Project Schism - another offbeat '23 Ford T

[toddshotrods]

I have been working on this piece over the past week. The point is to countersink the hood molding into the cowl. I just did a step or two here and there around other work. First the model, then cut a plug from a scrap piece of oak, paint it, a few coats of mold release, then carbon fiber (because it makes a thinner, stronger part).




Next, the cowl will be cut, and the piece will be bonded in.


I started a new project, a little rat rod speedster, because I really want to go for the limit with Schism and needed something else to play with to keep me from getting off track trying to meet unnecessary deadlines. With that in mind, I view this body as a plug to develop what I would like to have rolled and hammered in aluminum sheet, someday.

[toddshotrods]

Last round of planing and opening the center hole. The burl billet now stands at 1.68" thick, with ~5.125" center hole and is very stable. It has never exhibited any signs of warping, twisting, or measurable change. If that holds true in the next few weeks or so, I will begin the process of carving out the rim. It gets Black and White Ebony wood inset into the spoke landing areas, and I start hogging out material between the three landings. If it survives all that, I will, eventually, someday, start whittling the final shape. I wonder if there's a record for the longest build time ever for an automotive steering wheel?! I bought this block about two years ago. It had been aged for three years at that point. Five years and counting, and I'm still working on the wood rim...

[toddshotrods]

Lots of reshuffling and reorganizing going on here, which is why there haven't been any updates to this project/thread. I killed "the Inhaler Project" as a separate organization, and moved all the educational plans directly under the Columbus Idea Foundry's wings. I am still working with them to develop the educational program, but it will be theirs, freeing me to put my concentration on my design work. No more toe-dipping, backwards off the high dive...

The first thing I did was take a long look at this project and compare what it has become (from using it as a training tool), compared to what I was originally after; and try to figure out where to go with it from here.

Already long story a little shorter: Schism is not the right foundation for pure design, but it is an excellent foundation for a go-fast car. I started another project to release my pent up creative energy on and will be laser-focused on making this the most intense, street-legal, race car possible. As a result, I am removing some of the aesthetic stuff, like the steering wheel and hood emblem, and moving them to the other project. That doesn't mean I won't be going overboard on Schism, just no pure art/design stuff. It has to have a purpose in making the car faster too.

I didn't start a thread for the new project here because it seems so far outside the scope of this forum. It's scratch-built, with styling based on a 1909 Packard Gentlemen's Runabout (which meant speedster in Packard lingo, which means a hood, seat, and tank on a chassis), and hybrid power from a Honda CB750 engine and electric motor. It's also a reverse trike (two wheels up front, one in back). I started a month ago, and have set the ridiculous goal of having it running for Goodguys, though I'm not too confident they'll let me in with it...

Work will resume soon on Schism. The goal is 1:1 power-to-weight, and beatthehelloutofit. I'm considering making the switch to an LSx motor...

[toddshotrods]

Look what I have done to my little hot rod!

I am winding down my little operation in the community workshop. They're moving to a new building around the end of this year and I am not going with them, as a tenant. I plan to continue teaching classes, but won't be building vehicles there. I am in the process of getting everything in my studio rolling, and selling off everything I don't need for the next stage of my master plan. After a lot of soul-searching and planning, my electric bike came out on top as my "flagship", and all the other bright ideas don't really fit what I see in my future - so they have to go.

While sorting through all that, I was offered this Laser 917 Porsche replica body - free - and eventually decided to jump on it. What I am building now is basically a glorified tow vehicle for my bike. Same guts, different wrapper.




The, revised, plan is to get it together and drive the snot out if it. The hot rod didn't make sense for transporting the bike because it was almost an open car, meaning only fair weather. When I get this thing sealed up, and set up with Vintage Air, it's ready to go anywhere, any time. We're still going turbo, but not reaching for 700+hp, and not a 1:1 power-to-weight ratio. 400+ is easily obtainable - my engine guy does that in his daily driver Civic, with the weak Honda motor, so it will still be fun; and I still plan to do the hybrid electric front drive - it's all set up for that - but with two smaller motors in place of the big forklift motor.

Why go to all this trouble, instead of just buying a truck or van? I already have the chassis, couldn't resist the deal on the body, and it's more fun. Imagine 400-500hp (combined), in a <2000lb vehicle, that gets 40+mpg, and looks like the Batmobile!

As for the new build plan: the Laser body fits surprisingly well on the mid-engine T chassis. The seating position is pretty much perfect, and the shifter even falls right into place behind the center stack of the dash. It's almost like I planned this, from the beginning. The narrow rear tires are also surprisingly close to the sides of the wide body. I thought I was going to need really deep dish rims and 295-345mm tires to fill it. I am going to build longer front control arms to get the front tires out where they belong, and eventually get a little lip and more rubber in back. The emphasis is just on making it run, and improving it over time, and driving it more, and more, and more. The over-the-top details are out (happening on the bike now), and I will strive for things like comfort more. For example, instead of absolute/massive power, I'd rather spend the money on a Recovery Room interior...

I hope to have the control arms sorted out and the vehicle rolling and steering in a couple months or so, then it's simply a matter of getting everything hooked back up to fire the motor.

[GregWeld]

Worst thing I see people do all the time -- too many projects.... not enough time or money.

Smart to get down to one (two is too many in my book) and get 'er done.


Great score on the body!! Hope you have a nice shop to move to.

[toddshotrods]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Worst thing I see people do all the time -- too many projects.... not enough time or money.

