Roadster pickup from leftovers.

[donsrods]

Thank you, Preacher. I spent tonight doing more mockups on the car to see how certain things would look. I had a masonite bed that I had built as a test and I put it on to see how it would look. Then I lowered the car down in the back to where it will ultimately ride, and I put on the 1956 Olds hubcaps so that I could determine if I was going to run them or not. After seeing them on the car I think I will keep them, it needs some shiny stuff on it and I have always liked hubcaps on hot rods.

So here are some pictures when I got all that done.

Don

About 5 years ago we packed away the tonneau cover my Son Dan was going to use on his rpu, but that he never used. Tonight I opened up the crate and it looks like I will be able to cut it up and use it as a bed cover on my car to hide all the suspension in the rear. It is punched with 224 louvers, so it would be a shame not to use it.

 

[Toad]

Wow Don, that really looks sharp and love that louvered panel! ! [cl

Toad

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Toad. It was a shame to see that tonneau cover go to waste. Dan spent a lot of time making it and a lot of money having it louvered and for 5 years it has just been sitting in a shipping crate. Besides, I love free stuff. (I may have to buy Dan lunch)

Don

 

[Tim...Ok]

Proportions look great..and I really like that cover too..that'll look sharp on there..

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Tim. I kind of like it too and it will hide everything back there. I was hoping I would have enough in that piece to do the tailgate too, but I won't, so I will either bead roll some design into it or have another piece louvered.

Don

 

[zzrodder]

Looking great Don! [cl Plus those 56 Olds caps really look right on it too, they just don't make 'em like that anymore. ,
And to think, all those years we chucked the caps and bought custom wheels....

 

[earthman]

All us old guys will love to point at those hubcaps a tell everyone around us.
"Those are Olds hubcaps" They complement the motor too.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, guys. The more common 56 caps are the three bar ones everyone is familar with, but I thought these were pretty different when I saw them. I bought them at Billetproof a couple of years ago in the swap meet area and figured I would have a use for them some day. 3 are in really good shape and one has a few dings, but they show up on Ebay pretty often so I will probably replace just that one when the time comes.

Don

 

[bob w]

Nice, Nice, Nice!!! You guys have the knack for building ultra cool hot rods.

 

[roddguy1]

Wow Don. Yet another one hit outta the park from you and your boys. I just love what you are doing with these "leftovers". I'm gonna have to take a good hard look around my shop and see if I can find any cast offs like that. [cl

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Bob and rodguy1 . As for the leftovers, it really helps to have a Son who changes directions often, it allows me to grab his castoffs because I am not as picky. Every so often though he looks at some part I made my own and says he remembers all the money he spent for it or on it. I chalk it up to getting even with him for the times he took my stuff when he was a kid.

Paybacks are h***.


Don

 

[donsrods]

My project for today was getting more done on mounting the steering box. As I mentioned, I am using a 56 Ford pickup steering box and a 59 (I think) steering arm. The earlier arms had a ball end on them but this one has a tapered hole for the tie rod end.

When Dan and I wrapped up Friday night we had cut the half moon section out of the top of the frame rail and made a half round section of plate to cover the cutout. We didn't weld that plate on yet because we needed access to the inside of the frame rail so we could insert two round pieces of tubing the exact width of the inside of the frame rails so that when the bolts that hold the steering box to the frame are torqued down they will not suck in the sides of the rail.

Here is a picture of the rail with that notch for the steering box to drop down into:

I needed to do it that way because I didn't want the box just perched atop the rail and it also needed to come down about an inch to clear the Olds engine. By dropping it down it also allowed the two bottom bolts of the steering box flange to be below the top of the rail, and that would allow me to pass the mounting bolts right through the rail. I also had to mount the flange to the outside of the rail because I am using rectangular tubing for my frame and I needed to get the box as far to the left as possible for engine clearance.

I made a simple jig to hold the steering column shaft at the exact height I needed it to be for a comfortable driving position, and drilled two holes through the frame and flange. Then I made up two spacers to go inside the frame to make is solid where the bolts go through, and I got those welded in place. Since the frame tapers in I had to make a wedge shaped piece to angle the steering flange out a quarter of an inch so the pitman shaft would be in a straight line with the front suspension.

All that is left now is to weld that half moon piece in place and also weld the small bracket I made up for the 3rd bolt hole on the top of the flange. Once that is all done I can mount the steering arm that goes on the drivers side front wheel and get my drag link ordered from Speedway.

Here are some pictures from tonight, thanks for looking.

Don

I used a carpenters square to make sure my steering column was straight in line with the centerline of the car.

And here is the steering box temporarily bolted in place:

 

[donsrods]

Tonight Dan came over to the shop after work and got the C notch welded into the frame and also got the gusset built and welded on to hold the 3rd mounting bolt on top of the frame. So that is the last of the work to do on the steering box.

Here is the C notch after it was all finish welded in place.

