Deuce style K- Member

Well its day five and the Model A Chassis now has a K-Member as part of the stages to a full X-Member that we have fabricated from folded channel.

There is still plenty to do as the RH leg needs to be notched and modified for the booster and master cylinder to sit in there between the leg and the chassis rail.

The slots need to be cut into each component and the rivets need to be fitted and then the hole for the tail housing needs to be cut.

Heaps of room for where the shifter needs to go and with some careful thought - fitting a brake and clutch pedal should not be a problem

Three more to go.....

Doing the X Member for this car it was important to design and construct it in a way that looked like it could have left the Ford factory. That meant that extra time has to be taken to ensure a perfect fit of each component as it interlocks and over laps with the other.
Shown is one leg to the four required to make the "X"

Boxing and strength

Of all the material that I have read about chassis construction - if you have well thought out cross members, your strength is in them and not so much the chassis rail boxing or heavy wall material for the cross members.

With TJ's roadster chassis - we are opting for a traditional flavor that means we will partially box the rails at the engine and rear end areas with the X member going between the two boxed areas.

The rear boxing plates are in - a half day each on these to make from three pieces and finish to look like it is one piece stamped! The start of the X member has began with the main plate being built to resemble a '32 K member.

Next up is to finish this main plate and then build the "X"

Firestone Dirt Track Tyres

I love them!
I have been a huge fan of Firestone Dirt Track Tyres with their diamond cut tread pattern and their racing heritage they rate hugely on the smorgasboard of must have hot rod parts.

Lobeck ran them, as did Chapouris with Limefire, Jake, P'Wood and also Dennis Kyle among many and reading the magazines about these cars and the components used made for quite a desire.

So you can imagine the heart rate as I saw these ones today and got given them! WOW! Yes, they are hard and perished but even if they are mounted for a photo on my 32 - that fix will be cured!

My 32 Progress

Over the last few nights I have been able to make great progress and get the doors latched and catched using Rocky Mountain Hinge Co bearclaws from JR & Flick at Rods By Reid.

Just got the LH door skin clecoed on tonight too so I can mount the door handle and hook the linkage up.

Then it not much more to complete the body work - finish the cowl vent, decklid and floor.

TJ's Roadster

Between magazine deadlines, events and the desire to work on my own car it makes it somewhat tricky to work on jobs due to there just not being enough time in the day!

Anyway, things are still progressing nicely on TJ's roadster with the rear cross member almost ready to weld in for good.

It is based on folded 1/8" plate from FabTech and I modified it to resemble an early Ford V8 style rear cross member.

Next up is the fish plates in the joins and then teh step boxing and then the centre X member.

Whakatane Rod Run

It was wet and windy but 100 cars turned up for the fun times to be had with the guys and gals of Whakatane Rod & Custom Club

Awesome road trip with heaps of old style hot rods enjoying the Kiwi countryside

Real racing!

Racing Rods
Celebrating Bruce McLaren
By Greg Stokes

Punchline – any hot rodder that wouldn’t have appreciated the NZ Festival of Motor Racing needs to have their head read! Simply put, the two weekend festival at Hampton Downs one week and then Pukekohe the following was the red blooded hot rodder’s fix to circuit racing. Celebrating the life of Bruce McLaren, the sight and sound of the biggest fields ever of Formula 5000’s and Can Am Cars was truly sensational as these stack injected V8 engine powered lightweight’s rumbled, burbled and cackled on down shifts, their way round the two well known race tracks. For most people young and old it was a first time glimpse as to how racing really was – seat of your pants action before computer controlling and political correctness came to play to give diluted racing that we think is cool today.

Supporting classes included the Historic Class where two stand out cars were the 1959 Old Yeller 2 Buick Special built by Max Balchosky in the USA and the twin supercharged 1935 Alfa Romeo Tipo with torsion bar suspension and lots of elaborate fabrication and flair. The Historic Class also featured many Ford Flathead powered specials as well as local cars such as the Stanton Corvette, the Lycoming Special, Gee Cee Ess Special with the mix of cars coming from New Zealand, Australia, UK and USA. The Old Yeller 2 however, stood out from a hot rodder’s perspective as it was one of the few hot rods that went road racing in the fifties in the USA and created quite a history with legends such as Carroll Shelby and Dan Gurney sliding behind the wheel.

The Old Yeller 2 is one of nine cars built and the third car is always on display at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. Owned by Ernie and Elaine Nagamatsu from the USA, the car is displayed with a complete photo history and still runs a big Buick Nailhead engine and eagle eye hot rodders will also spot the ’50 Pontiac tail lights.

Also of great interest to hot rodders was the 1960’s & 1970’s Saloons and GT’s classes where cars such as the Sidechrome Hillman Imp and the Cologne Capri’s are racing with the likes of the Ivan Segedin Fleetwood Mustang and Dale Mathers prepared Mustangs ranging from BOSS 302 fast backs to GT-350’s. Not to mention the Trans Am style AMC Javelin of the Stacey Family and also the Robbie Francevic driven “Custaxie”. Truly the golden years of motoring are celebrated with this event, and why not? The UK have the Goodwod Festival of Speed and the USA has similar events at Laguna Seca and Monterey.

Naturally the Bruce McLaren Trust had a great display with memorabilia and also apparel available and it was also the most impressive display of McLaren race cars ever collated. Again, of interest to hot rodders is the fact that Duncan Fox & Tony Roberts have for a number of years preserving McLaren cars and vintage race cars for a world wide market. For a while the metalshaping talent of Mike Roberts was also employed for the fastidious craftsmanship required along with the CNC machining capabilities of John Parker. Their efforts have strengthened the celebration of all old historic race cars and has put New Zealand on the map within those circles carrying on from where Bruce McLaren left off.

Put the last two weekends aside in 2011 as the NZ Festival of Motor Racing returns to celebrate Chris Amon.