Tom Mauldin's BadAsp Coupe Build

[Tom Mauldin]

I have wanted one of these Coupes ever since participating in the build of Bill Peirce's (creator of FFCars website) I bought a kit and it was delivered in April which was documented in the thread "I just ordered a Competition Coupe". I have been working on and off this car since delivery. To bring you up to date at where I am now.
I have lowered the seat mounts. I have to thank Rick Anderson and Hank Lopez for fielding all my questions. Without their help I would have screwed it up.
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[Tom Mauldin]

Here is a link to a video I threw together while lowering the seat mounts.


http://youtu.be/sRtFmDUFyao

[jkrueger]

Nice job. Looks like you weld for a living. Want to come over and weld a roll cage I'm building for a chump car??? :)

JC

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks JC! I don't weld for a living but I did get lucky with some of the welds. My new welding machine sure made a difference. I'm not sure I weld good enough to farm my self out.

[Fluge]

That makes me want to weld something.

[TimC]

That's some fast work;), and good too.

I wished I had done something similar. Too far along to take it apart now.

[Tom Mauldin]

Marc, I'm really enjoying this part of the build. I enjoy the fabrication part, but I've already been bit by the car with a slight burn on the abdomen while welding in the NASCAR door bars. The thing doesn't even have side pipes on it an I get burnt. At least it isn't on the ankle or calf like normal.

Thanks Tim ;-) I was lucky enough to sit in Tom Coons Coupe at Huntington Beach last year and began formulating my plan to follow his lead.

[Tom Mauldin]

I've been working on the Coupe some more over the past couple of weekends. I now have the the NASCAR type side impact bars done. It was a good learning experience, especially since I did not have anyone to assist holding the bars. Thanks again to Hankl and Rick Anderson for fielding all of my questions. I will cut the video together for it in about a week, but here are some pictures.
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[jkrueger]

That looks great. Good job!.

JC

[vnmsss]

Been off the Forum for a while, and totally stoked to read this thread and hear of the progress on your Competition Coupe. Agree Rick Anderson and Hank Lopez are amazing talents, and I'll forever be in their debt for their assistance with my racing efforts. Best wishes in your build!

Karen

[Owlknight360]

Looking good. Working on the same changes myself. I like the rotisserie, I've been thinking I'm going to need one to do a nice job welding. Did you buy or build yours? How does it hook up to the rotisserie?

[68GT500MAN]

Your progress looks great!
Doug

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! I'm having a blast doing all of these modifications!

Qwiknight, I built the rotisserie. It consist of 2 cheap engine stands and I just fab'ed up the mounts for the frame. Here are some pictures of the rotisserie steel mounts I did for the coupe.
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[Owlknight360]

That is a great way to make a rotisserie, thanks!! I'll probably copy that.

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks! Glad to be of help! Let me know if you need any other pictures.

[WIS89]

That is a great way to make a rotisserie, thanks!! I'll probably copy that.

Owlknight-

Tom's pictures should give you a great start for building your rotisserie. I thought I would share this link with you as well, just as another source that may be helpful.

http://imgur.com/a/2X4n2

I hope it is helpful.

Tom-

I admire your welding skills. It take a lot of courage to tear into that frame! However, the end result is surely worth it. Very nice job!

Regards,

Steve

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks Steve! Hey, that's a great site for the rotisserie build! I like how they extended the upright on the stands. I just cut a wedge out of mine to make the tube level with the base.

[Sydney Chris]

hi Tom,

Quick question re the dimensions for the side intrusion set up.. were you able to advise or did you build it based on the frame as delivered..?

With thanks

Chris

[Tom Mauldin]

Hey Chris,

A little of both. I studied Hankl's blog on coupe side impact bars and followed his lead as far as the height of the uprights, distance between the bends on the top bar, and the degree of the bends. After that it was a matter of getting the back of the bars to tie into the rear upright of the frame at the mid point and cutting the right angles on the ends so there is minimal gap between the bar and where it is welded to the frame.

[Tom Mauldin]

Here is the first video on the SIB install. It only consist of the lower bar installation

http://youtu.be/VtbWD4Z96g8

[jkrueger]

Great post. I wish I had a video to watch when we built ours. It will be a great resource to the people who build after.

Did you make that jig or is that the jig Hank and Rick used when they built Karen's car?

JC

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks JC! I made my own jig. I had thought about asking to borrow Hankl's, but I figured I needed to learn know to use the tubing bender.

[Tom Mauldin]

Here is part 2 of the install.

http://youtu.be/Rt7dSeMGR80?list=UUuGpKPiTxaxItm3-xR2y7Xw

[Mslone]

Tom,

That is looking Awesome! Nice Work! I'm going to have to take a trip to Pearland again to see the Progress soon!