Once that was all done we slipped the Olds engine back into the frame to see how much clearance we picked up. It was more than I hoped for and I have a lot of room around the steering box for the motor to move and also lots of header clearance.

Tomorrow I can start making my front shock upper mounts and get my draglink ordered from Speedway. That pretty much is the last of the heavy duty work on the chassis, and then I can move on to getting the body mounted to the frame.

Don

 

[DoubleJ]

Both projects look fantastic, I have a question about the wishbone top link you're using. I have seen these being used, primarily on mini trucks and have considered using that on a bobber style truck I'm going to build eventually. Do you think that it will handle the side loads from cornering fairly well since it is taking the place of a panhard bar? I know they are built out of heavy wall tube but it seems like most of the force is going to be on the bolts and bushings. I was curious if you had used this set up before and if it handled well and rode decently.

 

[lowroder]

you guys build awesome rods .....[dr can you come to toledo ohio an help me ..... i like your stuff

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Double J and Lowroder. As far as the wishbone deal, my Sons used to be into bagged S10s and did some conversion work for people. That is how they learned about this setup. Yes, it does limit sideways movement as the design of the top bar resists any side movement from the axle. It simply can't budge. All the bars are about 1 1/4 inches in diameter, so they are super stout.

In the next couple of months I should be able to tell you how it works out in this application, but I can't see any reason it shouldn't work. Oh, by the way, we pulled up some pictures on line and found some Prostreet tubbed cars that were running similar setups so if it works for them it should be ok here too.

This week I worked on getting the front upper shock mounts built and made pretty good headway. I was able to make a mount for each side that not only holds the shock but it also doubles as a headlight mount. I will post some pictures as it comes further along.

Don

 

[MACKAZ]

One word. WOW!!! The fab work here is absolutely amazing. Wish we were allowed to grind our welds smooth over here......

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Mackaz. That's right, you guys have some very rigid regulations you have to follow, don't you. Must make it really tough to build anything.

Tonight I worked on the front shock mounts/headlight mounts a little more and I think I have them figured out. The headlights are going to mount just a tad outside the shock mount so I made up some small tabs that we will weld inside the two sides of the shock mount, then we can enclose the entire edge of the mount with a piece of strap steel. It will be closed on 3 sides to give it some additional strength,

I needed some way to bolt the Dietz headlight I am using to the shock mounts, and as much as I hate to do it I have a very nice set of SoCal headlight/shock mounts that we bought at Turkey Run last year and I am going to cut them up. The part where the headlight goes is perfectly shaped to cup the bottom of the headlight and give it some adjustability.

I could have made something but these are made for that purpose but in their present form are too big to fit. So, we will cut off the tapered pockets on the end and weld those to the tabs I made tonight. It really pains me to cut up a $100 pair of mounts, only to use the ends, but it will save us a lot of fab work.

Here are the shock mounts temporarily tack welded to the frame to see how they fit .

Don

 

[donsrods]

Here are the SoCal mounts I am going to cut up. I will only be using that tapered part that the headlight bolt goes through, but they fit so well it would be hard to make something that works as well.

Don

 

[donsrods]

I haven't had anything post worthy because all the work we have been doing on the rpu has been pretty boring stuff. Since the frame is now a roller my focus has been on getting the body mounted to the frame and figuring out how the transmission and driveshaft tunnels would be built.

As I have mentioned, my Son Dan owned this body and was going to use it before he bought a Brookville body and bed instead, so I took this one for my own. He had a lot of work in making it but it was built to fit a frame with different dimensions than the one I am using and consequently the subframe and hump and tunnel were just not the right size for the new car. He is using a different model Olds (455) vs the one I am running (394) and my setup puts the transmission lower and further back by about 6 inches than the way he designed it. So my plan was to modify the existing subframe and tunnel to work with my setup.

But the other night Dan looked at where I was on the project and he made a good suggestion................a good suggestion that would be more work in the beginning but that would result in a better car in the end. He suggested we just cut out all the old subframe he had built, leave the two side rails, and then build a new subframe, tunnel, and floor to fit my motor and transmission. At first I argued against doing all that work, but in the end I knew he was right so I agreed that what he suggested was the right thing to do.

So, tonight I spent 7 hours with a sawzall, 14 sawzall blades, lots of grinding discs, and I got the old subframe and tunnel removed. He built this thing like a tank, so it took some real doing to get it all out, but it is done and now we can put the body back on the frame and start designing the correct subframe.

Here are some pictures of the cab after I got about 150 pounds of steel removed from it.

Don

The other thing we got done last weekend was making the lower firewall sections and patching some holes in the top firewall section. We made the bottom out of 18 gauge steel and bent the edges to make them rigid. Having this done now will allow us to tie the floor and trans hump into it and weld everything solid. (That 1 x 1 steel brace is just temporary to keep things in line until we get some subframe back in the interior)

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