Time sure has a way of flying by. Here I am almost 6 months passed since my last update on my chassis. I found some time yesterday to finish the plate and mounting tabs for tying the two rear upper bars together. Not completely satisfied with it yet, but I will be before I’m done lol. I started by making the tabs of 3/8” thick cold rolled, drilling and tapping for a 5/16-18 fastener and then welding them to the rear bar mounts. After that it was simply just locating and drilling the holes to bolt on the cross brace. I’m trying to rough up the surface with a burr bit to simulate a cast look. I don’t know why really, I just like it better that way. In the end, no one will know it but me. And of course whoever else might see these pics. Lol That’s all for the moment. After I finish boxing in the rear trans area of the x member, I’m planning to bust apart my spring packs and proceed to reverse the main leaves and get both front and rear suspensions all put together. I’m getting anxious to get this thing back on the floor as a roller.
I’ve got an old Navy surplus one that my bro in law used on the ship, but it’s a beast. The “needles” are about 1/8” dia. I may try it on the back side and see what it does.
Pulled the trans out today and boxed in the area in the middle of the x-member. I built in clearance for the trans to be able to slide straight back so I can remove it up and out through the interior. Still have to clean up the welds and smooth things up a bit.
I had a 39 convertible years ago, actually the only 39 ford I ever owen although I have had several 40 coupes, sedans and a pickup the 39 was my all time favorite. HRP
A 39 convertible is my dream car to have one day. You’ve done a great job on the fab work and thinking outside the box.
Just to update, I’ve been peckin away at getting my suspension sorted out, but failed to take many pics. I disassembled both springs, and used the press to reverse both front and rear main leafs. No pics, but that would be some pretty boring pics anyway. I got each spring reassembled and hung them in the frame. I made a pair of clamps to catch the reversed eye with a pocket on the bottom plate so I could use a porta power to spread them. Worked great. Anyway, I decided this morning that I would have the chassis on the ground and rolling by this evening. It felt pretty good to see it off of the jig that it was bolted into for the last couple years. I think the rake will be pretty nice once it has a little shorter tire on the front. These are the 6.00-16s that were on the car when I got it. I may have removed too many leafs though, as it feels pretty soft already without any real weight on it. I can always add back though. Thanks for lookin.
Regarding, "I am converting the banjo rear to open drive, so I have been working on my rear suspension setup. I’m attempting to do the radius rods and additional rear bars in such a way that it doesn’t look too modern. I wanted to keep the suspension function as close to the original design as possible. I want to keep a single pivot point for the rear rods to attach to mimicking the single pivot point of the torque tube bell" You mention this as a rod end, but you need a Heim type. The Heim will allow the axle assembly to rotate like the front bell of the torque tube design. A rod end will bind as the rear axle rotates around the driveshaft, whereas a Heim will allow a few degrees of rotation. Your build and your car are AWESOME!
Thanks for the kind words. I guess I used the wrong terminology by referring to it as a rod end. It’s actually called a Johnny Joint and is just an overgrown heim type joint that allows a lot of rotation.
As for the rotation, I'm probably going to need to take that joint and give it a good deal of workout to try and free it up a little once I take everything back apart for paint. It is pretty stiff and it looks like I have a little more twist in my Radius rods instead of all the movement being in the joint itself. Oh well, learn as you go, right?
Today I just went back to read your build from the start. As X38 says" I like how you build things". I don't see why you can't show your transmission since mods seem to have no trouble with T5 5 speeds.
I'm not clear on how the transmission will be removed when the body is installed on the chassis. Remove seat and remove large floor panel?
Yes, thats the plan. I'm extending and modifying the center piece of the floor pan that is removable. I've built in enough clearance to slide the trans back enough to lift it out the top side. I figure that's much easier than pulling the entire eng/trans together. It's a Tremec T-170 so it's a relatively light transmission.
Just realized it’s been almost a year since I updated this thread. My 11 year old grandson has been spending a good chunk of his summer hanging with me in the shop. He said, Paw Paw, I want to drive the 39 on its first drive when I turn 16. I said, then you’d best get busy. So he dove right in to stripping the paint off the body with the clean n strip disc approach, and then d/a’ing it after that.
Leaving out a lot of pics, but he’s doing a great job. Plus he can ask Grammy for parts. Lol. I caught a nice day Saturday in the low 80’s so I figured that was a good time to get it outside and blast the problem areas that need repair before we start rebuilding the rockers and floors. Also cut out the bad section of the tail pan.
Just a little update on a bit of progress. I wanted to add an anti roll bar to the front, but too cheap to buy one. I went down to my buddy’s place and snagged a couple of bars from the rear suspension of a couple late models. I know, not traditional, but I’ll try not to make it look too modern. Added a tab to the front of the wishbone and plan to add a second one for added strength.
The Jalopy Journal
