Hot Rods The Hitchhikers Guide:The Hot Rod Ford Model A or AV8 Coupe. Post war 40's build.

Were in Seattle are you? There is the rockabilly ball car show at the Shanty Tavern on lake city way Saturday. Hopefully my 27 will be back from paint so I can show it off. If not i will be in the wifes Studebaker.
If you need a hand or advise I am having withdrawl symptoms from just finishing a similar build

Here is my "Building a hot rod" blog spot http://buildingahotrod.blogspot.com/

 

Whoops!

******Jack-

I'm right by the Shanty, I'm hoping to make the show too. I've been following your build and blog for awhile. It's really encouraging. I'd love to have you stop by and check out what is going on. I could use all the help I can get. I'll pm you my contacts thanks

 

Hey Hitch, I'm hoping to see some gory details come Sunday or Monday night. Any chance of that happening? Just no pics of the "thump", please.

 

The thump isn't to bad, it's not even bruised, just sore....remind me to tell you about the time with the rusty Ford truck, rubber mallet, and my head.

I've already got some developments on the building front, I've been playing with mocking up my front end. I've got a couple different parts to try out.... but I misplaced my camera in the garage so I don't have any pictures. I'll get a few pictures of everything that's been happening this week posted on Sunday or Monday for sure. I'm hoping to have the front end on it's wheels at least, if not the rear. But I've got to hack the perches off off these model A bells to convert a 40 banjo rear to spring over. A little trick I learned from Chris

 

Better look at his pictures real close before you just "hack" off those perches.

 

I've been studying them for a while. Don't worry, I'm not actually going to just "hack" at them.

 

cool. looking forward to watching this build. i respect the parts collecting effort, which makes the end result that much more fulfilling...

-scott noteboom

 

I knew I recognized your screen name. I just went back and reread the thread. Anything you care to ad?..... since I should be thanking you for this trick...

 

Yeah, every "trick" I learned from someone smarter then me...and Bob is a master!!

 

looking good , but then again I like the chopped A's

 

"Velly good Gr***hopper"."You have learned well"

 

So I started to try and get a front end under this thing. I have a few different parts I can mix and match with.

I started with trying out a

36 front axle.
model A unsplit bones
model A Perches and spring





As you can see with one perch in, the other side is not very close to fitting. Obviously the simple solution would be to split the bones. Which I'm not sure I want to do yet. This is my first early Ford Hot Rod, I thought it best to play around with the different parts before making any permanent modifications.

I think I can bend the wishbone so I can get the perch in. Is that okay? It's kinda flexy. I can almost do it by hand, But haven't seriously attempted it yet. Do I need to heat the wishbone?

I also have a set of 36 front bones that could be modified to work with spring over perches. I'm not sure If I should use those or the Model A bones. Opinions?

I also messed with bolting in the spring. I'm having a few issues in that area too. The ubolts don't fit well.



I'm trying to use the crank hole thingy. But my u-bolts don't fit it. Do I have the wrong u bolts? It looks like if I lost that crank thingy they would fit good Should I just lose that piece?

thanks

 

yep wrong bolts, try losing it, but you may find there isnt enough thread up the bolts then. the correct bolts match the curve of the crank handle piece.

 

bump for the day boys

 

Those sort of look like '35-40 Ubolts but I can't tell because there's so much rust going on in that picture. Get yourself a wire brush on a zizz wheel and cut this rat rodding **** out!!!! Haven't you heard? Even Chris is thinking about paint now....that rust stuff is so 2009.5!!!!

 

Finally ragged on by JJ about my rat rod.....Life is complete....

 

I'll pull them out tonight and get better pictures.

 

I'm siting at my desk looking at a really nice ma perch...

 

Bring it home! I need it!

and finish your damn bathroom so we can have hot rod week.

 

I pulled the u-bolts out. Definitely not enough thread to remove the crank thing. How do I identify what I have? Mac's website show's round front U-bolts as 1930-31. So do I have a 30-31 crank thing with 28-29 u-bolts? I'd rather use good used original than new....I thought I had the correct stuff. Should have paid more attention.

Can I thread the u bolts up more so I can remove the crank aligner thingy or whatever it's called?

 

I'll come over tonight with that perch and help you with the u bolts I'm sure we can get it at least mocked up. P.S. I think the crank aligner thingy is called a main bearing

 

You NEED a torque arm. Do you plan on only driving in parades? Or actually driving it?

 

Power Parking only.....

 

That is a 30/31 crank guide with 28/29 U-bolts. I say get the Mac's replacement 30 u-bolts, because it makes more sense then getting a new crank guide.

 

So I was messing around tonight.....



turns out a model A wishbone will fit a 33-36 axle. It just takes a slight amount of muscle and BAM, you're in.

So I decided to swing it under....



side shot.....



Looks like I really need a drop axle....

 

So my spring is really loose in the crossmember, that isn't right is it?

 

is the crossmember appear to be worn or stretched? Did you bolt it in place with the u bolts and check for clearance?

 

The crossmember appears okay. I just realized the front spring doesn't have the center bolt in it. Could that be it? It's also not super duper tight, just snug.

 

for the morning crew.