Model A job

[idrivejunk]

The powers that be all liked the sound of my idea about using a Model A shaped grill opening in a deuce shell.

Is it worth rendering or does it sound bad to your imagination?

Seen one done that way?

Thanks.      

[idrivejunk]

Scratch that last question, men. I shouldn't ask such things. The answer is far too complex with a TCI frame. In a nutshell, the entire car has to be finished and put together before fabricating brackets to mock up a grille shell position. Only then, when the finished car's appearance sans radiator can be unanimously approved by at least four people from a distance of fifty feet or more, can a radiator be designed.

Pfft. When I started this, everyone said the build starts at the radiator.  :?  

Make my rod just muscle, thats seriously ridiculous.

[idrivejunk]

Ho hum

[idrivejunk]

Yea, naw... this new hot rod grille shell don't go on cars with frames  



Six inches backspace rather than five, on the rear. A bit much depending who you ask. I would split the difference and say 5.5" but that would be on an 18" wide rim. If that exists.



Lets see who is awake... this queen size crate came in today-



Who dat's fuh? Fu dis-



I don't know if the new chassis is here yet or not but that is probably my next victim.  Good to see, I was wondering.

[kb426]

There goes my engine.

[idrivejunk]

There goes my engine.

Swap out your blue one for a RoadRunner, you'll catch it.

meep meep phbbbbt!  :-}

[idrivejunk]

These fender bolt hole reinforcement strips are done now, just not welded because quarters are still just tacked to the tubs.





Initial lay-on of hood and grille shell looked yuck. Not enough hood.





First things being first, I jacked the front up until the pillar was vertical then matched shell angle to that. Fixed with quickie brackets. Put me at 33" cowl-to-shell.



Went to get the shop camera, saw that the 3 - way hood latch setup just came in. Woohool



I dumped the box just to get at the prize inside. This image somehow helped me to not mentally veer off course. Whew!



Extended brackets 2" rearward, tacked some tabs to hold the hood up where a seal would and voila... this looks not so bad. Happy day! I can work with this.



Of course the mysteries did not all simultaneously unravel but I am confident. Glancing at it with the aforementioned grille shell modification that kind of says model B from the side and A from the front... is feasible. I think I will try a miniature in clay to see if I like the look. Pretty much just slicing off the pointy parts of the deuce shell and making it flat there with a small radius then filling in at bottom for a flat line then mocking the flat '31 top insert seamlessly.  :?        

[idrivejunk]

Working on fitting the new hood. Not there yet. Working on it.





Gas door and neck-

[idrivejunk]

Took out the front body mount bushings, as it should be. Made a stand to hold hood front height in alignment with the car (per eyeballing bead with straightedge). Hood points left. Trimming right rear corner to sneak up on center. Bends on either side of front center do not match, making the shell sit way left. Working on it. Mike now says these fenders are 28-9.  That ship sailed, buddy!

[idrivejunk]

Footloose did a bang-up job on hood gaps for the fastback. Its a fiberglass hood.

[idrivejunk]

[idrivejunk]

The radiator hole is crooked in the stamping. The center of the hood rear / cowl front gap needs to be pushed up but it is right over the fuel rail. Todays accomplishment was straight side beads with upright grille, centered. Trimming of hood rear edge was done to point it straight ahead, and some re-arching at the front to follow the grill more flush. Hood comes double layered at front and rear edges with spotwelded strips and I believe the whole thing is cold rolled 16 gauge.












Good, clean fun.

[idrivejunk]

Unscrewed the firewall, took it out, used a friction jack to squeeze the back of the hood. Didn't take much to bring the middle up just right-



Mike had a stare and didn't say a word. Thats probably good. He could move the engine and trans back four fingers as far as I am concerned. Limiting factor is gas pedal location.







Saw the horn and old headlights today. Wondered if the S/C air intake could look sorta like a dual horn.

Made another strip to extend the rear hood seal bed and connect firewall and cowl, and to retain the corrected shape. Reshaped the existing forward facing flange to match, tacked it all in.





Made stiffer grille shell mockup brackets-



Still wide at the left rear hood corner, I'll add there or trim more the rest of the way across. This area on the right side needs a bit of recontouring.



Took a couple minutes to play with the gas flap-



Hope you guys have all recovered fully from the Nats. Playing for an empty house here. KB, heres another one. Probably much easier to catch than WZ's Junk will be. 460 in 70s F250, long cab and with swap to some gigantic trans that requires crossmember area mods to fit and clear.

[kb426]

We're here, Matt. We were taught to be quiet during class.

[idrivejunk]

Well I've got no class. And I've got no principals. I can't even thinkofaword that rhymes    School's out for ever!

Seems remedial as a nut on a string but heres how I marked the back of the hood for trimming in the most accurate way I know of:

Bridge uneven gap with 3/4" tape, burnish with finger-



1/4" tape follows the cowl edge-



Snap knife and flexible straightedge, in this case a scrap with sheared edge... cutting at the hood side of the green tape-



Peel and spray with contrasting brand of engine color-



Peel and trim. Marking close to an edge sucks. I can't see scribed lines well enough.  



It can be tough to get a sufficiently precse mark when the line hops on and off an edge. This is just one way. I removed the hood to trim it. It might need another go, we'll see.