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Street Beasts '34 build starts

95K views 401 replies 54 participants last post by  JGK95 
#1 ·
So we finally hacked down the majority of Sherwood Forest to get at the fiberglass shell of the '34 Ford-like body that was delivered to our garage and begun with the lug nuts that I scored off of a Ford Taurus. I thought I scored big time when i was at the local junkyard and scored four rollers (wheels/tires) with a fist full of lug nuts for $50 bux. When I finally tried to use the lug nuts, they were both metric and too small. It didn't make sense, how was this possible? This was after all, from a FORD Taurus?

It wasn't until we tried to mount the wheels to the IFS that we were about a 1/4th of an inch off of the wheel pattern and that the center hole was larger than the center of the wheels from a '97 Ford Taurus. These rotors have ball bearing caps at the end of them and I was caught off guard.

However, to have both the incorrect rollers and lug nuts was very frustrating and almost inconceivable.

So the current plan is to call the yard and see if we can work out a swap with them for some Ford Mustang rollers. I'm very doubtfull we'll make any headway with them, but I'll try.

Jay K.
 
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#230 ·
Hi Speedy,

Randy's suspension is amazing! However, we didn't upgrade the suspension, yet. Perhaps after the car is finished we'll bag the back so as to remove / lower the gap between the fender and the rear tire.

Thanks for askin'

Jay K.
 
#232 ·
This week’s updates include cleaning up the front end of the car with final touches.



Presently the hood locks over by the firewall are being fleshed out.


The grille's teeth are being recut as the grill was not welded properly. Never Centered correctly, and the shell is being fortified to hold the grille itself. The method includes glassing in some small (perhaps 1/2" ? ) square bar to then thread it and use sheet metal to clamp it in. The advantage of this maneuver is that there'll be no lock washers visibly holding the grille to the shell. Pretty cool, huh? ;)




Additionally, the backsides of the hood skirts at the front have been cleaned up and a quick shot of the car with the hood off from the firewall. I like this idea best, as I'd like to drive it around without the hood! :D



As always, Thanks for viewing, that's all for now!

Jay K.
 
#235 ·
Welcome the new name of the car,

"The Beast"...:evil::evil::evil:

First things first, the grill was redone as the rods within the grill were off center from the factory. Not sure who welded the grill, but as it didn't line up properly and was off center, it was an easy decision to make.

Another benefit of the new face was that we went from 1/2" spacing to 3/8ths spacing & now the grill doesn't look like a buck toothed chuckle head.








Additionally, I welcomed the opportunity for the Gents working on the car to expand on their creativity.




The inspiration came from this drawing:


Honestly, Tell me that the hood component at the firewall isn't an eye catcher! It's really, really sweet & yet functional at the same time as we don't have any latches at the back other than these eyelets on both sides.

Anywho, with all of the informational out of the way, this is definitely the nicest beast to come out of that company's closed doors!


Appreciatively,

Jay K.
 
#237 ·
grille shell




Hi jay been awhile, it's hell to get old sometimes.

The car looks good I wouldn't say it's the best one ever built, but it's right up there. You said in one spot that you were glassing metal tabs with I think studs. I would keep an eye on them metal will work it's way loose between glass. you should have used a Epoxy bonding adhevise the stuff I use they use on corvettes that are raced, called AD7 = CTI.

Again the car is the second nicest Beast to be built .:thumbup::thumbup::D:cool::cool:


Bob
 
#240 ·
Hi Folks!

The updates this time include shaving the bumperettes off of the rear fender panel & cleaning up the door latch openings. By cleaning up the door latch openings, I meant that we had to build out the fiberglass to reduce the gap between both the door and the door frame. An additional discovery was the need for a solution between the front A-pillar and door window once the windows was up. However, that issue is addressed in the manual. The directive is to use an appropriate sized rubber bulb seal to make it weather tight and to prevent rattling. That's all for now, stay tuned!

:D

Jay K.






 
#241 ·
Look Ma! No More Streetbeast!

It's an "OUR Beast"!!

:D

So the last of the tell's have been removed. Whaddya think?




We've also now started on the trunk build out.



BTW, the headlight mounts are from Speedway Motors and the headlamps were purchased with the car from SB.

We (The boys at Windy City Rods n Restorations) also cleaned up the door post on the passenger side to reduce the vast gap between both the door and the doorframe.


Additionally, the interior will go with the tuck 'n roll. However, we may be going with a different angle, if you know what I mean. ;)


Stay tuned!
:thumbup:
Jay K.
 
#252 ·
window channel on top of door

I have a 34 sb cabriolet and have to replace the window weather strips on the top of the door that holds the window from rattling when rolled up...any suggestions on where to find anything to fit it...have looked almost everywhere i could find online...everything i have found has to be screwed or tacked on any suggestions would greatly be appreciated...thanks
 
#253 ·
I have a 34 sb cabriolet and have to replace the window weather strips on the top of the door that holds the window from rattling when rolled up...any suggestions on where to find anything to fit it...have looked almost everywhere i could find online...everything i have found has to be screwed or tacked on any suggestions would greatly be appreciated...thanks
Hi Nac,

I'll ask the guys at Windy City when I talk to them this morning/afternoon & get you a response as soon as I know.

Cheers,

Jay K.
 
#254 ·
Hey All,

It's been a couple weeks so this week's update won't disappoint!

First off, the space between the door post & the door itself was too large for our likes and as such, we reduced it.

Perhaps it was for the purpose of a convertable top latching point?

Neither here nor there, it's gone!





Additionally, we worked on making a more uniform gap between the door & the body.

The gap is presently it's default distance but there was always the issue of the inside of the door lip rubbing on the body as you attempted to open the door on either side.

