Roadster pickup from leftovers.

[donsrods]

Thanks, Jim. 95% of those are Dan's doing. He kinda takes over when he is doing something like this, and spent a WHOLE lot more time on them than I would have. I kept telling him the ones on the back don't show, but he had to smooth them and round the edges anyway because "he knows they are there."

I did cut the steel, and drill some holes though, and kept the fridge full of bottled water.

Don

 

[rainman]

Imagine how much flex you will be eliminating in the frame with that set up also!! It will make the entire unit more as one!! Looks great, keep us posted, and Thanks for sharing!!

 

[donsrods]

Thanks RM. We were thinking the same thing about it helping eliminate frame flex. It is kinda like an engine plate setup, except for having rubber mounts on the end. We are going to have a few more crossmembers starting with the one under the tailshaft, so it should be pretty rigid. Plus, Dan built a bunch of crossmembers into the body already, so that should help.

Don

 

[donsrods]

I didn't feel like going to bed early tonight, so I went to the shop and knocked out the crossmember that goes under the transmission tailshaft. It doesn't have to be anything special, as the two engine mounts are going to take the bulk of the load, all it needs to do is give some extra support for the transmission itself.

The first thing I had to do was cut some 3x 5 pieces of plate 1/4 inch thick, that will be welded to the insides of the frame rails. The sole purpose of these plates will be to add to the thickness of the frame in that area so I can tap threads there for my removable crossmember. The frame is 3/16 and with the 1/4 inch plates welded on it will give me 7/16 of thickness, which should be more than enough for three 3/8 bolts per side to go through.

Then I cut a piece of 1 and 3/4 inch round tubing for the crossmember, and some triangular plates for each end. These will weld on and in turn bolt to the frame. I also cut a 1/4 inch thick piece of steel to act as the mount under the rubber transmission mount. That plate will weld to the round crossmember, and we will add some gussets to it before we are done.

Not a huge project, but still a little more progress. I'll get Dan over to the shop one night this week to weld it all up for me and then we can move on to the rear suspension. I was hoping to have it as a complete roller by the end of August, but since it is the 24th already, that will probably not happen. I'm really in no rush, so that is ok. I could have welded this one up myself, but he does it so much better that I will just have him do it.

Here are some pictures I took tonight of the stuff I made.

Don

 

[RAT IHC]

Hey Don,
Nice work on the trans crossmember and the motor mounts! What type of trans mount is that? Polyurethane? If so, is it ok to use that on the trans with rubber motor mounts? I've heard different opinons on the subject...although with 4 motor mounts I think you fall into a different category.

Last question is where did you get it? All the poly trans mounts I've seen are bright red and don't match my shoes!

Thanks,
-Troy

 

[hotrod preacher]

looking good...[cl[cl

keep them boys busy helping, you'll have it done in no time[

 

[donsrods]

Thanks guys. Troy, I got that mount, believe it or not, at Autozone. They had a rack of Energy Suspension stuff there.

I've heard the same thing about not mixing rubber mounts with a poly one, but I can't see how it will matter in this case as the front mounts shouldn't let the motor rock at all. Even the package instructions said nothing about not mixing them, so who knows. Guess I'll find out.

Don

 

[donsrods]

Today's project was to complete the transmission crossmember that I made the other night. Although all the important parts were cut out there was still a lot of work to do before we could weld it up.

The first thing Dan and I did was to make new plates to weld inside the rails, one on each side, so that I could tap threads into it and the frame to hold the bolts that secure the crossmember in place. I had cut some the other night, but Dan wanted them to be slightly wider so the threads would sit well inside the pieces.

Next I tapped three 3/8 holes per side to hold the triangular crossmember end pieces in place, and then we welded the center tube to those brackets. Finally, we welded the piece that goes under the transmission mount, and built some gussets to strengthen it.

It seems like this would be a quick job, but it took us all day, because we had to pull the engine and transmission back out so we could flip the frame around for welding, and Dan can't just weld brackets on, he has to make them as perfect as he can. I kept telling him that only roadkill would ever see this crossmember, but he pretends he doesn't hear me.

Here are some pictures of the final product. Now we can move on to adding a 2.5 inch crossmember at the bottom of the rear kickup, and another just like it at the top of the kickup. After that we can start on the rear suspension setup.

Don

 

[Johnson]

Cool. This should be a good one to watch. Anybody got some popcorn?

Found some[P

 

[Gregster]

Any updates ?

 

[deerchooper]

hey don, i just picked up a 394 myself. still in the orginal car and got it running yesterday and did a little drive today with it. its in a 62 startfire, with the brakes locked up, lol. still got tire.

 

[ratrodz]

Any updates ?

after the al gore comment he's probably hiding out afraid somebody would have him committed LOL

 

[donsrods]

Haha, no, I just forget to check this thread and missed your posts, sorry guys.

