F-2 Stang

The first weld is a piece of cake.

After that, a nightmare. Usually these are built so they would lay flat on the table. These have compound angle, each tube goes back and down with both angles changing at each tube. I asked a pipe fitter friend how to figure it out, but his answer required math and drawing. So, I cut a little, marked a little, ground a little and repeated about 20 times per tube until finally each tube fit. What a chore er, I mean challenge.

Since I already had a huge hole in the roof, I decided to recontour the high forehead this series of Fords have.

To get the flatter profile the edge of the opening has to be shrunk. Photos 1 &2 show a section that is the original shape and a section that has been shaped.

To do the shrinking, an area about 1/2" wide by 1" is heater to red - the metal puckers up. I gently push/tap the pucker down (off dolly) which thickens the metal and shrinks that area. I don't quench any hot work sheet metal, I just move to another spot and do it again.

I rolled some 3/4 box tube and made a buck for the lid.

having an idea and being able to execute are two different things , dude , you have skills !-- Love it [cl[cl

All along I had been picturing a sunroof or something other than a closed in roof. Just before Christmas I found slidingragtops.com (not sure how the link works, so this might become a link or not). It looks like the a'50's VW sunroof. When closed I think it looks like a '20 & '30 canvas insert.

Anyhow, it doesn't fit in the budget. But the wife was struggling with what to get me for Christmas and was happy to have a solution. If I got it for Chrismas it doesn't count in the build budget, right?

By the way, Mulligans don't count either, right? If you buy it, but don't use it it doesn't count.

The photos show the buck modified for the ragtop frame. My next project will be to fill in the gaps and make the ragtop look like is is supposed to be there.

Gregster said:

having an idea and being able to execute are two different things , dude , you have skills !-- Love it [cl[cl

Click to expand...

Thanks.

I think that is what this site is about. I see lots of great ideas and great execution here. Most of the guys are working with a minumum of tools and space and often, not a lot of experience. But they actually do great stuff and finish their rides.

Really cool build.

How are you going to do the firewall sheetmetal?

Oh yeah, how do the fish hook looking clamps that you use actually work?

All the panels in the floor, trans tunnel, bed and firewall will be mounted with 3/4 x 3/4 1/8 angle that is reshaped as shown in the photos. I have been calling these panel mounts.

The first photo shows the finished result of the driver's floor. Photo 2 & 3 show the drawing of the part and dies and the test sample of the panel mounts. Photo 4 dies in the hammer. Photo 5 the 75 pound air hammer.

The panel mounts will be continous in each opening and rosette welded to the tube frame. Holes for the rosette welds are punched before the forming is done; about 1 1/4" apart. Seam sealer will keep water out of the joint.

The firewall will be 14 ga. steel welded to the panel mount. All the rest of the panels will be aluminum. 10-32 button head screws will attach the alumimum to the brackets.

By "fish hook clamps" I think you mean the dogs that are used on the platen table. They are 1" diameter and hold things down to the table with extreme force. They are easy to use - a big hammer hitting down sets them. Hitting sideways releases them. They are a little touchy on position, they work best at 45 degrees to the hole, have a height limit off the table and vibration can loosen them unexpectedly. Very handy, as you can see I use them a lot.

Very educational.. Thanks for all the work--showing us 'how to'. Super skills...

I've always admired the Locost Lotus where they build with 1" sq tube with lots of triangulation. The round tube chassis adds alot of stiffness to their approach. It looks like you'll have a rat that handles like a Sportscar!!

You'd shock the SCCA-- ..

PA41

PA41 said:

Very educational.. Thanks for all the work--showing us 'how to'. Super skills...

I've always admired the Locost Lotus where they build with 1" sq tube with lots of triangulation. The round tube chassis adds alot of stiffness to their approach. It looks like you'll have a rat that handles like a Sportscar!!

You'd shock the SCCA-- ..

PA41

Click to expand...

Thanks, very much. I have been documenting this as I go mostly so I can remember what I did and how I did it. I'm glad to share it if folks want to see it.

I like the Lotus 7, too and have thought about building one a few times. But when I first saw the Aerial Atom, that's what I wanted to build. A little practicality and it morphed into a Rat.

