Not bad, not bad at all!!

Nice score on the tires Roger!

Originally Posted by rspears

.....or with the right medium dark blue on the body maybe a dark charcoal gray in the cockpit. I foresee another hour or two at the paint shop with the color chips

If you're going for dark blue and trying for some nostalgia vibe I'd suggest oxblood for the interior and wheels. Grey is too street roddy......................release your mind...........

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

If you're going for dark blue and trying for some nostalgia vibe I'd suggest oxblood for the interior and wheels. Grey is too street roddy......................release your mind...........

oxblood.jpg

oxblood.png

Something like this, Bob?

Ox Blood and Dark Blue
Great combo

So the PO painted the chassis black, but the differential, ladder bars, brake pedal and extension bar were all painted an "interesting" greenish gray.



He "remembered" that it was an epoxy primer with Eastwood's Aluma Blast, which is an acrylic lacquer which would mean it has to come off before re-spraying. However, the finish would not soften with lacquer thinner or reducer, so I'm going to rough everything with a red scotch brite pad, clean it good and give it a seal coat of good epoxy primer followed by black base & clear.

With the body on the frame I realized that the back end was not seated and noticed that it was sitting on the brake line fittings. A quick look at my '33 confirmed the need for a relief cut which I should have known was necessary, but was done on my roller package from N&N.



With the body back on the frame and down tight I hogged out the holes a bit and got everything bolted down. In that process I noted that the metal internal bracing, which fits at several of the body mount holes, is not bonded to the body anywhere. This structure is at the cowl, and there is a piece of sheet metal welded to the top rear that sort of forms to the top of the cowl but it has a gap of at least 1/4". Seems to me that for the steel to function as an overall stiffener it needs to be bonded to the body. I can use body filler, but there may be a better way?



I had looked at the bracing in the back earlier, but the more I thought about it the less I liked the way it was done. The 1x1 tubing structure braces the door latches, and extends back to wrap across the interior seating area which is fine. What concerned me is the extension that angles back on both sides, anchoring at the rearmost body bolt and extending with a loop across the back just below the trunk opening.





My concern is that any significant impact from the rear is going to push through that bracing into the structure immediately behind the seats, an potentially deforming that structure into the driver/passenger. Since I've been hit twice from the rear, the more I looked at it the less I liked it so it now sits on the shop floor.



This is the revised view from the trunk opening, which is very nearly like my '33 in function.



Monday I'll stop by the metal shop and pick up a couple of pieces of 1/8" strap, nominal 1.5" x 30" and form them to fit the arch of the floor between the two rear body mounts.



Once bolted in place I'll weld it to the tab of the remaining bracing which shows on the left, tying them all together. Any lifting force will have to rip out the entire trunk floor area as opposed to pulling out a small plug around a mounting bolt.

I've got a bit of welding to do, then will be pulling the body again and getting everything out of the way to paint the loose parts of the driveline, and to hit the outside rail of the frame with two or three coats of clear. Once that's done I'll get started mounting the front & rear suspension, and get this chassis on the ground.

Looking GOOD Roger !

Wow, I don't like that bracing at all!!!! Just a suggestion to ponder. How about if it were a "two rail" brace, the bottom rail following the trunk floor and attaching into the other structure where the cross bar is on the bottom, then a second bar about at the peak of the trunk floor and going to where the top cross brace is? The force would still be moving into the passenger compartment, but it would seem the lower bar would also bend down from the point where the top bar welds to it to the back of the car????

At this point all of the bracing back from the passenger compartment surround is out of the car, which mimics the bracing on my '33 coupe other than the fact that this one is not tied to the body at all, other than at the floor in six of the twelve frame mounts. I'm going to add a strap brace on the trunk floor, to spread the forces beyond the bolt points. In a rear end collision any force that's not absorbed by the frame shatters fiberglass until it reaches the area forward of the differential. If it reaches that point and is still significant it's time to kiss one's butt goodbye anyway.

Interesting discussion on the steel, "planning" for a rear end collision raises a lot of questions that just can't be answered. Like the speed of the "offending" vehicle, or the size of it!

I am NOT saying you shouldn't go through the exercise of trying to better what you have! I'm just a curious and interested observer!!

Oh, in regards to color choices... you can use the "standards", you know... the been there / done that's.. or try and find something that's just a bit original! Like the rear axle, that was a unique color, curious if it could've been easily duplicated?

But it isn't my car, just my opinion! and no ones paid me to run their wheels ever!

Originally Posted by 34_40

Oh, in regards to color choices... you can use the "standards", you know... the been there / done that's.. or try and find something that's just a bit original! Like the rear axle, that was a unique color, curious if it could've been easily duplicated?

But it isn't my car, just my opinion! and no ones paid me to run their wheels ever!

Not my car either, but I sure do agree with Mike! Last "big" show I went to I got so tired of looking at all the "look alike" coupes and roadsters.....I think I saw every variation of red/buckskin cars imaginable!

It's going to take something unique to make the car look personalized. A personal note, when I got my '57 I had a few too many "experts" tell me everything the car HAD to have to be an old style gasser clone that I just flat gave up listening to anyone about it and decided to build what I wanted...Now the car is a fun build again!!!! Oh yeah, last 30's coupe I built was "back-halved" with 1 5/8" tubing, had a 12 point cage, an ex-sprint car style (ie all lightened up) Brodix aluminum block and heads and an old "mid rise" Offy dual four intake, narrowed up quick change (bought at a circle burner swap meet) complete with pinion yoke driven cooling pump, two aluminum drag car seats with some extra foam under the upholstery.

I seriously doubt you'll succumb to the pressure of "how it has to be", just wanted to toss in my 3 cents worth (up a penny due to cost of living increases).

Thanks for the comments, guys. I truly appreciate any comment that's about the build approach, what's being done, "should be" done, or might be cool! Those things plant seeds in the mind, and when I'm out in the barn all of a sudden become a new approach. I'm also very much in agreement about color choices. The cars that draw my attention are those that stand out because they're not just cookie cutter clones of something that "worked" for somebody else. I'm thinking more & more that I need to go get the paint chips and spend a morning with them

On the bracing, to me the bracing on a fiberglass car is there for only to stiffen the body and help prevent flex that's going to lead towards cracking down the road. The puny 1x1 mild steel tubing cannot be considered a "safety" feature to protect the occupants as it's just not beefy enough or there's not enough of it. I looked at the way the rear loop was done, decided it didn't add enough value to overcome the risks I saw (having been hit from behind with a 70mph differential) so it's gone. That's also why I think it's important to "glue" the body to the steel around the cockpit, to tie the steel and glass together into one integral unit bolted to the frame.