The "Whatever" Project

[Captain]

Look at a Asian Furniture Store.
All the furniture, everything including the Bed is at
Ground Level. I had to go outside on the steps to get my shoes back on.......

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Look at a Asian Furniture Store.
All the furniture, everything including the Bed is at
Ground Level. I had to go outside on the steps to get my shoes back on.......

Shopping online for a skinny mattress is sooooo much fun. An Asian furniture store would be better, if there was one anywhere near here.

Seriously, it's actually called a low profile mattress, and they are available in both foam core and inner spring types. And surprisingly inexpensive. Back experts recommend the foam core, as long as its a good firm foam for the back, but they tend to collapse on the sides, which is bad for the mobility issues being dealt with, and the inner spring types unless really well made, can be painful for small people as their body weight isn't spread over enough springs.

So it's a crap shoot. I'll take my best quess and if it works great, if not get the opposite type.

So referring way back to storage brackets, I've come up with a simple design that will sit on top of the foundation ledge and bolt to wall studs to stabilize each one. Some sections of angle iron and scraps of whatever tubing is in the short bucket. I've got a bunch of 1 inch square scraps, so easy peasy.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Maybe tomorrow I'll get the 2 hoops somewhat installed. Got to figure out what parts of the body need to be cut away, and some mounting tabs made. I think my body will be up to it...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Finally worked on the Whatever project today. Mostly got the 2 under cowl support hoops made. Mostly because the front one needs to be narrowed about a half inch. That's easy, just cut it in half in the middle and shorten the requisite amount, and inner sleeve it. Fortunately I have a whole lot of the correct size wall thickness and diameter seamless tubing to do it with. Last summer I raided the drop rack at Metal Supermarkets and picked up 5 or 6 3 to 4 foot sections of the stuff. At 50 cents a pound. I bet it's costlier now...

Here are a couple of pictures:

first picture is both balanced in approximately the right place. The next one shows the front hoop, which needs to be up against the firewall, so shorten it up tomorrow.

The last picture shows the stuff mentioned earlier, the k member up front, the nose front support attached to the first straight crossmember just in front of the panhard bar and an overall view showing how it's all going to fit (I hope ).

But this was only a small amount of the time spent in the garage. The first effort was tidying up the garage. That took 2 or 3 times longer than the actual fun stuff. Each time I clean up, I swear I'm going to put stuff away just as soon as I'm done with it. That lasts about 30 minutes. Just typing this I remembered that the drill I just used is still on the fabrication bench. Good thing I have a crapload of batteries...

Hopefully more tomorrow, god willing and the creek don't rise!

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Back in the garage today. Cut some of the body's floor flange to get the under cowl support hoops down to the frame rails. Well the front one. The rear one under the dash needs a slot cut out towards the doors. That is unless a more clever solution is developed. And I don't like the seat mount now.

The problem is the rear support bar/tube behind the seats, undesigned as yet. I'm thinking that I want a hoop behind the driver just at the top of the body's rear panel that the turtle deck attaches to. I have a roll bar u-shaped like they used on the early Cobras, just behind the drivers head. But what to attach it to, that is the conundrum.

And the front structure, the replacement seat support structure and this as yet indeterminate rear structure should all tie together. And I still might cut the passenger door open, so a side tube needs to be below the opening.


So looking at this picture, I'm not seeing it yet. I'm open to suggestions, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I like the visual mass of 1.5 inch od tubing, so anything visible is going to be that size. I have 1 inch 0.120 wall tubing that could be used for inner structure.

Have at it, there's no bad suggestions in reality...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

I've made progress! What I'd like to know is how you guys that have built hot rods as well as race cars is how do you keep yourself from getting carried away with stuff that isn't needed for a street going hot rod.

Today I was trying to figure out how to make all of the inner support structure in such a way that it was going to resemble a race car. Mocked up the seating position, made the brake and clutch pedals sit where I could get my size 9-8E hoofs fit,and realized that the 2nd support hoop wasn't going to be usable. My feet fit fine on the pedals, but I couldn't clear that hoop. So it's out!

That's when the epiphany hit! I'm not building a race car! It needs to be structurally sound but I'm not going to Daytona with it. I started rethinking the inner structure.
That 180 degree hoop behind the driver is going to be right there, I just need to get to the frame with the legs. A little more in a moment. First the 2nd picture. That's the firewall hoop. Now it's sitting on the frame rails as I cut the excess flooring away and I narrowed it slightly to fit tight to the firewall. It will sit on feet that bolt down to the frame rails.

And I can bring a support tube for the steering column straight off of it to the factory Mini upper column mount. And using a quick release bicycle seat post clamp, it will be adjustable up and down. Length will be fixed, but I can get around that by changing the depth of the steering wheel offset.

Now back to the hoop behind the driver.
The next picture shows a tube bent to get from the frame to the bottom of the roll hoop. It's got 2 shallow bends, made from a cast off section of tubing. Bent by eye to fit, I finished up for the day in the garage and took it to the basement where my sort-of-office is, and made the sketch in the next picture. Now I know what the bend angles are and the distance between them. Tomorrow I'll take the seat stuff out and figure out how to make a crossmember to drop the tube legs down to, and use scraps of tubing to fit it all in. And a really good thing is that I can make a brace to the rear from the hoop to the rear frame rail that is removable. Once it's all figured out I'll take more pictures. Here's one from the rear. The legs of the hoop are actually longer than necessary so I can cut it to be sufficiently above and behind my head. As a nod to racing roadsters of the past, it'll be padded with that good expensive padding, then upholstered with matching materials to the seats in a manner that allows it to be snapped on or off. I can see it in my head

[Captain]

Minimize !!!!
Let the "Looker" visualize the picture......
Art is a Drawing to Fool Your Mind of Something Real....

