The Roofus Special

Flipper · June 26, 2009, 04:14:10 PM

Thought about it a while.... I am going to continue to work on the track nose. The car needs to shrink a little though to pull it all off.

The cowl will need to be pinched a little to get the lines to work out right (who really needs THAT much foot room anyways?). The nose is gonna get a little smaller and a little lower at the front. Those pretty cam covers are actually going to poke through the hood a little at the front. The door openings are also gonna get smaller (shorter front to back and shallower).

I'm going to try and pack everything into a 100" wheelbase.

The Whippet radiator and MG gauges will go towards dad's T rebuild.

Flipper · June 30, 2009, 10:07:00 PM

I spent a couple of frustrating days working on roofus. The heat and humidity in Memphis was aweful.

I had a heck of a time trying to make the transition from the boat tail to the track nose.

I started trying to mock up the original roof pieces.

Kinda OK, but I wasn't really feeling it.

On to plan B.

Flipper · June 30, 2009, 10:07:54 PM

Another ROOF ! ...and a jaguar roof to boot! A 1979 Jaguar XJS to be specific.

Cut down the middle like I did the tail.

Flipper · June 30, 2009, 10:08:29 PM

Time to cut. And bend up some new angles.

It looks like crap...too square. Does not flow with the rest of the car.

It fits the curve front to back pretty well though.

On to plan C

Flipper · June 30, 2009, 10:09:02 PM

The cowl top need a bigger radius. Time to make more angle pieces.

I dropped the roof panel down. Instead of trying to make the XJS roof make the whole bend, I decided to only make it do part of the bend. I positioned it down lower on the car.

Flipper · June 30, 2009, 10:09:43 PM

Not 100% sure on the peaks. The flat top dash was definetly wrong though.

The "hood" will butt up to the cowl. Curves actuallly match up pretty good.

(3 of the four firetruck are visible in this pic)

Cowl top will be filled in with cadillac door sheetmetal.

Flipper · July 01, 2009, 07:28:04 AM

In the pics, the red panel looks really flat. In real life, it has a decent amount of shape and follows the curve of the framework fairly well.

On the subject of curves, do you guys think that the hood and cowl should be peaked, curved, or flat down the center?

I'm kinda up in the air over this one.

enjenjo · July 01, 2009, 09:34:03 AM

Most of the old race cars I have been around have a lot of curve in the hood and cowl top. And a bit of flare in the cowl where it reaches the cockpit.

GPster · July 01, 2009, 10:33:23 AM

Quote from: "enjenjo"Most of the old race cars I have been around have a lot of curve in the hood and cowl top. And a bit of flare in the cowl where it reaches the cockpit.

And I've seen that kind of shape as something on the inside of a bend. Maybe looking at those bends as coming from that Cadillac hood from the underside. Also if you were to find a formed elbow in a big piece of thin wall pipe (like something like an air duct off a large piece of equipment) that was say 6" diameter you could 1/4 the bend along it's length and a piece of it wwould give you that flared-out look up the sides and around the top of the cowl. GPster

Flipper · July 01, 2009, 11:56:42 AM

Quote from: "enjenjo"Most of the old race cars I have been around have a lot of curve in the hood and cowl top. And a bit of flare in the cowl where it reaches the cockpit.

My original mock-up had a flared cockpit. The problem is that it made the dash too big and appeared that it was going to have horrible visibility. I think it is all related to having a wide cowl (for foot room)....when I flare out away from the cowl, it gets really big relative to seating position (narrower).

I may need to narrow the frame at the firewall. Right now, it is 43 inches wide (the body gets wider as it comes back to a max of 47 inches or so).

tompeters · July 01, 2009, 06:05:34 PM

looks like your getting pretty good with that shrinker/stretcher. i like the side panel so far, maybe have it open like an old hood . how wide and tall is the engine, how low in the frame will it sit? maybe mock up the engine and run some tape from cowl to a point up front to see what kind of room you need .looking forward.

Flipper · July 02, 2009, 11:44:31 AM

Here are a couple more pics that show the overall shape of the body a little better.

I gotta spend a day cleaning up, the shop looks BAD in pics.

Flipper · July 02, 2009, 11:53:09 AM

Quote from: "tompeters"looks like your getting pretty good with that shrinker/stretcher. i like the side panel so far, maybe have it open like an old hood . how wide and tall is the engine, how low in the frame will it sit? maybe mock up the engine and run some tape from cowl to a point up front to see what kind of room you need .looking forward.

Yep, I have gotten lots of shrinker/stretcher time in. I didn't take pics of the attempt at using door skins for the cowl sides.

The engine is tall and long. The car will be flat bottomed with the engine inside the envelope.

The engine will be moved rearward from the original mock up pics. About six inches of the motor will be recessed into the firewall. The footwells will stay the same length...feet will be next to the motor.

I do need to get it off of the table and look at it from a normal point of view.

tompeters · July 04, 2009, 03:22:10 PM

i agree about cleaning up, you will find the rest of your c-clamps

. i would think maybe a little peak would look good. any louvers anywhere?keep it up. im taking pictures of my falcon suspension but have them all scrambled in with my grandaughter and such. i will post some when i get farther along. looking forward

Flipper · July 05, 2009, 12:42:19 PM

All of the sudden, I think rounded cowl and hood tops may be the way to go.

I don't know exactly what this car is, but I love it.