WOW!!!! that is a awesome looking ride!
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WOW!!!! that is a awesome looking ride!
Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!! I agree with Richard, we need to get this on a magazine cover. Maybe Ken knows someone who could make this happen! I personnaly think this is right up the alley of Hot Rod Deluxe, with an old style pin up gal posing next to it in Bobby socks!:D:cool::D
Good lookin' hotrod!
Betchya glad the distributor is in the front. :D
Thanks guys (and Barb :)) It has it's share of flaws, but I like em to drive, so it will get lots of road rash in short order I'm sure. And yes, I am glad the distributor is in the front otherwise I'd have to remove the body to set the timing. :LOL: Darned sbf's are so long, but I like them anyway.:)
Don
Why Why Why??? The dizzy looks good as is IMHO, I would leave it the factory colour. On a lighter note,wow your car is looking cool,(kewl) and see you make out that little jobs like bending up your roll bar and sanding bodies is too hard and look what you have accomplished. Looking good.:cool:
Just a question now please, can you take some low down photos side on to the car so that I can get a better idea of how much clearance your car has?
I would like to have limefire headers on my bucket with pipes underneath but I don't think I have the roof to hide mufflers etc underneath. Afew measurements will be appreciated also if that not too much trouble thanks Don.
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. :LOL:
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. :D 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????:HMMM::confused::HMMM:
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!:rolleyes: 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.:eek: 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. :D
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.:LOL::LOL::LOL:
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....:whacked: 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" :D:D:D
G'Day Mate. (see, I'm up on my Kiwi too! :D) 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:whacked:, thanks for the lesson.:):)
Jack.
Well, I could be wrong.......I went on my English/Kiwi converter site and that was on there. :D 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! :eek:
I have enough trouble with English.:o:D
Don
Since we're so close to your birthday I'll just leave that one alone........:D
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!:3dSMILE:
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?
No, strangely enough the 23 is roomier leg wise. I think it is because the 27 is channeled 5 inches and the 23 only 3 inches. Now footroom is another issue. Because the 23 is so low the 350 turbo is sharing a lot of cockpit space with the driver. The floor is almost flat in the 27 so there is room for 3 pedals. The other oddity is that I sit deeper in the 23 than the 27. Not sure if it has to do with that extra 2 inch channel or if the 23 bodies are just deeper.Quote:
Originally Posted by brickman
Over the years I have continually lowered the seat in the 27 because I was sitting so high in the saddle. It was very comfortable up there but people kept telling me they thought I was like 7 feet tall until they saw me out of the car. :eek: I originally had all my switches and even a stereo under the seat but those are gone and this time I will only have a thin bench pad across the cockpit to sit on, about the same thickness as my 23 has.
I might even pick up a couple miles per gallon because of less wind resistance. :p:D
Don
Don,
You could be right;), but in any case, I'm sure they make allowances for Yanks.:)
Jack.
One question, Don... I have a coupe and am building a roadster. When the roadster is roadworthy the weather will help me decide which car I drive, but with two really nice roadsters, how will you decide?:rolleyes::LOL::LOL:
Any new updates? I can't wait to see this one in person.:3dSMILE:
Don,
Is there any room under your floor in the seat area, where you could drop the floor down inside the frame? I have the same problem in the rear seat area of my sedan. I'm going to make cut outs and drop the floor down in "butt pockets" :eek: to get more head room. Just a thought.
Ken
Jim, I don't know how I will decide......I've never had that problem before. Maybe we need to ask an expert who has more than one roadster.........like Ken! :D For him it is like those underwear that the girls have with Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc marked on them. He has one for every day.
As for updates, I really have backed off working on my 27 a little, on purpose. I don't want anything to interfere with Dan getting his car into paint right now, so every time we go to the shop I try to help him as much as possible with his. That, and it has been ungodly hot and it's hard to get the energy to work on it. I went over today and changed the fuel filter, oil, cap and rotor on my daily driver Honda, and I am wiped out from the heat. (changing the fuel filter on a Honda is one of the worst jobs I have ever done......they give you NO room to work. :eek:)
Ken, I would have dropped it down just like you describe, but I have so many crossmembers running in all directions right in that area that there is no room to do that. Luckily, I'm only 5' 9" so I can tuck in there pretty well.
Don
I go buy color, if I'm feeling a little down I take the Grey one and so on :LOL:
One more suggestion on your '27. I will have the same problem on my new truck. Even cutting down the frame like I do I'm still cramped. So on the new truck I'm going to put bubbles in the back of the cab so I can slide back farther. You won't see these in the truck because the bed will hide them. In your roadster the turtle deck would hide them. If you look at your posture when you are sitting down I think you will see what I mean.
Ken
Wait a minute Ken, what "new" truck? I know about the sedan you are doing, your roadsters, and your old truck, but did I miss something? I know my memory is getting worse, but this is the first I heard about a new truck. Tell us more? :):)
Don
Don,
It's the thread, another '32 truck. I don't know how to tell you to find it but it's in here some where. I copied and pasted it below but I don't know if that will work.
Ken
Another '32 truck
Oh, THAT truck! :o:o I even posted on that thread, but you haven't done any more updating on it since 6/07, and since I don't remember what I had for lunch today, the chances of me remembering that thread are slim to no way. :D
Problem is Ken, you just have to many irons in the fire for me to keep track of. :D
Don
[QUOTE=J. Robinson;
Any new updates? I can't wait to see this one in person.:3dSMILE:[/QUOTE]
Ok Jim, just for you I actually did something on the 27. :) Today I hauled my roll bar and a switch panel to your neck of the woods to have them chromed. Went to Gulf Plating in the Lauderdale area. I also took a bunch of stuff for Dans car. They seem to be good at it, I saw a bunch of chromed stuff on a display table they had set up, and all of it looked good. Turnaround time is good too, he says it should all be done next week.
I'll post some pictures when we pick the stuff up.
Don