New project.

[Dollisdad]

For the last 7-8 years I gathered parts in hope of building a Torpedo. So I thought it’s time to put the chassis together and we’ll think about a body later. So for now I brought what I have to the shop and started with riveting brackets to the frame, straightening and aligning said brackets and priming as I go.

[Dollisdad]

I have a pr. of housings, so I bought a donor rear end. Turns out the guts were very nice. Put tha axles in the lathe and arrow straight. Ring and pinion very nice also. Axles are centered, so no bent housings. The usual thrust washers and pins were replaced. I’m waiting for a driveshaft to set the pinion, but so far so good.

[Dollisdad]

Torpedo column with a loose gear case on top, so I reset the rivets and silver soldered the joint. Now to clean the mess off.

[Kevin Pharis]

Paint is barely dry on the speedster, and yur on to building a torpedo… I’m jealous! Good luck with your project, looking forward to seeing pics of the progress

[Allan]

Nice work Tom! If there is anybody out there who thinks the diff centres and axle tubes on the earl diff are interchangeable, check out the rivet spacings on Tom's photo of the inside of one of his housings. That ought to convince anyone they are individual assemblies.

Allan from down under.

[AdminJeff]

Looks great Tom. A ton of work, for sure, but fun! I've been thinking of replacing my lathe. Now you make me want to get an even larger one. Why is it every time I read a post like this it costs me money?!!

Jeff

[Rich P. Bingham]

It’s great to follow your progress on these projects Tom, thank you ! (you do such fine work, it’s an inspiration !)

[Ed Fuller]

Thanks for sharing Tom. I always enjoy seeing the progress on your latest projects.

[J1MGOLDEN]

I have four frames I don't need if anyone want to try Ed's plan.

[KWTownsend]

Cool, Tom.
Are those original torpedo dash brackets?

[Dollisdad]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, they mean a lot from fellow builders. Jeff, I love machines that do stuff also. And Keith the brackets came from Tom Manochi probably 7 yrs. ago.
When I begin to gather parts I like to put together subassemblies to see if the parts fit, if there worn out and beyond repair and need replacing. If they are good I will sometimes rebuild pieces. Such is the case with the front end. I had it pretty much rebuilt but still rusty, so today I disassembled it.

[Dollisdad]

I used a new front spring and I didn’t care for the taper on the end of the leaves, so I reshaped and cleaned up the edges. Then took all the pieces to the sandblaster and then shot the parts with a sealer to keep them from rusting.

[Dollisdad]

Then reassemble the front end. Dry, no grease. It will come all apart for paint later and that’s when I will nit pick the finish on all the parts.

[Dollisdad]

Put in new D/S collar bushing, while waiting for other parts.

Made new brake release rod after straightening hand brake lever.

[Dollisdad]

I think the frame was a farm trailer at some point. I welded up holes that shouldn’t be there.

[Dollisdad]

All holes welded up and finished off. Reprimed and ready to move along.

Found a Torpedo firewall in the wood shop. Looks to be a Seversons from 40 years ago. Some water stains that sanded off for the most part and a scare at the top that I think I can doctor. I used the r/b fixture to set the frame spacing ( 1/8” off ) and the pre drilled holes were very close.

[Dollisdad]

This keeps the top of the frame rails from flexing out or in. Now if I can just get the r/b truss rods I can start to mount the fenders and aprons. Then I can build the rest of the butterfly irons upward arms.

I got the bushing on the lower d/s. THE WORST JOB of this whole build. Fitting the U joint is simple. Put the axle back in the vice, split the halves, fit the pinion to the ring, removed the d/s. Siliconed the halves and bolted together leaving 4 front finger tight. Put the axle on the floor, siliconed the spool at the front and rear. Then dropped d/s over studs while guiding radius rods at top. Tighten everything up and wa-la . It is too heavy for me to lift so it will have to sit till Monday and the kids can put it back on the table.

[Dollisdad]

[Dollisdad]

With the firewall in place I thought I might as well fit the steering gear in place. Center shaft was tight last 2” into housing, so I figured I got solder into the gear head opening. I’ll have to ream it when it comes back apart. Lower steering to frame bracket is another Tom Manochi piece. Fit beautiful.His parts are so nice.

[Dollisdad]

You really get a sense of how long the Torpedo column is when you step back and realize it’s length is more than half the length of the frame.

[Art Ebeling]

Very nice Tom.