Smart to get down to one (two is too many in my book) and get 'er done...

Thanks Greg - I was scared at first - I thought you were going to rap my knuckles with a straight-edge!

Originally Posted by GregWeld

...Smart to get down to one (two is too many in my book)...

I agree 100%. I actually tried, really hard, to get down to just one but I can't do it. I actually accomplish less when I have one because I put so much into that one project, I start to burn out; but I have to have somewhere to put that creative energy or I go bananas. I am most productive when I have one over-the-top project (will be my bike now) and one less intense project to unwind on (this one now). I agree though that it is actually still a bit counterproductive, but in my case it keeps me from spinning out of control. At least that's the plan...

Originally Posted by GregWeld

...Great score on the body!!...

Thanks! I actually went back and forth a hundred times whether or not to do this, but I am really glad I did, now that it's here. It takes me back to the good ol' days of just wrenching on my cars and driving them - for the fun of it - before I became obsessed with chasing radical design concepts. Being a 70s/80s kit car body, it's hard to take it too seriously, and also not the best platform to seek "perfection" on, so it should help me keep my focus on simple fun.

Originally Posted by GregWeld

...Hope you have a nice shop to move to.

At this point, I don't plan to have one; more like an office. My future is in providing design services and teaching others how to do design and fabrication. I also have some EV market specific products I (eventually) hope to bring to market, but I won't be making them. Ideally, I would love to develop and sell or license them...

[toddshotrods]

I'm having enough fun that I eagerly dove (properly covered, goggled, and respirated, of course) into a cloud of fiberglass dust today, to get the rear clip to fit. Minor reward = no itching. Major payoff = I can't stop !

With the rear clip removed - amazing to me how it looks like it should all be together, despite the fact that this was originally an antique hot rod.



All together now...







I thought I had a lot more work ahead of me to get clearance for the engine, but this is perfect.

[toddshotrods]

If you pay attention, life is an awesome teacher, and has a way of lining things up in time for you to have the info you need when you need it most. Between the point that work stopped on the Model T themed plan here, and has resumed with Porsche kit body, I built a quirky little reverse trike that helped me get back to the simple concept of simply having fun and building something that makes me smile - just in time for the most "me" project I have ever had. Screw the rulebooks, and extreme performance/engineering mandates, just good ol' fashion custom automotive self expression/creative fun.

The number one priority is getting the body mounted on the chassis, and to do that I need some type of upper cage structure. That will allow me to kill two birds with one stone - the rear cabin mounts, and the rear clip hinge pivots. Rather than even looking in the direction of the sanctioning bodies' outdated rules, I am building a cage that I like - period. I am playing on the funny car cage theme, originally intended for Schism, but with one curvy roll bar in place of the traditional, multi-tube, upper F/C cage structure. That gives reasonable rollover protection, and keeps the door openings clear, so we can simply step in and sit down. I call it the throne room...



Instead of a simple, two-bend, hoop I am piecing together something more visually interesting. Except for this dip in the center, all splices will be sleeved and plug welded, chamfered for full penetration at the joint, and smoothed.



This one was just chamfered, welded, and blended, because there are two uprights coming up from the frame; one on either side of the dip.

[toddshotrods]

I think I have too much work in this one little bar, but it's getting there.

There's a slight difference the bends, that wasn't as noticeable as it is all together. Whadda ya want from a Jeg's cage kit? I can compensate when grafting this hoop into the cage.





Almost there. I have to ream the plug weld holes on the frame tubes out to .750" (from .500"), tweak the alignment, and chamfer the tops of the frame tubes and I can make this permanent. I'll probably just weld half of the plugs, tack the chamfers for now, and finish welding it when I weld the rest of the chassis.

[toddshotrods]

I hope you can deal with the barrage of almost identical pics. I try to share the whole process, in as much detail as possible, for those who like to pick things apart. In this round, I had to set the body because the rear upper mounts go on the roll bar, which is a fixed member of the chassis. Once those mounts are welded and bonded in, the body's position, except for minor (shim) adjustments, is set in stone; so gotta get it right. You'll have to imagine that the wheels are out where they belong, as I didn't get to that yet...

This required making a final decision on stance - I wanted a radical, American hot rod stance. I have always wanted to do this to an exotic sports car, which obviously is not easy to pull off because they're already so low. To get the wheel arches to drape over the wheel/tire combo, and still have ground clearance underneath, and headroom inside - not exactly simple. Again, it's like I set out to do this; like all this stuff was designed and created to accomplish that goal.

I decided to follow my heart and go for broke. I channeled the body an additional inch over the chassis.





I'll have to do a little surgery up here to not leave pieces of fiberglass everywhere I go. My plan is to cut an inch or so off and replace it will a full-length carbon fiber composite splitter that will be able to take the abuse. It will also keep the line of body color across the bottom more consistent, as this hangs over an inch lower than the rockers. More on all that later...





Here's the drape over the rear wheel/tire combo. The tires are 26" overall diameter, so with a 18-19" rim (17s up front), from most angles, it should get some paint down into the same plane as the rim. Closing the wheel opening in, and re-shaping it, will accentuate this even more. It should work like slamming a Veyron and stuffing 22s under the back of it.






I love this view. The A-pillars and windshield set down between those huge fender bulges is me, me, me. I know this is a cheap replica, but 917s had absolutely beautiful lines. You can also see how, from a normal viewing angle, the rocker panels are almost skimming the floor.






Channeling the body that extra inch set my roll bar perfectly just under the roof.