The Roofus Special

[Flipper]

Its been a while since I updated this thread.  Time for another copy/paste session...

All of that tropical moisture pumped in by the former hurricane made it difficult to get interested in doing anything in the shop.  I did get the outdoor pics though.

[Flipper]

I stripped it down (body panels off and engine and trans removed) and rolled it on its side so I could weld up the bottom seams.




I love the fish shape that the body has



After I was done welding, I put the motor back.



I really need to figure out floor supports.  It needs to connect the front inner frame to the rear inner frame AND put some structure under the area that I will stand on when I step into the car (in front of the seat).

[Flipper]

I'm currently thinking about trying the Miller IFS again, but with more of a dipped/dropped look.  ....almost if the real miller arms were turned upside down.  The upper arm would mount under the top frame rail.

[Flipper]

Here is where I was on the front suspension.  I-beam lower control arm parallel to the ground, transverse leaf spring just above that, and jag spindles.

The original plan when I started this build was somewhat parallel upper arm that attaches to the top of the frame rail.

I'm not really feeling it.  It takes away from the swoop.
Attaching to the side of the frame helps a little.

The "way out there" alternative is the miller-ish, air-foil idea.  Make a swoopy tube a-arm and shroud it in sheetmetal.  The idea is to go under/around the frame rail with the upper arm.  mounting point would be on the back side of the frame rail, up high.  .....squint real hard and you might see it.

[Flipper]

The mock-up pieces are just there to suggest ideas for the upper arms profile.  Real arms will have triangulation.
The curved tube idea is based on this cars suspension.  The air foil "axle" is really the upper control arm.


My version would be more of a "dropped axle" and would be made of steel instead of cast aluminum.
This car has the same style suspension on both ends (IFS, IRS and FWD in 1935!)

[Flipper]

I started the morning by swapping in the new balljoints.





gotta cut the bolts down.



supporting the weight under the spindle shows what the extra leverage does to the spring rate.  I gotta add some leaves back to the pack.  The tire is going to be even farther outboard.



I shimmed the ride height back up and bolted the hub on to get a more realistic picture of the a-arm's environment

[Flipper]

I was having a hard time explaining to dad what I wanted to do, so I broke out the posterboard.





it needs a ball joint pocket




slimmer pocket , more front to back shape

[Flipper]

And pictures of my future tail lights (5" tractor headlights?).  Paint the inside of the lens candy red and load it up with leds from a tractor-trailer tail light.

[Flipper]

I couldn't make myself pull the trigger on an arm design yesterday.  The drastic sweep up to connect to the ball joint (with room for the spindle to rotate) is what bothers me.  

I'm thinking that raising the car a couple of inches would greatly simplify what is required from the upper arm.  I'm going to put all of the leaves in the spring and see if that raises it up past where it was supposed to sit....if not, that is a whole new problem.

I guess there is a reason most folks play "in the box".

[Flipper]

Scew it.  I'l just use bailing wire!


I put the spring pack back to what I thought was stock only to find one more leaf afterwards (the one just above the clamps)


It did raise it up.


...still not sure what the upper arm is going to look like.

[Flipper]

...looking back at this picture, I don't think the I-beam upper arms would be all that much of a distraction.

[Flipper]

Well, I got a chance to go play this weekend.

I dug into a pile and pulled out some 1952 Mercedes front suspension pieces.  They don't really work as is, but what else is new.



The cross shaft and spring bucket mount is what is interesting to me.










My a-arm kit...some assembly required.


Yes the wrench is part of the plan







Playing with parts














It should look something like this.  ball joint bolts will be underneath




This is where I quit for the day.


Oh yeah, I might have also found the dash for the car.  Honda lawn mower foot rests.



Driver side of dash


Passenger side

[Flipper]

I realized I forgot to explain how cool the vintage mercedes pieces are and what the whole plan is... coppied from another board...

Can you use those holes in the pivot shaft to mount the shaft like a GM part, so you can shim for caster / camber adjustments?

That is the beauty of using the Mercedes pieces.  The pivot bushings are threaded in such a way that the arm can be moved front to back along the shaft.



The whole a-arm mount will be mounted on a plate that will bolt to the side of the frame and will be shimmable for camber changes.  

I have a lot more welding and grinding to go to make it look presentable, but I think I finally found something that has that 30's high tech vibe that I was searching for....

[Flipper]

Before I got too carried away, I decided to mark up the second batch of a-arm parts


I started on the angled piece this morning




figure out where to trim


trim


add some back?


transfer new cut lines


weld


grind


admire


grind some more (first arm)


grind some more (get rid of open end wrench shape...oh yeah, I welded on the corner pieces too)






start on the next one...

[jaybee]

Ingenious!