Projects Tomcat’s Crazy '31 Model A Build Thread (2010-?)

Will follow on! This should go on the list of great saves!

 

Thanks Outback, I don't know about great saves. I've seen people on here start off with much worse.

 

100%. How did I miss this thread originally? Killer work.

 

Floor to transmission clearance was an issue as is over all floor space. Fabricated a small blister which gave me about 1/2". I'm not 100% convinced it's enough, so maybe a larger one is needed.

 

Can't tell you how many times I've said that about the other threads here. Thanks man.

 

Yes it's never too late to learn. I have never really been exposed to fabrication or machine shop machines. I'm very intrigued by it though. I'll have to make some friends with some machines.
Keep up the good work!

 

You would not think installing a shifter would be a big deal. I wanted something that had a period look but, starting off with a TH350 which obviously came later, the choices were pretty limited. I’m not a big fan of what’s on the market today and I’m not ready to sell off the brand new B&M street/strip TH350 w/Hole shot converter that I practically stole (1/2$) in favor of a 4 speed just yet.

Luckily, is was able to buy a Hurst Auto Stick 1 from a fellow H.A.M.B. member. Unfortunately the shift lever would come through the floor right under your leg so in order to make this work in the Model A some modifications as well as some restoration work had to be done.






Here you can see the pins that retain the grease cup and leaf springs have some pretty bad notches worn in them;




Using my trusty drill press I whittled down some 3/16" clevis pins into new parts;








The welded on chrome lever had to be chopped off as short as possible to clear the floor underneath. The chrome plating on what was left had to be sand blasted off. The idea here is to offset the shift lever to the center of the floor. Of course there's a hole right at the cut line but I was able to file a lug onto a piece of bar stock that fit the hole. This would strengthen the weld joint.






After mocking this up and finding the length at the center of the floor I made another piece that would allow a typical bolt on Hurst lever. Here is the finished part welded and blasted;




All parts were blasted and the new pins were pressed and peened into place.


All parts were then gun blued and sealed. The coil spring was painted and, the bolts were replaced with stainless steel fasteners that I just had to polish


Final Assembly;




The shift rod bushing on the shifter just barely hit the frame cross member when in park position so that dropped section of the frame had to be cut back out and new pieces made to give more clearance. BIG PAIN


These shifters originally came with the Hurst "Super Boot" which is way too large for this car. I tried a Hurst B4 boot but that didn't have enough flex for the Auto stick, so I found this boot used in 66-76 Mopar A bodies and it works perfectly

 

Very nice work.

 

Waiting on some fuel system parts so, I'll bore you with another update;

So, my car came with one of these expensive 1-800, I would say “street rod” type parking brake levers and cables. I wanted to put a chrome plated Model A lever in there but, I could really use the money elsewhere, and since I had it, I used it. It's pretty well made and hopefully won’t be too much of an eye sore.

Most of these things just get mounted to the sheet metal floor which never made sense in terms of strength so, I made a 3/16" thick bracket and will mount it to the frame.




Mounting to either the floor or the frame was still a problem trying to get the cables lined up. I needed to find away around the “X” part of the frame. Couldn’t raise or lower the handle so, I sort of invented a sliding bracket using some 1/16” Teflon sheet, some 3/16” steel, a couple shoulder bolts and, a couple rod ends. Hopefully this does the trick.








Hell, it's look 'n kinda sexy next to that Auto stick.

 

flawless execution again! One of my favorite builds. Your attention to detail is spot on.

 

So is the "clutch" pedal a dummy pedal for a foot rest, or is it for future consideration?

 

Thank you sir. I noticed your avatar and see you have a Model A build thread too. Very nice! Going to have to read through it soon!

 

The clutch pedal is for future transmission options. Easier to build in that flexibility now.

 

That's a different idea. Good thinking.

 

Mocked up the steering box mount with most, but not all the weight on the front suspension. My thought on this set up is to get the drag link parallel to the tie rod in both height and plan view. I’m thinking this should minimize bump steer in both bump and rebound. Ideally, I would have all the weight in the car but it’s not practical to assemble the entire car with every piece including fluids to get the box mount perfect. I may have to make an adjustment to the pitman arm after the car is finished.

There’s always going to be some bump steer. The question is, do you build in a bias and minimize it under braking, under acceleration, or split the difference?

 

Your steering box install looks good. All you can do is go with it.

 

I always set things like this without a full spring pack, to compensate for lack of weight. Just the main leaf if on a bare frame. I guess that's an experience thing.

But it looks pretty good and your desire for parallel in both planes at ride height is correct.

My one concern is the steering box. I fear it is an aftermarket but non Borgeson one. That will be your biggest operational issue. I'm sure you've seen the recent/current thread on the subject.

 

Thanks pprather. Yep, I think it will be fine.

Seems even setting it up without a full spring pack is still only going to get you in the ball park. Yes I've seen the feedback on the various Vega boxes. The box in the picture I believe is a cheepo Speedway box that came with the car. I just used it for mock up. I got a great deal on a 16:1 quick ratio box from Flaming River but have heard mixed reviews on them too. If it goes south I'll buy a Borgeson.

