Ok, the cat is out of the bag!!!

[ratty 46]

Looks as if the only thing you need know is the parts off my 46!!!! The RPU is coming fantastic!!

I've been told 2 cars are leaving & 1 of those M/T spots is MINE!!!!

As soon as it's indoors I'll be calling you to p/u those pcs.

What a long strange road.........

Ratty46

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Bill, I think it is going to make it a better car in the end.

Paul, yep, I "inherited" Dan's old body and I have some plans for your parts and that body. I'm ready to drive to Atlanta as soon as you give me the word.

Here is the body he gave me., and what I plan on doing with it.
Don

 

[bob w]

It's going to be nice. And it's a good story about how you are getting the parts. Sounds like you are working pretty hard for that free body. 'Course you would be helping him anyway.

 

[donsrods]

I need a sign that says "WILL WORK FOR PARTS."

Whenever Dan casts off some unneeded parts, I drag them to my part of the shop..........I don't mind hand-me-downs at all.

Don

 

[donsrods]

It's amazing how a couple of long days working on a car can move you ahead pretty far. Dan and I worked until 2:30 AM Saturday morning, and again until 3 AM Sunday morning, but we really go a lot done. The car is now off of the wooden platform for probably the last time, and is a solid, mostly welded up cab.

We got the rear portion of the body welded up and decided to make bolt on brackets to hold it to the subframe so that we could shift everything around when we need to adjust any gaps and fit. Brackets took about 5 hours to make, but they look really good and make everything strong as can be. Nothing moves now and doors and all are lining up very well.

We put it on the frame to see how it looks and lines up, and Dan got to sit in his new body for the first time. Very embarrassing how he kept making these burn out and motor noises.........I would NEVER do such a thing myself!

Still have some work on the subframe crossmembers and have to build a floor and transmission tunnel, but it finally looks like a car and the doors open and close, so I think we might make Daytona this year.

Don

 

[Bonehead]

Major progress. It is starting to really come around now.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Bonehead. Yes, it if finally starting to look like a car. Now if I can keep Dan from turning it into a fordor sedan...........

We went to the shop last night with the intention of getting a template made so we could cut out the firewall for the bellhousing. To do that we had to reinstall the motor and transmission and set the car back on it's front suspension.

The cutout ended up smaller than we thought it would have to be, and the transmission doesn't intrude into the interior very much at all. It leaves Dan with a fair amount of cockpit space. Once we got the firewall cut out we put the body back on and of course had to put a header on and prop up a rear tire so we could sit back and look at it as a semi finished car.

I think the proportions are much better than the old body on here, but we have to cut 3 inches out of the middle of the frame because this body is shorter than the previous one. No problem because we haven't boxed the frame yet, so that will be a one night deal probably. Things are looking good for making Turkey Run in November.

Here are some pictures from last night.

Don

 

[Gastrick]

Beautiful Don. Where are you guys going to make the chassis splice? Won't that move the rear mounting point of the hairpins back past the front edge of the body? Are you going to have to cut a notch in the front of the cab like the Jimmy Shine truck?

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Bill, no we are going to take it out where the siderails join the rear backhalf setup. In the pictures we have slid the bed forward to cover the gap, but if it were in it's correct spot there would be a 3 inch gap between the body and bed. Everything from the back of the body to the front of the car will remain just like it appears in the pictures.

All we have to do it put the frame back on the jig, cut 3 inches out back there, slide the two halves together, weld them up, insert a plate at each cut that overlaps the cut, weld it in, and then fully finish boxing the entire frame. Won't be too hard at all as everything is straight and square pretty much.

Don

 

[Gastrick]

Okay sounds good Don. Now I see how it will be a quick job. It looks great. Hopefully I'll get to snap some pictures of it in Nov

 

[donsrods]

Bill, I can guarantee you it will be at TR if I have to put a rope around my T and pull it!!! I am pushing Dan daily to keep moving on it, and have tried to teach him that not every bracket has to look like it should be hanging in some Museum. Jimmy Shine summed it up when he was talking to Littleman on that show. You have to decide what parts are going to be a 10 and what parts can be a 2. Dan thinks every part should be an 11.

But I have seen him getting better at that aspect, mainly because he is tired of working on it and wants to finally drive it sometime in his lifetime. He does get a little PO'd at me when we are working on it sometimes because I keep pushing him to "just get the d*** thing welded!!!" On the other hand, he has taught me a lot about the right way to do things.

But yes, the car WILL BE AT DAYTONA.

