Coupe into Speedster Conversion

[Rusty Tubs]

Bruce, the parts are as good as we can get. Thanks. The supply, is not as good as it can be. Justin and I have done side by side comparisons of NOS speedster panels, built factory cars, and hand made parts. The choices today are slim.
Epoxy/cement dies are the quickest solution to supplying the demand for coupster (speedster), conversion metal parts.
We have been backlogged on parts due to this thread. When we sold the customer the chassis, blasted it, and prepped it for Justin, the parts were in the pipeline -being made by hand.
It is the amazing work Justin does and the welcomed exposure to such a build that pushes the industry for better & available parts.

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot you guys, Appreciated!! Those new parts make for a pretty nice start!

Mark, The ultimate location of the pedal assembly was solely based on its forward flange being fully mounted to the vertical wall.

The jumping off point was synching it down here first.

Some slight flex in the wall allowed for a bit of wiggle room to get its best squared fitment to the chassis before I marked the lower holes.

When fully mounted the bottom studs are set toward the very back the elongated mount holes in the assembly. This allows the unit to be able to slide back to clear the Master cylinder studs upon removal. I purchased the new bracket through Ric at Rusty Tubs. Hope this helps.

12/2/14
More mock-up and fitment planning.

A quick crude mock-up with the decklid just to see what's going on and think about the next plan of attack.

Like the doors before the rear of this car will be dictated and shaped around the closing lid.

A lot of shaping will be required to get those corners to mate.

Quick underside view

hinge bosses seem to be in the right spot.

First forseeable fitment issue is going to be with this contoured kick to the lower mount flange.

Once slid into matched position with the frame the corner of the decklid opening is too far forward. Will figure that one out when the time comes. Heading to my friends tomorrow to compare these with his original speedster and get a few sight-marked measurements.
Thanks for looking! Justin

[merbesfield]

Thanks a lot you guys, Appreciated!! Those new parts make for a pretty nice start!

Mark, The ultimate location of the pedal assembly was solely based on its forward flange being fully mounted to the vertical wall.
[attachment=29631]Achassis968.JPG[/attachment
The jumping off point was synching it down here first.
[attachment=29632]Achassis970.JPG[/attachment
Some slight flex in the wall allowed for a bit of wiggle room to get its best squared fitment to the chassis before I marked the lower holes.
[attachment=29633]Achassis978.JPG[/attachment
When fully mounted the bottom studs are set toward the very back the elongated mount holes in the assembly. This allows the unit to be able to slide back to clear the Master cylinder studs upon removal. I purchased the new bracket through Ric at Rusty Tubs. Hope this helps.

Thanks for looking! Justin

Sometimes it's so simple you can't see the forest for the trees. Thanks Justin!

[Jack Staggs]

I prefer to weld the "boomerang" and gas pedal mount AFTER the toe boards and floor mat have been test fitted with the clutch cable and throttle rod connected. Quite a few "finished" cars have come through the shop where the pedals don't line up very well with the slots in the wood and/or rubber mat, or binding linkages, requiring corrections, trimming, etc. I find it easier to move the pedal box around a bit to get it just right.

[JTR70]

My pleasure Mark.

Good suggestion Jack, I'm with you; the more closely you can mock-up an area in finished form the less likely you are to experience pain and frustration.

12/3/14


Today's session was spent trimming and fine fitting the striker post.
I want the striker set with a fully functioning latched door before I begin fitting and installing the wheel house closing panels which are on their way to me.

I Then went by my buddies house later this afternoon to do a direct comparison with his original speedster.

After taking several direct comparison measurements I was both impressed and relieved that the dimensions of the new firewall comes within a MM or two of the original.

Its about as good as it can get!! After making a few templates and some sight marked measurements from the frame I'm comfortable enough to begin fitting new firewall on for good. Have to start somewhere..
Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JOP]

Justin, I must say that the replica metal parts look really good on the picture and will save you time from having manufacture themself inhouse. Greit that you have a whole Speedster to take valueable data from.... you have all right the ingrediens to make this one correct.

It is almost like looking at a modern movie.....product placement with RUSTY all over it
But good that he in turn gets known to be a source if ya wanna build ya a own Coupster

So Rusty needs to buy more cement/epoxi and hire another metalman to beat more panels out.
Thank you both
JOP

[merbesfield]

I prefer to weld the "boomerang" and gas pedal mount AFTER the toe boards and floor mat have been test fitted with the clutch cable and throttle rod connected. Quite a few "finished" cars have come through the shop where the pedals don't line up very well with the slots in the wood and/or rubber mat, or binding linkages, requiring corrections, trimming, etc. I find it easier to move the pedal box around a bit to get it just right.

More great advice. Makes sense, why rush this phase when it can be easily install a little later for perfection. Thanks for keeping me on target.

[JTR70]

Thanks Per! Ric's a good guy and a tremendous help so far so I don't mind promoting him a bit. I was sure to mention Alex as well when the splash pans arrived. If someone helps me out I'm always happy to return the favor. I told Ric His contact info could stay on there until they rubbed-off.

