Projects '36DD - (My Double Duty 3-window build.)

Now that I've got your attention.

I've had this coupe body sitting in my shed for around 6 years now, while I've been sidetracked on other projects, but with our daughter growing fast, I figured now was the time to build it, before we all outgrow a bench seat.
The plan is to build it both as a hot rod and a custom (hence the 'double duty') cos' they look bitchin' done either way. Gonna' make the rear suspension adjustable so's I can just take off the skirts and raise the rear a bit to get a hot rod rake (maybe even take the hood off too!) although they look so dang sexy as a custom it may just stay in that guise.
Good to have the option tho'.

First thing I did was to mock it up on a spare frame with a couple trailer type axles to get an idea of where I could get it setting.



This is as low as I could get it without cutting into the frame - rails are sitting hard down on the axles.
I figured this looked pretty nice for the hot rod stance - even maybe half an inch lower in front.

Then I sat the skirts on.



I reckon if I can get the back to set down another two inches when parked or cruising, I'll be right about where I want it (half an inch of whitewall showing).
Only limiting factor I can see might be too much tire in back. I may have to look at dropping to a 6.50-16 for clearance.

 

Looks super bitchin'...Hot Rod and/or Custom. Looks like you've got a great plan !!!

 

Nice three window!

 

I say just go the custom route, they just look so damned good that way

 

Very Nice! All I have in my shed is spiders and yard tools

 

That looks bloody good! Mint body by the looks.

 

Dang....I dont even have a shed!

 

Thanks for that.

Body isn't quite what i would call mint tho' - it's in fairly good shape apart from the bottoms of the doors being rotted out (other side is worse) and a lot of minor dings in a bunch of places. The rear tailpan is pretty much beat up - looks like it's been pushed around by another vehicle while it's been sitting.

Everything looks to have come off of the same car originally, 'cept for the '40s aftermarket smooth hood sides , and the guy I got it from had let the original rear fenders go ($$$$) so I got a pair of totally screwed '35 coupe fenders with it.

I have managed to round up 3 pairs of sedan fenders which I will rework the best of to suit the coupe body.

The floors are in real good shape tho' which is great considering that I'm gonna' have to cut the whole dang floor out to get it setting where I want it.

The best thing about this body was that the shell had been blasted and DP40 primed when I got it, so I could see exactly what I was buying, and there were no surprises later.

 

Nice 3 window ! It looks really good with those tires and stance , unchopped without skirts . If you were to chop it , raise the front and put smaller tires in back the skirts would look great .

 

Thanks for the comments.

It WILL be chopped, but I'm thinking I might get it on the road unchopped and run it that way for a bit for a shakedown, then chop and final paint.
As you can imagine, there's not a heap of '36 3-windows in this part of the world so I figure if it gets seen in stock height first off, everyone's gonna' know it's the real deal.

Don't know whether I have a 'great plan' for it, but after staring at it for 6 years (and drooling over others for the last 40) I certainly do have 'a' plan!

I did have a couple of '36 car frames as a starting point ( one bare US frame and a Kiwi roller), but both had rust issues on the side rails in the running board area.

After months of painful negotiation, I managed to prise another frame off of a local restorer/hoarder, which got me around the rail rust issues, tho' it did have around a two and a half inch twist lengthways.





This wasn't really gonna' cause too much of a problem for what I had planned. I spent a couple days grinding off rivet heads and drilling them out, till I got down to the bare rails, which actually turned out to be very clean.

 

Got the rails and front/rear crossmembers blasted - now they're starting to look more like hot rod parts.









Then I started to set the rails up on my table to see how much cutting I was gonna' have to do. First off, I set up the front and rear axles at the correct wheelbase, and relative to the ground level, based on my tire sizes.

 

Then I set the rails into place at the desired ride height, based on my earlier mockup.









There's obviously gonna' be a whole lot of cutting and reshaping needed to pull this off, but I ain't gonna' cheat and use a Mustang II!
I will be taking a couple of liberties (in the interests of driveability) with some less visible stuff, but essentially I'm trying to engineer this in a way that coulda' been done late 50s/early 60s.


Bear

 

love it

 

I love it!
I really like tail dragger 36's!!!!!





.

 

First thing to get the chop was the rear rails. I needed to get clearance for the rear axle tubes, along with the rear transverse spring, while still providing a mounting point for a Model A crossmember. I also didn't want to encroach on the trunk space any more than necessary and most of all, I didn't want something that looked like a mini-truck c-notch.
So I played around with some cardboard till I got a profile that I was happy with.



Then I cut out the new sections from 1/8" plate with this hand held industrial nibbler.







Once I was done cutting, I sanded the pieces up in pairs, and bevelled the lower edges so they sat down nicely over the radius on the original rails.

 

I like where this is headed. I wish my shop was as clean as yours.

Scotty

 

After using the inner boxing plates to scribe a cut line on the outer rail, the new pieces were tacked in to place.




The inner 'boxing' section got a 45 degree turn in at the rear to close off the boxed portion of the rails, leaving the back part of the rail open so's I can (hopefully) run an original tank and bumper brackets.

 

The new pieces were welded to the original top flange of the rail, which remains intact, then I bent up some strap sections for the top and bottom of the new kickup.


Top section tacked in to place



Then final welded and sanded..

 

Now that I had sufficient strength in the new kickup, I could cut out the unwanted section of rail without any fear of the rails sagging.




Then I fitted the new lower flange to the cut portion of rail to complete the box section.

 

All the good stuff is happening in NZ right now. I'm following this one. Nice work so far.

Pete

 

Looks amazing!

 

Love those 3 windows. Car should be a killer. Subscribed.

 

very nice,will be watching this build

 

x2!!! Going to be a killer car from the first posting.

Frank

 

Thanks for the encouragement, guys!
Hope I don't disappoint y'all.


Bear

 

Once I was done making the new rear kickup, I moved on up to the front.
Discovered the reason for the lengthways twist in the original frame - the left rail had obviously had a major tweak some time in it's life and the repair wasn't too pretty. It looked like the rail had been pulled and beat on with a big hammer, and the radius on the channel was all over the place.
I decided the best fix would be to splice in the front section off of the US frame that I had.





I joined the two pieces over a 45 degree angle, and fitted a nice big diamond plate on the inside.




The new piece of rail was mint apart from a fugly bracket that had been welded? to the front, most likely for an A-frame, as that chassis had also had a roll cage mounted, with equally beautiful welds, at some time in an earlier life.




Now that the repair was done, I marked the front rail for trimming in the front crossmember area, to bring the rails to a nice even 2" wide prior to boxing.

 

Then, with a bit of guesswork, I marked out the section to be removed from the front rails for axle and spring clearance.



Once this piece was cut out, I formed some strap sections to close in the bottom of the notched area, and welded them in place. I ran a good sized bead on the inside of the channel too, so's I could sand up the outside profile to match the original channel radius.

 

Nice work, keep posting. I like the idea of double duty.

 

Hey, thanks.
There's nothing looks sexier than a chopped, tail draggin' 36 3-window, but they look pretty damn cool hot rodded too, and I can't afford both, so I figure this way I'll have the best of both worlds.

 

Next step was to go thru' and weld nuts inside the rails for all the mounting points, and fill all the unwanted holes, prior to boxing.
I had an engineering shop punch a whole bunch of 3/8 and 5/16" circles out of 1/8" plate, and used these, with a bit of adjustment where required, to fill the offending holes.






In all, I think there was something like 58 holes per rail that I had to fill.