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks Michael! Come down any time.

[Tom Mauldin]

I have the suspension mocked up. Still need to finish grinding off the factory upper rear suspension mounts. I'm using Levy's 5-link. I had issues with the front upper A-arms hitting the front tubing. After talking with FFR, it seems that you have to use the FFR front spindles and mount the A-arm to the vertical mounts. The horizontal mount doesn't work for the coupe, unless you notch the 3/4" tubing that the hood mounts to. FFR is sending me a free set of spindle, Thanks FFR!
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[Sydney Chris]

hey Tom,

Even from Down Under your work looks awesome.. :)

Posting pics of my work to date during next week.. have rebuilt most of the front end for the RHD conversion as well as a new rack and power brakes with tunable ABS fitted.

A question for you.. I had posted re extending the wheelbase by two inches (from the rear chassis cross tube).. with your experience did you have any insights on the impact to stability / handling..?

Cheers from Aus.

Chris

[jkrueger]

Looks good. I like your shop too.

JC

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks! I can't wait to see your pictures Chris. As to the stretching of the wheel base, I'm no expert, but I would think that it would have minimal effect of better straight line performance and slower turning response. I really don't think you would notice the change on stability and handling. I would call FFR or email and ask for Jim Schenik (spelling) or Jesper. I'm sure they could give you an educated answer. Good luck!

Thanks JC!

[Sydney Chris]

cheers Tom.. will follow it up and let you know if I hear any different to the post above.

All the best with your (re)build..:)

Chris

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks Chris! I'll be following you progress as well.

[Tom Mauldin]

Put the body back on the car today. I think that was harder than putting in the door bars. I'll post pictures later.

[Carlos C]

Tom:

Great job with the frame mods so far! Watching you MIG, makes me want to weld something. At some point I'll need to buy my own plasma cutter and MIG welder. I also envy your garage, and love your rotisserie.

I thought about lowering the floors on mine, but it is a lot of work just to get my custom seats to fit. Plus, I promised Dave Smith that mine would be ready by next year's Open House, so I need to keep the build a little simpler than yours. Not to mention that I'll be fabricating a custom interior, which most likely take the majority of the build. I'll definitely keep up with your build, just like you have with mine. Love the photos and videos, by the way.

Carlos

[riptide motorsport]

Incredible work!

[Tom Mauldin]

It's been a while since I have posted. I have taken on another roadster and a 33 that will help pay for my Daytona build. I also screwed up and watched an episode of Fast & Loud and saw a buildup of a 67 F100. 3 weeks later and I had sold my '10 Ram 1500 and have a 1970 F100 and a 2004 Crown Vic for the drivetrain. The truck will look cool hauling the Daytona to events! My wife thinks I'm nuts, but before I did the truck thing I asked my Dad what he thought and he said it was a great idea! Anyway here are the pictures of the Daytona with the body on.
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And here is the truck and Crown Vic. The truck will be painted to match the Daytona and I'm thinking, 18" Halibrand type wheels. I wanted 20" but no one makes any.
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[loeffler1]

Looks like you are also turning the Crown Vic into a hatchback!!! LOL

[buildit]

Nice looking truck, Tom!

We had a '56 when I was growing up.....have always wanted to do what you're doing, but they're really getting hard to find unless they've been 'rodded or restored.

Someday!

[Tom Mauldin]

Bill, had to make sure it would fit in the garage. It seems to be longer than the roadsters and coupes I'm accustomed to. I think Ford could have been successful with my design, kind of like when GM came out with the Monte Carlo with the sloped rear window, oh wait, that wasn't.

Gary, thanks! Your always welcome to come up and get your hands dirty.

[Sydney Chris]

hey Tom,

If your wife thinks you are nuts then you are probably onto something worth bottling... :)

Loving your work.. :)

Im still fiddling with minor mods as I trial fit most of the components.

All the best from down under.. :)

Cheers

Chris

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks Chris!

[Sydney Chris]

hi Tom,

Has been a long time since Ive been on this site.. I trust you are going well.. :)

Am looking at removing a bit of sheetmetal and dropping the floor level to get the extra head height.

Would you be able to assist with the dimensions for the cutouts you completed..?

With thanks

Chris

Were you able to post or send the

[Garry Bopp]

Chris,

You may want to try sending a Private Message to Tom. Sometimes that works best when trying to get hold of someone.

Garry

[Tom Mauldin]

Chris,

I can get you the measurements when I get back home. I'm in Canada right now planning a job. By dropping the floor you will need to stiffen the frame with door bars or something like that. I'll send the measurements early next week.

Tom

[Sydney Chris]

thanks Tom,

Will look forward to the details.

