Thread: Everybody that is currently building a car...

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

How come yer seat has more bars over it then my seat?????

Cuz' those chebbies R so fast.

Originally Posted by stimpy

that big red button on the dash board that says Eject , has something to do with it ....

An "Easy Button" that's a great idea.

OK I am putting this new picture in this thread so it is easier to compare to the previous picture a page or two back. Also this is related to the thread on which column to use. I bit the bullet and ordered a Brookville tilt column and am waiting for it. In the meantime I started to look at where to put a spoon accelerator pedal. With that big tunnel I could only put my right foot ON TOP of the tunnel or get my foot stuck between the tunnel and the brake pedal, sooooo I cut it out! I recall in my old '31 A sedan the gas pedal was on a flat board at a 45 degree angle to the floor so I cut out the big tunnel and pie-cut the tip. Now I have to glass in a half moon between the collar of the old tunnel and the tiny litle hump. The missing piece is barely noticeable from the engine side. Now I can put my foot liesurely against what will be the 45 degree angle flat piece. Question: Does an NHRA inspection require a scatter shield? Since the original firewall was fiberglass, is a new 'glass wall enough or should I try to put a sheet of iron in there somehow? I have a large piece of 1/4" aluminum plate large enough to make an aluminum firewall but it may not be easy to 'glass to aluminum. It will be easiest to 'glass in another piece of scrap fiberglass but I could add a bolt-on plate of aluminum or steel if necessary. I want to avoid another large bell to save room for my foot. I had to do something, otherwise I would be twisted into a pretzel trying to get my foot up on top of the old tunnel. Comments?

Sorry, I have tried to upload the picture three times without success. Is the Forum down?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Here is another try at loading the picture. OK, I got the picture to load. I added a 3/8" plywood plate to make the floor flush with the iron plates along each side of the body. The pie-cut small hump is just taped together now and will have to be 'glassed back together and a plate put across the large gap about 6" wide and then a half-moon insert glassed over the hole. There is still a need for a small hump but the R-700 is much slimmer than maybe the maximum chrysler bell housing allowed for by the Bebops designers. I will add rubber gaskets between the plywood and the underlying fiberglass floor to keep the wood reasonably dry although there are a lot of little gaps around the shifter and the brake handle. This may still be a big problem since the rounded shape is not easy to make out of sheet iron so my preference is to use a piece of fiberglass so it can easily be glued-glassed back over the hole. Comments? In the event that I ever have to pull the transmission without removing the engine, how much forward/backward slack do I need to slide the trans back and clear the input shaft, 1", 2"?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don....

....why not make use of some of the nice metal parts available, and have a solid one piece floor with no leaks ?

Daver.

....a couple other suggestions....

1. mount the gas petal up on the firewall, were there is more room, and a better position.

2. use a small sports car type handbrake, and get that clump out of the passengers way. See mine in the middle ? It fits between the seats with just the handle sticking out. I put a swith on my handbrake, and a little red light on the dash that lets me know the brake is on, even slightly on.

....just trying to help....

Daver.

Daver, I have studied your previous construction pictures and you set a high standard as does C9x and Bob Parmenter. Do you have a source for metal tunnels? I have made use of a lot of external parts from Bratton's Antique Parts which specialized in excellent Model A parts, but internally all the dimensions are whatever Bebops thought best and I have already wrestled with their floor shape over the rear springs. The body is evidently designed to actually fit over a stock Model A chassis but other internal dimensions are just not there. The "hump" you show is interesting but still a little large and I want that clearance for my right foot. Still I did once scatter a clutch on a measly Chevy 235 in a '54 Belaire so even a stock clutch/pressure plate can shatter. I would like metal but I wonder how to glass it all back together. Can you give me a source for aftermarket SMALL scatter shields?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

....sorry, can't help ya' there, Don. I used a C-4 tranny to avoid all those problems. There just isn't much room for clutch linkages, scatter shields and such. The C-4 is about the size of a stick shift tranny. The 289 small block Ford, and the automatic were my choices.

(they were a set, out of a '65 Mustang)

Daver.

Now that you mentioned the "rear springs problem"....a guy built me this special box for the rear springs, don't forget mine is a sedan, and this box fits under the rear seat. All the rest of the firewall and floor parts are off the shelf steel parts.

When I planned the project, and having decided on replacing the wood firewall, and the wood floor boards....nothing less than a proper....completely sealed floor would do. Who wants to hit a puddle on the freeway, and have water spraying up through the floor....

....not me.

