Finally got a roller. Getting the rear axle housing set up where I wanted it and then getting it welded up took some time. I also just finished rebuilding the rear end so it is good to go. While I was waiting for some of the rear end parts to arrive a started razor blading the upper layers of paint that would come off the body. It needs the typical lower patch panels.
Made some progress today deconstructing the body. This is my first Model A so spent some time yesterday trying to figure out how to get things apart. Of course all of the removable fasteners are rusted tight. Got most of them removed by welding nuts on to them and then breaking them off. Some I just had to drill out along with some of the rivets. I will be using the sub rail kit made by Steadfast to adapt the Model A body to the 32 frame. The body looks like it may have originally been painted Washington Blue. The most resent paint job was black. Some where between those paint jobs is was painted a turquoise color just like what was on a 62 Nova I used to have years ago. You can see some of it in the below photo.
just to be safe (if you have not done this already) get some bracing in the body to keep it square prior to cutting a lot of the supports etc out
I have been looking on the HAMB for how others handled the modification of the front subrail section to fit the 32 frame but did not find much other then cutting the area out and welding something else in. I wanted to try and modify the original front cowl subrail section to work. The original Model A subrail section dips down at the very front. The 32 frame slopes up. I started by figuring out where the front of the cowl would end up on the frame then made a template. I then did some layout and cut out the bottom part of the subrail that I would want to reshape and raise up. You can see in the below photo how the subrail dips down in the front. I flattened out the bottom and bent the 90 out some more. I marked out the areas to cut out. Bent the tab up and the outside in a little. Did a little trimming on the section that tucks up into the firewall. I will weld it all back together once I get the body set on the frame and make any final adjustments might need to be made. Now the subrail will slope up to fit the 32 frame and the front of the cowl will tuck over the top of the frame.
Try this link, great tips on fitting an A body on a 32 frame, also addresses the front area you are having trouble with. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fitting-a-model-a-coupe-on-a-32-frame-my-way.996002/
A little update. Have not had a to much time to work on the car as I had to be out of town a couple weeks but am now getting back to it. I have been working on stripping the paint off the of the body. I am able to razor blade off the top layers and then get the last few layers off with a 3M purple stripping disks. I got my patch panels from Brattons for the lower cowl, door bottom, and the lower quarter section behind the door. They all look they will fit very well.
I was tired of paint removal and since my son was home from college for Easter I decided to take advantage of him being home and move some stuff around in the garage and get the body set on the frame. To minimize the impact on the firewall I need to move the engine forward about an 1.5" which when removing the fan spacer and installing the fan it looks like I will have room to do and still have clearance to the radiator. I will still have to trim a little of the firewall at the bottom to clear the bell housing.
Finally someone who shows how to cut the front part of lower subrail on A's for a 32 frame. Great build keep the updates coming.
Moved the engine forward 1.5" then trimmed the bottom of the firewall to clear the bell housing and cut out the rear portion of the subrails. The body is now setting directly on the frame. I have will be using a Steadfast subrail kit. They require a lot of trimming to make fit so I will have to play around with it to see how to best get it in. I do have some photos of others projects that have used the subrail kit so will use those as a guide.
Progress has been slow but I have been working on the rear subrails and rear wheel well patches. I got one side and am starting on the other side.
As requested here are a couple close ups of the wheel stand. I just used materials and wheels I already had. Front and rear are sized to mimic ride height. If you are buying wheels buy some locking wheels so the car stays put.
Thanks for sharing they are a good idea and sure beats buying wheels and tires too early. I figured you had probably included a ride height scenario when fabricating them. Better with wheel lock OK. Keep up the good work on the coupe build, I am enjoying it...
Got the driver side wheel well patch in along with the rear exterior panel. Starting on the rear floor.
If you haven't put the trunk lid on yet for alignment I would suggest that you get it on and lined up before you go much further with tying in all the trunk and quarter panels. In my first build I got carried away with the progress and foolishly overlooked that step which caused me a big set back........ Nice build, really like your attention to detail.
This is great advice ^ I started down that path and Luckily caught it before welding it all together.
vtwhead, Thanks again for the heads up on the trunk fitment. I finally had time to get back in the garage and check the truck fit and sure enough I needed to make some adjustments. Luckily I did not have to back track to far. Only had to cut the tack welds between the sub rails and the rear wheel wells. I then went back to work on the trunk floor area. Start welding up the trunk hump..... and being Friday late afternoon I have to run out of welding gas. I run over to the Airgas store in the next town before closing and of course they are out of exchange tanks till Monday.
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