Ok, the cat is out of the bag!!!
- Thread starter donsrods
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Gastrick
One of the Dirty Dozen!
Very nice Don. We used one of those Kugel 90 degree master cylinder mounts in my brother's 55 Chevy. It's a quality product. The rpu is looking awesome.
donsrods
Well-known member
Thanks guys. Yep, the master cylinder setup is pretty easy to install and a nice piece. That shifter handle is a new one from Gennie, the "Commander". A little over the top, but I like it too.
Don
Don
Gastrick
One of the Dirty Dozen!
I had seen that new shift lever from Gennie. I was trying to talk my brother into one because he has a gas pedal that matches it pretty closely.
donsrods
Well-known member
We got a lot more done on Dan's car this weekend, even though the power went out in a bad storm and we lost 5 hours on Saturday. 
Our focus right now is finishing up the driveshaft tunnel and transmission hump.
First thing we did was bend up some 22 gauge sheetmetal for the driveshaft tunnel, which is going to be bolted into the car instead of welded. Dan wants to put lots of button head allen screws in the interior to simulate rivets. He liked what Gastrick did with his '32 interior, and is going to do his something like it. He is going to have no upholstery, just some mats on the floor and the upholstered bomber seats.
After we got the tunnel done, Dan started forming the transmission hump with 3/16 round rod. It will define the final shape and give him a strong place to weld the 18 gauge sheet metal skin to. It is pretty time consuming, cutting and fitting each segment of the skeleton, but it has to be straight or the finished hump will be wavy.
He still has some more skeleton to do to tie into the firewall, but once that is done we can start cutting sheetmetal to weld onto the framework. Here is where he left off tonight.
Don
Our focus right now is finishing up the driveshaft tunnel and transmission hump.First thing we did was bend up some 22 gauge sheetmetal for the driveshaft tunnel, which is going to be bolted into the car instead of welded. Dan wants to put lots of button head allen screws in the interior to simulate rivets. He liked what Gastrick did with his '32 interior, and is going to do his something like it. He is going to have no upholstery, just some mats on the floor and the upholstered bomber seats.
After we got the tunnel done, Dan started forming the transmission hump with 3/16 round rod. It will define the final shape and give him a strong place to weld the 18 gauge sheet metal skin to. It is pretty time consuming, cutting and fitting each segment of the skeleton, but it has to be straight or the finished hump will be wavy.
He still has some more skeleton to do to tie into the firewall, but once that is done we can start cutting sheetmetal to weld onto the framework. Here is where he left off tonight.
Don
Boltbreaker
Well-known member
Don,
Thanks for the thread!
I have a 1924 T roadster pickup cab that needs to be lengthened and rebuilt and this thread has given me some good ideas. I am trying like hell to finish the 39 truck before starting the 24 T, but the brain wont shut off. The extra voices in my head keep saying "whats another project, whats another project?"
Brian
Thanks for the thread!
I have a 1924 T roadster pickup cab that needs to be lengthened and rebuilt and this thread has given me some good ideas. I am trying like hell to finish the 39 truck before starting the 24 T, but the brain wont shut off. The extra voices in my head keep saying "whats another project, whats another project?"
Brian
donsrods
Well-known member
Yep Paul, we would have preferred to bend up some sheet metal with a slip roll or English wheel, but don't have one. Also, this tunnel is so big and an odd shape I'm not sure how we would have done it. This was the only way we could figure out..........really time consuming, but a means to an end. When it is all welded up and ground smooth we are going to skim a coat of filler all over it and sand that smooth since it is going to be painted, not carpeted. He thought about going to Harbor Freight and picking up an English wheel, but it would take a while to learn how to use it, and also would waste some sheet metal during the learning process.
Brian, don't feel like the Lone Ranger..........every one of us on here do the same thing, start one or more projects before another one is done. And then there is Tripper....................
Don
Brian, don't feel like the Lone Ranger..........every one of us on here do the same thing, start one or more projects before another one is done. And then there is Tripper....................
Don
Boltbreaker
Well-known member
Don, Whats Tripper? or should this newby not ask?
dmw56
Busted and Rusted on Route 66
Boltbreaker
Well-known member
10-4. Today is my first day on the site.
donsrods
Well-known member
Yeah, and also he has a slight "weakness" when it comes to collecting cars. You know those 40 acre tracts you see with cars filling every square foot? That's our Tripper!!