I had considered the reinforcement.. was thinking of fabricating a 2" x 4" RHS section, cutting then, welding end plates to the main rail and inserting the pre fabricated section so the frame didnt loose as much as it would with the method you had used. Look forward to any thoughts re additional support that would be required there after, assuming the seat mounting plate was also reinstalled..?

Cheers

Chris

[Tom Mauldin]

Chris,

I think that would help. What about doing that and replacing the square tubing that the body attaches to under the door with a heavier gauge or round tube and tie it in two places to the 2x2 below the door?

[Tom Mauldin]

I just measured the cut. From front to back I went 18". The total depth that I cut into the frame at the back was 2". I also cut the 4" crossmember 3" toward the middle of the car measuring from the side of the 4" frame rail. I just carried the angle I had cut on the frame over to the crossmember. I hope this helps.

[John Dol]

One of the mods I didn't do, that I'd wish I did!

John

[Sydney Chris]

thanks Tom... much appreciated.

I had already upgraded the lateral tubes under the sill location to 2".. can tie them in easy enough.. :)

Cheers

Chris

[Jacob McCrea]

I like it! Keep up the good work.

[Tom Mauldin]

Sounds great Chris! Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks Jacob!

[mjazzka]

Tom, this looks great, I really like that mod. Looking forward to seeing this coupe get built, and with a truck to match too!

[Tom Mauldin]

Thanks Michael! Wow, another coupe within 50 miles, cool! I just checked out your thread and your making great progress. It is looking good! Yea, the truck was one of those squirrel moments where I lost focus. I have the truck at the painter right now and the coupe is up on the lift waiting for me to finish with the roadster and now a twin turbo aluminator coyote 33 that I have been asked to build. Anyway, good luck and I can't wait to see your car on the road!

[mjazzka]

Tom, thanks for the support, I actually added a little to the thread today. Glad to see there are some other FFRs around! I really do need to get around and see the FFR cars around here, especially mslone's and yours

With all that BEFORE the coupe it may be a little while, haha. Can't wait to see all of those done, and hopefully you'll post some pictures of the truck when it's done :D

[Tom Mauldin]

Looking good! Keep it up.

[Sydney Chris]

Further to my post above (without wishing to highjack Tom at all), I had completed some stress calcs, just torsion and mid point bending for the replacement 2"x4" RHS to get the 2" drop in the floor level.

6mm wall or roughly 1/4" seemed the optimal point between weight and strength. With around a 10% reduction in stiffness for this element alone when compared to the 4" chassis rail that's standard for the Coupe. Cutting the rail in half obviously increases the stress / deflection by up to 50% and reduces the torsional rigidity by up to a maximum of 70% when compared to a sealed tube.

All of that said, the mods Tom also included more than compensate for that element in isolation.

Cheers

Chris

[Tom Mauldin]

Chris,

So...the math checks out? I'm glad you did the math and not me, cause I would never finish the math or the car. ;)

I have been working on what type of wheels to run on the coupe. What do you think???

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[wallace18]

Chris,

So...the math checks out? I'm glad you did the math and not me, cause I would never finish the math or the car. ;)

I have been working on what type of wheels to run on the coupe. What do you think???

50424

At least you would have spares on your trailer. LOL.

[John Dol]

Now that's Stylin'

John

[Sydney Chris]

Wheels look great Tom.. :rolleyes:

Perhaps a set of off roader treads to go with them and you will have your very own smoke machine.. :D

Re the maths.. 1/4" wall on the insert section with the RHS capped as well is not quite as strong as the original 4" tube, but close. Without the additional mods you did to the entire cage Id be more than a little concerned about dropping the floor after cutting it with a torch. The main issue would be brittle fractures around the edge of the heat stress areas from carbonisation. Will hopefully be able to post pics in a couple of weeks with what Ive managed to come up with.. :)

As with all of these things you need the strength in the tub for structural integrity and handling, then the roll cage can do its work for driver protection.

Chris

[Tom Mauldin]

Keep us informed Chris.

I think with my wheel choice I will have a one of a kind Daytona! :cool:

[jgm]

Hello Tom, I'm new to the forum and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I'm deciding whether to build a type 65 coupe or the mk4.

In your experience was the coupe a lot harder to build, and the fitting b of the parts is somewhat good?

There are some tips to make the kit more useful and also about making panels removable to service the dash, suspension and pedal box, and others posted some trouble with the aluminum panels not fitting propperly.

I see that your coupe got modified for the track with an impressive side protection.

Regards,

Jaime

[Tom Mauldin]

Jaime,

In my opinion, the coupe is a little more challenging to build than the roadster. A bit more expensive too, but what you end up with is a car that there are fewer of when you go to events.