Thread: The Roofus Special

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I scooted the motor forward so that the radiator was right behind the leaf spring ....where it would be if I do the upright grill shell like a Rally.

What do you know? The motor is back ahead of the "firewall" again. ....where it was last year!



Foot room is much nicer....again!



Just to make sure that moving the radiator closer to the spring didn't change which perch location looked best...I mocked stuff up the other ways again.





Rearward still looks best to me.

So now that I know where the radiator goes. Time to try and squeeze in the rack.

The good thing about the wide spring crossmember is that I think I can hide the rack and pinion under it.

The rack needs to go 3.5 inches forward of where it is pictured here. It will pretty much be under the radiator.





proposed cut outs



from the side



Now the REALLY fun part. Trying to figure out how to put it all together where I can pull the steering back out at a later date if I have to.

The original idea was to mount the rack on its own crossmember and the bolt the spring crossmember over the rack.

Then I thought about mounting the rack to the underside of the spring crossmember and bolting both down as a unit.

Now I'm trying tofigure out how to fish the rack into the crossmember if the crossmeber was welded in (I really want to weld it so that I can gusset up to the upper framerails next to the radiator).



That's where I am for now. I still have some more thinking to do. ...as if I haven't sat in the thinking chair enough.

Oops. I forgot to post the pics with the a-arms in the mock up.








and the passenger side arm turned upside down as a pretend upper a-arm

And a few more "car" pics.

I've had a hard time figuring out the next step. I need to figure out how to tie the spring crossmember to the upper framerails (strengthen up the whole front end, especially the mounts for the upper a-arms).

I kinda wanted to put the reinforcement behind the spring instead of in front, simply to have the spring out in the open. The only thing I can fit between the spring and the radiator would be a plate (with a strengthing rib on the top front edge), I don't think I can fit a tube of any kind in there.

Anybody think this will be strong enough? also thought about making the rib wider as it gets closer to the frame.

I assume you would make that out of 10 or 12 gauge steel? I think that would be plenty strong enough.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

I assume you would make that out of 10 or 12 gauge steel? I think that would be plenty strong enough.

I was thinking 3/16"

Overkill?

Overkill?? Maybe a little, but you'll never have to worry about it stress-cracking. 10 gauge is 1/8" thick; 3/16" is 50% thicker and at least 50% stronger. Go for it.

If anybody has any great ideas on how to mount the rack or how to make the bulkhead look cooler/be stronger, please tell me your ideas today.

In the morning, I plan on cutting some steel and welding this thing up solid according to my latest sketch (maybe with belled lightening holes. I have to try the technique suggested by one of the guys on RRT first).

I must say that I really enjoy reading this thread, truly inspiring work! Keep the reports coming!!

Regards from the Arctic Cirle,
/Rikard

Originally Posted by rikard454

I must say that I really enjoy reading this thread, truly inspiring work! Keep the reports coming!!

Regards from the Arctic Cirle,
/Rikard

I'm glad you like it.

I could sure use a blast of artic air right now. It is too hot to play in an un-airconditioned shop. Project is on hold until cooler weather is back.

Well, up here it is only around 45 F right now but last week it was only half of that and I even saw a few snow flakes falling...

But I really like the project, both the style of the car and the fact that you used parts from an old Cadillac body :-)

Cheers!
/Rikard, North of Sweden

I played with it a little this weekend. ...even though it was freakin' hot!

The inner rod ends did come off quite easily.





I don't think scraper style seals will work worth a darn. It needs boots. I hope to find something that looks cooler than stock toyota though.

Did more figuring on how to get the rack inside the crossmember

And then went after it with a torch. ...wonderful tool for a 95 degree day (no pre-heating required)





After a little grinding.