Autocross has been in the back of my mind, but I'll probably never get around to it.

(In my best little kids voice)"Can I come to your house and plaaay"!!!
Great work!! Great tools!!
Your scaring me a little on your Lakers, I wanted to build my own and have them pointing down too, but if you had trouble I may need to rethink my approach.LOL

sneakysnake said:

(In my best little kids voice)"Can I come to your house and plaaay"!!!
Great work!! Great tools!!
Your scaring me a little on your Lakers, I wanted to build my own and have them pointing down too, but if you had trouble I may need to rethink my approach.LOL

Click to expand...

Thanks.

Yeah, I do have tools. I spent the last 12 years using them to build custom iron work for expensive houses. Now, no one is paying me so I decided to use them on my own stuff (it's a lot more fun).

Most Lakers are not as hard to build as I made them. Most of my problem was that they had to clear the upper frame rail, which is only a couple inches below the exhaust ports. They had to go out, then turn down. If you can keep the tubes going straight into the megaphones they're just evenly spaced, round holes - pretty easy.

Roll Pan

Here are a couple photos of what I worked on this week.

The ends of the roll pan taper down like the original '48 rear bed support.

The plate will be an inch or so further in and will be supported from behind, so it looks like it is floating in the opening.

Gas pedal

As usual, I'm always trying to use parts from the Mustang or the '48 whenever possible. It took about 1/2 an hour to convince myself that the Mustang gas pedal would not work. But then I couldn't visualize what was needed. I decided to do something, so I made a quick and dirty mockup of the pedal and a bracket I could clamp in place. Photo 1 Mustang and mockup

With the mockup in place I could see I needed a 5" offset to line up with the carb. A bellcrank was needed. I have a drawer full of bushings. Found a SS pin, some shaft collars, and some DOM. Photo 2. Photo 3 assembled. The shaft collars will allow me to set the angle of the pedal and the cable arm to get the proper travel.

Photo 1 clamped in place. It needs to move to the right. How did I miss the measurement by 1 1/2"? Good thing it was just tack welded together.

Photo 2 a little modification; now it's right.

Photo 3 Front view. The cable arm lines up with the engine bracket. There is barely enough room to get full travel before hitting the brake booster.

This is the baddest assest build I've seen in a long time. I hope I can see this thing in person when it's done. You should have your own custom shop.

The brake booster really tightens things up . It just looks so much better hidden . I wished I had used a swing pedal instead of a floor mount , you give up so much floor space . Very nice work

Actually, I do have a custom shop, its just that it is usually used to build custom gates and railings. The more tools one has the less skills are needed. It seems like everyday I find a new build on this site and I'm blown away with the high level of work you guys do in garages and barns with a minimum of tools - that's where the talent is.

I couldn't picture that booster hanging off the firewall and I didn't really have room for it. On this car, under the floor is road - the floor is at the bottom of the frame. so that seemed like the only reasonable solution.

Thanks for the kind works.

Parking brake

I have been hung up on the Parking brake for a couple months. I keep thinking I should be able just bolt in this Mustang assembly, but it never works out. It either takes up space I want for something else or the cables don't line up. This week I finally decided I had to design one that would work.

parking brake

Here's what I came up with.

I started by grinding out the rivets on the Mustang assembly and getting the Pawl and bracket with the teeth.

I forged the main lever from 3/8 x 1 1/4. The handle section is about 5/8 round, the lower section is 3/8 x 3/4. The V at the bottom was welded on.

The 3/16 link was made from a 7018 stick welding rod. Just use a hammer to knock off the flux and clean it up on the buffer. There is a compression spring at the top of this rod.

The support bracket for the right end of the shaft is not shown.

Here's some construction details on a few pieces of the assembly.

Photo 1: actuator lever (end view) needed a little radius to fit the hand was form in a swedge block (Photo 2) with a low tech tool.

The spring keeper is 1/8" SS. I ground a full radius on the edge of piece of 3/8 stock, put it in the vise and with a little heat formed it into a U. I cut the shape on the band saw with a 3/8 spacer in the U.