Don

 

[donsrods]

Just a little update. We haven't made huge progress on Dan's '30, been working on the subframe for the floor and driveshaft/transmission tunnel. We found out the driveshaft was going to need some room below the floor level, so we built a hoop at the very rear of the body that not only goes above the floor, but below as well. It will act as a driveshaft safety hoop too because of being made from 1/4 inch steel plate.

What we did was buy a length of 5 inch diameter black pipe, cut off a section of it, and split it lengthwise. Then we added two pieces of 1/4 inch plate between the two halves to make it an oblong shape. To the back of that we made a steel flange that butts up against the rear body section, and will bolt on there. The idea is that now we can make one more hoop forward a couple of feet and then start skinning these two hoops with 18 gauge sheetmetal to form the driveshaft tunnel.

We also built a crossmember in about the center of the body and had to dip it down to clear the transmission tailshaft. We have about two weeks work in both projects, but they came out pretty nice and serve a few purposes. As soon as we put some angle iron in to form the juncture of the floor with the tunnels we can start the actual installation of the floor sheet metal. That is our goal for today.

Here are a couple pictures of what we got done up through last night.

Don

 

[sgo70]

Don these pictures are great, it's what I've been looking for to build my subfloor. I'm kinda holding off on mine until I see how you tie it into the firewall, are those green pieces gonna be plate or sheet metal??
I also like the idea of how you built the hoop better than I did with the 1x2, that couple extra inches would help fit seats in there. Do you think if I put a couple of those in my two lower cross members it would give enough support for the body??

Thanks,
Sean

 

[donsrods]

Sean, the green pieces are probably going to be 18 gauge......that is the plan for now. I agree that the 1/4 inch stuff gives more hip room....my Dodge and Dan's old body had 1 x 2 bent up, and it does consume more space. On this one we figured 1/4 inch in a hoop configuration won't move, and it really only has to give support until the body is firmly bolted to the frame. Once it is bolted down those bolts will keep it from flexing at all. Also, the sheetmetal you and we are going to install will strengthen it more, especially the tunnel, which acts like a backbone somewhat.

Yours is coming along really well.

Don

 

[donsrods]

Ok Sean, I have a little more info for you. We worked on the subframe more last night and decided to do the firewall connection a little different than we originally planned. As I mentioned earlier, those green pieces of poster board represented 18 gauge pieces we were going to use from the firewall to the subframe to tie them together. Once we got the the point were we were actually ready to do it we decided that wouldn't have enough strength on it's own.

What we did instead was bend up some 1/8 inch plate into a 45 degree angle and weld it to the subframe, then bolted it to the firewall. We want to keep the firewall removable at least for now so we can mount hanging pedals and stuff, so we didn't want to weld it in. We then welded a formed piece of 1 x 1 x 1/8 inch angle iron it to form the shape around the transmission.

We still have to add one more crossmember to the passengers side, about where the door jam is, but that will do it for at least the one side, then we can do the drivers side the same. Here are some pictures of how we did it.

Don

In case those pictures don't come up, here they are again in the regular format I post them in.

 

[sgo70]

Thanks again Don!
I just got home from work and figured you might have it done now so I can get to work. Perfect timing, looks good.

Sean

 

[Gastrick]

Hey Don. You're holding out on us here........

 

[donsrods]

Hey Don. You're holding out on us here........

I know Bill, but sometimes I feel like a post-ho.......like I put up this stuff on too many forums too many times. But if you insist............

Dan and I put in a VERY long weekend on his car. He was off Friday, Sat, and Sun, so we could stay late every night. We love working during the cool morning hours and get so much more done. We left the shop at 3 AM Friday, then at 7 AM Saturday and 6 AM Sunday. Ask me how wiped out I am.........but we did get a lot done.

First thing we tackled was finishing up the drivers side subframe. It was a little trickier than the passenger side because we had to allow room for his shift linkage. Luckily, his new Gennie shifter showed up in time to install it so we didn't have to guess about how much room we needed. The shifter is pretty cool, and he bought a Gennie because the handle comes off all the way, unlike the Lokars we have. It makes getting the body on and off so much easier.

Next we worked on installing the Kugel Komponents master cylinder and pedal assembly. This is one of the 90 degree ones that tuck up under the dash and are totally hidden. We made a 3/16 inch thick steel plate to mount it to the firewall with, to spread the load, and will make some braces to tie it into the dash support.

Finally, we added two more crossmembers to the subframe and built brackets to mount his bomber seats. Not a bunch of progress, but it sure took a lot of hours to do it all correctly. Here are some pictures of where we left off.

Don

 

[donsrods]

And a couple more...................

Don

 

[24dodge]

I really like that shifter handle , awesome car.....