Thread: The Roofus Special

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Both ends mocked up.



Everything cleaned up



Bzzzzzzzzz...bzzzzzzzz.....bzzzzzzzzz

This what it will look like on the car (I still need to make clamps to hold it in the nest).

Nice work. That rack isn't going anywhere! Will you be cushioning the brackets with rubber? If you wrap a piece of old inner tube around the areas where the clamps are, it will eliminate the possibility of squeaks.

You can probably remove about half of the leaves in that spring, too. I would estimate that this car will weigh about half (or less) of what the car that it came from weighs. Also, you have the engine, etc. sitting behind the axle instead of on top of it which lessens the load on the spring.

Really looking forward to seeing this one on wheels...

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Nice work. That rack isn't going anywhere! Will you be cushioning the brackets with rubber? If you wrap a piece of old inner tube around the areas where the clamps are, it will eliminate the possibility of squeaks.

You can probably remove about half of the leaves in that spring, too. I would estimate that this car will weigh about half (or less) of what the car that it came from weighs. Also, you have the engine, etc. sitting behind the axle instead of on top of it which lessens the load on the spring.

Really looking forward to seeing this one on wheels...

The straps are pretty snug as is, but I will probably do a rubber strip during final assembly.

Yeah, I'd be real surprised if the spring pack works as is. I figured it would require some adjustment. It sure would be nice if it worked as is though. I think it is "pretty".

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

... It sure would be nice if it worked as is though. I think it is "pretty".

I agree; a leaf spring can be a thing of beauty (to us car nuts)... Maybe if you remove every-other leaf it will maintain its nice tapered look. "Back in the day"... they used to clean and lightly grease the leaves, assemble them, and then wrap the entire spring with two or three layers of electrical tape. The purpose was to keep dirt and moisture out from between the leaves (especially on the dirt tracks) so they would work more smoothly.

Did you make it to the Frog Follies? I was there (as a spectator) and looked for your truck, but there were too many cars to see them all... The last time I was there was in 1980! It sure has grown.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Did you make it to the Frog Follies? I was there (as a spectator) and looked for your truck, but there were too many cars to see them all... The last time I was there was in 1980! It sure has grown.

Yep, we were there. We were in the open field to the left of the participant entrance (as viewed from entering the fairgrounds). It is always a great show.

Time to start thinking about how to attach the spring to the control arm.

I currently have two ideas. The first is to cut the spring hangers off of the ford wishbones and then cut them apart so that the pivot can be rotated to the right orientation and the welded and ground to look like they were forged that way....and then welded to the top of the control arms. The gooseneck would be pointed up.

The ford parts look like this. The shackle part would be turned 90* or so.


The other idea is to fab up something like the t-bucket I saw at Bonneville. Not nearly as "old looking", but should be functional.



Anybody got any better ideas?

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

Yep, we were there. We were in the open field to the left of the participant entrance (as viewed from entering the fairgrounds). It is always a great show.

Darn! The one part of the grounds we didn't explore! We got there a little before 10:00 AM. We went to the first road south of where you turn to go in the main entrance and entered through the back gate. There was almost no line there (20 - 30 minute wait at the main entrance). My old feet gave out on me about 3:30 (collapsed arch & arthritis) and I had to get off of them, so we headed home. It had been 30 years since my last visit to that run and it's still one of the best.

As for your spring shackle attachments - although either idea should work, I think it may be easier to make something similar to the T-bucket ones than trying to use the old ones...

Great looking job with the brackets!....................................and my wife gives a nod with your view on penetration..................like that's a surprise!

Originally Posted by Oldmanb

..........and my wife gives a nod with your view on penetration..................like that's a surprise!

Your wife is a weldor?

Looking good, Flipper! Are you going stock Jag on the engine/trans?

Shit happened and I did not make it to dad's house.

There was a wreck going the other direction. One of the cars crossed the centerline and I collided with them head on at 45 mph.

I don't have any broken bones or life threatening injuries, but I feel like I was thrown off of a 5 story building and landed in the grass.....I look ok, but everything hurts.

The little red car is screwed.

Originally Posted by falconvan

Looking good, Flipper! Are you going stock Jag on the engine/trans?

For the moment yes. I do plan on hopping up the motor at a later date (probably finding a bigger motor to swap)

Dang, that sux! Hope your feeling better and happy to hear nothing is life threatening!

Wow sorry to hear about the accident, but glad to hear you made it out alive. It's surprising to me that both cars look to have somewhat equal damage. So they crossed the middle of the road to get out of accident traffic and caused another accident with you? Crazy...