[Dollisdad]

Thanks Art. Everyone’s favorite Sunday afternoon activity, mounting new tires. Some years ago I bought new rims, had them powder coated and stored away till now.

Was never a fan of flaps, so in the days before new rims I would wrap the inside with two layers of duct tape to keep the rough surface away from the tubes.

I guess old habits die hard.

The best part is when this is over. It helps setting them in the 95 degree heat to soften them up.

[Dollisdad]

I have always liked the extra cushion you get from Float-A-Fords on the rear of a light bodied T, so I put them on this one.

[Dollisdad]

I picked up a set of Hayes Wire wheels from a fellow member on this forum. He was helping a widow sell surplus parts her husband had leftover. He said they looked pretty good, but didn’t really know anything about them. They looked to be in storage a long time. When I cleaned them I discovered they had been respoked and trued. They also came with a set of repo cast hubcaps, so I debured and polished them.

[Dollisdad]

So finally starting to fit sheetmetal. Discovered the left frame rail was a 1/4” ahead of the right one, so we placed the frame catty-wampus between a 100 ton press brake and a forklift and with a few nudges we were back in square. The firewall has to be square or nothing fits.I will have to go back and check the running board brackets as well. But starting at the front, everything looks good.

[Dollisdad]

Then prop a rear fender into position. Then cut the running board blocks and drill them.

[Dollisdad]

With both rear fenders propped up and pre drilled for the running boards, you can put the running boards in position sandwiching the apron tail between the fender tab and the woodblock. They will come off and on half a dozen times for reshaping before they will sit fairly good.

[Dollisdad]

The last hurtle to getting the sheetmetal on the chassis is the rear fender irons. You can see the casting inside the rear fender well. Now we need to make the upper section of the iron that fits into the fender bracket and welds onto the casting at the other end. You need to have the fender exactly where you want it to stay so the the iron doesn’t pull it out of shape. Once these are made I will go back over all the brackets and fine tune by relieving stress and double checking alignment.

[Dollisdad]

So I made the top arm extension pieces for the butterfly irons and bolted them into the fenders to see how they would mate up with the casting arms. I had to heat the casting arms and bend them down as they were rubbing against the skirt.

Next I cut off the casting arms where they turn upward with a cut off wheel.

Then reassemble everything, mark the extension to cut it off and grind it to a point.

Tac everything in place and carefully disassemble everything again. Off to the table to weld everything, then grind and buff the joints. Bolt the bracket on the frame and heat the end sections to be level and square and matched side to side. Mount the fenders again to see how they look. Usually takes some pulling, heating and relieving stress to get thing right.

[Dollisdad]

It took all day to do this. It’s 105 so I had to take some water breaks, but the good thing it’s done. I’m getting closer to finishing the first step in this build.

Should be on wheels in a day or two.

[haydonr]

I really enjoy following your project builds Tom. Thank you for sharing them with us!

[Dollisdad]

My pleasure Haydon. I learn a lot from other peoples build stories about how to do things, or what product to buy. Their experience can save you money and time. Did final sheet metal fit today and now final tweaking of brackets to get a good fit. Tomorrow we will acid treatment the sheet metal and prime everything. Finally it will go together so I can move it home to build a body later.

[KWTownsend]

Looking good, Tom.
I love the Hayes demountable wire wheels on my wife's speestder!

[Allan]

There's a set of Hayes wire wheels on offer on the forum at the moment. I think they are 21" going by the shape of the felloes. If this is the case they take split rims unique to Hayes wheels, rather than Ford items.

Allan from down under.

[Dollisdad]

We’re rollin now!

[Dollisdad]

Ready to go in the trailer and head to Ohio. I am so glad to leave the heat.

[Dollisdad]

[big2bird]

Beautiful Tom.

[Allan]

Tom it reminds me of a beautifull speedster that was built in Spokane back in the early 90's
because of the grey primer. That car was finished in a colour just a tad darker grey, and was highlighted with red pinstriping and upholstery. It really looked classy.

Allan from down under.

[Dollisdad]

Allen, here’s a grey one I built 40 yrs ago. Wish the picture was better but it is what it is. I too, really like these colors together.

[Allan]

Lovely car Tom. The spokane build was much lighter grey, so the red highlights really stood out. Were the tyres on yours Insa brand from South America somewhere? We only ever saw that tread pattern on 21" tyres for the later T. While I think I can see a split in right front rim, the proportions of wheel and tyre look more like 23" items.

Allan from down under.