Those with the very tight tolerance either know what I'm talking about or you simply fixed the problem like we did via a dremel.




Having finished the doors, the next step involved addressing the floor pan alignment to the door.

Previously, we were yards apart when we split the floor pan 1&1/2" to meet the edge of body, (It wasn't that bad, but not close either! See previous pages for more pictures) and by building a decent floor pan lip we were able to sync up the shape of the floor pan to the door's shape.

See below.






and that was last week's update!

Jay K.

ps. NAC3809, I spoke to the Gents at Windy City Rods n Restoration & the suggestion was to either use double sided tape with an aluminum 'l-shape' and felt material on the front of it to control the window from knocking around or bevelling the 'l-shape' and allowing it to come above the window channel in the door's window opening. See the pic below, and look at that u-shape channel as two 'l-shape' channel pieces that have yet to be made. Whether you use adhesive or double sided sticky tape is your call. Regardless of methodology, apply the felt to the aluminum channel via adhesive and your now the proud owner of windows that don't knock around.



Cheers,

Jay K.
 
#256 ·
Hi All,

First off lemme apologize for the lack of updates! In the last two weeks we've made dramatic improvements to the original design by addressing the gap between the windows and the A-pilar. See below.







*****************************************

The above photos were taken two weeks ago.

As of this past Friday the 16th ... Awww yeahhh!!









As of two weeks ago we also addressed the flaw of the trunk design. If you own an SB '34 hardtop or roadster, you know of the cracking at the four corners of your trunk. Our shop addressed that concern by grinding down the surface of the shell in each of the four corners deep enough to put L-Shapes made out of aluminum and then covered over them. Please see the photos below.








Lastly, we're going to shrink the license plate opening. I never felt it warranted a HUUUGE opening.

See below,



Thanks for viewing,

Jay K.
 
#257 ·
Jay
that's cool stuff. i noticed potential of the A pillar being too far from the door/window. cleaver way of dealing with it. you are so far ahead of me, i'm just working in my 2 car garage and doing 1 task at a time. i did just trim the trunk pan and am mocking the steering column and linkage. i also welded some brackets to strap my fuel tank in instead of using the aluminium tabs on the side of the SB tank. that was a recommendation from a friend of mine who builds race cars. by the way, what's the length of your steering column? all in all thanks for sequentially posting your build and great job.
Ray
 
#259 · (Edited)
Hi Ray,

First off let me apologize for not obtaining the length of the steering column from last time. I spoke to my father as well and he doesn't recall the length of the ididit steering column either. However, before you buy a steering column of any kind, you might want to put a chair in the car and measure the length that works for you. That's the reason we went with a tilt column to account for the unknown height / length issue.

However, I'll place a call on Monday to ididit and ask them as they were who supplied Streetbeasts with the columns as they are closed today.

Additionally, I'd like to see pictures of your resolution with the fuel tank setup that you're planning.

Also if you look at pages five or six, we started the build out of a 'maybe' 1 car garage that was really meant to be a separate smoking room / card table area that's so small... That my Dad and I would have to step outside of the Garage each time to then have my Dad go in first into the Garage before me as we couldn't sneak by each other to get to the front or the back of the car.

Cheers,

Jay K.
 
#261 ·
Hi Jay
no worries on the steering column length, i have a 28" from summit. just got some exhaust manifolds that bolt up to the LS1 without interfering with the frame, they won't be usible because the collectors are in line with the frame rails. it will take some block hugger type, most likely custom to clear the frame and motor mounts. these should be good enough to route the steering linkage to the column though. i'm just taking baby steps, nothing hard core yet.
ray
 
#260 ·
Jay the car looks good. I will give you a heads up on your doors, or door window openings. The gap on the bottom sideis way too big and you can't fill it with wiper rubbers. I put metel across both sides, which drew it together and made the opening much stronger. I used l-shaped pieces of metal, you can try to pinch the two sides together now and they will not move and the slot is just a tad wider than the glass.

PM me if you want me to go through all the steps, I hate doing it on here, too long.

Bob
 
#262 · (Edited)
#263 ·
Just ran across this on E-Bay,, and was just wondering if maybe this is a street Beast body.. It a vicky body ( sedan) and not sure if SB tried their luck with these as well as the wanna-be coupe,

It states it was built by Intovative street rods in Plantation Florida,, probably not a S.Beast just wondering

Ford : Other 2 dr. sedan in Ford | eBay Motors
Same people as far as I know..:D
Street beast did make a vicky..
 
#268 ·
Sb

Jay car is looking good, I will say I hoe you did not put metal between fiberglass, as it will work its way loose. I have seen it many times. They use some stuff on Corvettes when fiberglass goes on each side, I have it on mine, it is hard to work with and when it gets hard it will sprark when grinding with 36 paper. I have the name at home, I know you are past the trunk but I thought I would give you the heads up before paint.

Bob:
 
#269 ·
Hi Bob,

Yes that is aluminum embedded beneath the surface as every owner of a SB experiences that problem due to the design of our cars. Heck, before our car was modified to its present appearance, those four corners of the trunk and each window slot's opening had already begun cracking. The decision to use aluminum was to prevent future cracking & the need for repairing/repainting the car annually.

Having shared what I experienced first hand, of course I'd appreciate anything you could share.

Thank you Bob!

Jay K.

Ps. When're you going to post updated pictures of yours in the other SB thread?
 
#270 ·
Jay I know the corners need fixing but it won't last if you put alum between fiberglass the metal works it's way loose, there is a type of epoxy that you should use,what you have done looks good for now , but it won't last, if it were me I would redo the whole works.
. but that's me.

If you want to know what it it is let me know.

Bob
 
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