Late 60's Vintage Modified Race Car

[plainred65]

Just toooo cool!

[Shaun1162]

Haven't had much for updates lately, so I thought today would be a pretty good day to show...

I'd say it's a milestone for the restoration... For the first time in probably 40 years, the car moved under it's own power.

Kinda hard to believe it was just a rotted out frame witha body sitting on it 5 months ago....









Not a very good picture, but here's how the rear suspension kind of ended up:



Just a real temporary hookup for now... Extra battery for the coil, jumper pack for the starter, and an old oil bottle for the gas can, but at least I don't have to push it anymore!

Pretty big moment for me personally working on vehicles too... I've been involved with alot of old cars, but this was the first real time I've gone through this much mechanical work. First time I've actually put a motor in a car, gone through the engine, put the clutch together, shortened a driveshaft, gone through a rear differential (even un-welding the spider gears) and today I finally got to see that work pay off.

[Shaun1162]

Haven't really update this build for a while... so thought I'd share a little. Actually found the original guy that built this car back in the 60's. By chance I found his name in some old newspaper photocopies I had of race results from the late 60's, and he happened to live in the same town still. Called him one morning last week, and then just had to rush over and meet him that afternoon to get the full story on the car.

He shared alot of information on the car that I'll have to post later. He always had a flathead in it, and ran a 3x2 carb set up, along with aluminum heads. He also used an 8BA with the distributor on the side, instead of the front of the motor. He didn't remember the name of the father and son he sold it too back in the day, but remembered it was for about $800. Still trying to track down information on who he sold it to....

Anyways, lately I've been sort of discouraged looking at the chassis (you have to admit... it is pretty ugly looking with no body on it...). So I was able to move it out into the other part of the building, so now I can start to work more on the body now.



Been trying out my new Christmas present....



My plans for the body are pretty simple. I want to fix all the rust, and I want to get out most of the major dents on the body. What I don't want to try and do is make this into a flawless body. I've seen plenty of guys working on these old stock cars making the bodies as close to perfect as they can, but that's not what I'm after.

Sure I want it to look good, but I still want something that has "character". Planning to paint it like it was (the red and black with silver numbers/trim), but don't want anything too fancy. After all, it was originally painted with barn paint!

As for the cutouts at the bottom of the body where the nerf bars attached to the frame/roll cage, I think I'm going to take the old peices and add some extra sheet metal to the back of them that go off on the sides. Then I can drill holes in the body + the panels and pop rivet them on. That way, if I ever need to, I can remove the body from the chassis without really disturbing the rest of the body and paint. Certainly not high tech or the most visually appealing option, but it'll be pretty low on the car ad I'll paint the rivets as well to hide them.

Picked up a pair of 6.50x16 bias ply tires for the back that were like new for $55 and some old trailer tires I wasn't using. Have 2 stock wide 5 rims so I'll get them mounted soon and see how they look. Still have to figure out what to do for tires on the front... Want to run smaller tires in the front, just not sure on size.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Yeah... the cage is kinda ugly all by itself... but with that body on there! DAMN!

I can't believe you found the builder!

[MalibuSSwagon]

I really like this. And local too!

[Shaun1162]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Yeah... the cage is kinda ugly all by itself... but with that body on there! DAMN!

Haha it really is quite a change! Some times I get a little discouraged or overwhelmed by it... And then I look at the picture of it from the passenger rear side with the body on it and it really changes my mood

I can't believe you found the builder!

Originally Posted by MalibuSSwagon

I really like this. And local too!

Thanks! Ya I always head through Weare on the way down to the Amherst flea market... Not too far off

[Shaun1162]

Nothing to exciting to share... Just more body work.

At first it didn't seem this car had ever been rolled over... But the original builder seemed to think it rolled over about three times once when they didn't have enough air in the airplane tires they were experimenting with, and now I'm starting to believe him! Dents all over the place on the roof. There was a pretty good hit over the door hinge area on the roof, and the roof seems to have been pushed downwards- it overlaps the top of the door, enough to where the door could never have opened after the damage.

Bodywork's not perfect by any definition, but I think it'll turn out pretty nice for this old jalopy...

Boy I hate block sanding!

[Shaun1162]

Well, last day of winter break, back to college tomorrow. Fortunately I had some time to work on the ol jalopy...

