tiny...aka 1958 lloyd

[Jester]

Those parts clean up nicely. Looks like you're doing a great job with that cool little car, keep up the good work. Do you weld in bare feet too? That's some manly chit, right there.

Everyone seems to complain about 2020 and covid. Personally, the only thing that changed for me, was I got to spend more time with my 1.5 year old daughter. Other than that, I've been practicing social distancing for the last 30 or so years, and work hasn't really changed. 2020 was a great year

 

[69.5CUDA]

Those parts clean up nicely. Looks like you're doing a great job with that cool little car, keep up the good work. Do you weld in bare feet too? That's some manly chit, right there.

Everyone seems to complain about 2020 and covid. Personally, the only thing that changed for me, was I got to spend more time with my 1.5 year old daughter. Other than that, I've been practicing social distancing for the last 30 or so years, and work hasn't really changed. 2020 was a great year

ive been bare foot welding since the first nasty cinder jumped in my boot and barbequed my foot..took a week to dig out the slag and a month to heal....bare foots safer IMO..anything that hits bounces off, anything you can feel you can get off NOW not later

social distancing..yeah...everyone i know is online or 4 hours away minimum...my social life has ended at the front door for since 92

 

[thrashingcows]

The bare foot pic made me laugh...glad to see you haven't changed and still wearing the appropriate welding footwear....

Sorry to hear about all the health issues you and your family have been going through....really hope everyone pulls through and gets better.

But nice to have you back on the board...when I started coming back around I noticed your absence and was actually a little saddened by it.

 

[71ChargerRT]

I really like that little car! That new motor looks great too, power to weight ratio is right on.

Sorry to hear about you wife's and mom's health issues, I can relate somewhat, my wife is now just over 2 years cancer free. We'll keep you all in prayer for healing.

 

[69.5CUDA]

as much as i wanted to do a power windshield...and the fact this is probably the ONLY chance of doing it in this lifetime....im rapidly coming to the conclusion that i just need the space...between the cage, the heater issues, wiper issues wiper motor linkage etc...as much as i know its "possible" i question sealability...i question noise....i cant find a channel or seal that inspires any solid hope ..ive spent YEARS designing the idea and refining it..but the fact that in the past 10 years ive not found a seal.....is pretty much the nails in the coffin on the idea

with that said either way i need to mod the cowl

option 1: use a spare 58 ford vented cowl cover and mod the shit out of it
option 2: use an old international truck "pop up" style cowl vent which will need to be repaired then sectioned and moded

my gut says keep it clean and go with the 58 unit, but the control, cool factor is with the popup unit, plus..the popup unit will allow full freshair control as well as help "date" the lil beast into being "older"

when it comes right down to it..i cant decide...i have both and both will require a bunch of work..tho...i think the 58 ford unit would require MORE due to curvatures

so gimmy some input on what would be prefered and why....im sitting at the fork in the road and need a push

as referance
58 ford panel

popup referance..the one i have is similar to this early 50s chev cab unit

 

[71ChargerRT]

I like the pop up vent idea, the fresh air intake and loss of the pop out windshield push me that route.

 

[thrashingcows]

Ol' Fernando...my 48 Desoto had a pop up vent, very cool set-up but they are huge units and not sure you have the room under the cowl for the mechanism in the closed position? Sure you wouldn't be running the OEM air box with vents and drain tubes but that is a massive unit as well.

 

[69.5CUDA]

Ol' Fernando...my 48 Desoto had a pop up vent, very cool set-up but they are huge units and not sure you have the room under the cowl for the mechanism in the closed position? Sure you wouldn't be running the OEM air box with vents and drain tubes but that is a massive unit as well.

actualy cow....i cut a unit from i think an international truck early 50s..i took a good section of the cowl too

the plan...if i go that way would be to "scale" it down..mostly front to rear not so much side to side, and the linkage can easily be shrunk once you put it on bronze bushings for cleaner smoother operation, sure it wont pop up as high..but should still be plenty functional

 

[thrashingcows]

Then go with the pop up vent....would look way cooler and more period for the car.

 

[Stretch]

I'm glad to see you have returned. I'm also excited to see the progress on this car. Love it!

