chocolate & cheese roadster - 4 day thrash

It's crunch time over here.
24 hours left to get as much ready for the Big 3 swapmeet friday.

Here's where I'm at.

chocolate and cheese
1927 ford roadster

Here's how it's got there...

SUNDAY

frame scrap

sunday was a slow start.
The main goal was to get the engine totally mounted.
Thought it would be easy,
 but of course I had to use the old frame pieces.

cut n grind

They were to perfect not to use.

custom K-member

Than some wings were made to hold the transmission.
I found out some early transmissions have an 8" hole to hole and some are 10".

K-member
1927 ford roadster
1928 AA frame

To wrap up the night,
I tried to fix the smashed in cowl.

firewall repair

MONDAY

mondays goal was to get the front end figured out.

splitting '37 front wishbones

The wishbones needed to be split,
so I cut the axle hanger and rewelded it up.

lining wishbones up

It was a gamble but it was going to work.

side view mock up

After looking at the side view,
it was obvious that sharp angle at the kick-up had to be smoothed out.

smoothed frame

Much better.

1940 wheel and brake swap

After a quick birthday dinner for my Dad,
a friend Spinner came by and welded the frame up for me.
Thanks!
We also swapped the mechanical brakes/hubs for some 40 hydraulic units.

first suspension load

That night the roadster was on it's front wheels for the first time.

TUESDAY

Tuesday I was lucky as Spinner didn't have work,
and after some gathering materials,
we started the thrash.

weld bungs

First was mounting the front end.
I've had these weld bungs for probably 15 years.

rear crossmember gussets

While Spinner welded the bungs up,
I cut some plate to gusset the rear crossmember.

completed rear crossmember

Spinner laid down the fat bead,
while I swapped the transmission to an enclosed shaft 40.
Thanks to Shinya and Ayu!

custom engine pads

Some trick plywood engine pads for a 3/4" rise.

engine/tranny mounted

Now that the engine and tranny were centered,
the rearend could be mounted.

torque tube

I did a quick cut and weld to get the torque tube to fit.

perfectly machined base

First was to cut the base off.

modified torque tube

The frame was a perfect jig.

planning the split wishbone mount

With the rear end placed,
I started the mounting points for the front wishbones.
Meanwhile Spinner came back and worked on the radius rods for the rear.

mounted split wishbones

A 1/2" thick plate was welded in to reinforce the tie rod hole.
Should be strong.

1937 ford split wishbones

They came out better than I expected.

completed rear end suspension

Meanwhile Spinner had knocked out the rear end radius rods.
Looked easy but there was alot of grinder engineering.

headlight stand

To wrap up the night I really wanted to get the headlights on,
so shiny chrome model A stand was donated to get it done.
Maybe a little high but at least it has a face.

WEDNESDAY

I was dragging wednesday.
With the frame basically done,
my goal was to try to get the body cleaned up a little.

patch panel

With so many places to messed up,
this missing gap was the easiest to start.

gap

I was lucky as again Spinner came over after his worked and helped a bit.
He knocked out a bunch of dents in the back quarters,
and then welded up the patch panel I made.

Meanwhile I tried to knock out this rear panel a bit better.

rear '27 panel

This panel was hammered.
This was actually after some hammering.
It needed a beating.
Spinner took over and worked his magic placing the panel
and squaring up the rear,
while I tackled some swiss cheese.

swiss cheese

This part is always rotten.
I made a crude patch panel and a little bit later we both had finished up.

tidied up rear end

It was a big difference with the holes filled.
I was left on my own,
but had enough momentum to try to figure out some more of the puzzle.

1935 steering box

This 1935 steering box was the perfect unit for the project.

steering box plate

A mounting plate was cut out from some 1/4" steel

Than the steering column and shaft were shortened.

pinned

This may seem sketchy,
but it should be strong.
The shaft is a tube, (holds the horn wire)
I cut out a section,
cut down a long 7/16" grade 8 bolt shaft,
than pinned it both sides with 2 1/4" grade 8 bolts.

pinned and welded

It should be strong.

centered steering shaft

Most importantly,
the end is centered in the now shortened column!

steering box mount

The steering box was placed,
and the mount was welded up.

cross steer

The steering box fit perfectly,
however the steering arm could be heated and bent upwards a bit.

Steering!

It's a tight fit but there's not too many options.
Still need to do the column mount on the dash.

wednesday night
1927 ford roadster project

So this is how it sits now.
There is a ton to do,
but at least it's not a basket case.

1927 ford roadster project

I've got 24 hours,
what am I doing on this computer!



Now it's time to get back to the shop!

TP