Don
You know those 40 acre tracts you see with cars filling every square foot? That's our Tripper!! Don
donsrods
Well-known member
Welcome. You will love it here, lots of nice people with a very laid back, friendly attitude.
Don
donsrods
Well-known member
It's been a little bit since I've done any updates on Dans car, mainly because all the stuff we have been doing isn't really post-worthy...........just those little jobs that are a pain, but need to be done.
One thing we have to complete soon is getting the steering box mounted. He is using a Flaming River reversed Corvair box, just like his Brother and I are using in our T's. It is about all he has room for with the 455 Olds taking up so much space, but they work well and are fairly compact. Problem is, we can't mount the steering box until we get the steering column installed. Otherwise we have no way of knowing what angle and all to mount the box at. So, we have been working on putting in the steering column.
Ford simply bolts their column to the bottom of the dash, but that wasn't going to work for us because Dan is only going to run a steering shaft with no outer tube, pretty much like I have my T done. Plus, he is going to have a U joint at the bottom, so the shaft has to be supported not only at the top but at the firewall too, so it won't flop around when turning the wheel. We kicked around a bunch of ways to do it, including running a piece of 1 x 1 box tubing around the bottom edge of the '32 dashboard. But yesterday at lunch Dan came up with something else, and it made more sense.
The pictures below will show what we did. Essentially, we made two side support brackets out of 2 inch channel and bolted them between the door jam and the firewall. Then we made up a crosstube from 1.25 round tubing and tied the master cylinder bracket off of that. Now we had a strong spot to mount the top of the steering shaft, so we built a bracket with an adjustable heim end at the top, and a flanged bearing at the bottom, bolted to the firewall. The steering shaft can't wobble at all mounted like this.
We made the whole assembly bolt in, and welded nuts to the backside of everything so we won't have to fumble around trying to install nuts and washers under a tight dash...........simply put a bolt in and tighten it down. It takes a little more time to do it that way, but so much easier when assembly time comes. The reason we wanted it all to bolt in was so we have nothing in the way when we paint inside the car.
Here are some pictures of what we got done this weekend.
Don
One thing we have to complete soon is getting the steering box mounted. He is using a Flaming River reversed Corvair box, just like his Brother and I are using in our T's. It is about all he has room for with the 455 Olds taking up so much space, but they work well and are fairly compact. Problem is, we can't mount the steering box until we get the steering column installed. Otherwise we have no way of knowing what angle and all to mount the box at. So, we have been working on putting in the steering column.
Ford simply bolts their column to the bottom of the dash, but that wasn't going to work for us because Dan is only going to run a steering shaft with no outer tube, pretty much like I have my T done. Plus, he is going to have a U joint at the bottom, so the shaft has to be supported not only at the top but at the firewall too, so it won't flop around when turning the wheel. We kicked around a bunch of ways to do it, including running a piece of 1 x 1 box tubing around the bottom edge of the '32 dashboard. But yesterday at lunch Dan came up with something else, and it made more sense.
The pictures below will show what we did. Essentially, we made two side support brackets out of 2 inch channel and bolted them between the door jam and the firewall. Then we made up a crosstube from 1.25 round tubing and tied the master cylinder bracket off of that. Now we had a strong spot to mount the top of the steering shaft, so we built a bracket with an adjustable heim end at the top, and a flanged bearing at the bottom, bolted to the firewall. The steering shaft can't wobble at all mounted like this.
We made the whole assembly bolt in, and welded nuts to the backside of everything so we won't have to fumble around trying to install nuts and washers under a tight dash...........simply put a bolt in and tighten it down. It takes a little more time to do it that way, but so much easier when assembly time comes. The reason we wanted it all to bolt in was so we have nothing in the way when we paint inside the car.
Here are some pictures of what we got done this weekend.
