Hot Rod....it's an Olds

Nice project!

Zbuckster wrote:Looking good. No idea on the Windshield frame. The cowl is very round on that Olds Body. I would just have to start working with the styrene and see what happened.

I made a couple of attempts that failed and the round cowl does make it a lot trickier.

Nice work Denis. I'm pleased to hear that the rear track is not going to be that wide. You gave me a scare there!!!  

The cowl is very rounded so how about making a pair of frameless aero screens instead??

Al that's the other option that was included in the kit and likely where I'll be heading.

I did a bit more work but nothing really pic worthy for now.

Looking Good   Wating to see where you go with the windsheild along with the rest of the build.

Thanks for the interest guys.  Always nice to have people come along for the ride.

Because of a bigger axel I also needed to have bigger supports so I took a few pics of how I went about it.

First I glued together the appropriate size scrap styrene and drilled a couple of of holes.


Next I cut a square around the circles I drilled out.


I simply cut the square in two and glued each to the leaf springs ends.


It's not until I got to putting the springs on that I realized how precise these steps have to be so that everything is centred, preoperly angled and have the same height so the tires are square in the end.


I assembled the front suspension without modifying anything to it and we now have a ride height.


Rear view after chopping the axel to a reasonable width.  I might cut it down more once I know exactly how much room I have when I decide what I'm putting on the back.


Thanks for checking it out!

Nice work on the axle mounts. Are you going to lower the front any?

Nice work Denis but it looks a bit high all round methinks!

Thanks guys!

I had no room to maneuver at the back going with the 3/4 leaf springs so the back got jacked up.  I'm pretty happy with the overall stance and height but I wouldn't mind lowering the front a bit.  The only thing is the engine might not allow me to do this but I will check it out.

So I'm looking at lowering the front and I have very little room to work with.  A friend froma different site has been helping me out with this.

The idea now is to move the tie rod assembly to the front and this will give oil pan clearance which I had to have backwards up to now.

The height difference between the axle and tie rod assembly makes it tricky.



I will flip and reverse the tie rod arms to compensate and move the whole assmbly forward.


I will have to do more cutting and hacking at the body too!

Looking good. I think it will work.

Looks good!

That's looking good, Shelby.
All this re-engineering is fun, ain't it ? Imagineering comes in handy.l

Thanks guys!

I've been to a car show over the week end, checked out the rods very closely and took a few pics so I'm armed and ready to get the front suspension done hopefully today.

Got some work done on this.

Before completing the front suspension height I realized the wheels were outside the fenders so I figured I would remedy this as well.

My first thought was to cut and shorten the axle but then found a way to use a kit's part, one of the blowers.


I cut the end off to use as a ring around the the axle and proceeeded in removing the existing one with the rotary tool.


I glued the new rings further in to get the wheels where they belong.


I laughed hysterically when I figured out the tie rod would have to be shortened now too!! Chop, chop, sand and reglued.


The tie rod assembly now resides at the front.




Finally the new stance after lowering the front. Compare with the old stance below.



Thanks for checking it out guys!  Hope I have more progress soon.

Nice idea on shortening the track Denis. One mod almost always leads to another!!!

Did you forget the  new stance image for comparison??

Ditto what Al said.

Le me try this again guys.  

New and improved

Old and obsolete

I think it looks great. Much better. 

Wow, a lot of work, but it does look better. A "Highboy" all around was a normal look for a time, then dropped front axles became THE thing. Times change.

Thank you kindly gentlemen.

I moved on to the engine and see how I could shoehorn this monster.

I got rid of the belt assembly from the Ford engine and put one from a Road Runner kit.


I drilled the fan and mated it to the belt assembly.  It slides in with just a bit of clearance for the radiator.


Some floor clearance as well.


My parts box fails me when it comes to cool exhausts for hot rods.  The best I could come up with as even a building block are from an AMT Daytona kit and they're not even symmetrical!  Looks like I have to either do some shopping or serious scratch building.


Until I figure out the exhaust I'm turning to the cab and interior.  The door panels are raised up and I have a good mind to sand it flat and go doorless.  I haven't figured out yet what I will actually do so any input is much appreciated.


I had started scribing the inside of the doors as there are no inside panles of any kind and the plastic was bare.


I have some different colour material I use mainly for seat belts.  I am thinking of using the dark blue to cover the inside.  You can see a finish sampler that is used in furniture which I plan to use for decorative trims.  I have a few different colours and finishes so any idea you guys might have I'm all ears.


Thanks for looking in!

Denis, those headers may still look cool if you reverse them side to side, so that they raise up from the heads instead of down. Just a thought.

On the doors:

I think you'll find a lot of cars didn't have shut lines as in latter years but had a sort of 'cover' strip. Probably to hide poor shut lines.

Here's the real deal:



Of course you may still want to remove it but I kind of like it.

 

I think the door thing is up to you. The Model T Ford only had one working door while the Oldsmobile had two. I think since you are building an O-rod you should leave the door lines there. Just my 2 pennies worth.

Thanks guys!

Skid wrote:Denis, those headers may still look cool if you reverse them side to side, so that they raise up from the heads instead of down. Just a thought.

On the doors:

I think you'll find a lot of cars didn't have shut lines as in latter years but had a sort of 'cover' strip. Probably to hide poor shut lines.

Here's the real deal:



Of course you may still want to remove it but I kind of like it.

I hadn't thought of reversing the headers. Definitely food for thought. Were there pictures of the interior where you got this one? I've looked and had no luck.

Zbuckster wrote:I think the door thing is up to you. The Model T Ford only had one working door while the Oldsmobile had two. I think since you are building an O-rod you should leave the door lines there. Just my 2 pennies worth.

Between you and Al you've convinced me to keep the doors as is. Even after all the mods I would like it to still be recognizable as an Olds.