Project Ludicrous Louis update

[Dipstick]

Thought I'd throw a little update on here. I've finally got some fabrication done and the chassis for my '54 is taking shape. My goal is to have it rolling by mid to end of next month. Check out the entire project and let me know what you think!

www.LudicrousLouis.com

Here's the chassis sitting in the fixturing waiting for a few more parts and the rear suspension.


Front lower control arms in the weld fixture. Laser cut ends and mandrel bent.



Grant Rogers
'54 Chevy aka Louis
www.ludicrouslouis.com

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

sick!

[Rantheman]

sweet doing your own fabing is always fun

[WS6]

Holy crap man. Is that a trailblazer inline 6? You're putting a turbo on the side of that thing? Awesome! I have yet to see someone use one of these new inline 6's. I think in something that old a modern inline 6 would be sweet. After all that's what so many of them had and stayed with in their builds.

[NRV051]

That thing is going to be all sorts of cool once finished.

[1offwizard]

Very nice work!

[Dipstick]

I'm done working on Louis for the summer (darn school) so I thought I'd see what you all thought of the progress. The chassis is nearly completly welded and I got all the lower control arms done. It was an intense summer, commonly putting in 15 hour days but it was worth it and I learned a ton. I'm thinking it will be possible to get it running and driving next summer.

[Steve1968LS2]

Nice fab work..

More pics please!

[Smock67]

Wow thats some amazing work. Congrats on the mad amount of progress made. That will be one sick machine when it's done.

[Poopy]

It looks so good with the patina'd body...keep it like that.

[slenning]

Holy *#!@ thats cool!!! Keep up the good work! WOW

[Dipstick]

It looks so good with the patina'd body...keep it like that.

oh yeah, rest assured my friend. nobody around here gets it but I can't mess up the beauty that the last 50 years has created. plus it will save doing a mad amount of body work. hehe. I'm going to blast etch prime and paint the inside/bottom though.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of wheels will look right on it. I'm thinking something between a torque thrust and a racier forgeline/hre. maybe I'll get a better idea at sema this year. any suggestions?

oh, I'll have my dad take some more pics soon.

peace out

Grant
www.ludicrouslouis.com

[novanutcase]

Wow! Looks Great! One question though! Why did you use custom lowers and 'vette uppers?

John

[Poopy]

oh yeah, rest assured my friend. nobody around here gets it but I can't mess up the beauty that the last 50 years has created. plus it will save doing a mad amount of body work. hehe. I'm going to blast etch prime and paint the inside/bottom though.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of wheels will look right on it. I'm thinking something between a torque thrust and a racier forgeline/hre. maybe I'll get a better idea at sema this year. any suggestions?

oh, I'll have my dad take some more pics soon.

peace out

Grant
www.ludicrouslouis.com

Freakin sweet! I really like the wheels that are on it in the pics. Not too overdone for the body...

[GHOSTDANCER]

Very kool project !

[Dipstick]

Wow! Looks Great! One question though! Why did you use custom lowers and 'vette uppers?

John

yeah thats a good question. I didn't have time and they work for now. I think I will have travel issues with the vette ones because I lowered the mounting point on the chassis to raise the roll center and control the latteral movement of the roll. So, I'll probably be designing some new ones soon. the stock vette ones are super light though, but it will be nice to have a matching set of tube arms.

Freakin sweet! I really like the wheels that are on it in the pics. Not too overdone for the body...

hey, thats a good point. hadn't really thought of that before. haha. I definantly want something to go with the 'heavy' 'freight train' look of the car. I think a earo style wheel would look silly on it. the pics are 20's and I think I'm going to go with 19's rear and 18's front for better clearance and weight.

[ironworks]

I noticed you made the upper control arm plates bolt on. Did you do that to be able to change the plate and change the roll center, if and when you build upper control arms? What rack are you going to run? Have you figured out the track width yet?

You must have access to a laser cutter, it looks great.

Rodger

[Dipstick]

I noticed you made the upper control arm plates bolt on. Did you do that to be able to change the plate and change the roll center, if and when you build upper control arms? What rack are you going to run? Have you figured out the track width yet?

You must have access to a laser cutter, it looks great.

Rodger

Thanks! yeah the front uca bolts onto those plates and I can change them for caster and roll center. I'm not a suspension engineer but I tried my hardest to get the geometry where I thought it would work the best. Now if it needs to be adjusted based on real testing then I can easily and maybe make it more permanent later.

I'm getting a custom c4 rack from Unisteer. It should be here by now, I better check on that. haha. Unisteer was cool to work with and it was nice to be able to design the steering with absolutely zero bumpsteer. I also got a pair of lowered steering arms for the c5 uprights from DSE so I can lower the rack and not worry about crank pulley clearance.

Access to a laser? yes. both a flat laser and tube laser (same machine that cuts all the DSE control arm tubes) also a couple mandrel benders, cnc press brake, 7 axis turning center and some other cool stuff. It's nice.

[Dipstick]

I just uploaded a ton of new pictures to my sight, so check it out. It's looking like a real chassis now.

I just registered for sema too! Unfortunately Louis isn't going, but maybe next year. That would be awesome.



Peace out!
Grant Rogers

www.ludicrouslouis.com

[ajjones44]

Any updates to this project? Curious about your engine setup. Thanks.