Don
Dqracer
Well-known member
Looks great..! nice fab work under the dash,, it's always nice to engineer your stuff so you can work on it easily later on..
fuel
Member
Don, that rpu is killer. Ya'll are doing an EXCELLENT job on it. As someone is that is building a truck from the ground up, I know how long it takes to do something the right way. There is a lot of things on my project that took a lot of time to do and I still had to rush because I have a specific deadline that is getting closer and closer. MAJOR, MAJOR KUDOS to you and your sons. Now, one quick question; Will you adopt me?
donsrods
Well-known member
Thanks guys. Sure Fuel, what's one more dependent either way!!
Paul, how about some pictures of how yours is coming? Bet you're getting excited.
This weekend we made MAJOR PROGRESS!! We stayed all night Saturday night (wrapped up around 6 AM Sunday) and worked last night until about 3 AM. Dan and I are beat, but it is a good tired because we got a whole lot done on his car.
The one thing we have been avoiding is that we had to shorten his frame 3 3/8 inches because the Brookville body is that much shorter than his old body. It really was tough to cut a brand new, done frame in half , but it had to be done. So after taking tons of measurements we whacked it in half with a sawzall welded it back together. It sounds simple, but it took us probably 25 hours to do it from start to finish because we had to drag the jig back out and keep flipping the frame over and over so Dan could get a good weld bead on all the surfaces.
It came out great, and once we slipped the body and bed on the gaps are exactly what we wanted. Surprisingly, it looks way shorter now than it did. Now that this is done we can start boxing the frame and mounting the steering box. Here are some pictures I took last night as it was going together.
Don
Here is after we cut it in half............
After we got the two halves trimmed and clamped up on the jig for welding.
This thing is getting too heavy for two people to lift, but our gantry crane really came in handy..........
And here are two shots with the body and bed in their final resting places.
Paul, how about some pictures of how yours is coming? Bet you're getting excited.
This weekend we made MAJOR PROGRESS!! We stayed all night Saturday night (wrapped up around 6 AM Sunday) and worked last night until about 3 AM. Dan and I are beat, but it is a good tired because we got a whole lot done on his car.
The one thing we have been avoiding is that we had to shorten his frame 3 3/8 inches because the Brookville body is that much shorter than his old body. It really was tough to cut a brand new, done frame in half , but it had to be done. So after taking tons of measurements we whacked it in half with a sawzall welded it back together. It sounds simple, but it took us probably 25 hours to do it from start to finish because we had to drag the jig back out and keep flipping the frame over and over so Dan could get a good weld bead on all the surfaces.
It came out great, and once we slipped the body and bed on the gaps are exactly what we wanted. Surprisingly, it looks way shorter now than it did. Now that this is done we can start boxing the frame and mounting the steering box. Here are some pictures I took last night as it was going together.
Don
Here is after we cut it in half............
After we got the two halves trimmed and clamped up on the jig for welding.
This thing is getting too heavy for two people to lift, but our gantry crane really came in handy..........
And here are two shots with the body and bed in their final resting places.
Gastrick
One of the Dirty Dozen!
That frame shortening is one of those tedious, time consuming projects that no one realizes once the car is finished. It sure makes for some nice proportions though. You guys are building a fantastic piece of machinery. Can't wait to see it.
donsrods
Well-known member
Thanks Bill. It did take us longer than we thought, but the welding is the quickest part. All the measuring, cutting, and grinding is what really consumes so much of it. Plus, this thing is getting HEAVY!! We flipped it over so many times I thought I was ready for the Olympic weight lifting team.
Oh, by the way Bill. I took a cue from your Deuce interior for my Dodge truck. I built the bellhousing portion of the transmission hump the other night and riveted it all together. But I didn't go to the great lengths you did, I'm not that patient or talented, I used pop rivets. How you did all of those real rivets is way beyond me, but it sure looks nice in your car. I'm going to rivet in all the interior panels too.
Here is my little project.
Don
We flipped it over so many times I thought I was ready for the Olympic weight lifting team. Oh, by the way Bill. I took a cue from your Deuce interior for my Dodge truck. I built the bellhousing portion of the transmission hump the other night and riveted it all together. But I didn't go to the great lengths you did, I'm not that patient or talented, I used pop rivets.
How you did all of those real rivets is way beyond me, but it sure looks nice in your car. I'm going to rivet in all the interior panels too.Here is my little project.
Don
