Another day off. I spent a few hours trimming and cleaning up the cowl and doors. My friend Pogo came by and lended me a hand. We pulled the stock gas tank out and cut out the rusty mess below. While I had the tank out I trimmed the doors down and also the A pillars. I can only handle so much wire wheeling and dust before I have to call it quits cleaning up the panelss. I'm gonna get the panels in place and blast the body. I'm happy with how the cowl and dash are looking though. Dash mock up
Do you plan to run a windshield? If so, what kind and how will you adapt it to the A-pillars on there? iPhone - TJJ app
Yes, I plan to run a windshield. I have a window frame from a 1920's Dodge (?). There's a picture on the first page. It's going to get modified. I'm going to mount the uprights on the pillars and make a flat window frame similar to stock. Oops, it's not there- This is the donor. Something like this-
Thanks. It'll be a bit of a hodge podge build since I'm using parts found locally. I'm trying to avoid ebay and internet buying. I get to meet local people when I buy local and there are a lot of cool folks around here. It has been a blast collecting parts.
Nice build so far. What is your strategy for finding parts. Do you locate the parts first then talk to the Guy who owns them or do you just go picking at a place and hope they have something you can use. I never know how to approach it and there for never have and its just easier to find something on the internet but I think the hunt would be more rewarding doing what your doing
I still use Ford Barn and Craigslist to find parts. My friend Alienbaby (on here- http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=672741) and I are both building Model A's. So between the two of use hunting, we have scrounged up most of what we need. Splitting gas helps out a lot too. Surprisingly, want ads on Craigslist have nabbed most of the parts we need, for the price we are looking to spend. Whenever we go pick up parts I always ask what else they have or tell them what else I'm looking for. Word of mouth can find good stuff!
I met another great local today and picked up a real nice F1 crossmember. I have a feeling we will be hanging out again. One more piece.
I like that its drilled for the pedals on either side. So you could go rhd if you wanted to mess with the civilian population if you wanted too
I picked up a few more parts- '40 Ford Yoke, Model A yoke and speedway steering arms. Another local score.
I managed to get all but two rivets out today while removing the cross member. Then, WHAM, 2 pound hammer to the thumb. Pulled my glove off and blodd went everywhere. Gonna be down for a little while. I'm starting to clean up the parts and prep them for paint. I also spent some time putting together an order from a local supplier, Little Dearborn, to pick up the rest of the suspension parts I need. The 35/36 radius rod mounts I picked up from Pinewood are dead on. Thanks again.
I like the work you did to the hood. Usually they run them without one, and it's giving me second thoughts about mine. Good Luck.
Today I stopped by our local antique Ford parts supplier called Little Dearborn. I walked in and out with F&R shackles, F1 motor mounts, F1 trans mount, 2 wishbone mounts, Upper steering arm, 30-31 lower cowl patch panels and Rear U-bolts for $250. It's amazing to be able to buy this stuff, in stock, locally. I have a new place to spend lots of money. Today also marked the day that I went over $3000 for the build. It crazy how fast things add up, and I don't have a car yet. My original plan was to use new steel for most of the mounts and cross members. The HAMB research led me to building a more traditional ride, without knowing it. Oh well. Most of the items I have got are less money that they are worth. Not bad.
It didn't take too long to pass the $3,000 mark, did it? At least you have most of the big pieces you need and just have to assemble the rest. Unfortunately it's all of those little, 'nickel-and-dime' items you find that you have to have along the way that add up to big dollars. I'm about halfway to that dollar point with mine but am about to have to drop some big $$$$ in the near future.
The F1 Brake parts showed up today. I did a quick mock up to see where I was at as far as frame height. It's gonna go up a bit. I'm a little over a week into the thumb smashing. Its going to be a little while before I can use it again. The nail is gonna come off. That shit hurt! 7 holes and the fucker won't drain! Nothing spectacular to show you, but I'm excited.
My thumb is finally useable again. I finished removing the stock Model A crossmember this evening. I was also happy to see that I can adapt the 215 trans to bolt on to a stock F1 trans mount with just a short plate of steel. I picked up a Model A rear crossmember for nothin and I think I can modify it and use it as my front wishbone mount. It looks like it'll slip right in between the engine and transmission.
Today I sand blasted the front brakes and spindles. I still need to finish trimming and smoothing the spindles. But I thought I'd shoot some quick shots. I put some time in smoothing the front axle too. This is the odd side of the F1 spindle I have only cut a small section off. The opposite side had an arm that I cut off. I did some quick grinding to clear the steering arm. I had to degrease and blast them before I smooth the rest of it out. There were real dirty. Until next time.
Two steps forward, one step back. I found a nice fella on CL selling a Buick 215 that had some of the manual transmission parts. It ended up having the 3-speed bellhousing, so it will need to be modified a bit to run a T-5. So instead of just using what I have and pushing forward with the build, I need to find a T-5 before I place the engine and F-1 crossmember. A real Hot Rod should have a manual transmission though, right? The nice part about the sale was that, again, I found it locally (less than 10 minute drive from home). The price was fair and I met another local Hot Rod guy. I have to modify the bellhousing to look like the one below (wider bolt pattern).
Are you planning to run 3 "center" crossmembers? I saw in a slightly earlier post that you were going to try to run a rear crossmember upfront to mount your front wishbone to. You're planning to have the F1 crossmember in place of the original Model A center crossmember, right? And then are you going to have another one a bit further back to mount your rear bones too or will you modify the F1 crossmemeber to mount it to?
I was going to do that if I can tie something it to the F1 member for the wishbone mount. When I found the guy that had the manual parts locally it had me thinking. It looks like the manual set-up will be a bit shorter. Allowing me to move the F1 crossmember further forward. We'll see. I need to find a T-5 now.
Another want ad turned up this decent set of F1 pedals and a m/c. It was a little further than I wanted to drive and a tad funny to ship. A quick post on my Facebook account found a buddy that was driving that way and he picked it up for me. I'm not sure if the seller is on here, but my friend had a great time meeting him and seeing his AMAZING cars (the others guys in the car were a bit upset ). Teardown and sand blasting this week.
Today I spent some hours cleaning up the casting marks and smoothing out the spindles. I'm planning on painting them, but it should make them look a little nicer. Alienbaby and I went over to a friends house and installed new kingpin bushings. We also got our first taste of using a reamer. One of mine looks a bit off, so I think I'm going to have to redo it, but the other three we did turned out great.
Great build Beau! I look forward to following this one. Thanks for sharing. Good luck on your trans search. Ed
Today I scored a 85 Camaro V6 Borg Warner T-5 off CL for $25! I have been helping a buddy get his car ready for Torque Fest so I have not been woring much on my own stuff.
Not a lot of work done. I picked up some more parts at Torque Fest and at the Buick swap in St. Paul. I can add a Posies reverse eye spring, 30/31 headlights, F1 shock mounts, olds school aftermarket 35/36 tube shock rear mounts, 31 mint front wishbone, clean 30 rad shell, art deco heater, 16" ribbed beauty rings, 16" smooth beauty rings and clean original F1 pedal pads. I should have the spacer/adapter to bolt the T-5 to the Buick 215 bellhousing next week. The goal is to have a roller by the end of the month.
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