Projects 60's Era Street/Strip Model A Coupe

Thanks, fellas! Excited for what's next, as always.

 

Pulling the Body Off the Chassis:

It's time to get the drivetrain mounted, so the body is coming up and off and the chassis is going to get all the attention.







Both are Posies narrow width springs. We ended up choosing the reversed eye spring to get the car closer to the ride height. Posies has been very helpful.

Here's a spring comparison:

The reversed-eye spring will be 2" lower.

 

Glad you're having a positive experience with Posies. My last experience with them was pretty poor.

 

That sucks.

So far, so good for me. They have been professional whenever I've reached out, which has been a few times since I ordered the springs.

 

Car is looking great by the way. Really enjoy watching this one come together, it's been a long time coming!

 

Ain't THIS the truth!!!

 

Sneak peak of the frame-side mounts.

 

Just checking in on the build Brent, you're still making great progress....for what its worth, I had a great experience back in 2012 with Posies as well.....I have had to add a lift block to the buggy spring as its settled over the last 8 years, but I assume that's to be expected......

 

Thanks!

How much did it settle? Was is a narrow or standard?

 

It was a standard buggy and has settled 2+ inches over 8500+ miles. The front spring also settled because I had to go to a shorter shock to keep the shock travel centered. I originally installed a Speedway shock (don't know PN) with an 8 inch cylinder housing. After the spring settled I went to a SoCal PO15464 shock with a 6.25 inch cylinder housing. Both shocks were installed with travel centered on the exposed piston shaft, same mounting position. The front shocks still appear to be roughly half travel on shaft so I think they have settled all they will settle.

 

Awesome

 

Awesome man!!!!

 

Very nice build! Great work

 

I love searching for and finding old parts. So, when this NOS column-mount horn button showed up in the mailbox, I was probably more excited than I should be for such a simple part.

I doubt modern imported equivalent buttons look any different - or that anyone would know BUT those are easy to find. This one took a little work. The cool thing, I got it for less than the others.



That's hardly an update, I know. There'll be more work to show by the week's end.

 

Absolutely fantastic work. Truly amazing!


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Hurst SBC Mount and Frame Side Mount Fab:

I didn't have time to write all that much the last time I posted about the front mounts. I'll drop some info and pics in.

The engine mount biscuits (Competiton Engineering calls them Universal Engine Cushions - the part number is SS-011) were something I've heard to be careful of. The inexpensive ones are known to be really poor quality. Either they squish out or they deteriorate.



Most guys that build their own mounts, smooth them over so they look really slick. I like the look but I love seeing the welds. I mean, this chassis is pretty fancy and all but I'm not a very fancy guy. I prefer exposed welds, especially when they look this good.



Each mount was fabbed from two pieces. Here's the side piece that eventually was heated and wrapped around the top.



And from above. They'll get finished welded when the rest of the stuff is fabbed.

 

Tri-5 Bellhousing Mounts Part 1:

Since I am running an Ansen blow-proof bellhousing with the early SBC mount ears. I thought it would be neat to run OEM style bell housing mounts.

This is Ryan's creation. They're pretty slick.

Here they are tacked together.



And finished welded. You can see the "step" on the frame side. That's because they weld to the boxing plate AND to the leg of the truss. These things are BEEFY. 3/16" sides boxes with 1/8".



Crush sleeves were inserted.



What they look like from either side.

 

Tri-5 Bellhousing Mounts Part 2:

The mounts tacked into place.


Looking at them from the front, you can see that they run along with the boxing plate to the truss leg.



View from the back.





This flat plate, below, is for the engine limiter rod. One will go on either side and mount to the ladder bar/trans crossmember.

The mount is one of the odder-shaped mounts, for sure.



And from the bottom.

 

Man! That is some pretty welding!

 

I'm loving this build and really appreciate all the little things

Thanks for being so through with showing us how everything was created and fitted

I look forward to every post eagerly

 

Really nice build. Love the work, love the theme of the car. Looking forward to seeing more of this.

 

Shifter Handle, Brake Handle, and tear down:

The original plan was to modify one of the shifter handles I have hanging around my shop. However, Ryan had this diamond-shaped handle that never found it's way to the right project. it has a neat history about how he found it and the local shop that had it for decades.

It will get modified to run in my coupe. What's cool is that I'll be running a Long shifter and it's a little sacrilegious to run a Hurst (what I was planning to run, because they just make so many of options). But, this one is unique in its shape and it fits the car's vibe.

We're not sure what it's from, something early 60s... a Mopar maybe?


There's enough stock to put a bend in it to locate it more toward the center of the trans. That'll help, so I can comfortably put my foot on the gas pedal and not have to bend my leg around a shifter.


Here are the shifter and the brake handle mounted. It's going to be a party inside this car, for sure. I'm probably not the only one who likes the look and feel of levers and functional mechanisms.

Luckily, the brake handle landed in a good location and doesn't interfere with the dash bar. I was worried for a moment.



Rather than risk any warping, it got broken down for some welding.



Over the next week or so, there'll be a bunch of frame progress. We're getting closer.

 

Wow, I rarely visit the HAMB these days as threads like this are what kept me coming back! I’ll be following this one for sure. Great planning and execution!

-Mike


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Thanks, fellas! I really appreciate it.

Ryan is talented, for sure. He wants to take the parts to the next level and in other work his "finished" pieces are like art. But being a guy that loves the rawness of seeing welds (and the cars I have taken inspiration from were far from polished)... I wanted his welds to be seen. It will be bittersweet the day they're painted over.

Thank you!

I like the little details, too. Some of my favorite build threads do the same. I wouldn't have learned so much if they just popped up some finished pics, at the end. So, I appreciate that you appreciate that... haha.

Thanks, Pila38!

Thanks, Mike! I'm feeling good about how it's coming out. A lot of that is due to the plan and being able to be flexible when need be.

Thanks, Enloe.

 

I mean it’s alright, if you’re into that sort of thing.

 

Haha, should I take you off the short list of folks I send the early pic updates? Maybe send you gym pics instead?

 

Just giving you shit, blame my dad.

 

I like that bell mount idea, I thought of something similar for my 34 5W, sort of the same build fashion... except mines a lot more shitty car. I also have that same Ansen blow proof bell for mine. This is mine very loosely mocked together, it’s currently getting a floor and firewall slapped back on it

 

Mine was shit, too, and far less cool!

I'm glad you still have that car and that there's progress being made. If it was a truck, it'd be done by now!

@Kiwi Kev used the same bellhousing in the Nasty Habit Willys and his mounting was slick. Had we gone solid mounts, our mounts would have looked something like his.

 

Yeah, I do like my stupid trucks. It also doesn't help the 5W has been a 1000 miles away for the past year!