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

Sorry guys, work has really kept me busy. At least I have been working on cool ****.... I promise I will try and get the update I promised over a month ago posted soon.....

 

nothing much to look at. Looked like the same rusty pile of parts 2 weeks ago as when i first saw it!

 

Sorry, what was that? You can't fit in your RPU...............

 

Just read through this thread. Love what's going on here. I'm in the same position, hunting out parts and building from the ground up. Definitely a tough but fun endeavor! Keep at it dude!

 

anxious for updates, get it running yet?

 

Tyres look good. Any more pics to update?

 

I think he is trying to get it running and driving before he updates, but a lot of little parts keep slowing progress. I saw him last night and he was working on it. Seems like lots of little details he is doing as everytime I see him he is working on something different, but the car still looks the same to me.

 

Ain't that about right, work like a dog for hours on something, and nobody else can even tell. Such is the life of a hot-rodder.

 

I call BS he is just being lazy. Get to work!

 

I'm liking this build so much I'm thinking of driving to Washington to get an update.

 

LOL ! that's a good one, hey about I meet you and we can both get a update !

 

All right.....I'll fill you guys in.

All of the proceeding happened over a few months time.

It was about this time that things started going down hill for the A. I had messed up and ordered only one motor mount from MACS, this was during the time they were having shipping problems. It took a month to get the first one and almost a month for the second one.....which didn't match the first one admittedly the only difference was one of the bolts are shiny, the other black. Anyways customer service did take care of me and sent me another to match the second free of charge and let me keep the other. I must say I was surprised since it was kind of my fault and after the all the long shipping, it was a nice gesture.

then....

I found out two of my rims were bent. I had bought one on ebay which turned out to be a 16x5 advertised as a 16x 4 1/2. LuckilyI was able to get one replacement from Hamber Dubcee and another from "Hot Rod" a hamber that lives close by, drives by frequently, and recognized my house from pictures. Thanks guys!

So I had my rims squared away and then I discovered that my pedal ***embly was incorrect. turns out it was from a big truck and not what I needed. It was about the begining May at this point....

So Since I needed pedals I bought this


It's a 1966 Econoline Supervan.



So while I tinkered with that. I started building a wishbone mount. I had this crossmember out of a 33-34 BB frame.



I whittled that down to this



And a couple bends later.



At this point I tried it out, unfortunately I don't have a picture, but I felt it hung down to low. So I s****ped it and cut it up to make a mount of the trans crossmember( pictures of that later.

Also I started playing with the steering column. I had this cross steer box that I wanted to use the column, wheel and mount off of. It's similar to the correct drop for the dash, but doesn't have the correct slope on the mount. but it's not crazy expensive either. Anyone know what it is from?



The one problem is it is way to long. I ended up shortening it 5 1/2 inches. 2 between the box and column mount and 3 1/2 between mount and wheel. Here is what it looks like before cutting, with my new dash.



and after shortening and with the wheel



Also I have been playing with the springs. here she is now



rear tire to fender well



That's about all I'm going to give you for now.....

 

what a tease man very nice keep it up

 

You get my wheels back from John yet?

 

Matt, your column, drop, and wheel look like '40 pickup.

 

I am still looking for a rebuildable clutch disk and pressure plate.

 

Wallingford Hot Rod , I like it !

 

HAHA Thanks, It kinda started out as my "Shop" when I was 15 and 16 years old and growing up in Wallingford. 13 years later and I am still using it. and actually working on old cars for a living.....Even though they are mostly muscle cars and late 60's early 70's pickups...they still pay the bills and are cooler than the 92 POS mitsu****sy waiting on a new computer i am currently staring at.

 

new ones arent that pricey

 

I've heard bad things about them.....But having never used one I'm just going by someone elses suggestion.

 

So last time I left of I mentioned this wishbone thing.



With it just like this and slid between the rails it hung down way to far, and set the caster at about 12 degrees. it also looked horrible. I thought I took a picture before I took it back out. apparently not. I decided to attach it to the crossmember instead, so I cut it down to this



I started to get a little off on my cuts with the cut off wheel, but luckily it was the long side. I was able to get it straight. Makes me want more tools. here it is mocked up, this is at 7-8 degrees. .



I think it is gonna work, That's all for now.

 

NO!! Ha! turned ya in Jethro. The wheels are hi and dry sitting in the shop. Car looks good

John

 

Thanks John, It was awesome seeing your projects.

 

No updates yet been a lil while

 

...I really enjoy build threads like this, it's comin along well and should be a neat little hot rod when done.....thanks for the thread.

 

Hopefully I can get to updating soon. I know I've been promising something for a crazy amount of time. But I just haven't had time to make sense of everything or get anything written down. The fact of the matter is I work for myself and I have been crazy busy fixing customer cars....no complaints there. But it has kept me from updating and completing all the little projects that I am half done with and haven't shown you guys yet. I hired my first employee a month and a half ago and I am getting threw the backlog of work sitting on my lot....funny things is I have more cars sitting here now than before I hired him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but it has kept me from finishing this thing...which is something I would like to get done this winter(something I said last year) I've honestly thought of buying another nicer body, and selling this one but I haven't found one local yet....anyways I've got someone doing the new car work and once I get the 1970 El camino SS, 1964 Vauxhall velox, 1959 Nash Metropolitan, and the 1966 Econoline shop truck done, then i can work on the coupe....provided no other big projects show up....

 

*here is some stuff I wrote to post awhile back.*

....I feel like I forgot what I was talking about....

Last time I left off I had made a a piece that is meant to weld to the F1 trans crossmember. That's this piece



Since I needed to finish the trans crossmember I decide to do that so I can tack the bone mount where it needs to go. It looked like this,



I originally cut it just to get it in. I wanted to bend the lower ears up to meet the sides and have them 90 under the frame with the intention of riveting it in. here are the pictures.

 

cool

 

I don't feel so bad anymore about my A not seeing much progress..

Still, we need to get our As done! Good to see this back up!

 

Is there a way you can get the flange to sit ontop of the lower leg of the frame? This way you wouldn't rely on the rivets holding the weight of the trans etc, All they would be doing is keeping the cross member from sliding around. It might be better just to bolt it as then you could remove it to have easier access to the trans etc.