My Dodge Bros coupe!

[Tripper]

Sounds like "The Bear" was a heck of a guy and it was your good fortune to know him. Glad to see you are moving right along on the Dodge.

Bob,
He was quite the character. There was nothing he couldn't do & amazed me constantly. He never really cared much for money but made it at will for fun (he could have made of ton if he wanted to). He was a model maker supreme & used to make these rhino head & shoulders & sell them to rich cats! Made them out of fiberglass, painted them, put in glass eyes, eyelashes... the whole works! I promise you couldn't tell they were man-made.. they looked so real. Made the mold from a real head & shoulders he 'borrowed' from the Houston Museum of Natural Science! He liked guns & for fun had a .50 cal single shot rifle... needless to say... you had to use a tripod to shoot it! Long live The Bear!!!

BoB

 

[Tripper]

Spent the day on the frame. Made some internal gussets, got um cut out, welded in & buttoned it up, dropped the level on it & it was spot on!

BoB

 

[Old Iron]

Good progress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Torchie]

Frame is looking great. [cl
From the picture it looks like your friends rifle is a Flintlock. I had a few of those my self. The largest bore being a .64 Cal and the smallest being .40 cal which I used for competition shooting.
I would have liked to have known your friend Bear.
Torchie

 

[Tripper]

Got a matching pair... now on to the front Z!

Frame is looking great. [cl
From the picture it looks like your friends rifle is a Flintlock. I had a few of those my self. The largest bore being a .64 Cal and the smallest being .40 cal which I used for competition shooting.
I would have liked to have known your friend Bear.
Torchie

Torchie... he had some kool stuff for sure!

 

[Torchie]

[cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[Tripper]

Rails finally done... now to get the front & rear crossmembers in! [[[

BoB

 

[Old Iron]

[cl
[P[P[P

 

[bob w]

A good, solid foundation. Build on, tripper.

 

[Tripper]

Fixing to install the front crossmember pipe for my suicide front end but not the best at plasma cutting so I made a lil jig to test my abilities. Using spare steel before I move on to the real thing. Will make a better jig too. After I changed my consumables... my 2nd try was much better. [[[

BoB

 

[akatao]

that's a learned talent looks like your picking it up pretty good!

 

[Tripper]

I made a lil jig for cutting holes for the front cross member &... it took a while. On a small circle... just a lil bit of error ain't gonna get it. Got pretty frustrating... too big... then too small... then too big. I wanted a really tight fit so after foolin' with it for a whole day... I finally got er done. Did this testing on some old 2x4 stock I had layin' around... now on to the real thing! [[[

BoB

 

[Tripper]

Got the front cross member set to install the schedule 40 pipe! Hope to have a roller soon!!! [[[

BoB

 

[Torchie]

Good job on the plasma cutter holes.[cl [cl [cl
About the only thing I use mine for is when I am making garden art. And I free hand all of that.
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[bob w]

It's going to be a very strong and attractive front mount. Nice work, Trip.

 

[kenny c]

Lookin good. One trick I use for cutting with the plasma cutter is to make a pattern from masonite that is 3/16 of an inch bigger or smaller than the piece I'm cutting out depending on whether I'm cutting inside or outside the pattern. then I cut with the drag tip against the pattern. You plasma cutter may have a different offset. The patterns don't last forever but you can get quite a few uses out of them. Another thing I do is save old bearing races and other round thinds that the tip of the plasma cutter fits against for cutting circles, they also work well with the oxy/acetylene tourch too.

 

[Skip]

Lookin good. One trick I use for cutting with the plasma cutter is to make a pattern from masonite that is 3/16 of an inch bigger or smaller than the piece I'm cutting out depending on whether I'm cutting inside or outside the pattern. then I cut with the drag tip against the pattern. You plasma cutter may have a different offset. The patterns don't last forever but you can get quite a few uses out of them. Another thing I do is save old bearing races and other round thinds that the tip of the plasma cutter fits against for cutting circles, they also work well with the oxy/acetylene tourch too.

I like the torch trick where you make a clamp on pointy attachment to use as the center for cutting the arc. I don't even know where mine is any more. Easy to make. Very accurate.

 

[kenny c]

You can also get one with a magnet for the center. I haven't got one yet or tried one but its on my list.

 

[Tripper]

Fixing to square the frame up & getting the cross members set.

You can also get one with a magnet for the center. I haven't got one yet or tried one but its on my list.

I saw those but made mine with a piece of scrap bar stock, a nut, bolt & a couple washers... I'm cheap! [ddd

BoB

 

[Tripper]

Got my frame set up the way I wanted it & it was time to see if it was square so I drilled a small hole in the front & the rear of each side & put in a pop rivet without popping it all the way to use for measuring. After measuring... only 1/16 off... good enought for me. Couldn't believe it! Now on to sandblasting the front & rear cross members & welding them in! [[[

BoB