No updates, we have been spending time on Dan's motor, trying to get it back together for Turkey Run in November. But I am going to take a 2 and 1/4 inch holesaw and cut four holes into the rear kickup so I can install two crossmembers, one at the top of the kickup and one at the bottom. Might do that tomorrow.

We've also been spending some time cleaning the shop.........it was beyond BAD ! Couldn't find anything and were tripping over stuff that had no business just laying around. We even got the bathroom and shower cleaned so we aren't afraid to go in there any more.

DC, I bet that Olds is cool. I like the styling on those a lot. Move pretty good for something that weighs about the same as a small house, don't they?

Don

 

[donsrods]

Ok, you guys shamed me into doing some work on my rpu. I only have two crossmembers to get out of the way, then I can start hanging the rear end in the frame. I wanted one to be at the bottom of the kickup and one at the top of the kickup, to give some support there.

We had some 2 and 1/4 round tubing in the shop, so that is what I made them out of, but first I had to drill 4 2 &1/4 inch holes in the frame rails to slip the tubes into. I used a holesaw and my big 1/2 inch drill, and that was almost my undoing. The holesaw grabbed while cutting one hole and ripped the drill out of my hands. I thought I had broken or sprained my wrists, but they are ok, just sore. For the rest of the holes I screwed a piece of 3/4 inch pipe into the drill motor to use for leverage, and that helped a lot. Bet I feel it tomorrow though.

All I have to do now is throw the tubes into the blast cabinet to get the mill scale off, and then grind some clean metal around the holes so we can weld them in place. Here are a couple of pictures of the crossmembers slipped into their holes.

Don

 

[Old Iron]

Ok, you guys shamed me into doing some work on my rpu. I only have two crossmembers to get out of the way, then I can start hanging the rear end in the frame. I wanted one to be at the bottom of the kickup and one at the top of the kickup, to give some support there.

We had some 2 and 1/4 round tubing in the shop, so that is what I made them out of, but first I had to drill 4 2 &1/4 inch holes in the frame rails to slip the tubes into. I used a holesaw and my big 1/2 inch drill, and that was almost my undoing. The holesaw grabbed while cutting one hole and ripped the drill out of my hands. I thought I had broken or sprained my wrists, but they are ok, just sore. For the rest of the holes I screwed a piece of 3/4 inch pipe into the drill motor to use for leverage, and that helped a lot. Bet I feel it tomorrow though.

All I have to do now is throw the tubes into the blast cabinet to get the mill scale off, and then grind some clean metal around the holes so we can weld them in place. Here are a couple of pictures of the crossmembers slipped into their holes.

Don

You've got to watch out these people on here will work you to death [ddev
I am glad Ratrodz goated you into doin somethin though [cl

Jim

 

[maverickmk]

I've had the exact thing happen to me - the drill getting caught & twisting the crap out of your wrist. Hurts like he!!. That was almost a year ago and I still have some trouble with my wrist every now and then.

 

[donsrods]

You're right, Old Iron, these guys are slave drivers. Luckily, it has started (very slightly, like 2 degrees) to cool off here, so I have more ambition to go to the shop at night. We've been having torrential rains too, which cool it off some also. Can't wait for Fall.

Maverickmk, scarey when that happens. I wasn't expecting it and didn't have a pipe screwed into the drill for some extra support, so it spun me right around. When that happened my hand hit the button to lock the motor on so it kept running as it was flipping around. Today I'm pretty sore from my shoulders down to my fingers. Old age doesn't help either.

I had that happen one time when using my drillpress, my glove got caught and it wrapped my arm right around the chuck. Luckily, my glove got torn off my hand, so it didn't get any real damage, but I no longer wear gloves when using it.

Don

 

[ratrodz]

it's real nice in ky now. went from 102 sat. to 50s monday.you can get some work done now with out sweating.

 

[donsrods]

It has finally dropped a couple of degrees here at night too, maybe fall is coming. [cl

Now that my frame is essentially done, we can move on to getting the rear axle assembly installed. I pretty much knew where I wanted it to sit but we thought it would be best if we had the bed in place first so we could see how far fore and aft it should sit to look right. So today we bought a sheet of masonite to build a mock up bed.

We are using 4 1935 Ford stake pockets, one on each corner of the bed, and they were too tall for the height of the bed we thought looked good, so we sectioned one as a test, removing 4 inches, and Dan welded it back together and got it to look about right. Then we cut pieces of the masonite and made two bed sides and one tailgate and screwed it all together. I wanted this bed to be VERY short so that it didn't extend beyond the rear slicks. This car is going to look somewhat like an old drag altered, so the bed only needs to be big enough for my fuel cell and battery.

I like the way the mockup bed looks, so now we can start mounting the four bar setup , coil overs, and panhard bar. I am probably going to run a totally louvered tonneau cover that will hide it all, and may also get the tailgate section louvered to match. Once the rear end is hung we can start bending sheet metal for the bed sides and tailgate.

Here are some pictures from tonight of the mockup bed.

Don

 

[maverickmk]

It's looking good. Wish I were closer so I could come over & lend a hand.