Projects The Levee Leveler (A Single Seat Racer Circa 1934)

Several years ago as I was collecting parts and building my '34 Chevy I stumbled upon some pictures of early "fairgrounds racers" and "sprint cars" and fell in love! I started picking up parts here and there for what would be my next build after the truck. I'm not entirely sure what it is about the little simple machines that grabbed me but I knew I had to have one.



Along the way I bought a 'T' frame, model 'A' front and rear axles, and an 'A' engine and trans.

Then plans changed when I found a '27 T roadster body locally and decided I'd use what I had gathered for that as it would be a more practical vehicle (relatively speaking of course!)

Well, I started prepping to build the roadster about 3 years ago and then all hell broke loose...we decided to move...

 

tune in next week for another exciting installment . . . ! come on what happened then?

 

Ha! Sorry more to come later. I was trying to take advantage of some free wifi and downtime!

 

Man that third shot is awesome!

 

This thread should be called the" cliff hanger"

 

Its the next day.....
I'm taking advantage of free WiFi, any chance of an update?

While on the Speedster subject, my old vintage car buddy, told me they used to use copper pipe for the pipe that run down the body, he says it gives a much cooler exhaust sound.

 

Sorry y'all. We're in disneyworld for my wife's 40th so I'm trying to sneak on when I can! This will be a slow build so be forewarned!

So we moved. We bought a little 5 acre place in the country so now I actually have a place to run the car when/if it's done so that's good!

I had to convert the old dairy barn to a shop. It's not done yet (I have minimal electrical right now) but it is enough to get started so I started dragging stuff over from the other barn and mocking things up.

Sorry for the Instagram photos. They are the most accessible on my phone.



I have a bent '36 axle from the pile. Most of this will be built with parts that I have on hand. I hope to not have to buy too many things.

I pulled it apart as I will be using a spring over arrangement with '32 spindles up front.

 

The plan calls for a T frame with a '34 rear axle that I bought for another project but I ended up finding a Columbia for it instead.
Also, like a said an A motor and transmission, '32 spindles, 17" wires all around and probably a model A steering box modified for center steer.

I straightened out a couple wire wheels and was delighted to find "dirt track" tires for 17" wheels at Coker.



I bought some Excelsiors for the rear as the 17" options are slim. If anyone has an old set of Ascots I would be interested!

 

Check out fastrnu build thread "26-27 modified all Ford by Ford". I used a 35 rear and 46-48 front bones on the rear.also check out the front spring perch. It might help you with some ideas.

 

Here's the axle I am using.

A little smooshy smooshy in the press...

And voilà!

 

Will do. That's your thread? Have a link???

 

It is not my thread. I am Jim Ford (55willys) and he is Bob (fastrnu) here is a link to the build thread. It is not done yet because we have had other obligations.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/26-7-t-modified-build-all-ford-by-ford.534292/

 

Cool. Checking it out now. Thanks!

 

I checked out some of your 34 Chevy truck build thread and you do very nice work. I didn't look at all 33 pages of the build thread because of my ADD and too short of an attention span. This is what I am building right now.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/international-kb-7-chop.989019/

 

Clamp-hoarder..



In all seriousness, I like the plan here! Are you planning on keeping this a two-seater or making it a single-seater?

 

You can NEVER have to many clamps

 

The shop looks great. Got any more pictures of it?

 

Thanks man! Your truck looks great too!

Guilty! No, it will be a single seater with a simple hand built body (hopefully!)

It's so true!

Thanks! I will try to sprinkle some in here and there.

 

Very nice organized shop.
Enjoying your build and the direction it is going.

 

Hey cactus! Johnny here, from the Hill Climb. Will we see this in Colorado this year?? Very cool project, I'll be watching this one!
Cheers

 

Cool Mike! Love those machines also, I'm in.

 

So, the plan is a hand-built body and not the '27 T roadster you found?

 

Thanks Pete!

Hey Johnny! Maybe???? Fingers crossed, ha!

Thanks for checking in man!

So, as I said I'm using '32 spindles as I had some I was going to use on another project. I also had a set of '32 perch pins and some '36(?) bones that had been split. Obviously those won't work with the short pins so I had to modify them.




I reground a bit to make the countersink.

 

Correct! The roadster will now be on an A chassis (unless I find some '32 rails...)

 

one of a kind - keep at it

 

Yay Mike! I like this!

 

Happy you posted this here, bigger pictures, more detail.
I'm really liking what this is going to be.

 

After looking at many pictures of vintage racers it seems that anything goes as far as front spring mounting. I've seen bulldog type perches, narrowed/ flattened cross members, spring behind, etc.

I decided to add a front crossmember and bulldog perch after looking at a friend's original Kurtis midget.

I also tried to bolt everything up using the original frame holes as I had heard that these old T frames were tough to drill. (I haven't really had any problems though?)











I should also add that after a little research I learned that these cars did not have much caster built into them to make turning the wheels right to left faster and easier. After all, they went around in circles, not straight so I only have a couple of degrees built in. Hopefully it will be ok for what I'm doing? We will see...

 

Interesting... sub'd. Gary