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 Post subject: Scuttle Fun
PostPosted: December 20, 2011, 5:54 pm 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
Posts: 1954
Location: BC, Canada. eh?
I haven't posted any pics here for a while but I have actually been tinkering with the car.

The design & fabrication of the scuttle has been a challenge. When I skin it (it'll be skinned separately from the rest of the body, then bolted back on), I'll be using adhesive, rather than rivets, so the sheet ally will have to lie on the substructure fairly closely. It's amazing how many angles and curves there are, and how...uh...challenging it is to get the steel to take simultaneous angles, curves and bends. In the pics, you can see the flange added to the front of the scuttle's top, so the body sheeting will curve down, allowing a lip for the trailing edge of the hood (and a thin strip of neoprene foam under it). The flange had to flare outward at the sides, so the skin over it will meet the rear hoop properly. The whole thing is like a section out of a slightly squared cone.

In other words - tack, move along a few inches, heat with oxyacetylene & pound/twist/stretch metal, tack a little further along, and repeat. Many times.

If I'd used one of the standard size frames instead of a one-off, I'd have bought one of Jack's scuttles and saved myself a TON of time...

Anyway, next on the agenda for the scuttle is to temporarily skin it with aluminum flashing material so I can figure out the exact positions of my wiper arm wheel boxes, windshield supports, etc., and fabricate those.

Sigh.... :roll:


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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Scuttle Fun
PostPosted: January 31, 2012, 4:26 pm 
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Joined: December 24, 2006, 3:32 pm
Posts: 226
Location: N. Versailles, PA 15137
Mike,
Looks like it's coming along very well, but sure a lot of work. I could be wrong not having seen your's in person, but Jack has the "adjustable" superscuttle that comes in 2 halves and you glass it together at the proper width for your frame design. My frame is a +4 and it worked perfectly. Will try and post PIX of my motor/gearbox design for wipers later for those that may want to duplicate it.
Don


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 Post subject: Re: Scuttle Fun
PostPosted: January 31, 2012, 11:50 pm 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
Posts: 1954
Location: BC, Canada. eh?
Yeah, I did think of that. Unfortunately, my frame is roughly a +4 width in the cabin, tapering to a book-width nose (rather than a +4 nose), wo the taper angle on the sides was too far off to adjust on a pre-made scuttle. If I could have done it, it would have saved me a LOT of work.

Once again, I am blessed with 20/20 hindsight... :mrgreen:

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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 Post subject: Re: Scuttle Fun
PostPosted: February 23, 2012, 6:08 pm 
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Joined: September 16, 2008, 3:44 pm
Posts: 15
Location: Cedar Key
I share your hindsight. My 221 frame also tapers and I am not sure Jacks scuttle will work for me.
Why the lip on the front? I like the angle on the bottom, it looks like the vertical leg is on the inside. I will be putting mine on the outside to bond the skin to.

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 Post subject: Re: Scuttle Fun
PostPosted: February 23, 2012, 6:32 pm 
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Joined: May 27, 2006, 9:46 pm
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Location: BC, Canada. eh?
maggie wrote:
I share your hindsight. My 221 frame also tapers and I am not sure Jacks scuttle will work for me.
Why the lip on the front? I like the angle on the bottom, it looks like the vertical leg is on the inside. I will be putting mine on the outside to bond the skin to.



Although it's hard to see from the photos, the front vertical leg is flush with the outside of the frame with the addition of the lip, so the scuttle's skin can be bonded to it (as you are doing), and line up exactly with the skin on the side of the body. The front & rear hoops of the scuttle are welded to a piece of 1"X1" angle iron which, in turn, bolts to tabs on the frame. I had to remember to leave about a 1/16" gap between the angle iron and the top edge of the frame, as two layers of aluminum skin will be sandwiched in there (the body's skin + the scuttle's skin).

The lip on the front hoop (1/8"X7/8" flat bar, heated, bent, welded, and massaged into shape) is there so that, when there is a 1/8" layer of foam (ahead of the lip) for the trailing edge of the hood to sit on, the hood's skin will be flush with the skin on top of the scuttle (if that makes sense - it's hard to describe). I wanted the foam in there so the hood won't rattle. There will be, of course, foam on the lip of the nose, as well, so the hood is on foam both front & back. That should also help to protect the paintwork on the nose & scuttle.

MAN, this is complicated!!

I have tried mocking it up with some aluminum flashing bits, and it looks like it's going to work...

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/


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