Hot Rods Working on the Vicky body, a build thread with pics

The splice I'm referring to is a means of spreading load in a critical joint. This is commonly used in both shipbuilding and railroad industries as a means of constructing ultra durable lap joints. My friend, who has since passed, so I can't ask him now, showed me that by using the same pattern and butt welding it a good bit of the structural integrity was retained. I've never had one of these joints fail in any application. What I am discussing is the rather long sort of tongue shaped splice that mates the front clip to the rect. tubing center rail section. This joint obviously carries the entire weight of the car on that weldment.

My Engineer friend worked out the design a long time ago for me and I have used those templates on dozens of frames now. If you're interested the splice on a 4", (Model A or one of my tapered T frames), is 5" long overall with a 1" radius at the point. I dress the weld joint to approximately 30 deg. and weld with 180K wire for full penetration. Going nowhere to say the least. I've never seen an advantage of Tig over the Mig in this application.

Hope that makes sense.

 

Mocking up the grille. I know this has been done a thousand times but I really like the way it looks and nicely ties the front "lines" into the sloped tail. I matched the rear angle to carry it through. I need to do a lot of slice and dice but it will flow just right. More nigh time work. Looks way more cohesive than the straight up version.

 

The front end will drop about 1 1/2" when the motor goes in. My "windshield took a beating last night with all the rain and the car just being tarped and not under cover.

 

Ever notice how freshly blasted body parts survive just fine in some places and in others they have rusty hand prints within a day?

 

I picked up a light rust haze on some welds and suspension parts but nothing too bad.

 

You might want to consider using the top from a 1937 Ford sedan, lots of slope around the back window area, would match up with the "bustle" of the rear of the Vicky body.

 

Great idea on the top. I don't think I'll want something that heavy at this point in my life. I'm leaning toward fabbing one of my aluminum lift off roofs and have Homemadehardtop57 stitch me a rag for it. I have a really cool, what I believe to be, mid 1930's Packard rag top rear window that is so perfect in both size, and design it scares me. Here's a pic of a roof I built for a whacked sport coupe for a friend of mine. Fun car to build with great lines and it went on an off easily. This is the car I developed the cam lock system of locking one in place. It has the closed cell foam glued in place but has not had the Hartzcloth stitched up. These roofs come off in a matter of minutes with a few turns of an allen wrench and weigh 12-15 lbs. I can easily drag one into a motel room down the shore for an evening of open air cruising. When I template it I'll post up as I think it will be perfect with the low roll bar going in midship. Another example of one that has never been covered is the Stogy '29 on here. That one is a lot of years old and he keeps it in bare aluminum for the aircraft type look.

The second pic is my old roadster, in the foreground, with the roof again in just closed cell. This was at the Fall Run in Wildwood in about 2008. That roof was on for several years and I just never got around to having it covered. But then I never got around to finishing the paint either. I just drove the wheels off it. They have proved to hold up over time.

 

Last night after a Boro meeting I did a late night and roughed in the bars on my grille. This is no original piece but a typical E bay junker. I chopped it 2 1/2" and attempted to get the insert to at least fit inside the shell. I need to dress the welds and paint the insert matt silver. This will probably get replaced with a factory piece at some point but for now it will get me on the road for 200 bucks. My radiator will fit inside beautifully and set just right against the engine. Just a little more progress each day.

 

Another step toward this one. Screwed this together out of anything laying around the shop. 040. over 350 which I believe gives me around 356". Four bolt block, "pink" rods and a cam I'm not sure where it came from, but I had it marked "good". Looked almost new and I'm assuming it was pulled for being too mild for a client. Probably a RV grind. I have an OK set of 1.94 heads and a pair of tight tucks Hacksaw Bill on here donated to the project.



Big decision now is do I weld up a Sam-O-Ram for two Rochester 2GC carbs or do I take the easy way and run a 650 Holley that is also laying around. The Holley will probably run better but the 2x2 is much cooler although highly unusual on a Chevy. I also was given a mint Mallory duel point with centrifugal advance which I dearly love. for the project.

Scored a nice Saginaw three speed off Marketplace along with the correct 'bell and clutch/flywheel.

 

Stealing a little late night time to put the drivetrain together. Heads and intake are not bolted down as I'm waiting for a few things. Several good friends helping me with parts which I greatly appreciate. As the car sets pretty low if I just run a hood top you won't see much of the engine anyway. Just don't want it to get too long visually. Breaking the hood line with five or six rows of louvers will help.



Shifter is a way cool B&M. Back in the day my Dad used to sell them out of the shop. Don't remember much but this one works better than any three speed Hurst I've ever had. HAMB find off charles vreeland on here. Just needed to make a few small parts. The trans is the classic Saginaw. Can't wait to set it in and make motor noises....

 

Question, would anyone know anything about those heads? GM 3973483, 75CC chambers with 1.92 valves. Never had a set of these before. I'm assuming early '70's smog head.

 

You probably have 3973493 heads which came on 72-76 SBC 400's. The extra steam holes would be the giveaway on the I.D.

 

Are these any good? In other words, should I put them on the 350 for a street runner? The option would be some of Speedways 461 aluminum heads which would be about $1,400.00 in place.

 

milwscruffy, You were absolutely correct. They are 400 heads and at 76cc chambers they will give me about 8.2 cr with the pistons already in there. About the same as a good Briggs and Stratton. I probably could run on kerosene however. They go back to my buddy and I'm back shopping. I'd really like to be in around 9.5 to 1 if possible meaning 64cc chambers.

Thanks for the save!

 

Just a small score today. Picked this up for the plate on the Vicky. Sometimes it's the little stuff that keeps you motivated. Not sure of the age on this. My thoughts are early 1960's. Anybody have a good guess?