I managed to pick up a pretty decent windshield frame off of Craigslist, only two towns over for $100. I think I did pretty good on it. The only real bad place was on one of the bottom edges by where the bracket slides in. Had to drill out the screws (of course) to get it apart, but amazingly I didn't break the glass taking it apart (its already cracked, but at least I didn't have to pick up off the floor if it had shattered!) and now I've got a good template to have another made.

I'm sure someone's done it before, so is there any good way to mount the windshield solid to the car? I don't have any of the hinges/brackets, so I was planning on making some brackets to make it stationary, but not glued in place like newer ones. I think it's safe to say this car will have plenty of ventilation without a hinged windsheild







Also had a chance to tackle some of the bodywork I've been putting off... The cowl vent area had seen better days... Must have had pine needles sitting in there or something for quite a while...



I managed to cut too much off of the donor panel so I screwed up the gap on the front, but I think it turned out alright. My first real time tying to patch in a donor piece in the middle of a panel like that.





Got some more grinding to do, but all in all I'd say it looks pretty good.

[Shaun1162]

So after getting the cowl vent patched in, one of the "big" rusty area to deal with was in the upper windshield lip. At first I tried to weld up some fo the pin holes, but it became apparent pretty quite that it needed to be cut out and replaced......







The bottom overlap of the lip originally had rivets and a few spot welds to hold it in place. Course that type of rivet reall wasn't an option for me, so I decided to drill some holes every couple inches and then plug weld it. I think it turned out pretty good... Still got some welding to do and start grinding, but this was all I could get to this afternoon.

[RWB-713]

Love it! Awesome project! Subscribed!

[hopped up]

Love this build. Keep at it!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Shaun1162]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

[nds1968]

Originally Posted by hopped up

Love this build. Keep at it!!
Posted via Mobile Device

X2

[Shaun1162]

NOW it's starting to look like something.....











This was my first time driving it with the body on it, that was definately a good feeling!

Been needing some encouragement lately, and I think this will help. I've got alot of the body work done, but it just seemed to be dragging on and on so I needed a change for a little while.

Didn't have time to take pictures of it today, but I put a set of 6.50 x 16 tires I got for $40 on a pair of stock wide 5's on the back (only had $20 in those). At first it just didn't have the "cool" factor that those wide racing tires did, but I think it's growing on me now.

[Shaun1162]

Classes were canceled today due to the "blizzard" so I had some time to spend on the car...

Been wanting to get back to the grill and finish that up.

Here's the old "grill" that was on the car... Made out of 1x2 thin wall box, some mesh, and window screening. While it was functional, I had to change it.



When I put the motor in for the first time I did it from the side so it wasn't much of an issue... But when I used a regular engine crane, this welded grill sort of got in the way. So I cut it off, started making a new one, but never got around to it until today.

I've made brackets to bolt to the angle iron that supports the radiator and shock mounts, and was originally going to bolt the mesh to it. Better after playing around with a bunch of ideas on how to make that look good, I abandoned the idea of bolting the mesh to the brackets. So instead I added two side pieces and welded the wesh all the way around.





Still got some work to do (grinding, weld the holes I drilled, etc) but I think it'll look pretty good once it's done. It'll make pulling the motor easier, but I still kept the original mesh and look of the first one. I think the mesh is made out of good stainless steel... It doesn't rust, it's not magnetic, but I can weld to it with regular welding wire. Incredibly strong too...

Also a quick picture of it's new shoes on the back, just some Sears 6.50x16. Not sure what size to go with on the front yet, but I really need to find another pair of wide 5's and some tires... Would like a small tire, maybe 5.00x16? All I know if having a huge RF and a tiny 13" on the LF really makes things look goofy...

[onebigdog]

I want to congratulate you on your perseverance and commitment to follow through on what easily could have been sold to the scrap yard or left to finish rusting away in the field. I grew up on the west coast and remember watching Super Modifieds race at West Capitol Raceway. Thank you for saving this piece of racing history. Great job, keep up the work

[67ChevyRedneck]

Awesome. Grille looks a lot better too.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Shaun1162]

Originally Posted by onebigdog

I want to congratulate you on your perseverance and commitment to follow through on what easily could have been sold to the scrap yard or left to finish rusting away in the field. I grew up on the west coast and remember watching Super Modifieds race at West Capitol Raceway. Thank you for saving this piece of racing history. Great job, keep up the work

Thanks for the kind words! Its definately a shame, but surely most people would have saved the body and scrapped the rest, and this car would have been truly forgotten.

