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'32 Ford roadster gluebomb rework. April 26: back on track


Ace-Garageguy

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Thanks to everyone for the interest and the kind words.

Tony T, sounds like a great deal on the GeeBee. I've seen them as high a 50 bucks.

The Olds engine, the LaSalle box, and the mild lowering of the tail all conspired to necessitate a rework of the floor and tunnel. Floor is scratched from styrene sheet, and the tunnel was sourced from a parts-box interior tub. The Olds also requires a center mount at the gearbox, so all of the original K-member of the Deuce frame had to go......

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Top view with interior panels being fitted......

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.....nice tight fit of the side floor-panels to the body. The wire pins sticking out at the rear help keep the body aligned during fitting.

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One step backwards. I decided that this thing really needs a Halibrand quick-change rear end to complete the vision I have of it being a triple threat car....street, lakes and drags. Parts stash offered up some approproate bits....center section, Ford axle bells and model T rear spring. A model A crossmember will have to be substituted in the rear for the one I scratch-built, and clearance will have to be made in the floor for the center-section. This is the way you do it on a real one.....a QC takes a lot of work to mount in a Deuce. You can also see the LaSalle box being converted to a top-shift case.

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...and she's gotta have a rolled rear pan. This mystery valence from something has the right top curve to be the basis.

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Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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  • 2 weeks later...

Some progress. Widening decklid and making up drip channels in rear of body.......

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Worked out the through-the-cowl steering linkage, and the ahead-of-axle tie rod layout. This would have been necessary on a 1:1 to clear the big Olds engine, and to accommodate the dropped axle. There was a starter relocation adaptor that put the starter on the right of the Olds and allowed the '32 steering gear to be used, but I like the racecar look of this setup.

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Test fitted the carbs and manifold, and it looks like I'll still have to dimple the firewall for the distributor.

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Having the steering linkage finalized also let me finalize the locations of the headlights, and it all worked out just like the mockup. Lucky. The headlight buckets will mount on 1" scale tubular brackets, and shock mounts will also be fabbed in behind them.

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Close to being ready for primer. Still have to do the quick-change, and see where that will put the rear rolled pan to allow the QC to show.

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You are doing something really good here. You are building the model the way the real cars were built back then - by scrounging parts from many different sources. I love the overall look of this model so far.

Edited by oldscool
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Thanks for the comments, gentlemen. This is something I'd build 1:1, exactly as it is, if I had the time and money. I have a 394 Olds, a 3X2 Offy manifold, and a pair of American Stamping '32 repop rails, but whether I'll ever be able to build the big one is anybody's guess. As with all of my model builds, I try to get most of the technical details right enough so you could actually build a 1:1 version, using the model as reference.

Thanks again for your interest and kind words.

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Got enough of the bodywork squared away to start with the primer......

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Still have some issues with the resin firewall that need to be addressed....

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Had to make the roll at the bottom of the hood side where I'd cut the exhaust opening in the wrong place. Styrene half-round rod. Will primer today.

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Also finishing up the extensions to the grille shell, to kick the bottom forward a bit. I'd originally put the extensions on the hood sides, but the resultant angle made it impossible to easily remove the hood. Duh.

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Where are the Door hinges?

Ummm......Gone? It wasn't uncommon at all to put hidden door hinges on these things. Not real common, but doable and a well known mod back in the dim recesses of time. The car's going to be gloss black lacquer, and I just didn't want to fiddle with sanding and polishing around hinges....so, they're "hidden".

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