the ROLLING ROADSTER

When we built our first 6 cars, they were all on a 2 foot by 4 foot frame. That gave them a pretty short wheel base. That short wheel base along with short tires and quick steering made for a very twitchy car.

When the DW1386 got crashed and damaged in October of 2009, it was considered beyond repair. But rather then give up, we cut the front of the car off and rebuilt it. When we reconstructed the car, we stretched it 1 foot. That extra 1 foot of length made the car very easy to drive and did away with a lot of the twitchiness we had experienced before.

One by one, the other cars also got stretched. We stretched Blue By You and White Lightning. Then the Wedge of Doom got stretched. Each car that got stretched, became easier and more comfortable to drive. Jola wanted her car stretched too. But if we did that, we would either have to stretch the VW body, or no longer use it. Stretching the body would probably just look silly.

So, we decided to build her a new car for the ECC that would have a longer wheel base and hopefully be easier to drive and safer.

Work was begun on August 21, 2010 in hopes of having the car ready for our September 12, 2010 race. That way she would have a race to test it in and then decide which car she wanted to use for the ECC on October 3. If we needed to make any changes or improvements, we would still have a few weeks to get them completed.

This is the basic chassis shape with the cock pit taking shape in the rear.

Since driver safey is a priority on this car, we started with the cock pit. The plan is to have this area of the car become somewhat of a survival cell.

The rear bumper was added. It is the same width as the rear axle of the car - 41". For the axle, we choose the Azusa 3/4" Standard Steel Axle. This is a little wider then what we have used in the past, but the axle comes pre-drilled and threaded. That saves us a lot of fabrication time.

For this car, we choose the Azusa 8" aluminum Spinner wheel and a saw tooth tire. This wheel uses a 3/4" axle and precision ball bearings.

We added these extension pads to mount the Azusa 5" drum brake backing plate.

Well the rains stopped and late this afternoon it dried up enough to go out and do some more work on the car. We were trying to get the front end finished up but it just isn't giving us the shape we are after.

Too Many compound angles! I guess i should have paid more attention in Geometry class.

So we decided to put that off and try to get the front axle built and mounted.

We decided to go with the same front axle design that we came up with for Milner's car. In place of using square tube, we are using round tube mounted with muffler clamps.

This will allow us to adjust caster by loosening the clamps and rotating the axle.

Here you can see the basic form we are after. It's really starting to take shape now.

One of the most critical aspects of today's build was getting the front axle parallel with the rear axle. The narrowness of the chassis and the close mounting points made this a very difficult task.

With the axle mounts so close to the center line of the car, we had to build a set of radius rods to help support the outside ends of the axle and give it some stability. Plus, they shoudl really look cool and help give it that vintage Hot Rod look we are after.

We couldn't finish up the radius rods today because we need a few more muffler clamps. The local auto parts store only had 3 in stock. This rear end of the radius rods will be fitted with a rod end so they can actually be adjusted and work.

Well, last night we finished up the front axle and shortened and mounted the rack & pinion.

Then we finished up the radius rods and fashioned up some functional clamps to hold them to the front axle. On the back end where they attach to the chassis, we added a tap and installed a rod end so they can actually be adjusted now. We didn't take any pictures.

I was able to get the trailer unloaded and go to the steel place today and get sheet metal. So tonight we concentrated on the floor pan.