 

[69.5CUDA]

ok so with the bender tested, vetted, and a nail biting first run of neer perfection...im up n rolling again

so bear in mind...this main hoop was a first go and..it fit, its square symetrical and only needed minor tweaking...well...ALOT of minor tweaking...but to be fair the cars TINY and the bends had to start 11inches off centerline of the car..yes its THAT TIGHT, and i also found..after i bent it that i needed to bend it slightly(less than 5deg) tighter so i could slip it further back in the car for head clearance, after some finnesse the fit is how i wanted...exceptionaly tight tolerances to the point of i WILL be able to hide it when im done...

i will need to do some deep contemplation about the "rear" side glass as i like to stick my arms out the windows...and as cow sitting in it showed me..arms go out rear side windows..which...are ment to be "fixed"...so ill have 2 options make a split slider window or..panel up the sides and make the window area smaller...the trick is also to hide the cage

due to fitment issues i had to go back and cut out some previous tube work triangulation, which also lead to me hacking out most of the remaining milano wheel wells, the bigger issue is that due to a need to a short angle the cage sits "just" behind the edge of the frame so ill have to extend the frame slightly to compensate...this isnt a fail in bends but a limit in the angle i was willing to do for strength as well as the need to get it behind the seat and behind my head in what i consider "normal driving position for ME"

anyway on with the pics

 

[Dr.Jass]

...but to be fair the cars TINY...

We assumed as much by its name/thread title.

Just razzin'... your work looks good. I wondered about the radius limitations but they seem to be working just fine.

 

[69.5CUDA]

We assumed as much by its name/thread title.

Just razzin'... your work looks good. I wondered about the radius limitations but they seem to be working just fine.

the radius limitations is one of the reasons i swore off a cage in the first place, add to that i wanted to keep the interior simple without anything "sticking out"
i ended up with the 5.5 radius die as grizzly didnt have the 4.5, the "bubble top" actualy lets the radius just get sucked right up into it im quite blown away and VERY happy.....the windshield frame is going to be the one that im worried most about

im none to keen on an x brace in main hoop tho....looking into alternatives

 

[69.5CUDA]

the need to carefully cut out old work while maintaining square while fitting new tubes is tricky and sometimes down right bordering imposible, with the need to nibble your way between thin body skin and a brace being forced to cut at various angles and remove little by little till it will break off so you can go back n clean it up, which eventualy ended my day, working at weird angles having the grinder stuffed down under the roof lip and having to feed it in off and kick it on once in place, being carefull as hell to remove it i removed a nice notch of a finger into the nail as well

anyway i did get some work done..lots of on/off of the roof...which just feels like cheating but hey i can you cant

so far both wheel arches got hacked, all door hinge bracing hacked, rear door bracing is now 75% out as well...now see the rear door bracing was 2 fold, square the body back there but also stiffen the door opening and make it so you could actualy "push" the car as needed, lets just say without it the door area buckles even with the top fully bolted on

first up was to get the main hoop to sit exactly where id found i wanted it..no simple task...since it needs to sit 1/2inch past my existing rail, added a 3x1x.120 section to shore up the need to extend, and did light tack welding on the main hoop till it was staying centered how i needed it and wanted it

 

[69.5CUDA]

next up, the old back deck id built had to come out along with the door bracing, it really sucks to undo work

initialy for testing of angle i was able to go over the rear door brace, but once cut down and notched...yeah it had to come out

find the angle, lock the t-square in place of angle, bend tube, copy tube, test fit, and keep test fitting till your happy, notch tube and continue

took me several hours to get this all right, you would think its simple and you would be dead wrong, its alot of angles and variables to get right, in the end i ended up with a little more gap than i wanted, but then thought about it and realised that between the unknown door seal, and the need to make panel to hide the tail lights and finish out the interior its actualy right where it needs to be for a nice hidden result, i was also working with keeping it within eyesight of the rear window but with enough space to get at the tail light bolts..which is a VERY tight tolerance

roof clearance is less than 1/2 inch

 

[restoman]

I wear my leather and such sso ppl WANT to maintain maximum distance from me...

Love it!!!

 

[69.5CUDA]

Love it!!!

between the mid back length hair, and the spiked collar distancing has not been a problem for a VERY LONG time...tho im really missing my comfort collars

 

[69.5CUDA]

another good day bad day

blew BOTH my grinders and cant for the life of me remember exactly where or what the name of the store semi localy that stocks all that stuff, the dewalt suffered an armature blowout and is done..as i suspect a new armature isnt worth the cost, the old milwaki is just another switch failure

got tired of moving the top around, got some straps out so i could move it on the fly with minimal effort

cut out the battery box as well as more bracing....feeling like im going backwards even tho i know better

 

[69.5CUDA]

got side tracked, got the ferarri performance can mounted up, more cutting, mounts made adjust tweak adjust tweak

the inlet pipes will still have to get re-done to suit how i intend to run it, end result means i will have NOTHING hanging under the car

 

[69.5CUDA]

back to cage work

got the other rear tube cut, notched and painstakingly positioned, its come to my attention ill need to make some braces off the roof mounting holes and weld a tab set to the cage tubes

also started windshield calculations..this is where things get all maner or tricky and painfull, so much stuff to change tweak cut and modifiy , and then of course i need to flex the chassis out some too