Thread: The Roofus Special

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No pictures 'cause I'm on dad's dial-up, but figured I post an update.

I "raised" the engine and trans back up to where it used to be. I want the car to be flat bottomed...nothing hanging down below the floor. I'm pretty sure this will be a really low car.

I made a hole in the firewall to poke the steering column through. The extended coulmn looks like it will be just the right length.

I cut up lots more Cadillac sheetmetal trying to flesh out the front bodywork. I think I figured out how to make the track nose work...I had the Cadillac hood pointed the wrong direction! The cadillac front doorskins are now going to be the hood. ...and the Cadillac front fenders are now the cowl. I've had lots of fun.

I would have gotten farther, but had to help dad on a project.

Where I started this trip. I decided the drivetrain needed to be tucked up inside the car. I pulled out thje 1.5" spacers that were under the frame.





I went ahead and mocked up the single chamber flowmaster where it would fit under the hood.




I made a hole in the firewall for the steering column




this neat little piece from the jag donor still fits


going from the column to the rack looks like it will be easy


It feels right


I decided that I really needed to know the body shape before I could mount the brake pedals (one of the things I needed to finalize the seat design)

Time for the "real mock-up". I tried the cadillac track nose again...this time I turned the hood around. The lower edge of the hood points toward the cowl now. A front door skin is now the hood. a piece of the rear door skin is the cowl.








The grill looked like it would work.




Also, decided to find a use for the fenders

decided to try and use more of the fender. The wheel opening is now the door opening.




The car is 14 feet long! It is starting to look fast.


I wasn't happy with the fender top as a cowl. The transition from hood to cowl to body didn't flow good enough. I went back to the rear door piece.
fender


door










I raised the door opening


insert motor noises


The curves all line up


Time to cut down the rear door piece to eliminate the overlap


tacked to the hood (door)






The fender looks good in pics, but the contour under the chrome would be a pain to deal with and it really didn't match the curve of the chassis. Bring back the 1979 jaguar XJS roof

It needs hood sides. VW squareback hood to the rescue








This thing still is a movie set prop


side re-positioned








it's got room under the hood even with the raised motor position


Before I could go any farther with sheetmetal work, I needed to beef up my horrible fright bead roller.


junk from the pile


welded on


It works!


Somehow I had offset the trans too far to the passenger side.


the tunnel was too tight anyways, so I removed 1 inch.






34 olds? dash insert looks cool upside down and looks like it might work

more mock-up pics






making plans for the body side of the trans mount

If it were only it were this easy... a photoshopped passenger side!

So do y'all like the track nose?

I like the shape, but I'm kinda disapointed that it will hide the front crossmember.

Yeah it fits the car, that build is coming along, I like the building materials you come up with. Shows what some imagination and the ability to be resourceful can do.

Me and my daughter went to dad's for the weekend. We had a great time visiting but I didn't get nearly as much done as if I would have gone alone.

I started out trying to make frames for bucket seat backs.


I was shooting for the same feel as the bench seat in my truck





It didn't work all that well. It didn't feel great and took up interior room.

Plan B One seat back.

Not wanting to mess up anything good for a mock-up...I grabbed a very rusty VW hood that was destined for the crusher.








view behind the seat. I need to figure out how the seat back will attach and how it will be supported


My daughter trying it out. The VW hood was amazingly comfortable. The shape was much simpler than my truck seat.




I also mocked up a set of model A hood sides. They might be louver donors...not sure.







I didn't take it off of the table, but I did the next best thing. I made my daughter climb on the table.



It's a sleek LITTLE car!

I also welded in the bottom 1x1 tubes that will be part of the driveshaft tunnel. (not yet welded in this pic)


I'm having a hard time deciding how the sheetmetal in this are will all fit together. I haven't found the elegantly simple solution yet. I need to blend the driveshaft tunnel to the front of the seat bases while sealing off the driveshaft...and the whole thing needs to support the weight of the middle part of the car.

You've come a long way on this. Mocking up the nose and hood has to be a big motivator; it really shows what the final shape is going to look like.

Originally Posted by falconvan

You've come a long way on this. Mocking up the nose and hood has to be a big motivator; it really shows what the final shape is going to look like.

To be honest, taking this pic suprised me. I thought the car was going to be taller than it is.

I finally got a chance to do something!

I had a general idea of how I wanted to do my trans mount, but had no idea of how the trans tunnel would tie in. Everything I visualized got real complicated.

I went to wally-world and picked up posterboard to play with.



It worked great to eliminate a couple of ideas that didn't work in real life.

I started off making fronts to the seat bases. The beefed up bead roller is fun to use (as uposed to frustrating).





I then traced the panels to see the "box" th trans mount had to fit in.



I mocked up a mount in posterboard. It worked good enough to transfer to steel.











Even though it is a short span between the seats, I felt the mount needed more beef.



I bent up a simple reinforcement to double the material and add gussets













now for the tunnel

I screwed around with the idea of a beefy safety loop, but nothing seemed to work. In the end I just made a simple tunnel.

First in posterboard





then in steel









Nothing is welded in. I am considering bead rolling the tunnel, but need to know where the seat back will be before I can finalize a design.

....and I also plan to have a bolt in piece at the front of the tunnel to seal off around the trans.

I also, played with front end pieces too....trying to figure out what my upper control arms might look like. I did a comparison of front spindle relative to the bottom of the car and the current rear "ride height". ...the front is about 2.5 to 3 inches lower (spindle higher). It ought to be fun trying to make this crazy mismatch of parts sit right. It should be plenty low.

It's neat that your daughter hangs around to help out some. Looking forward to seeing the smiles when she sits behind the wheel with it on the ground, and after that first ride down the road & back! Thanks for continuing to post pictures of the progress - it's a fun project to see come together.