32 Ford Roadster, Project Acid Test, C6 Suspension, LS, Single Turbo, Track Toy

[rat_rod_russell]

32 Ford Roadster, Project Acid Test, C6 Suspension, LS, Single Turbo, Track Toy


Drawing by my buddy Tyler Richlen

Thought it was about time I introduced a project I’ve been tinkering with for a customer, Dave, for over a year now. Things happened, we got slow, he moved, ideas changed, new manufacturing tools were made available, ect. But finally we’ve locked down the ideas and we’re moving forward. Hit list first then the story bits about what and why we’re doing things or have done things. Like I said this project has a lot of shop evolution as well as technology evolution.

• 1932 Ford Roadster, Fiberglass Hot Rod Jim Body (aka one of our old bodies from before the fire)
• Nerd Rods Custom Tube Chassis, laser cut and CNC bent, designed in Solidworks
• C6 Z06 Corvette Suspension
• C5 Differential with Nerd Rods (was Hot Rod Jim’s) differential adapter, 4:10 gears, stock limited slip
• 5.3L, Aluminum block, Stock crank, rods and pistons, Texas Speed heads, Holley intake,
• STS Single Turbo, Turbo logic boost controller, 2.5” exhaust, CNC bent custom
• T56 or T6060
• Brakes, still up in the air
• Wheels, 10.5” front with 275’s, 12” rears with 345’s (probably going to go nuts here later on)

So this party started as a quick project to give Dave a toy while we worked on his 55 project. We were going to use lots of parts off our PT-57 project that were pulled off the older chassis. We’ll just say that and show you these photos of the initial design. We were planning to do everything on a flat laser as that was our primary CNC experience at the time and so this reflects that.

Full Gallery Here http://gallery.nerdrods.com/Customer..._B/Gallery_01/



That was the plan, until he needed to move for work so the project got sidelined. Once he got settled in we had developed a new product based on new technology (new to us at least), a weld it yourself frame kit. So the design evolved to include some CNC cut tubing. At least until our supplier unceremoniously dumped us by trying to triple the price for no explainable reason. So now it was our turn to need to chill while we located new suppliers as well as developed the design to properly utilize the new equipment. Namely we needed the CNC tubing laser to cut the complex parts for our kits. We found two new shops and finally got back into the swing of things but what we found at one of these new laser shops was even more toys. A CNC tubing bender and a CNC tubing laser all under one roof (Don’t ask, they’re not taking on any more work and I’m not supposed to release their info, It took a lot of pleading for them to take on my own projects and they only really took it because I was willing to give them 6-8 week delivery times and supply CAD.)

And so the idea of a full CNC tube chassis became feasible, and I did a quick drawing to see if we could make it look cool.




Dave approved and so authorized a 3D scan of the body for the computer so I could really fit the cage and driver in the super confined space of the 1932 Ford Roadster. As so we called Absolute Geometries to do the deed.