Thread: I bet you thought.....

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No problem at all Whiplash, I'll take some shots tomorrow when I am at the shop and some measurements too. I purposefully built the 27 with lots of ground clearance which is why the engine sits so high. By contrast, my 23 is extremely low, the lowest spot being about 3 inches off the ground, and I have only bottomed out once or twice on abnormally high speed bumps. The 27 has never bottomed, even when driving onto sand at the beach, or offroading.

As for the distributor cap, little stuff like that doesn't bother me a whole lot, but Dan brought me over a can of black plastic spray paint with the hint that the red has to go. Since nothing else on the car will be red I guess it should be black too.

I'll get you those pix and measurements tomorrow.

Don

Thanks Don, I beleive when you originally build the '27 you were going to use for everyday transport so allowed extra clearance but I would like to know what is the lowest part of the car. Also I have been going through the photos on the portal page and came across some that were titled Donsrods, is that you by a former name and did you get into trouble and have to change your user name????
I also noticed some pictures of your sons '29 sedan with 455,triples,airbags,huge tall whitewalls,radical chop 7" and 4" channel. Is this the same chassis that is now a '30's roadster pickup?? If it is, I love the colour of the engine trans he painted it but I think it is a different colour now..

Hehe, no, the reason I changed user names is because way back in the beginning my membership kept disappearing.......I couldn't log on. I tried a couple of times and kept saying I was having trouble, but people were saying I was doing something wrong in logging on . Finally, other people began to post that they too were having trouble, so I said "aha! I TOLD YOU SO!" and that is how I got stuck with that last, stupid user name. I hate my new user name, makes me sound like I am trying to be a smart*** or something, but it has worked logging on for a few years now, so I guess that is a good thing.

As for Dans sedan, that is a looooooooooong story. Bottom line, my Son Dan is never happy with anything he builds and always second guesses himself to death. The sedan was almost done, on the airbagged chassis you mentioned and the 455 Olds engine. He then found a very clean 30 tudor body and decided he didn't need two sedans, so he cut up the fordor and made it into a roadster pickup body. He used the same airbagged chassis under it.

Fast forward a couple of years and he almost had the roadster pickup done and I see him one day sitting in a chair staring at it. It is NEVER good when Dan stares at something! When I asked him what he was thinking he told me he was going to change some things on the rpu. Those changes entailed him taking a sawzall to the entire chassis and cutting it up into a bunch of little pieces and putting it in the dumpster. He didn't like the airbagged chassis any more and so he built a new chassis for under it (the one you have seen most recently) and he put the rpu body on that frame. The only parts he saved were the engine, transmission and wheels.

Fast forward again a year or so and he decided the frame had come out so good that the homemade rpu body wasn't good enough for it, so he ordered a Brookville 30 RPU body in pieces and he and I assembled it and channeled it over the frame. Problem was, the BV body is 6 inche shorter than the one he built out of the fordor, so he and I shortened the new frame 6 inches. I "inherited" the homemade RPU body and it is sitting until I can get around to finishing it up.

Do that is pretty much why he has about 5-6 years in getting to the point where the car is today. However, I have to admit the new version is head and shoulders better than the first or second incarnations. Plus, I scored lots of cast off parts during the sawzall frenzies.

Like I said, loooooooong story.

Don

Thanks for the explanation Don and having read through your build threads I guess that Dan and Don Jnr. take after you as being prefectionists and I mean that in the most kindliest way. I believe that chair that you caught Dan sitting in is called " the pondering chair" and it has seen your backside a few times to over the years.
I have a stool in my garage that I have started calling the same name and now I don't want you to fall over in shock,but I found the energy to go out into the garage and do some work the other day. I have cut up my roof frame and started playing with how I can make a fold down roof. It is not going to be as hard as I thought. The other job I started was drilling the 34 m8 holes and tap them for the hinges and bear claw catches but only got 5 done before I had broken all my little drills for doing the pilot holes. Note to oneself... When working again one needs to purchase a drill press.... I only managed a couple of hours out in the garage before the pain set in but I was pleased with that little bit.

Whiplash, I'm really happy to see you back in the garage working on it. I know what you mean about the aches and pains. After using the tube bender to bend up my roll bar the other night I was sore as h*** the next day. Old age is a bear. But you made some progress and that is always good.

Ok, I took some measurements off of my 27 tonight for you. The very lowest spot on the car is directly under the lowest place on my dropped axle. It is 5.5 inches ground clearance there. My exhaust pipes are 10.5 inches at the lowest spot where they drop from the headers and go under the body. My center crossmembers under the engine and also under the transmission are 10 inches.

Here are some pictures, hope they help. The pictures are terrible, even with a flash it was too dark under there and too much black.

Don

I also got my steering temporarily installed. I thought I was going to shorten the steering column to put the wheel closer to the dash, but I can't. The car is channeled 5 inches and even sitting on a low seat pad my knees are right where the wheel would be. So I will have to live with it being like it has been for the past 20 years..........at least it was comfortable there and gave me room to operate the clutch and brake pedals.

Don

Thanks for those measurements Don. Tomorrow I will go out and do some comparison measurements and I will dust off the camera and take some photos to post. I know from laying under the car pondering that I would have to use hotdog mufflers or as I did on my Anglia, use one muffler that had 2 inlet 2 1/2 " and one outlet 3" out over the rear axle and out the back. Whatever way I wish to go the exhaust will hang down very low,but in saying that, the limefire headers etc would suit the era of the car I'm after. I have a new set of headers and slip on mufflers from the USA, (will look tomorrow for brand name) as the headers and side pipes that came with the car,although they sound nice) suffer from rusty burnt chrome.
Your '27 is looking good and may I say that the straight cut screen suits the new roll bar. Now a new word for you, it's a Maori slang for cool,kewl,..
"CHOICE"

G'Day Mate. (see, I'm up on my Kiwi too! ) Post up those pictures, but from the sounds of it you shouldn't have any clearance issues.

Don

Don,

I thought G'day Mate was reserved for the people of OZ, thanks for the lesson.

Jack.

Well, I could be wrong.......I went on my English/Kiwi converter site and that was on there. Hope it isn't like one of those things where you try to be cool and speak someone elses language and inadvertently tell them their Mother looks like a rabid camel in heat!

I have enough trouble with English.

Don

Since we're so close to your birthday I'll just leave that one alone........

Thanks and you didn't even need to wrap it up for me or put a bow on it.

Don

Good day back at cha mate! Not sure if Aussie sayings apply to Kiwi's though the accents are similar!
The good thing is most of our downunder friends have easy demeaners and great sense of humor, not to mention are mean barbequers!

When in the states i always get asked am i australian the 2 accents couldn't be further apart

Is there more leg room in the '27 body than the '23 body Don?