If you've been around for a bit you've read Austins thread on getting his dream car, A Long Time Coming Its a rambling thread, and a bunch of it has changed now, so I'm starting a different thread for my contribution to the project. For reference, he started with this car. Its been cool watching him beat out the body from parts that most people would have left for dead. But it was a massive project. and after my trip to Bonneville with Erik and his model A, I decided I selfishly wanted to cruise with someone else more often. So I messaged Austin about bringing his coupe over so I could help him sort the chassis out. and to my surprise he said yes. So last monday I went over and picked it up after work. and brought it back to my shop. My shop is a mess, but since I parked two cars outside, I can now fit one pretty easy. Soon after getting it to my shop I realized that to take the body on and off the dozen times it will undoubtedly have to, it needed some structure. so I fixed the door jamb. I actually cut and moved hinges, and Drilled/Beat out hinge pins, and then figured out the door was bigger than the hole, so it required movement to shut. I did as much as I could without bracing the door posts. After tinkering with it through the week, Austin came over Saturday morning, to help for the weekend. we started by welding in a tube structure where the wood would have been. I then had Austin cut a couple miters in the tubing, and bent them up to connect the trunk wall structure with the B pillars. (hard to see, but up by the bodyline) We also added bars to connect the header panel to the top of the B pillars, this made the body way stronger, and then I could move on to the bottom of the A pillars, and build a structure to connect the Firewall/A pillar/Subrail together. Most of these photos were taking by Austin, cause I totally forgot to take nearly any photos. like this one of me deciding this door was gonna be dealt with the NEXT time the body is on the frame. Given the limited time for help, as soon as we had the body in a position that we thought it would hold together (it didn't) we took out all the bolts (nope forgot two) and then lifted the body off I'm pretty sure this next photo is self explanatory. Anyways, so at the end of the first day, we pulled the extra sheetmetal back into the shop and this was the status. Sunday was much less exciting, much more digging parts out, and setting the frame up for a rearend swap. Before we took the old rearend out, I welded in some braces to keep the wheelbase. After that it was just leveling and finding the most-square parts to measure from. I added some crossmembers to the center of the frame to mount hairpins to, (sorry for the bad photo, I stole it from Austin cause I didn't take any photos) We then started making brackets for the front hairpin mounts, but it was getting late, and we had to do things like get ready for work the next day, so we spilt. I'll try to remember to take a few better photos when we start setting the rearend up, but I'll probably forget again. till next time! .
but images didn't load for me... but am jazzed you are helping out a buddy...to be a cruising buddy.... and let me know when you are roadtripping ...I always can use an excuse to hang out with the brass chainers
Been waiting for one of you to post gonna be killer. - and yeah only first pic works for me as well but I’ve already seen all the photos so I can say it’s rad
dunno why the images aren't loading, they load perfectly on every computer/device I have. I'll try it again tonight in the shop and see if it comes up.
They are showing blue question marks, on my iPhone. If you loaded them to a folder in your profile like you do sometimes maybe it’s set to private?
Question: regarding the wheel tubs shown in most of these pix; are they original Ford, aftermarket, or home-made? And I imagine that everyone on this board has a pic similar to the last one. I know I do.
@Tim, Thanks. I've got to make nearly the exact same thing for my '31 Model A. I was sorta hoping they were aftermarket.
And we're back! I worked on the Rear hairpin crossmember mounts. Double shear and mounted to two tubes spanning the x member. (don't worry, there's more bracing to come) So I starting figuring out the rear mounts. And after some figuring, and welding, we had both of them mounted. I also started figuring out the bracing that boxes out the X member I also started cutting the center crossmember to fit the T5. We moved it down and back till it began to fit nicely. I lined the fill/check port on the trans up with one of the holes in the x member. I then cut loose the front motor mounts that were in place. I then modified the plates and cleaned them up, moving them down and back about 2 inches each. welded in they are way more stout. it moved it back about how much I figured it would need to be. now we are about ready to figure out the rest of the rear bracing and the trans mount. till next time! .
Trucking right along. Should be beefy! Did the motor need to go back as it came down because the balancer/ crank pulley would hit the back side of that front cross member at the 2” dropped position? Crazy how fast these cars get tight for space but you’re no stranger to that!
Yes, that was part of it, it also gives room to run a long water pump with a top mount alternator. Personally I think with any setup they can only help. its currently the plan to incorporate one.
Got it pulled off the stands last night so I could sort out the angles and heights. I set the rearend at 3" of clearance. and started figuring out the rear spring mounts. I tacked them on to figure out how they sat in relation to the spring crossmember. I found they need to be notched out about an inch to be in the right spot for the spring. I also stuck them together so they are easier to mount to the rearend squarely. I'll get them notched out tonight and maybe it will be rolling by the end of the week. .
@chryslerfan55 i was just talking to Austin about that two nights ago. Jimmy and Austin spent a lot of time studying heavy chopped 33/34’s when they cut it. The similarities are very intentional.
That’s quite a compliment! Thank you! I’m sure Jimmy would be happy to hear that as well, god rest his soul.
Joeys really knocking out a ton of chassis work even when I’m not there, thankful for the friends I have in this world. We got a goal in mind and are damn sure we are gonna make it. And the pic fucking rules @Tim
since Tim posted some art, I figured I'd post my scratch from the day... As promised, when I got home from work, I notched out the spring perches and got them tacked to the rearend. Unfortunately I figured out that where I needed to mount the transmission to get the proper driveshaft yoke angle, would place the oil filter in striking distance of the wishbone. So, I cut out the nice little mounts I had made, saved the pads I had built, and made new side gussets to raise it to top of frame level. With this I was able to make the angles all work in my favor. With the front motor mounts placed, I moved the hoist to the side, so it could assist in placing the trans mount. This is where I stopped for the night. hopefully tonight I can get the trans mount sorted, and maybe build the driveshaft loop from the tubing I got from Austin's monday. .
Pulled everything outside last night and did a shop cleaning, and put some tools away. I've been needing to do this for awhile now, but had to get the chassis stable enough to roll in and out of the shop. So I threw on my rear tires and rolled it out. After a good sweep I got into digging into the T5 we will be using. We found some stuff loose, but nothing out of place, and got it sealed up and stuck together. the only thing we needed was a new rear seal, and for reference, its this one. (taped to my door for future use) Keepin on, keepin on. .
I’ve got a long stake in my pegboard full of parts number tags just like that lol, love it. Just handed @Austin kays a steering wheel for the coupe and showed me some goodies he’d picked up for the car. Really enjoying this mad dash for the roc
The Jalopy Journal
