Projects '33 5w Build Thread

We thrashed this past week on the frame, disassembling the chassis parts, and final welding everything. With that done, the clamps came off and the tack welds got cut. The frame came right out, with no surprises.

I got it down on the ground, and began reassembling all of the suspension parts that were now also final welded. The engine and trans went back in, and the torsion bars got loaded and adjusted to get the chassis close to the ride height.

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how everything packaged together. I've learned that '33-34 frames are a lot more work than '32s!

Next, I'm fitting new floors from Jesse Coots onto the chassis before putting the body back on.

 

OUTSTANDING !

 

Thanks Marty!

 

Gonna be a shame to cover up all that Cory!

 

WOW! What else is there to say. Such great work and so quick...at least it seams that way. John

 

Very nice!

 

Wow. Great build.

 

Green with envy. Never tried torsion bars on any chassis I built, maybe I should. I'm curious if the heat from the exhaust manifolds will affect the front bars? Probably not. Great build as always from the Taulbert garage.

 

Loving it.

Chris

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Thanks Gary - I'm anxious to drive the car. After riding in Gary Schroeder's roadster at the Hill Climb last year, I was very impressed by the torsion bar suspension.

I think the front bars will be ok? Powder coating doesn't seem to impact springs, and that's normally 400-450 degrees. If it does, I should be able to fab up some heat shields to rectify it.

 

Great engineering Cory!


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Thanks - it's been a fun challenge!

 

Nice. Excellent design and execution. Beautiful welding and craftsmanship. Very cool.

 

What is a Johnny Joint? Where do you get them?

 

It looks like Cory used a Johnny Joint.

 

From the 4x4 world. https://www.rockjock4x4.com/johnny-joint-rod-ends

 

Found it. Been building chassis for 40 years and have never seen one. Learn something everyday.

 

Killer work as always. Really cool to see the use of out-of-the-box thinking on a traditional build. Can't wait to see this one on the streets!

 

Yes - those guys beat me to it! I used this exact one for the front wishbones:
https://www.rockjock4x4.com/CE-9112-12

I built a clevis/yoke to fit over the ball center of the Johnny Joint. I liked that they're rebuildable, and offer a little bit of isolation in the suspension. You do have to buy their tool to load/compress the bushings to assemble them.

I also used Johnny Joints for the rear wishbones, but in their rod end style with 3/4" threads.

 

Wonder if your front torsion bar setup would work on a deuce highboy chassis with a full pinch from the firewall forward to keep the bars behind the hood sides?

 

I wondered too. Can the bars be hid inside the frame rails, in a non-parallel fashion? I understand the arms out front won't have a completely straight up-down motion, but the travel will probably be very short anyways.

Would need to allow room for the bar to be slid straight back for changing/install.

 

Gary - for a '32, I'd run them transversely like the Moal setup. I originally was going to do that, even built the crossmember, but ran into issues getting the engine low enough to fit the exhaust manifolds into the blisters of the side aprons. I eventually threw in the towel, and went with this parallel arrangement. I only had that issue because of the highly swept rails on the '33-34 frames....which you don't have to worry with on a '32.

If I were doing a '32, I'd either buy, or pretty much copy, the Moal setup. The only thing I'd do different is the rear bar setup. Moal was having Schroeder make custom length shorter bars so that they could package them end to end. While that's still possible to have done, the downside is cost for the custom bars (especially if you decide to change spring rates), and the unavailability to quickly get a replacement if you're in a pinch.

 

It's possible to hide the bars in the rails, but it wouldn't be completely discrete. The midget bars are 1" in diameter, and you typically fit those inside a 1 3/8" OD 0.095" piece of chomoly to hold the bronze bushings. On a stock width frame rail, you've pretty much filled the available width, and that's before fitting the bar stop and some type of hardened block for the bar stop to ride against at the back end.

As for the bar arm motion not being perpendicular to suspension travel, it just drives more wear into the bushing, and it's going to put some more load on the pinch bolt for the bar arm. You'll lose some efficiency of the linkage, which will drive you to higher spring rates....but again, on the short front suspension travels of hot rods, it's probably not a big deal.

 

On the bar loading direction - I think you'd have to go out the front side due to the the sweep of the front rails (it would run into the top flange).

That would also mean you'd have to bob the front horns....or at least make them detachable.

 

I can picture boxing plates with a shape like -u- and the bushing bosses bolt in from the side. You could make the bosses thread into bungs welded into the interior of the rail, adding strength. A slot lets the arm through to the outside up near the axle.

Would a balljoint style end on a link have enough give to compensate for the for/aft of the arm as it travels in its non-parallel arc? Something simple looking like a Model A shock link.

 

I made the decision a while back to remove the original welled floors from the body. Even though they're very nice, the welled portions were going to compromise the chassis design I wanted. I really like tucking everything up within the frame rails, so you can't see stuff hanging down under the car, and the welled pans were going to make that nearly impossible without butchering the floor.

I reached out to Jesse Coots and ordered up a set of his flat floor pans for '33-34 Ford. He also reproduces stock subrails for anyone in need. Jesse makes the floor section in two pieces, so I got to work trimming the front section to clear the transmission, and modified the rear section with a banjo bubble. I was able to weld and finish the two sections together the other night.

Now, armed with a spot welded cutter and several replacement cutters, I'll be working on removing the stock floor as nicely as possible.

 

This thing has Ridler written all over it!

 

After drilling a lot of spot welds, I was able to get the floor out from underneath the body. With it out of the way, I wire wheeled the sub rails, cleaned out all of the windows in them, and covered them in a coat of etching primer.

I then turned to the firewall. You may have noticed before, but the firewall had been modified in its past life for the Olds. The cowl sides were cut back, which to me, are a very important feature on a '33-34. A while back, I picked up a '33 firewall from Bill Ganahl, that also included the cowl sides.

Today, I drilled (more) spot welds out of both the firewall in the car, and the replacement firewall. With everything broken down, I started to fit the replacement cowl sides to the body. I welded and finished them before clamping the firewall back on the body.

I'm hoping to sit the body back on the chassis soon, so I can begin the firewall modifications to clear the Cadillac.

 

Isn't it weird how a part of the car that's hidden under the hood, behind the engine, and sometimes covered in wiring, can be so important to the theme? I, too, value a stock Ford firewall. Sure you need to modify them sometimes to fit a bigger engine in, but it's important to keep as much material as possible. They add so much to the heart of the real steel body.