I really appreciate your input. Thanks again, Tom

 

My Speedway box in 600 Mi had to be adjusted three or four times in the cover came off once I replaced the button head screws with 5/16 as the head stripped out. So I'm going to replace it.

 

I have 1200-ish miles on my Model A with a Vega box and so far I haven't noticed any appreciable change in the free-play. I am 90% certain it was a Borgeson box I used. As I remember (there's the 10% for error) Borgeson was quite a bit cheaper than the Flaming River box.

Lynn

 

Has it kept the adjustment since then?

 

Yep, seems the Borgeson is the best value at $332 (Today). I gave $400 for the new in box FR back in 2014. I think they were $600. back then. Now they are a whooping $830!

 

I haven't driven it much since then, I'll let you know.

 

We have been using the CJ Jeep (circa 1980) series box for the last 4 builds. Stronger box same bolt pattern from Saginaw. 3/4 inch input shaft 6 1/2 turns LTL fwiw
More Information for LARES 11034 (rockauto.com)

 

That looks like a 525. Bigger than the 140. The RHD version of the 525 gets used all the time here (we nerver had 140 'Vega' size.)

 

Yes, commonly known as the 525.

 

Your steering set up looks really good. I know they're frowned on on this site but for at least the last 25 years on my own cars I have used a hydraulic steering stabilizer. They're not really needed but I find they tend to smooth out the little wiggle movements that you encounter driving on most roads. Your whole project it looking good.

 

Thank you krylon32. I agree the stabilizer is not needed if everything else is right. The problem in some cases (not yours) is that some people might try and use them to address underlying issues. We have been spoiled with today's modern cars and have to remember that this is old technology. Running a straight axle comes with old car ride quality even in the best of conditions.

 

Here’s the latest update. With the mock up 307 engine still in place and the seat temporarily installed I have been focused on finishing off the last of the mechanical driver controls. The throttle pedal and carb linkage was pretty much last on that list.

The So-Cal pedal assembly shown earlier in the thread had too much offset in the arms and would not work so, it went to the swap meet pile.

My plan is to freshen up the 11:1 +.030” ‘65 327 that I built way back in 1979. The last time I ran this engine was in 1987. This will be the test mule for the car while I put together the other, more serious 327 I have in the works.

For induction, the test mule is going to get a pair of 500 cfm Competition series Carters on a Weiand WCV327 manifold. This was easier said than done! There’s tight clearances everywhere not to mention the fuel inlets are on the wrong side. Then there’s what to do about the kick down cable for the TH350, hard lines or hoses?, return springs?, details, details, this took a way more beer than I figured.

At first I was thinking I'd just run a throttle cable but, with such a short distance between the rear carburetor and the firewall I just couldn't seem to work that out. I have always preferred mechanical linkages anyway so I set about making my own from 5/16” diameter x .049” wall seamless stainless steel tubing which has the perfect I.D. for tapping 1/4-28 threads. It is light, strong and, can be polished like chrome.

For the money the new stronger throttle pedal should have come with real bronze bushings instead of plastic, but, it looks pretty good and fits in well. I drilled and tapped the arm for a 1/4-28 bolt and will double lock the rod end with a nut. I also drilled the toe board panel, tacked a 1/4-20 nut on the back side, and installed a cut down bumper to serve as a throttle stop.






After some careful measuring I cut a 1" hole in the firewall. The reproduction rubber boot is for a M38 Army Jeep and is slightly modified.



Fabricated this bracket from .090" Aluminum to mount the fuel pressure regulator.


Here's the bracket after some polishing.



For the kick down cable, I modified a couple of Lokar brackets. One needed to be extended for cable alignment so I cut down the little bracket that came with the cable, cut the cable hole off the return spring bracket and welded the two together.



The other bracket got the cable hole enlarged for a rubber grommet. These brackets come with rough edges and some tooling marks so, a lot of time went into polishing them up. Here they are finished.



To properly mount the little tear drop spring pivot pieces that came with the brackets I needed a kick down carb stud with 3/4" of thread. None are available so, I whittled down a 1/4-28 SST screw and JB welded a SST nut onto it to make one.



The extended kick down stud now hit on the intake manifold runner. I bought two 1/4" thick Phenolic carb spacers which fixed that problem and will help insulate the carbs. Phenolic is kinda ugly so, I masked them off and shot the edges with flat black Rustoleum.





Here's a shot of all the stainless bits polished.



The fuel pressure gauge case is also stainless steel but does not look great out of the box so, it was also carefully polished.



I thought about making hard fuel lines but, there was a serious clearance issue between the rear carb fuel inlet and the linkage. The only option was to use banjo fittings. This whole set up is a bit different but, in the end, I think it turned out pretty decent.








Running the kick down off the front carb allowed for better cable clearance in the firewall area.


Time to break it all down and move on the fuel tank in the trunk and rear bulk head/firewall.

 

Forgot I needed a vacuum port for the TH350 Modulator. These carbs have no vacuum ports anywhere. Drilled and tapped the intake for 1/8" NPT. This will hide under the fuel regulator bracket. Some how I missed the centerline by .030" or so, oh well




Borescoped to check for burrs and depth.