Slant Six Roadster Build

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RustyRatRod said:
Very creative. You think they're gonna work good?
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They should. The Andre Hartford shocks are now offering this plastic friction disc for their shocks. That will take some adjusting to fine tune but that just means more reasons to take the car out. They won't be as good as tube shocks but that would ruin the look for the type of car.
 
thebearded1 said:
They should. The Andre Hartford shocks are now offering this plastic friction disc for their shocks. That will take some adjusting to fine tune but that just means more reasons to take the car out. They won't be as good as tube shocks but that would ruin the look for the type of car.
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Yeah I love them. I think they're very period correct. Will you grease them or run dry?
 
So the Holley 2280 I rebuilt ended up having a worn throttle shaft and base which resulted in a very bad vacuum leak. I bought a NOS stromberg WW so once I get that I will start making the throttle cable and kick down bracket. My buddy who has the welder is expecting his first child tomorrow so he will be out of commission for a little while. Hopefully he will need a break from diapers and crying and we can weld up my shocks and seat belt bracket.
 
pray child and mother will be healthy and your friend can stop by to do some welding while "picking up baby supplies".
 
a good carb guru can drill out your 2 bbl throttle shaft and put bushings in it and stop them vacuum leaks,..folks been doing it for years on all sorts of carbs!!
 
dirty white boy said:
a good carb guru can drill out your 2 bbl throttle shaft and put bushings in it and stop them vacuum leaks,..folks been doing it for years on all sorts of carbs!!
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The throttle shaft was heavily worn as well and would have cause leaks on its own. If the shaft was decent I was going to add bushings to the base plate myself.
 
Thanks yall! Good news the roadster is running again! I bought a NOS Bendix Stromberg WW3 carb from @slantsixdan and got it running pretty well. I just need to get a brass tube so I can hook a hose up to the manifold vacuum port so i can set the mixture screws for best vacuum. Then it's on to making a throttle cable bracket, return spring mount, and kick down setup.

I'd really like to switch to a manual transmission one day but it's going to be a tight fit with three pedals and a clutch MC
 
Use a set of converted VW bug pedals for brake and clutch. They are small and very adaptable.
 
Making some slow but steady progress. I made a bracket setup for the throttle and kickdown cables and the return springs. The 2 barrel carb drives nice and has a lot more pep. The next warm day I will take it down to my "testing grounds" and use the Drag Racer app to see if i turn a better 1/8 mile time.
throttle bracket.jpg


I made a bracket for the seat belts too. It's hard to see in the photo but it's 1/4" steel with gussets for the tabs. There is another piece of 1/4" steel the same width and length on the backside of the body. The 2 pieces sandwich the back body using 7/16" grade 8 bolts. Later on when I add a roll bar that is tied into the frame i will tie this bar into the roll bar. I'd eventually like to run this car at one of the Loring Timing Association's land speed events in Maine to see what it will do which is why I want to add the rollbar. I will have 4 point seat belts in it by then too.
seat belt bracket.jpg

Last night I upholstered the seat back. It's 4" foam with badding attached to 1/4" birch plywood. I will screw another piece of 1/4" plywood to the body and use velcro to hold it in place. I was even able to get the stripes to line up! Now I'm going to make a thinner pad at the top to help fill in the gap between the body lip and seat back. It will be 2" foam and tan fabric.
seat back.jpg


seat back1.jpg
 
I haven't finished the seat yet but I did get a new starter that will allow more room for exhaust and moving the steering box closer to the firewall. It's the 2007 Ram 5.7L manual transmission starter and it sure makes a big difference in space and weight! I need to get some longer bolts as the ones the previous owner used were too short for comfort. I may build a little heat shield since the solenoid is slightly closer to the exhaust. It may not make much of a difference since my roadster doesn't have a hood or sides.

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thebearded1 said:
Making some slow but steady progress. I made a bracket setup for the throttle and kickdown cables and the return springs. The 2 barrel carb drives nice and has a lot more pep. The next warm day I will take it down to my "testing grounds" and use the Drag Racer app to see if i turn a better 1/8 mile time.
View attachment 1716060463

I made a bracket for the seat belts too. It's hard to see in the photo but it's 1/4" steel with gussets for the tabs. There is another piece of 1/4" steel the same width and length on the backside of the body. The 2 pieces sandwich the back body using 7/16" grade 8 bolts. Later on when I add a roll bar that is tied into the frame i will tie this bar into the roll bar. I'd eventually like to run this car at one of the Loring Timing Association's land speed events in Maine to see what it will do which is why I want to add the rollbar. I will have 4 point seat belts in it by then too.
View attachment 1716060464
Last night I upholstered the seat back. It's 4" foam with badding attached to 1/4" birch plywood. I will screw another piece of 1/4" plywood to the body and use velcro to hold it in place. I was even able to get the stripes to line up! Now I'm going to make a thinner pad at the top to help fill in the gap between the body lip and seat back. It will be 2" foam and tan fabric.
View attachment 1716060465

View attachment 1716060466
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Nice project!
 
Thanks I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Hoping to have at some events starting in mid April
 
I got the starter installed and it works great! I went to drive it to a friend's house to do some welding and discovered some front end issues and wasn't able to make it to do the work so I doubt I will be racing this season. It looks like the king pins bushings are wore out on the front spindles. They can be hand reamed but it's not as accurate and reduces the lifespan of the bushings. The better option is to find someone with a Sunnen hone that can size the bushings exactly to the kingpin. I reached out to a truck service center nearby to see if they could do it. Also made a post on my local group for the HAMB to try and find a shop.

One day I will be able to enjoy this car... one day
 
I set the toe to 1/8" in and that helped greatly with the front end. I also made some modifications to the brake pedal to make the pushrod more inline with the master cylinder. The car stops a lot better now but I'd like to improve on it though. ( no photos of that right now)

but.....

I do have a video...


Well yesterday was the first time going down a drag strip for me and my roadster! It was a blast running with the Vintage Eliminator group at South Mountain Raceway in Boiling Springs, PA. This group is mostly made up of early ford 4 cylinders and flat head v8s and a few early OHV v8s. Luckily they allow me and another guy to run with our slant sixes since our cars are made to look the part. It's bracket racing so it doesn't matter who's faster. We had over 30 cars in the group which is the highest turn out to date at any of the events. I need to make some adjustments to the carb as I couldn't leave hard or it would cut out. I tried power braking and launching but the car would just cut out as soon as i mashed the pedal. I'm going to reset my air bleed screws for max vacuum and try some starts on a back road. If that doesn't fix it I will try the other hole on the accelerator pump lever (Stromberg WW) My best run of the day was 9.89 @ 69.46 mph in the 1/8 mile. There is plenty of room for improvement once I can leave harder and work on my reaction time. I even made it to the 3rd round which surprised me. The best part is no parts fell off and I was able to drive it on the trailer at the end of the day haha. Time to make some adjustments and get ready to race again at Eastside Speedway, Waynesboro VA on April 29th!
 
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