looking to build a rat rod for the race track

[old doc gully]

Howdy gents

I've had a long running dream of building a canyon carving / track day car out of an old rusty hunk of american iron for many years. except i want it to be on fully modernized suspension - as much of a driving toy and scalpel of a corner carver as i can get.

i had decided a 240Z was about as close as i could get to combining those in stock form. i found a solid one with a beautifully patina'd maroon color so thats what i built, hopped up all the brakes and suspension and have been driving teh hell out of since.

but i really just cant fend off my love for pre-war open fender hot rods. i have to have one in my life. and i want to drive it. hard. a factory five 33 hot rod was actually my original plan before i settled on the 240Z but id really rather stick with real steel and i think it will be a lot cheaper that way. i plan to use a C4 or C5 corvette donor for as much as possible and a 1933-1940ish coupe body on it. im also semi considering buying a vintage modified circle track car and making it street legal, but i think its going to be hard to get it to a 'daily drivable' level of refinement (aka something the wife wouldnt mind taking out on date night), so right now the plan is to use a corvette donor as a base.

TL;DR --- SO: a lot of what im looking at now - and what brings me here - is what body to use. i love (like all of us) 32-34 coupes, but the prices are a bit excessive given how many alternatives would give me 90% of what i like about them. truck cabs are cheap, and i love the look, but just dont have the room in them i need (roll cage + legs full forward of a fixed back seat), which would also be a concern with a 32-34 coupe. though luckily im also only 5'6". what im really interested in is looking into stretched pickup cabs - how does it look? how hard is it? looking to stretch the doors, not just extend the rear of the cab. my next alternative after that is a 35+ coupe, which i wouldnt mind at all, but feel like chopping one of those is going to be just as difficult as stretching a truck cab, and would still be a tight fit so id maybe have to stretch it - like use a 3 window door in a stretched 5 window body? a tudor sedan loses a bit much of the race-vibe im going for but any other ideas or recommendations as far as a body to use that would have more room?

my fabrication skills are growing, but still not up to my sub par mechanic skills . ive got some time as im really just in the planning stage so im mostly trying to get a feel for what im in for as far as modifying the body so i can start practicing and get the metal working tools ill need. ive got a good MIG, an angle grinder and a sawzall which i'm pretty sure will do 99% of it - but fabricating the patch panels for the stretch still seems daunting (metal brake, bead roller...?).

thanks for reading!

 

[skull]

welcome

sounds like a fun project, pics and a build thread area must here[P[P[P

the first 3 pics is the ones l and my friends own, the greenish dirt style circle track 60's style street legal is mine and soon to be a red color, my friends vintage mod and a street legal sprint car so it can be done.

search google for street legal race cars/street legal circle track cars and lot of stuff will appear to drool over[dr

the trucks are not in my area and l don't know a lot about them, but gives ya some ideas.

Later

 

[old doc gully]

thanks skull. at this point im definitely planning on using a corvette as a base and modifying a stock/junkyard steel body. have you seen any stretched pickup cabs? otherwise that "greenish dirt style circle track 60's style street legal" you said was yours looks to be right about what im likely to end up with. did you stretch that (kinda looks like a panel on the roof)? also, whats the wheel base there?

this thread is actually what mostly brought me here as its literally the only thing ive found on stretching hot rods
http://ratrodsrule.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11191

 

[26Troadster]

welcome to rrr, from bama.

 

[old doc gully]

^ nice, my family is all in Alabama (Huntsville). Im originally from Texas, currently living in Ohio, but actually about to move to Norway for a few years - where I'll do my planning and practicing before coming back and building.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Welcome to RRR! A big problem is going to be track width. a Corvette is about 62", where a 30's vehicle is more around 56-58". Add on the wider Vette tires and they'll stick out 4" on either side. But, you can always widen the fenders.

Some people have taken 4 doors and successfully turned them into extended cabs. Seems to work best with the ModelA Fordors and that era stuff. I've also seen a truck made out of a '46 Olds that looked good - they made the cab and bed separate. Seemed to work better than a lot of the unibody or doodlebug attempts.

