The Roofus Special

GPster · January 05, 2010, 10:09:30 AM

Quote from: "Flipper"I went looking through my early pics....when I did my original mock-up. My feet were completely behind the bell housing. Now they are beside the bell housing.I lost a lot of foot room with the engine set back.

Looks like I need to try sliding the engine way the hell forward again and see how things look.

Is it necessary to centerline the engine? Looking at the pictures it seems that the pinion of the rear end may be off-center to your passenger side so the universal joints won't be in-line anyway (which is good so that there is some movement of the joint for lubrication). With the motor set to the passenger side it might give you some room for a gas pedal and the passenger doesn't have to move their feet anyway. On the early Morgan Plus 3 and I think in some of the Indy cars while they were still running with an on-board mechanic/oiler the passenger's back rest was further back than the driver's. That way the cockpit's width could be narrower the width of the driver's butt and the width of the passengers legs. Plus the first thing in the driver's perrifferal vision to his right was the road not the passenger. GPster

UGLY OLDS · January 05, 2010, 09:30:24 PM

Hmmmmm.........

:!: :!: Smaller Shoes :!:

);b( :-}

Bob........

wayne petty · January 05, 2010, 11:34:27 PM

just a thought... then i will be quiet...

is the motor really going to sit above the frame rails ... most of the cars you have shown.. have the crank shaft center line close or just below the top of the frame rail... they use taller frame rails than you have one the work bench..

but i was looking at the pictures ... most have the bottom of the oil pans stick out below the frame rails..

i do realize that you are still mocking up... moving things around..

this is just a thought..

one thing.. take care of your self.. the latest on the colds and flu is to stay resting until you are completely well...

GPster · January 06, 2010, 08:08:06 AM

Just checking. I made a reply yesterday and it's vanished. I remember seeing my name as the last comment to this subject but today it's gone. Have I done something to make somebody mad? GPster

GPster · January 06, 2010, 08:14:28 AM

Quote from: "GPster"Just checking. I made a reply yesterday and it's vanished. I remember seeing my name as the last comment to this subject but today it's gone. Have I done something to make somebody mad? GPster

False alarm! I had posted a reply and it printed the shoes again so I thought it was the original. I'm getting so I ignor myself too. GPster

Flipper · January 06, 2010, 07:38:34 PM

Quote from: "wayne petty"just a thought... then i will be quiet...

is the motor really going to sit above the frame rails ... most of the cars you have shown.. have the crank shaft center line close or just below the top of the frame rail... they use taller frame rails than you have one the work bench..

but i was looking at the pictures ... most have the bottom of the oil pans stick out below the frame rails..

i do realize that you are still mocking up... moving things around..

this is just a thought..

one thing.. take care of your self.. the latest on the colds and flu is to stay resting until you are completely well...

This car is gonna be low even with tall skinny bias plys. It will probably be right at the scrub line.

One of my goals on this car was for it to be a flat bottomed car....nothing hanging down below the belly pan. ....therefore the motor and trans are up tucked up in the car.

Hopefully it will all come together in the end.

Flipper · March 28, 2010, 07:38:00 PM

Time to get on with beefing up the front so it can handle A-arms being attached. Started making boxing plates for my "front framerails". ......More cop car roll bar kick panels to the rescue.

Flipper · March 28, 2010, 07:38:38 PM

Realized I forgot to go back and trim the front a little more. Did that.

With an a-arm.

Flipper · March 28, 2010, 07:39:22 PM

And the Jag spindles. They look kinda like drop spindles from the factory.

Flipper · March 28, 2010, 07:40:01 PM

Got another outer piece made for the passenger side. Not 100% sure about just having the flat sides between the arch and the firewall. The 6.5" framerail height looks very truck-like. I'm thinking about bead-rolling something in the side or something

Flipper · March 29, 2010, 07:19:05 AM

The tall flat frame is bothering me. What do you guys think about running one exhaust pipe out of each side of the car....through the frame rail. Rear manifold would go out the left hand side. Front one would go under the engine and out the right hand side.

GPster · March 29, 2010, 11:07:26 AM

Quote from: "Flipper"The tall flat frame is bothering me. What do you guys think about running one exhaust pipe out of each side of the car....through the frame rail. Rear manifold would go out the left hand side. Front one would go under the engine and out the right hand side.

I don't know if I read it here or in the feature article in Rod & Custom (?) but Charlie Chops had a unique idea he used when building his Track T . His frame rails have three square corners and the outside bottom corner is rounded. It gives the effect of a rolled belly pan but it's not an extra piece it's actually the frame. It would be a lot of work but there's also the work that you'll be doing to hide what bothers you. If you duplicated the bottom edge of your frame in tubing/pipe and then quartered it you'd have the two pieces you'd need and the diameter of the tubing/pipe (up to twice the frame rail's width) would determine how rolled the edge would appear. Just an idea (actually Charlie's) not a suggestion. GPster

Flipper · April 05, 2010, 07:08:30 PM

This weekend, the width di not seen as bad. I started installing the boxing plates as is.

I really want these things tied to the inner tubes. I am making plug welds to secure the plates near the inner horizontal edges of the tubes.

Drilled holes two inches apart and ground away the paint

Clamped in place to transfer weld spot to the 1.5" tube

Welded

Flipper · April 05, 2010, 07:09:12 PM

The alxe I "remembered" being a model A....isn't. I think it is a 1940 unit

I think the spring will be better for this application anyways. The wider spring will put the load out farther on the a-arms.

Now I need to figure out what the crossmember needs to look like. Anybody have any guesses as to how much this spring will compress in this car? ...jag engine with a bunch of set-back vs. stock 40 ford ....I don't have a clue.

I'm also having trouble deciding on what kind of a front crossmember to build. I'm not sure what would be best.

First idea was a ford style channel that encases the spring.

Second is a t-bucket style that runs a crossmember behind the spring with a perch over the top of the spring.

Spring will be on top of the lower arms ...I couldn't mock that up.

GPster · April 05, 2010, 07:43:39 PM

Maybe a backwards idea on the spring. Put the main leaf back on the '40 front end with the shackles. Flatten the main leaf out so that the shackles are both at about a 45 degree angle and measure from the center of the spring eyes to the ground and measure from the center of the leaf to the ground. The difference between those measurements would tell you about how much arch that spring was designed to operate with. Then if you would add a thickness for the number of leafs you will use to build your spring to handle the weught. I wouldn't think your project will weigh as much as a fendered '40 Ford but if you over figure you can remove leafs and replace them with a stubby spacer leafs to fine tune your suspended height. Sometimes I look at things for a long time and I have to leave it so the answer comes to me. I'm in here typing because I got stumped figuring how to zig-zag a 100' soaker hose to water a 75' garden. GPster