Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

Thanks, guys. I've still got to play with the shape of it a little. Another consideration is if I ever want to run a top on it for those long trips in the Florida "liquid sunshine"...

My son's sedan is in the garage now (my coupe is in his garage), we have the engine & trans in it, and have had it running for a few minutes. He is still shooting for the Turkey Run, but he has an awful lot to do to get it streetable. We'll be there, though, with or without his sedan.

[brianrupnow]

Hey J. Robinson----Looking good. I too am following your build. I am always happy when someone can use some of the "how To" articles I have posted. The only two things I can tel you about the Duvall style windshield is #1--Forget about ever running a soft top with that style of windshield---they hog too much of the door opening, and #2--make certain that the frame is solidly bolted to the cowl before making your final glass templates!!! I Know!!! I made templates and cut glass before I had mine bolted to the cowl---Then turned around and had to do it again after it was bolted down
----Brian

[J. Robinson]

Thanks for the tip, Brian. The more I look at the mock-up, the more I think I'm going to do it. I may be asking for more advice when the time comes...

[J. Robinson]

Before proceeding too far with anything else, I needed to fix the steering mount flex problem. The best way to access the problem area was without the body, so I disassembled all the under-dash steering mount stuff and removed the roll bar. I took the body off and then reassembled all the steering stuff.

As it turns out, the problem was worse than I thought. When I moved the steering wheel, not only did the 1/4" mounting plate flex, everything moved! While the plate was flexing up and down and twisting, the dash support tube flexed side-to-side and the whole big assembly moved fore and aft! Sheesh, what a mess!

OK, first step was to get rid of any flex in the mounting plate. I cut a wedge from a scrap of 2" square tubing and box-gusseted the plate. That made an enormous difference as soon as I welded it in place.

The whole structure was still moving fore and aft and side-to-side slightly, so I cut two pieces of 3/4" tubing and put triangular braces from the front (main) hoop to the steering box mount. (I shot the pieces I added with some light spray paint so they would show up in the picture.) The whole assembly is nice and stiff now. All of this stuff is under the dash and above the pedals, so none of it shows when assembled inside the body.

I am also going to add some diagonal struts from the front hoop to the frame in front of the firewall. They will be made to bolt in.

[brickman]

I guess the weight of the steering components are forcing all the reinforcing, looks like you have cured the problem. From following the thread, I know you have built many of those chassies, is there a set plan you go by? If there is a set of plans, I would love to have a copy. I am wanting to build one myself.

[J. Robinson]

It wasn't just the weight, but also mostly the stress of the steering action pushing and pulling the pittman arm / spindle arm. I definitely underestimated the stress on the steering assembly.

No, I don't have any plans. If I did, you would be welcome to them. Except for a handful of T-bucket frames, most of the 20 or so frames I have built or helped build over the years have been one-of-a-kind, plan-as-I-go ventures. I have some sketches that I have made on graph paper to calculate some angles, etc. but no complete plans. I generally do a full-size layout on the garage floor using 2" masking tape and an assortment of measuring tools. If you look in my gallery of build pics on my coupe, there are a couple of pictures of the layout on the floor and some frame pieces cut to fit it.

The most complex frame I ever built was for a '48 Anglia. It had an independent front end out of an MG Midget and a narrowed 12-bolt Chevy rear on crossed torsion bars. After that would probably be the frame I built for a '37 Chevy coupe. Probably the prettiest frame I ever built is the Deuce-style frame under my coupe. The jury is still out on my roadster frame; it is the only one I have ever done completely from round tubing. It may be the most interesting (from a builder's standpoint).

If I can be of assistance to you on your build, please let me know. What type of frame are you planning? What kind of car?

[J. Robinson]

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away... No, wait a minute; wrong story...

Once upon a time a few years ago, I was helping my (then) boss put a Maverick rear end under his '40 Ford coupe with 350/350 combo. We had everything done except the drive shaft. I grabbed one out of the stash of old drive shafts propped in the corner and shoved the splined yoke into the transmission. I lifted the rear of it up to see how much it would need to be shortened and, holy U-joints Batman, it fit perfectly! That was the only time in my life that has ever happened. Every other hotrod and race car I have ever built had to have a custom length drive shaft.

I thought, since I have the body off, this would be a good time to make a drive shaft for the roadster. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned and deleted all the pictures. I took another pic of the finished product, but I lost all the "how-to" pics. The good news is, I have to repeat the process tomorrow evening on my son's sedan, so I will reshoot the process and post the pics here.

[oddcarout]

J.

Did you weld your own driveshaft? If so will you be showing us how to do that with your son's sedan?

Thanks for all of the info. its great that there is so much info, and different ideas to do these cars.

Thanks,
Z

[Itoldyouso]

I like the way you licked the steering problem. I also like that you demonstrated that we all run into little problems when building a car.......h***, even the big car makers screw things up, so why should we not do the same every once in a while. The key is to do just like you did, figure out what is going on, and how to correct it.

I really like this build you are doing. Fun to see it coming together as it is.

Don

[J. Robinson]

Z- Yes, I cut and weld my own drive shafts. I've lost count of how many I've done over the years, but I would guess 20+. I've only had one that vibrated; it was in an Olds Cutlass stock car. At about 7,000 rpm it rattled my teeth ; the following week I made another one and solved the problem... Yes, I will be showing step-by-step how I do it. I photographed the process yesterday on my roadster, but when I went to download the pics to my computer the memory card was empty! I will photo the process again on my son's sedan.

Don- Thanks. I've been enjoying doing this thread on my build. Your roadster thread was the original inspiration for doing it.

I was so disgusted Saturday that I was very close to cutting all the steering junk out and replacing it with a cross-steer system! Cowl mounted steering was common in the track roadsters of the early '50's, though, so I finally decided to persevere and fix it.

[Bob Parmenter]

I was so disgusted Saturday that I was very close to cutting all the steering junk out and replacing it with a cross-steer system! Cowl mounted steering was common in the track roadsters of the early '50's, though, so I finally decided to persevere and fix it.

Glad you toughed it out, it's been very informative.

[gottabuild1]

Man i love it when people build there own s--t, thats awesome man, the pieces i like the most are the, well i don;t know what they are called but they are on the front suspension with the heim joints? bent and coped tubing, they look beautiful, you have the same harbor freight tools i have , cheap but work awesome and did i mention cheap again?

[J. Robinson]

Those are called "radius rods". The style I used on the roadster are commonly called "hairpins" because they are shaped somewhat like a lady's hairpin. They were popularized by Frank Kurtis in the 1940's when he made and used them on his Kurtis Kraft midgets and Indy cars.

My coupe has a different style of radius rods that are probably more common on hotrods. They use a straight top bar and the bottom one curves up to intersect it near the rear pivot point. They are visible in the coupe pic below. There are other styles, too. Different builders have their own opinions about what looks good.

Yeah, Harbor Freight tools may not stand up to daily production use, but for the home builder they're great... and cheap, too. Oh yeah, you said that.

[Itoldyouso]

Got the tank on the coupe filled for your trip to Daytona yet????

Don

[J. Robinson]

Well, not yet... Actually, I filled the tank on my Honda Shadow Aero instead!

The wife and I are going up for Biketoberfest this afternoon and staying until Sunday. The coupe will be ready when the time comes, though...