 

[skull]

thread

1O8 inch wheel base on the green jalopy, she was a four door and we short-end her to fit a dirt car chassis, the link 194OISH street legal race car has all we have done so far, l hope to get her painted some time in the near future.

we named her "MONSTER"

as for sam's statement--what are these fender thingy's you speak of[S

Later

 

[I-R-POPS]

Welcome from New Mexico.
Here's a stretched cab I saw in a parking lot.

 

[old doc gully]

as for sam's statement--what are these fender thingy's you speak of

exactly

Welcome from New Mexico.
Here's a stretched cab I saw in a parking lot.

thank you - all the stretched cabs i see are behind the doors! makes sense as the door has to be a royal pain in the ass... im starting to think i need to just leave that idea alone...


just found this last night, im thinking this is pretty perfect, just hack that tail off across somewhere around the gas filler. like a poor mans 32 coupe haha. even looks good without a chop
http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/plymouth/81138-1938-plymouth-ratrod.html

i tihnk im going to do some photoshops, ill post em here

 

[smallfoot]

Welcome from Flawda!

 

[old doc gully]

quick little PS, exactly to proportions, 37 chevy coupe over a C5 vette frame/chassis... so far the later 35+ coupes are the only things i can think of with enough room to not need a stretch, i could even move it forward quite a bit.

as far as dimensions, width is my biggest concern: of the firewall and at the b-pillars, hard to find those measurements. i know door latch to door latch width on the 37 coupe is about 67"; C5 outer track width is about 73", so i assume the b pillar section is about as wide. so there may need to be some widening... i would totally just bend/pull the metal over if i could get away with it.. might **** with the doors opening/closing though

i know the C5 firewall (outside of A pillar to outside of A pillar) is about 59.5" wide. im sure the coupe firewall narrows from the body but no idea how much - thats likly easier though as i could just make some relief cuts and spread things out

 

[skull]

thread

this info and the car you posted is a great start for a build thread(hint-hint)[
[cl[dr

even if it takes awhile to get started if you link the build thread to your'e posting like l & others have done you can find it at any time and it makes it easier for us "slower" folks to follow.


Later

 

[Bamamav]

Vettes are unit body starting with the 1964 C4's, so no real frame on them. The C4 suspension can be bolted to a steel custom frame though.
Any fat fender would look good with the race car look like you describe, but I feel the narrow fender 30's cars will be too narrow.

Speedway has a stretched A pickup cab in their catalog, in fiberglass of course, but they are pretty pricey.

 

[old doc gully]

this info and the car you posted is a great start for a build thread(hint-hint)[
[cl[dr

haha, duly noted

Vettes are unit body starting with the 1964 C4's, so no real frame on them. The C4 suspension can be bolted to a steel custom frame though.
Any fat fender would look good with the race car look like you describe, but I feel the narrow fender 30's cars will be too narrow.

Speedway has a stretched A pickup cab in their catalog, in fiberglass of course, but they are pretty pricey.

yeah its not a frame in the traditional sense, but its also less of a unibody than most. i could basically hack it down to the 'skateboard' and then put in something in between a 6 point cage and 2 roll bars that would fit inside teh body i put on.

yeah fiberglass bodies are a lot more than i anticipated! thanks for confirming the fat fender idea, im pretty well leaning that way

 

[old doc gully]

so im still likely looking at using a 35+ truck cab for the project but having a hard time planning out fitment based on the taper towards the front. if anybody has a minute id really appreciate knowing the width of the firewall at its widest and/or the dash (inner door hinge to door hinge). i presume theyre all within 1-2 inches... would be enough to get me going anyway

bonus points for recommendation on the widest cabs available of that era

thanks in advance, very much appreciated

 

[sgtpontiac]

Welcome to the RRR....

Lots of idea's flowin....yep build thread... [P

 

[old doc gully]

hahahah [cl

alright alright i get it, i get it!

DONE: BUILD THREAD