 

Hacksawbill and I visited fleetside66 today and acquired a very nice 1961 date code SW 160 MPH speedo. Went into my panel just fine for one more piece of the puzzle.

Thanks fleetside!

 

Started watching your build and enjoying it.Keep up the good work.Guage panel looks great!

 

Lots of twists and turns…but still a very interesting build thread. Keep it going!
Like the early 50’s Olds wheel covers!

 

I have been refining my strategy a bit as I move along. I've come to the realization I need to get it on the road and then I can refine some of the stuff. The original concept was really cool but I'll be 90 by the time I actually would be able to drive it. It is now down to a manageable project, both time wise and financially. As I don't have a bay open I've been doing a lot of stuff in subassemblies such as the brake setup, steering wheel and column, dash and drivetrain. There is nothing simpler than the Chevy with a three spd., along with a four barrel and dual point.

All of this is just to cut time and expense and is by no means the ultimate setup but will work just fine and be reliable enough to get me on the road. I'm making up some of the floor and body panels at the moment that will allow me to get it at least in primer as an open car. This is the minimum I can do to get it titled and inspected in PA.

I'll build the top and finish the window mechanisms, (even with the carson type top this will have frameless roll up windows eventually), before next winter along with the heater to extend the season. The project is still well planned, just simplified somewhat.

I love the inspiration I get from the HAMB crew!

 

Working on the trans cross/rear suspension crossmembers. I need to fit up the brakes and clutch so I can plot the crossmembers. I was hoping to use some salvaged '40 pedals but there's just too much crap under the floor there so I'm going with a swing pedal setup sort of like a beefed Ansen setup or the hard to get Luckys pedals. I have about 30 pairs on hand so it's a no brainer.

Fitting up a cardboard hood to get my lines right. It looks way better in person than in these pics. Since I shot these I've refined it by dropping the shell another 5/8" and thinning the hood by 7/8" up front to give just a bit of taper to the sheetmetal. The first pic reflects most of the change. Again, it looks way better in person.

So far everything has fitted up just like it was plotted and I'm really diggin' the profile. It's going to look even better at 70 mph. As discussed earlier, the 350 is in with the Holley. I have a 4x2 setup along with a 6x2 setup but the Holley will be definitely easier to get on the road with at the moment. The deuce dash looks pretty nice set in as it is. A load of sheetmetal to pound now.

I'm busy as all hell in the shop but I'm getting some weekend and lots of evening work in. Next update will be the firewall work.

 

No idea why it posted the same pics several times and no idea of how to fix them! Computers ain't my strongest skill....

 

See you got a bay open for YOUR car finally!!!!! Looking good.

 

Got 'Em little but at least just once! It does feel good to get it inside for a bit. I have other work that should be there but I have so much of this car sucking up space that it actually takes less room assembled. I'm going to try and get it at least movable under it's own power before the end of the year.

I had some doubt on the hood at first but it's not bad at all up close and it will not only hide the Holley but I can put the brake booster and MC up top aaway from exhaust heat and road damage risk in a relatively low car. There is no room underneath for any thing that absolutely doesn't need to be there.

I admit this is car has a lot of concessions to non-traditional components but it is being built to minimize their obvious use without digging. The car would be great with an Olds or maybe a Caddy in there but I'm going for a cheap drivetrain and reliability. Most of this stuff is leftovers in the shop. I'm scavenging anything I can get off the lofts or boxes from over the years.

I really appreciate the support on here along with the guys who come in the shop and push me along a bit.

 

Big pics…(chose ”full image”, when posting), rule!

 

Well, Koz;
I'm kinda partial to the old ad-phrse: "Parts is parts!". "D .
Nothing wrong w/"amenities", or using up currently-available-parts, esp to clear space or keep the $$$ outlay down.
As for the "concessions", maybe a nice(easily removable) box or cylinder hiding them - chromed or engine-turned Alum?
Nice job on the phantom so far, proportions look good. Hopefully, it'll get a folding top?
Marcus...

 

Concessions are the disc brakes, which I've used D-Russ styled covers, the Chevy, just 'cus it was cheap, and the 9" just because once again, it was available. All of this stuff is also super reliable. I don't think it will detract that much from a 1959 era build. This car is being built to make the 350 mi. round trip run to Wildwood so I need some road security.

The top is going to be one of my Hartz cloth covered lift offs with a 1930's era Packard rear window that I've been hoarding for years. There's a bunch of threads on here that I've built one for and they work well. A folding top would be the nuts though. There's some pics of these about half way up this page.

Working on the firewall. Pics soon.
Thanks for the encouragement!

 

You're killing it! The cardboard hood looks great! I'm looking forward to your next update.

 

Working on the chassis finish up and the brakes. As I have discussed in the thread on here, "Remote MC mounting question", I need to mount my MC remotely as there is just no room to get it under the floor and I hate the way they look on the firewall so I'm using a sort of hybrid system that is working quite nicely.

The booster and MC are mounted traversely on the rear crossmember and actuated by a 1960 GM pickup MC and slave cylinder mounted on the firewall. I've fabbed up some swinging pedals along the lines of the old Ansen units with the option of 1-6 or 1-4 ratios. This will let me dial in how much pedal pressure operates the booster. From the casual look it will appear to be the typical early Ford brake setup. I'm not trying to fool anybody, I just like the way early brakes look but appreciate good stopping power the discs provide.



More as this episode progresses.
Also finished up the front panhard bar tucked in nicely and all the Houdaille, (Who day), shock links and a load of small stuff.

 

You probably know this, but don't forget to swap the guts. The brake side has a check valve that won't work with the clutch.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ck-dual-bore-m-c-insides.304887/#post-3243999