Old6rodder
New Member
Excellent project.
Slant Six Roadster Build
- Thread starter thebearded1
- Start date
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Badvert65
Long Time Mopar Nut
How did it go at Waynesboro?
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
Thanks it's finally coming together. Adding socks and headlight mounts today!
It was cancelled due to rain. There aren't anymore drag racing event till July unfortunately. I do have some dirt circle track events I'm going to try to run at in May. Need to get shocks on the front end and build a screen for the radiator
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
Here are some photos on of the shocks and the way she stands today. Test drove the car today and the shocks worked great. I still need to take the shocks apart and paint them.
I ended up making the discs out of a sheet of slippery UHMW Polyethylene from McMaster-Carr. I read up on sooo many different options for the friction disc material but ended up going with the UHMW after reading how the slippery material makes for a smoother operating shock due to less stiction or intial friction. This from Holden Vintage and Classic talks about Hartford adding this material for use on their shocks and shows the difference between the UHMW and wood and brass.
I originally was going to use a pair of 40 ford hydraulic lever shocks for the rear but i may make another set of friction shocks like I did for the front. Here is the link for the plastic. I bought a 12 x12, 1/4" thick sheet and cut it using an adjustable circle cutter bit in the drill press.
McMaster-Carr
I ended up making the discs out of a sheet of slippery UHMW Polyethylene from McMaster-Carr. I read up on sooo many different options for the friction disc material but ended up going with the UHMW after reading how the slippery material makes for a smoother operating shock due to less stiction or intial friction. This from Holden Vintage and Classic talks about Hartford adding this material for use on their shocks and shows the difference between the UHMW and wood and brass.
I originally was going to use a pair of 40 ford hydraulic lever shocks for the rear but i may make another set of friction shocks like I did for the front. Here is the link for the plastic. I bought a 12 x12, 1/4" thick sheet and cut it using an adjustable circle cutter bit in the drill press.
McMaster-Carr
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
Haven't made any updates in a while. Have been busy racing and crewing so still having fun. In July I raced a lakester powered by a mostly stock pinto motor at the Loring Timing Association in Maine. It's land speed racing where you are timed at a mile and 1.5 mile. We race on an old retired air force base runway. I set a record in the class at 114 mph and had a blast!
Then I was out at Bonneville Speedweek in August helping a few teams. Rains hampered things and they were only able to run one course and it was only 3 miles so the one team didn't run. That car is another lakester but it has a 562 cui BBC naturally aspirated with no power adders. We need a 5 mile course as the record we are going after is 314 mph. It was still a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people from all over the world.
Then in the end of August it was back to Maine to help crew with 2 teams. One was Tom Pease's Chevomet which Marcia set a record in the fuel class at 180mph.
Tom built an awesome race car hauler out of a school bus as well.
I was also helping Marcia run an old belly tanker lakester that originally ran at Bonneville in 1964 and went 203 mph. It's powered by a 260 sbf and had a hilborn injection system in 1964. The lakester was restored by Tom Pease and his staff and was almost exactly how it was in 64 minus the injection system. Marcia set a record in the class at 138 mph!
Then I was out at Bonneville Speedweek in August helping a few teams. Rains hampered things and they were only able to run one course and it was only 3 miles so the one team didn't run. That car is another lakester but it has a 562 cui BBC naturally aspirated with no power adders. We need a 5 mile course as the record we are going after is 314 mph. It was still a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people from all over the world.
Then in the end of August it was back to Maine to help crew with 2 teams. One was Tom Pease's Chevomet which Marcia set a record in the fuel class at 180mph.
Tom built an awesome race car hauler out of a school bus as well.
I was also helping Marcia run an old belly tanker lakester that originally ran at Bonneville in 1964 and went 203 mph. It's powered by a 260 sbf and had a hilborn injection system in 1964. The lakester was restored by Tom Pease and his staff and was almost exactly how it was in 64 minus the injection system. Marcia set a record in the class at 138 mph!
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
As for my track bucket I sent the steering box to Clark's Corvair Parts to have it rebuilt and they did a great job. I knew I didn't have the tools to do the job right but had other tools I would have used and screwed it up haha. They even media blasted the box and it looks great. I ended up just painting it with satin clear.
I bumped my tire pressures up in the front to 30 psi and was able to stop a bounce that was happening at 65 mph and was able to do 80 mph.
I cut and tack welded together a new exhaust from a u bend and a megaphone. Sorry no pics right now. My buddy is going to tig weld it to finish it up. I also added a small bosch tach to the column too so I can have more consistent launches at the drag strip.
Right now i'm working on attaching some 40's Ford hydraulic lever shocks for the rear. I will post photos once i get those done.
Been taking the car to work and was going to run at South Mountain Raceway this past Sunday for some drag action but it was canceled due to rain. This weekend is the Mobtown Greaseball Show in Dundalk MD but once again they are calling for a bunch of rain. Then another drag race at Eastside Speedway in VA Sept 30 hopefully with decent weather!