12/5/14
New Speedster fire wall mounted.

Welding and dressing this upper section to the firewall would have been loads easier with it laying flat off the car but I thought best to leave it loose for adjustment purposes as the rest of parts are fitted.

After some fine trimming and double checking the new wall was ready for welding.

Initial plug-welds

Now fully welded and dressed.

Firewall officially in.

Hopefully the 3-ribbed closing panels will show up next week so I can begin bridging these pieces together.

Will begin locating and establishing the deck lid placement tomorrow.
Thanks for looking! Justin

[Phil Planck]

Justin
Wow - Getting all of that to fit properly is a big task. Looks like you know how to do it. Enjoying the progress.

Jack - Good tip on the pedal board and floor mat test. It's been a while since I installed my pedal cluster, but I think I did a toe board check, but know I did not do the rubber mat check.

Phil

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot Phil! I'm really just stumbling through, this being my first time dressing a bare chassis and all. I'll have learned a lot once its finally built though. Thanks again! Justin

12/6/14

Crash course in TIG welding this afternoon.



My neighbor Rick just down the way finally had a little time to spare to help me get started with my new welder.


He's really an accomplished welder and he made it look and seem easier than it was to get such a pretty weld bead. The middle bead was his nicest example. It was a combo of adding in the material as the foot pedal was finessed. I've got along way to go. The left bead was just straight heat with no pedal manipulation. The one to the right was a colder weld with the bead not melted down enough.


Once I had the basics he said "now you have to put in the time". Sit down at your table (don't stand) get comfortable and just practice and work with it. So the above example was a lot of trial and error. However, even with my most limited experience my eyes are wide open to its potential over MIG-welding. Tom and Trevor I think are correct; I may rarely if ever use my MIG once I get this dialed in. Back to practicing tomorrow.
Justin

[bbspdstr]

Justin, my personal experience has been to think like Dirty Harry about welders....."know the limitations" of each. (Sorry, "Magnum Force" was on TV this past weekend).

TIG is actually fun when the metal is absolutely clean, but even some MIG tacks can make a good TIG bead go bad. TIG likes NO debris, no residual lead, no nuttin'......I was trained that for soldering (leading) or TIG, the metal must be "surgically clean".

But then, your work looks.....ah, more than appropriately prepped.

-Bruce (Please say 'hi' to Rick for me)

[JTR70]

That's a great point Bruce and that was explained to me in detail by Rick as the lesson progressed.


He warned me that its all gotta be clean. Even the carbon coating on fresh steel must be removed. The bead highlighted in green was his example to show me that the outgassing from the carbon contaminate wreaks havoc on these welds. You're definitely right the MIG, it certainly has its place in the arsenal especially if the work can't quite be cleaned enough; nothing sweeter than obliterating a deep spot of missed cancer with a pool of molten wire as you hear the rust burning away. Couldn't do that with a TIG..

12/9/14
More new parts arrived today. here's a quick mock-up photo.

Getting late will post more details tomorrow.
Justin

[Trevor]

Practice practice practice. You'll be TIG'ing two pieces together in no time Justin. And you'll LOVE less grinding.

I saw this picture and thought it belonged in this thread

[JTR70]

Thanks Trevor!

My practicing has gotten sidetracked the last few days:

I just noticed this major flaw on the cart this welder was purchased with; the cooling tower position forces the power cord to kink as it enters the welder which will cause major resistance and heat Way too much power and load passes through here to ignore.

I need to get the cooler up and out of the cords entry path so I decided on a tubular subframe/stand. I removed the existing handle, plate and the brackets to make way.

New sub-frame in process here. I thought it best to make it stand alone and removable incase the welder ever needs to be serviced in the future. MIG welder to the rescue.

12/12/14

New Speedster panels.

Good basic parts but very raw.

A lot of time will be required to trim and message these panels to fit the frame correctly.

A promising start though.

new rear quarter closing panels.

Left side contour is very weak and will need a lot more shrinking to follow the frame.

Right side contours much closer than the left.

As you can see I have plenty to keep me occupied for the next several weeks. Thanks for looking! Justin

[JTR70]

12/21/14

Fitting and correcting new Speedster dash cowl.

Began rough fitments of this new part to the car last week and while the basic form of this part is okay I'm finding that its profile is too exaggerated both in the middle and on either side.

The first problem that stood out upon laying it on the car was that the middle stood proud and was too high.

While the trunk wall mating flange is a bit tweaked it was clear that they went too tight on the profile. To get these two to touch put the panel at about a 35 degree angle. BTW: Due to being flanged on both sides of this panel, its very ridged and doesn't lend itself to relaxing down much at all.

Its the exact opposite on either side of the panel as this "spill-over" contour into the fender is much too defined and low. This original lower chrome strip shows the line it should take here.

Again this flange holds this profile so it was stretched a bit too much and will also have to be reversed some.

Mock-up with the new dash face also highlights the same problem as its much too low to even weld them together in this area. More later..
Thanks for looking! Justin