Holidays slowed down my build a little bit. I did pick up a decent rolling chassis tho. Which will help me with mock up of everything. I also decided to make a more sturdy work platform/dolly/chassis table jig. I was having trouble taking measurements off of that wood dolly thing I slapped together, and the garage floor is about as level as dolly partons chest. legs cut nuts welded in to receive bolts to level the table. 6 done added tabs for casters to bolt too. These latter had 2 1/2 more inches welded to em. caster mock up Done for the most part still need to weld the center legs on, and recruit a buddy to help me move the body off of that ghetto wood dolly. With the adjusters screwed all the way up/in the wheels take over. They seem to support the weight just fine, I was worried about only using 4. These are good quality made in usa casters as well, they have grease fittings and all. I wish they had locks but at 3.00 a piece used at the metal supply house I couldn't pass em up. The Chinese ones they sell new were about 12.00 a pop. The metal was a donation from a buddy who had it left over from another project and was tired of tripping over it in his shop. So I only have about 20.00 into this, which makes it even more fun.
That looks good man....the table is nice, too! I need one....but...I need a lot of things. My body is sitting on two by fours right now, and I'm digging deeper into it all the time because I don't trust the chop that was done to it prior... Wish I had better body/sheet metal skills, but, I have been working on some areas of the body that I am fairly happy with, and some area that I don't trust at all, so either way, it's practice! I'm working on them, though. I'd like to see what you are doing in person, sometime, if you don't mind. Not many folks in our general area who are into any of this stuff, very few actual "in the flesh" stuff to observe. My girlfriends father has an A body that they are working on, as well, so, I just go take notes and pics of what they are up to, in addition to trying to study certain cars on here, since they are a few steps ahead of me with their coupe. He has a lot of fab help, too, because he's just a dumb mechanic like me, too... If I can help in any way, too, let me know. I'm in Buena Vista. Mark.
Great job - lookin' good. Yep, you're nuts! The rear quarter patch appears to fit very well, and has the correct "shape". Where did you get them?
Mark, def wouldnt mind having ya come down to look it over. Its not much to look at right now, but hopefully in the next month or so I will have the body ready to sit on the frame. I dontreally know anyone from the area into it. I know a few of the local greaser guys but most of em arent doing full builds or anything other than keeping their cars running. I am in the williamstown/sicklerville area Honestly I wish I knew they were the only patch panels to come with the body. They are made of real nice heavy gauge steel as well. Chassis wise I will prob be remaking on out of 2x4box steel. I have a half a frame I bought off of "DirtyThirty" last year I will prob use for the frame horns. I am debating on doing a kick up or a z in the front either way it will be around 4-6" and a 18" or more kick in the rear, and a 4" channel. I want the body to sit real low. I am not sure what I want to do for rear suspension either. I was gonna do a bronco 9" and 4 link with a sbc/4speed. But the more and more I read into it I wanna do flathead/4 speed, and a banjo/buggy spring rear. I guess that all depends on where my budget is when I get to it.
I haven't been able to work on the car in a little while, I fell off my quad and separated my shoulder. I cant really do much with my right arm, so I been taking it easy. All this holiday non sense hasn't helped either. I did make some time yesterday to run out and pick my self up some stuff for the project, and met a few hambers on the way. First stop was to MarkT's house, super nice guy and sold me a set of loaded 40 backing plates for next to nothing. had to grind off some brackets that looked like what might have once held some motorcycle style fenders, no biggie. They cleaned up nice in the blasting cabinet. I also started drilling them today but forgot my phone and camera so no photos. Next stop was over to MathewsGarage met his father there, also good people. Picked up a 40s open drive banjo rear. It needs cleaning up but I like the look of this much better than a 9" or something under the rear. I think it spent some time under a trailer, I spent a few hours cutting off the old spring perches and what ever else was welded to it. anyone have any info on these rears? I would like to rebuild it, I have seen gasket kits on eBay, are there any other sources out there for parts or info on rebuilding for this thing?
Rearend is probably an original open setup so it is pickup '46-48 and will be 2" wider than the pre-war axles. Cars were generally 3.78 ratio pickup will more likely be 4.11 or 4.56. There are shim gaskets and shuffleing them around to get the clearances right is tough to do physically, need a pipe vise or make a table top mount to securely hold one housing then it's doable. I spoiled a bunch of shims wrassling the parts on the floor. Ratio (tooth count) was sometimes stamped on the bottom casting seam of the center section near the pinion flange. I have about 8 and only 2 were actually stamped ledigible. A few links: http://www.btc-bci.com/~billben/rearend.htm http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17663&highlight=rearend+rebuild http://www.flatheadv8.org/fordrear.htm
looks good. let me know if you need any brackets cut. i have a cnc plamsa table and cut parts for a low price. looks like you are smwia?