Daver, Nice pictures. My 700R4 is an automatic and of course there is little or no room for clutch linkage. What I was/am asking in my convoluted way is whether there is as much need for a scatter shield with an automatic? You are right about the hand brake. This is my first complete build although I have owned both a Pinto and a Vega so I should have known about those little flat hand brakes, but actually I wanted the car to look more like a real Model A instead of a replicar so I went with the tall Gennie handbrake, and of course my wife noticed it is in the way. However there now seems to be more foot room without the long hump and a flat floor and working by myself I must have puttered around with the rear brake cables for at least a month and so will keep what is there.. The 700R4 seems to be a little narrower than a TH350 but it is longer, although not as small as the C4. I did start out with a TH350 but switched to the 4-speed OD when I found out all I had to do was get a longer bracket from Brookville and at that point I had not set up the driveshaft. If there is much less risk of scattering the innards of an automatic with a mild 350 then it is the easiest thing to glass in a panel of fiberglass and a half-moon of fiberglass and then coat the whole thing with another layer of glass cloth. Can anybody else reassure me of less hazzard from an automatic? With a mild street cam my 350 probably will only make 250-270 HP anyway. Where you have the box over the rear I have a stainless gas tank but two plastic boxes and inner tube rubber gaskets over the coilovers which are removable for possible adjustment or replacement. I think the rubber gaskets will stop most splashes but not over-hub immersion. We will see how well it is sealed and maybe gobs of clear silicone underneath the edges will be the next move. I have already realized I cannot come up to the standards you and C9x have shown or Brian's roadster-PU so all I can do is the best that I can do. Thanks for the suggestions.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, I wouldn't worry about the transmission blowing up in your car. You won't be making enough power to blow it up. There are 2 different types of automatic transmission protection, the hard type which is make of 1/4" aluminum that fits around the top of the box and steel straps that connect around the bottom of the box so that it is encapsulated 360 degrees. The other type is the ballistic blanket that is a universal fit. Nobody makes the hard type for the 700R4, so if you wanted protection, you'd have to use the blanket. Go to www.summitracing.com and look at the RCI blanket under part number RCI-7808A for $79.88 to get an idea of what they look like. The downside to using the blanket is that it hugs the case and retains heat. If you have a good cooler on the car, it won't be a problem. I'll try to show the link here......
http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...0+115&x=18&y=6

The other thing to consider is a SFI approved flexplate (29.1) and a SFI approved flexplate shield (30.1). If you need more info on these, just ask.

Tech1, Thanks! So I can chance it with just a fiberglass firewall and maybe add a blanket if I want to at some later time. Since I got the flex plate from the Monster Motor folks and the 700R4 is beefed up one step above stock it would seem to be OK. I am just used to a metal car with a metal firewall and wonder whether a "fiberglass firewall" is a misnomer. If you are still there I have one last question on this problem in that I need to leave some slack space to slide the trans back for possible replacement. When the drive line was put together I did not make note of the length of the input shaft beyond the edge of the bell housing. How much slack to I need to leave for the snout of the input shaft to clear the engine?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don---A few observations here.----Firstly, you are probably going to regret the emergency brake handle placement. It will be in the way of everything that you do. I know that the one you have is positioned off the automatic shifter bracket, but it is not a good choice for positioning. Secondly---that fiberglass transmission hump is FRIGGIN HUGE!!! If I were doing it, I would take a cut-off saw and trim everything off at the flat firewall on the inside. Then cut an old peice of broom handle into 1/2" lengths. Wrap the exposed surfaces of the tranny with aluminum cooking foil, glue the peices of 1/2" long broom handle randomly over the foil covered tranny surface, fill in between the peices with drywall plaster, then glass in a new tranny hump "in situ", letting the wet glass overlap about 3" onto all of the surounding solid fiberglass both on the floor and on the firewall. This will leave you a ton of room for your "gas-pedal foot". Then lift up the body and knock out the tinfoil/plaster/broom handle peices with an air hose and putty knife and apply a coat of glass cloth and resin to the underside, just to seal everything good. You will be left with a nice uniform gap of 1/2" all around the tranny. forget about pulling the trany without pulling the engine. In a model A its only 2 hours work to pull the rad, the shell, and the hood, to take the entire engine/transmission package out thru the front of the car. I agree with Techinspector, you won't need a scattershield on an automatic transmission. Believe me---a car with improper or no foot room is not a fun car to drive.
----Brian

Hi Brian, your comments are very valuable! As for the brake handle, my wife says she will not take any trips in the car anyway because it doesn't have an AC but maybe some local jaunts in Spring and Fall so most of the time I will cruise by myself. I am somewhat of a "put the top down" fanatic anyway so an AC in a roadster seems silly to me and it is not worth the cost and additional cooling needs to install an AC. Thus I guess I will leave the handle there as a monument to learning the hard way. Anyway as I said above there is more space now with a flat floor; especially for my foot. I really appreciate your agreement that something had to be done to make room for my foot. Also your comment about removing the engine from the front solves a big problem in that all I need to do is leave enough clearance to avoid chafing. During the rebuild/restoration of my MG Midget some ten years ago the machine shop paid to chop the flywheel also removed too much metal from the face of the clutch side. By the time I figured this out and replaced the flywheel there was occasion to pull the engine out the front way four times ( ! ), although the tiny 4 cyl is a lot lighter than a SBC 350 +trans. On the unibody MG the only way to change the trans or service the clutch is to remove the engine. I guess the total unit should be around 800 pounds for the SBC setup. Good to hear from you; I am reassured by Tech1 and you regarding the unlikelyhood of need for a scattershield on the street.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

They are right about pulling the engine and trans out as a unit from the front. That is why I didn't build a drop out trans mount on the T, or my '27. Couple of hours work and you have the thing sitting on the garage floor where it is easier to work on.

Tell your wife to try Florida for a while and she will think they have air conditioned the State of Virginia.

Don