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Awesome. Grille looks a lot better too.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks!

[plainred65]

Glad to see you're back at it, the new grill looks great.

[motornut]

yup "new" grill looks great

[Shaun1162]

Slowly but surely....





One rather large dilemna I noticed tonight is with my "battery box" that was built into the firewall. I made a new one ot mimick the old one, and after finding a small enough battery that odyssey offered (http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc680series.htm) and had planned to lay it down flat inside the box, with my master cylinder above.

BUT I didn't take into account where my throttle linkages need to be....



Getting sort of crowded in there now.. Possibly I could fit the battery in there if I shorten the end on the linkage? But then of course I've still got brake lines to route through there... Sort of a cluttered area..

Would it be possible to mount the battery on the frame rail here:



Not sure if the motor/exhaust heat would effect the battery of not. Would look pretty goofy there though.... Maybe I could build a box to go underneath the car... Just don't want to move it to the trunk, because then I'd have to make the trunk lid open again and that's something I'm avoiding.

Also have a dilemna with the open space around the transmission, floor, and the body...





I've got one piece that isn't in the picture that goes by the steering shaft, but still, there's alot of empty space there... I'm no sheet metal man, so it will be a little bit of a challenge for me.. But perhaps I can cut up this old trans cover I saved off an old '70 C-30 I scrapped:





Also managed to get another pair of Ford wide 5's for the front of my car... Still need to find a pair of tires, but this old weather cracked one works good for mock-up, looks ALOT better then that big old ugly recap truck tire on the homemade rim made out of a dually, thats for sure...

[XJAbuzer]

Awesome build. Great to see you bringing this back to life from a demise of rusting away in a field.

Originally Posted by Shaun1162

IMHO, I like the fat tires on the back so much better than those, but it is not my project.


Keep up the awesome work!

[Shaun1162]

Some more progress today...

Got the torque arm in place and the bracket tacked in on the cage. Suspension still seems to work the same, so I guess I didn't mess it up too badly...



Then started working the panhard mount.





One thing handy about this rear end is the convenient bolts in the middle of the housing..





Hopefully can get the 220 welder out tomorrow and finish welding these pieces. Still need to make an additional guesst going from the other panhard mount to the frame rail/angle iron going across the back).

Also managed to get an old VW tank from my uncle... But it's the wrong style. Found I need one out of a 50-55 Bug, not something you see in junkyards anymore..

However, maybe I could make this work tank, just make some new brackets. I would also get a fuel gauge which the other tank didn't have provisions for... Something that can come in handy haha

Think I might need to find a different seat too... We've got an old aluminum racing seat with no head rest that I could probably get a cover made for, but I'd sort of like to find and old car or truck seat to use. A VW seat would be even better because that's what they ran originally, but I need something that mounts flat to the floor...

[RWB-713]

I can't say enough enough how much I enjoy your project man. I love the old race car design & just noticing how much it's evolved since then is awesome. You put a tone of time & effort into this thing man, and it's looking great!

[Shaun1162]

Have gotten some more work done on the rear suspension.....







So over the past week or so I've been thinking pretty hard about the seat for this car...

Looked at regular racing seats, old fiberglass seats, truck seats, etc, etc.

Then yesterday, I got the crazy idea... Why not use the seat frame that was in it?? (Don't think it was the first seat it had though)

Well, it had seen better days to say the least... And yes, the bottom of the frame was welded directly to the floor:



Pretty soon after I got the chassis back from the sandblaster, I cut out the seat and stashed it away, so yesterday I dragged it back out to see what was left of it...



Realized I didn't really need 1/8" plate as a seat back, so cut that out and welded up the holes and some of the bigger rust pits..



Then added a 2" flat piece to the back for some support, and then 1 1/2" pieces on the bottom of the seat, and drilled two holes in each. Later I welded 4 bolts through the holes so I had an easy way to attach it....



I think it'll work out pretty good now... Dropped it off at the local upholstery guy, hopefully he can work his magic on it



Need to start thinking about an emergency/parking brake system... My state requires it for a "Street Rod" inspection... That'll take a little engineering