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.

[rat_rod_russell]

So while I was waiting on the scan data to come back to me someone asked me about fenders. My reply was “No Fender No Problems!” thinking about a set of 345’s up front and some 355’s out back in the long run but then I started looking at some of the old fender shapes and thinking about an areo package. And so I slapped this on the front to look like the old fender shape, it’s just another proof of concept but I think it’s a good looking stat. We’ll come back to this later when I get a chance to play with some CFD (FYI, I have a friend who is willing to let me play with his package and teach me so I will come back to this)



The scan was done and looks awesome! We compressed the hell out of this file so it would load faster so you can see some areas that are not so nice but having the body makes all the difference when fitting inside these tiny old hot rods.

Well, let’s just say my original design had some creative license going for it and after just dropping the body into the computer you can see how badly off I was in several areas.






So next I pulled the cage up into place and it all the sudden lots is bad ass-a-re, and so some re design was in order.


After re working the cage shape quite considerably this is basically where I stand.





Any thought or constructive criticism is very very welcome.

Complete Photo Gallery Here,
http://gallery.nerdrods.com/Customer..._B/Gallery_02/

Later
-Russell

[WSSix]

This is going to be cool! Good luck with the build, Russell.

[aggie91]

I'm in for this one. Looks like a cool little hot rod!

I wish I was still in SA, I would come by and see what you guys are all about...

[JsTA]

Looks pretty awesome. I like small cars with boosted v8s.

Do you think you will have any spooling issues with the rear mounted turbo and the 4.10 gears?

[Sieg]

I like it!

I feel the latest rendition to the top of the cage detracts from the look. Too Star War's like. Pulling it up helped the scale, but all the detail in it takes my eyes right to the cage and not the car. Simplifying it with subtle radius' that mirror grille and body lines might tie it all together. ???

Talk about a fun car to drive!

[rat_rod_russell]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I'm in for this one. Looks like a cool little hot rod!

I wish I was still in SA, I would come by and see what you guys are all about...

We're here all the stinking time and my apartment is in the building as well so I leave for food, parts and girlfriend. I'd say just email me with 24 hours heads up just to make sure I'm our for those but more than likely I'll be here at least.

Originally Posted by JsTA

Looks pretty awesome. I like small cars with boosted v8s.

Do you think you will have any spooling issues with the rear mounted turbo and the 4.10 gears?

Nope, proven time and time again by STS Turbo

Originally Posted by Sieg

I like it!

I feel the latest rendition to the top of the cage detracts from the look. Too Star War's like. Pulling it up helped the scale, but all the detail in it takes my eyes right to the cage and not the car. Simplifying it with subtle radius' that mirror grille and body lines might tie it all together. ???

Talk about a fun car to drive!

We're probably going to do a top as well to go over the cage. It'll probably help simplify things as well. Unfortunately I don't have access to a roll bender to do that subtle bend and even if we did it's probably not in the budget. And I kinda like the space age look to the cage. We'll see where the design takes me.

Thanks for all the input.
-Russell

[rat_rod_russell]

Ok, So this is the last time I’m going to re start this frame design, I promise, maybe……. I sent these photos of the V0.4 frame to Dave (aka the customer) and he, well, probably better to just let you read it.

Thanks for all the updates and the oil pump data. The added headroom is not too big of a push but necessary. In order to get this on a track and race, I will need to pass the safety nazis. Let's get this set-up for track use first and street legal second. This means a lot of of show stuff goes away and clearly marked safety equipment is plain view. It may end up looking like a cross between a midget and baja 1000 cage by the time its done.

The general requirements that I remember are the helmet has to be at least two inches from any contact point. I will be padding the roll bar with standard dense foam. This should be added to the roll bar calculations for final diameter. What spec do you design the roll cage to for track use?

I will need shoulder harness bars. The harness bar use to be 15 degrees less than the harnesses seat entry point. I didn't see this in the frame pictures. I prefer to use a six point mount. Open cockpit = arm restraints. I'll need a point to attach these. The seat should have enough space for a neck brace and helmet support. Just means the seat angle should consider this. Other non-frame stuff - Easy access to kill switch, front and back tow straps to get a ride off the track. Purple K extinguisher will need to be within reach.

So there you have it. It’s going to be a race car that might just be street legal for the hell of it. So any suggestions of racing classes will be awesome so I can start looking at specific rules so he can hopefully have some wheel to wheel fun in some class but I’m pretty sure this car will mostly be a track day / time attack tool more than anything. Dave’s a cool guy but he’s also really really damn busy.

Onto the current design and what’s changed. This is Version 0.4 and so 0.1-0.3 are all scarped for various reasons. The big design change in this one is breaking the frame into a defined top and bottom sections so it can be fabricated in relation to the body. Basically build the bottom half and a good chunk of the top then put the body on the bottom and drop the top half in on top of it and weld the two together. Also remember this was supposed to be a street car with track abilities at this point. Still some fine tuning and I need to take a trip over to use my friends FEA to see where I need to make the fine adjustments and I need to add in a few more bars now for the race version of the chassis.

[rat_rod_russell]

Later
-Russell @ Nerd Rods

[DavidBoren]

Really cool design work. Scope creep can be irritating, but I think it took this project in a cool direction. Your client, Dave, must have some big brass ones to build an open top racecar. Should be really cool when you're done.