Good info there, I don't see anything about the open drive in those articles, was that a truck only option? I am assuming it is truck also because it had normal spring perches for leaf springs opposed to the "buggy" spring style a car would use. I wonder if the truck rears were beefed up alittle at all. I also like the fact it might have a 4:11 ratio. My rear is 53" backing plate to backing plate. I think my 31 model a one was 52 Will do, I am laid off now but still cool with the guys at work, so I still have full use of their plasma table. I will keep you in mind tho for later down the road. And yes I am smwia local 19 philly. I got lucky. A customer of my buddies couldn't read a tape measure, and double ordered on material. He didn't have the heart to drag perfectly good material to the scrap yard so he gave it to me. Merry Christmas eve to me. My cheater slicks I bought off of hamb user "brandon" came in today. Not sure if I am going to use the reverse chrome wheels or not tho. I have been debating between the cheaters or these" I might keep both so I can change the look of the car easily if I wanted to.
Very impressive build. Real world budget and excellent ideas and talent. Might I suggest making friends with another '30/'31 coupe owner so you can measure up a good subfloor. You're at the point where you need one and with your talents you'll have your own fabbed up in a day. How bad is the driver's door?
Looks like a pretty good starting place. I have a T body waiting on me that is in about the same shape.
That is a good idea, I only know of one guy in the area user "DirtyThirty" who is at about the same point I am. We just havent been able to set up a time to meet up. Everyone else seems to have cars that have been done for years, and while their advice is much appreciated they seem to say "if I remember right" or "man its been a while but I think I did..." a little to often haha. Hopefully after the holidays and my checkbook gets out of the red, I will be able to move forward with it more aggressively. Rather than just stockpiling on parts.
Bored on Christmas eve lol. I decided to see how a set of vw rabbit headlight lenses would look in the headlights I found for my model A. I think they actually look pretty good, and are a good upgrade from the sealed beams.
http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/...ics/Flathead_Rear_Axle_Assy_1942to47truck.jpg Yes, the parallel leaf banjos were a pickup thing. I understand there was a spider gear change somewhere, but when it's apart you could look into using earlier bells & axles to get it narrower. Keep the same center section & ring gear. Also the bells need to have the bearing surfaces checked out. Machined down & sleeves are available to repair the surface if its waffled. The oil seals install & remove from inside the bells. If you use spring on top mounts like model a, you can use the backplate bolts to mount trailing arms, 4link or whatever. I used stock wishbones doubled up but anything can be fabbed up to fit there
Okay still haven't been working on the car, had to turn my garage into a duct shop for the past few days to get some side work out of the way... But I did get some new parts in the mail: another set of brakes from user "UPState Bill" who is a real stand up guy! sent the brakes to me first w/o paying to make sure they are what I expected. And he is also sending me some body tin he had left over from his build for the cost of postage. Its real good to find people like that still exist. Either way the backing plates look to be standard 40's but I am unsure of the drums/hubs? I was surprised to see the hubs on the outside of the drums [this is my first experience with traditional drum brakes] Can any one id the year. and if they are going to work for my set up... and where I could find studs for them? Question #2: So I have my open drive truck rear all stripped of old spring mounts and what not. I have a stock 30-31 banjo rear that is on the stock rolling chassis that came with my body. Are those stock rears worth anything? or should I not feel bad about cutting up the axle tubes to get the spring hangers off of them so I can adapt them for the standard model a spring over set up? The stock rear appears to be in good shape and functional other than the brakes being missing... Question #3: last one I swear... for now. I found a 56 ford pu steering box/column and wheel for sale locally. The box I am assuming is an f100. I think I read there is no dif between them and an f1 box other than they might be easier to turn.. is this true? And also the column is a 3 on the tree set up is all that stuff easily removable? I am doing a 3speed on the floor. thanks guys you have been a tremendous help to me so far. I am just tired of diving into things like I have done in the past and spent money on things that wind up being useless to me.
Pat, those hubs and drums are 46-47-47 ford. They are highly sought after because that's the hub that is used an the Buick brake drum conversion. 40-41 ford hub and drum has the hub on the inside. The buick brake drum should be redrilled to the ford hub.
Well that is good to hear about those hubs. I have been lusting after a set of the 45fins I am just waiting for that perfect set to find its way into my hands for the right price.
If you have a good clean Model A rear axle without brakes(backing plates and drums), someone would probably give you $150 for it. I got $250 for real clean rear axle assembly last summer complete with brakes, hubs and radius rods. New P&J spring over axle perches like in the Tardel/Bishop book are about $100. Speedway perches are somewhat less... It would be up to you... Is it worth it for a mere $50... Yea, '56 was F100. The main difference between the F1 and F100 boxes is that on one the column goes under the steering shaft, and on the other box the column goes over the steering shaft. The gears don't interchange. There's several threads on here about F1 and F100 boxes. The column shift will come off of the column. I don't know what you call easily??? You gotta drill out the rivets without messin' the tube up...
And here is mine. I have already patched the quarters. Today I cut off the door skins. I'm waiting the subrails to come from Snyders in next days.
Slobroy is right about the drums, and the backing plates are the same vintage. I'm not sure of the years, but the six dimples around the edge for brake shoe allignment are the give away. The first generation backing plates are smooth there, and seem to be abit more popular. Keep up the work, and keep posting.
Hi Pat, good to see another SJ guy (and VW nut around) with those 2 things in common we've probably run into each other at one time or another. Where abouts in SJ are you located? You're making great progress with that one, nice work. My new build is almost as crusty, everyone is pretty sure I've lost my mind but its only metal right?
Nice to see you are crazy also. No you are not crazy....but for your sake, get a tetnus shot first. haha
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