Like being a Kid Again !!!
A Dish towel, clothes pin, and a cardboard cut sword,
You were a Super Hero saving Humanity !!

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

It's like building model car kits when you open 3 or 4 boxes and mix up the parts on purpose. Throw the instructions away, damn the proper ventilation and smell the Revell glue!

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Quality time on the drafting table this weekend. A master builder on another web site has been advising me from afar, and supplied dimensions of the inner structure that he has used in 10 I believe, and counting, t roadsters. Long story short, I only had to translate from 1 3/4 tube with 6 1/2 (I think...) bender dies to 1 1/2 tube and 6 inch bender dies.

I am a bit out of practice on the drafting table, so it took me a while to get all of the instruments and t square and assorted implements of destruction..., er that is tools of drafting back in hand. They were in various places in the basement, too many moves since the last time I used them.

So I spent some time laying out the dimensions given to me, and then redrawing the bar with the slightly smaller dimensions. Now I have a full scale half drawing, hopefully I can now bend a hoop!

My plan is to take some of the previously bent sections of tubing not going to be used, and piecing together a mockup of the hoop. Pictures tomorrow...

[Captain]

It's like building model car kits when you open 3 or 4 boxes and mix up the parts on purpose. Throw the instructions away, damn the proper ventilation and smell the Revell glue!

I'm Testors Glue Huffer Myself......LOL And we called it "Kitbashing". But, we used all the Leftover Parts from those 3-N-1 model kits.
Now we are "Unsupervised Adults" and built
Full Scale Cars out of Rusty Orphans that we
Drag Home.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

I'm Testors Glue Huffer Myself......LOL And we called it "Kitbashing". But, we used all the Leftover Parts from those 3-N-1 model kits.
Now we are "Unsupervised Adults" and built
Full Scale Cars out of Rusty Orphans that we
Drag Home.

What I liked about the Revelle glue was how it melted the plastic and really stuck, which was also what I hated about it. Oh and the way it melted the brain cells...

When I was building a model for the local fair competition I would use a toothpick to apply the glue. It allowed me to be really careful not to get too much on and mess up the chrome or paint, or even just leave fingerprints. For the ones that were going to be subjected to fireworks there was much less care. And those were the ones built from leftover parts.

It was so much fun to put a little gasoline in one, light the fuse on the firecracker, and stand back and laugh our butts off...

Yes those were the halcyon days of my youth

So I spent some time yesterday using the full-size layout and mocking up the rollbar from short previously bent sections of tubing. That is until my back spasmed. Heating pad, muscle relaxers, and Tylenol...

Oh, before that happened, it appeared that the bar as shaped will work. Now I just have to tack it together and try it.

Maybe tomorrow

[Monster]

It was so much fun to put a little gasoline in one, light the fuse on the firecracker, and stand back and laugh our butts off...
Yes those were the halcyon days of my youth

Yep, but don't forget being a BB gun target too.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Yep, but don't forget being a BB gun target too.

Wait, don't you have a brother or 2 to shoot bbs at? I have an older brother, but I had the bb gun!

[DanStokes]

Wait, don't you have a brother or 2 to shoot bbs at? I have an older brother, but I had the bb gun!

You'll put his eye out with that thing!

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Well, his nickname is Squint. Is it my fault he peeked over the stone retaining wall? I don't think so...

Meanwhile back in the garage, Squint's son (my nephew) came west for the weekend to attend a swap meet with me today. I came home with a complete 1962 all aluminum T10 transmission case for my project, maybe... I can rebuild the shortened T10 I have into a complete working transmission, when I also acquire a new mainshaft and reverse gear parts. Much less money than buying the same thing complete. Time will tell if it happens...

Also we took a little bit of time getting some pictures of the whatever project with me sitting in it and mocking up the rollbar to figure out how high it needs to be.

Nope not making it! Too low. And am I really that ugly? So we put some spacers under it and tried again:
A little bit too high, but now I have a reference to work from. Alex, the nephew, measured up from that shiny thing in the center of the picture to a horizontal line off the top of the bar. So when I mock up the full width roll bar next, I'll know how high it needs to be.

Here's a picture from the side-ish...
Now that's what I call a fug snit! Remember that I have said before, no one ever told me just how small a T body really is? This proves that I am building the automotive definition of a cubit!

And of course Alex, a more normal sized human being, had to try it out.
He's about the same size as his father, my big brother. Why is it that an older brother is called the big brother? And before you ask, Alex is knocking on 40, the young whippersnapper! I didn't turn on the heat in the garage, hence the warm clothing. April 10th and there was a hint of snow at the swap meet.

So, tomorrow I'll get the full width roll bar mocked up, and post a picture, fortunately for you guys, without me in the pictures, to see which style of roll bar the peanut gallery likes, and I'll take it under advisement.