does this look like a safe front end...built by a professional?

this was built by a professional hot rod builder on the west coast...not gonna name names...but if you follow the rag mags..last year about this time he was featured building this car...I am not at all a professional builder...in fact im on my first build now...im am in no rush to build so i have done a bit of reasurch on a suicide front end...i have been told time and again that model A bones were not and can not support the weight of the car..i have decided on a spring over axle set up..a 5 point attachment of the front end to the car..here we have a 3 point attachment.....not this 5 window coupe is carring a hemi and i would say a guess here 117" wheelbase...i saw this car for sale on e bay and was somewhat in doubt of the way the spring was hung off the bones...especially so far back...now look..i might be way off base here...maybe he filled those hollow old bones with reinforcment...but it just look sketchy for a 18 grand rod....up for your judgment ...not mine

 

What is that??? A tractor grill?

Flame suit on boys and girls, this one's gonna be rough!

 

sweet.

 

Very KOOL.......

 

I don't know anything about designing the geometry of a suicide front end, but I do understand general physics tenets of leverage and force. It seems that this set-up would greatly magnify the forces on the spring, and create a fulcrum on the (possibly) inadequate bones...

Again, I don't know suicide front ends, but that looks like an aggressively suicidal front end IMHO.

 

Those aren't Model A bones. They're 46 - 48.

This thread is sure to start some fiery opinions flying. I have a similar set up. I am amused by people's instant aversion to things a little unconventional. The bones are 3/16" wall thickness. The same as most frame sections. They are oval shaped which is good for strength and I would guess that the breaking strain of those bones is somewhere quite a bit higher than the average aftermarket perch pin or spring shackle, yet we trust those without question.

I can't really see the method of attachment of the spring shackle to the bone in any detail but that could be an issue.

Probably my biggest concern running this set up is the suicide nature of it. i.e. if your main leaf breaks it's all over, and we know it happens. But then, that problem is not limited to this design but affects all suicide front ends.

Pete

 

My God. Is this what professionalism has come to in the hot rod business??

Bob

 

Those aren't A bones... there from a '42-'48 Ford... pretty tuff. That kind of set-up is seen quite a bit around here. Seems to work Ok... haven't heard any horror stories.

Not my cup of tea but it IS a suicide front end...

 

No!

 

No... but would that make a difference? You see plenty everywhere you go... even on farms!

 

That is wat I was thinking. Professional can mean anything now days... Sad

I would not ride in that car for any amount of money. Unsafe is an understatement.

 

Obviously wasn't enough room to run the tie rod behind the axle

 

Safe or not, that's just nasty lookin work right there...

 

if the spring or perch breaks on a common suicide front the perch falls on the axle, that thing breaks your riding in a flat tip shovel. plus the over exaggeration of it all is uglier than a box of man***es.... but, that's just me.

 

I think Bob did a better job of stating what I was trying to say.

I had/have no clue what the grille originally came from, my comments were more directed towards what appears to be a "pozzum rod" comming out of the shop of a "professional" and carrying an $18G price tag.

 

I would not be happy paying my hard earned money to have something built that looked like that. Safe or not? I believe that their are better ways to build things, and spend your money.

 

Whoa! I'm eyeballing the beautiful ****-welds on the crossmember!!! SPOOKY

 

There's a T coupe that runs around Yuma, AZ with a very similar setup.......

 

Looks normal from this point of view !!! >>>>.

 

I saw that heap on ebay, and was horrified. It's sad that it seems to be this weeks fad to make your car as unsafe as possible, for no other reason than the shock value. I know my opinion on this will piss some guys off, but I can say this with all certainty because I was building safe cars before they got here and I'll be building safe cars long after they've moved on to the next big thing. Don't confuse "traditional" with "suicidal".

 

Did anyone else see how the spring was attached to the bones?I wouldn't drive that thing down my drive way let alone sell it to someone that way!Especially for the money they want and the danger factor!

 

This "Rat Rod" **** is gonna get us all legislated out of existance!

 

Yikes! I don't like the looks of it. 18 Grand????

 

that thing is horrible. I am not a professional, but the spring attachment on the bones looks like they are jsut chopped off and poorly welded to the top. The frame welds look poor or at least undressed. The ends of the bones are ugly. I doubt this guy had any clue of decent supension geometry. Seems to me lots of the "traditional" car built now are just a contest of what car I do that is more extreme than the last guy, yet still keep it having a traditional flair.

Just because they charge someone for it, does not make them professionals... unless they work on street corners I guess.

 

I wanna know what its listed under so i can see what a crack up job they done on the rest of the car!

 

With the spring mounted so far back on the bones they will have a tendency to want to bow out and bend them. I saw one like that a while back except it had stiffeners on the sides and top for extra support. That car looked okay. This one, for what we can see does not. (my opinion)

 

"Professional" as in, you actually paid money, real money, for that work ?

 

I think the main problem is, it's ugly! Yeah, it's not the safest setup on the road, but 46-48 bones are beefy and ***uming the welds are of reasonable quality, it's not gonna come flying apart for no reason. It's just rusty, exagerated, and ugly as all hell! On a suicide front end, I like to see some nice sturdy shock mounts with the shocks set up for proper travel. Just in case you have a shackle/perch/spring failure, you won't be dragging frame.

 

Damn straight...figure out his name yet?.....keep pushing...