I bumped my tire pressures up in the front to 30 psi and was able to stop a bounce that was happening at 65 mph and was able to do 80 mph.
I cut and tack welded together a new exhaust from a u bend and a megaphone. Sorry no pics right now. My buddy is going to tig weld it to finish it up. I also added a small bosch tach to the column too so I can have more consistent launches at the drag strip.
Right now i'm working on attaching some 40's Ford hydraulic lever shocks for the rear. I will post photos once i get those done.
Been taking the car to work and was going to run at South Mountain Raceway this past Sunday for some drag action but it was canceled due to rain. This weekend is the Mobtown Greaseball Show in Dundalk MD but once again they are calling for a bunch of rain. Then another drag race at Eastside Speedway in VA Sept 30 hopefully with decent weather!
Very cool! Making lots of memories!!
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
It's been a lot of fun that's for sure! This winter i'm going to try putting in a simple roll bar behind the body so I can run my car up at Loring to see what it will do. I will also be able to add shoulder belts as well.
Thanks for sharing your stories.
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
No problem! Sorry they weren't a-bodies or mopar powered but we are all car people here! I'm glad yall have been interested in my roadster build.
This thing is just way cool Are you a member of the roadsters page on Facebook?
Roadsters Only
Roadsters Only
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
Thanks it's been a lot of headaches and a lot of fun making it. I wasn't but am now. I will try to post some photos over there too when i get a chance. I really can't wait for my buddy to finish weld the exhaust I made. It's going to look a whole lot better. The exhaust on there now was temporary and made from what I had. All I have is a stick welder and it will look like a hot mess if i try to finish it haha.
thebearded1
Well-Known Member
Well I'm back from winter hibernation haha. I have been making progress on a lot of different updates during the winter but wanted to post after things were wrapped up. Ran new brake lines with better routing and everything works great with no leaks like they were before. I took out the hydraulic brake light switch (leaking) and added a pull switch to the brake pedal like you would find on the rear brake of an older motorcycle. I think I'm still going to try arcing the shoes to my drums at some point.
I did find a set of front runner wheels 15x5.5 w/ 5.5 bp and am in the process of cleaning them up so I can install the 5.60-15 tires. I wanted 5" wide or less rims but these were free and will work fine.
I made a new mount for the alternator. Thanks to @Badvert65 for the help. We only talked about it years ago haha and I finally got around to it. It used to be high and on the passenger side (red mark) now it's tucked in and low on the driver's side. Before you could see it sticking out past the grill.
Also replaced the timing chain because it had a lot of slop. Next I'm going to readjust the valve lash and reset the timing since it won't be jumping around now.
I built a new exhaust to replace the temporary "dog leg" that was on there. Made it similar to what I saw on some track roadsters in a 50s issue of Hot Rod Magazine. Sounds a lot better with a deeper note. I am going to paint it with aluminum colored exhaust paint and cure it on the car. The metal clang you hear is the heat control valve on the stock manifold.
Also about to make a cockpit cover for the passenger side. It will use boat snaps along the edge of the body as well as being snapped to a metal and wood rib that runs from the dash to the rear body lip. That will be held in place by 2 cleats. I will likely treat the canvas with linseed oil to darken it up and give it some water resistance to make it easier to wash after dirt track events.
A 4 point roll bar is still in the plans that will be bolt in so I can remove it for the street.
Looking forward to the event season and will be back out at drag tracks and dirt tracks starting in April
I did find a set of front runner wheels 15x5.5 w/ 5.5 bp and am in the process of cleaning them up so I can install the 5.60-15 tires. I wanted 5" wide or less rims but these were free and will work fine.
I made a new mount for the alternator. Thanks to @Badvert65 for the help. We only talked about it years ago haha and I finally got around to it. It used to be high and on the passenger side (red mark) now it's tucked in and low on the driver's side. Before you could see it sticking out past the grill.
Also replaced the timing chain because it had a lot of slop. Next I'm going to readjust the valve lash and reset the timing since it won't be jumping around now.
I built a new exhaust to replace the temporary "dog leg" that was on there. Made it similar to what I saw on some track roadsters in a 50s issue of Hot Rod Magazine. Sounds a lot better with a deeper note. I am going to paint it with aluminum colored exhaust paint and cure it on the car. The metal clang you hear is the heat control valve on the stock manifold.
Also about to make a cockpit cover for the passenger side. It will use boat snaps along the edge of the body as well as being snapped to a metal and wood rib that runs from the dash to the rear body lip. That will be held in place by 2 cleats. I will likely treat the canvas with linseed oil to darken it up and give it some water resistance to make it easier to wash after dirt track events.
A 4 point roll bar is still in the plans that will be bolt in so I can remove it for the street.
Looking forward to the event season and will be back out at drag tracks and dirt tracks starting in April
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