Track Roadster - Hot Rod Girl: Part I - Tech

With Jim crackin' the whip from behind his camera, I started out by unpacking and laying out all the chassis components and checking them against the packing list. Everything was as it should be, so it was time to get to work.

Jim always assembles his projects bare first to make sure everything fits as it should and that there aren't any modifications needed before taking the time to paint, and so on. It sounded like a good idea, even though I don't relish the thought of doing things twice, but I figured I'd better amuse him since he thinks he's supervising.

I guess I could have started anywhere, but I chose to start at the back and work my way toward the front. I can't believe I'm really doing this, but there's gotta be a tremendous amount of self-satisfaction involved in building a car from the ground up. Who knows, perhaps I'll get hooked on building hot rods just like Jim ... but, then who will cook and do the wash for us if that happened? Well, we'll have to see.

Total supplies a fresh new Currie rearend housing as part of the kit, though you can order a complete one as an option, and it's pre-fit with all brackets needed for its installation. I started out by attaching the upper of the four-bar brackets to both the upper mounting points on the frame and the upper portions of the rearend brackets. I soon figured out that the short ones go on top and the long on the bottom-my first moment of confusion.

With the upper bars attached, I next hung the coilover shocks from their mounting points on the rear crossmember.

Next, I attached the two lower bars. Doing it that way allowed me to swing the rearend up, and it moved right into place as it pivoted on the four-bar assembly, allowing me to slide in the lower shock bolts with ease.

Next came the Panhard bar. Jim explained to me that the bar keeps the rearend centered under the frame and from walking back and forth during turns. I soon found you have to adjust the rod ends on the Panhard bar so the rearend stays centered under the frame. I did that by measuring both sides of the axle tubes versus the framerails, making sure both measurements were equal.

With the rearend in place-after only about 15 minutes, I might add-I moved forward on the frame. The next component was the tubular crossmember assembly. This piece not only adds strength to the frame by tying both 'rails together, but it serves as the transmission mount, as well. The mounting holes come pre-drilled in the frame so there's no measuring or calculating needed to install it in the right place-another advantage of Total's pre-engineering.

Sticking with to my work-toward-the-front game plan, the next object of my attention was the master cylinder and pedal assembly. Not only are all the needed components part of the base chassis kit, but the bracketry comes pre-welded to the frame, too. I had it figured out and assembled it in a couple of minutes after a quick look at the pedal assembly on Jim's Model A chassis.