The Death Metal Dodge Starts To Take Shape!!!!

i started this thing a year and a half ago or so, then lost my place to work on it. it got taken apart and packed into my basment and any other place i could find. but now i have (very little) room, so IT'S ON!! here's what i started with (minus the rear end, and drums). a 34 ford pu cab,an i beam w spindles, and some half ***ed box tubing rails......




i collected a **** load of other parts during the down time. 40 ford backing plates (chrome) with all new hardware, and turned drums from turluck swaps ($200). a complete drive train out of a 68 chrysler 300 (+$50 ). plus some other stuff. then i traded the cab for a 1919 dodge touring front half (thanks speedy3s). i repinched the rails for the new body, z'ed the front, hung the rear, and built the x-member for the rear.


another....



MORE TO COME!!!

 

The next step was to set the motor and trans in so i could fab the trans x-member, and motor mounts. this was a little hairy in my postage stamp garage, buy my self!! ........



YA LIKE THE BACK WHEEL OF HEYITSNATES CHERRY PICKER!


SINCE I HAD IT IN I DECIDED TO POP THE VALVE COVERS, INTAKE AND CARBS ON IT FOR A PHOTO OP!

 

Looks cool, i like the sketchy-*** cherry picker pic, i've had a couple encounters like that! any plans for shocks on the rear?

 

one shot of the lack of foot room for 3 pedals!!




and here's some of the rear wishbone fab and install..........

 

ya, i'm going to run friction shocks. the cherry picker was a real blast!!!!!!!!

 

Sweet axle mounts. You cut them by hand?

 

plasma hammer and alot of cleaning up!!!!!! my buddy owns a pretty extensive fab shop, so when i want something to look nice i squat it for a few days!

 

i watched yankeesob make these parts.very meticulous attention to detail.this is already my favorite hamb build for 2006.this post is one to watch....viva la death metal speedshop!!!

 

Nate was sayin that rear cross member came out nice man but damn i like the pic on here more than the ones conjured up in my head.

 

here's a couple pics of the up side down 1/4 eliptics in the rear........

 

I'm in. You are the kinda of builder that I like to see build. Attention to the details is where its at. Your eye for adding the lil pointers on all your brackets. Nice work, can't wait to see what else you have in store.

 

hahaha, just wait until you see what he has in store coming from my garage...pure death...

 

thanks man. ya i drive all the death metal guys crazy with my over enginering, and spending a million hours tweeking on little parts!!

 

I really dig the rear spring suspension. Looking forward to seeing more. Its nice to see a non-Ford for a change

 

Crazy man!! I feel your pain with the big block Chrysler, doing a 383/****tershield/OD four speed/8 3/4 rear set-up in my Model A! Have you figured out how you're going to run your pedal set-up?

 

the only way i can figure is a dual mastercylander under the dash (hydro clutch) and a small gas pedal with a long cross bar to get to the right side!

 

not to sound like a ***** ......but have you had the rear suspension on the ground ...and worked it thru its travel.....reason being , i had a scary ride in a customers t with a very similiar setup ...might have had maybe a inch of travel....and would bind up with weight on it....ended up folding the right radius rod in the middle...and chucked a bunch of parts out from underneath....including the drive shaft , and tailshaft.....just curious.....thanks brandon

 

it's on the ground now and seems ok. i guess their's only one way to find out!!

 

another cool piece came today! i love my mail man!!!!!

 

Looking great Wolf!!!! It's coming along real nice.

Dirty

 

Lookin good. keep up the good work!!

 

thanks man! i had the rubber trans mount, and i just picked up a set of biscuit motor mounts from nate today. now i have more fabing to do!!!!

 

Do you have any urethane bushings in the front of your rear radius rods, or is that a shoulder bolt thru a metal sleeve into your frame?----reason I ask is----if you hit a bump with one rear tire, and that side of the axle moves upward while the other tire remains in place on the road surface, your radius rods will have to twist a bit to accomodate this happening. If you have urethane bushings at the front attachment points, there is enough "give" in them to allow this movement.-If, on the other hand, you are running a close fitting shoulder bolt thru a metal sleeve, you will be breaking welds, and causing metal fatigue in the radius rods themselves, which will eventually break the radius rod.

 

no bushings, just shoulder bolts. so you think i need a rod end with a poly insert? or how about a heim

 

heim would have more give and roll ...the rear suspension is only going to give so much ....the radius rods are acting like a ladder bar.....drive those on the street and over uneven stuff....they pop when the heims are bound up ....brandon

 

thanks for the info. are heims my best bet you think? and what tread size would you recomend?

 

without redoing the sleeves through the frame it looks like my 2 choices are 1/2" hole, 1/2" shank....... or 1/2 hole 5/8" shank.

 

I have been building rods for many years, and I like the urethane rod ends, but a heim does have greater range of movement. I would use a minimum of 3/4" threaded shank and thru-bolt on a Heim end, with safety washers. ---One thing about the engineering on that set-up---since you have used 2 bolts to attach the radius rod ends to the rear axle on each side, you have effectively built a "truss design"---If one end of the rear-end housing moves up, then the other end has to move up as well, or else bend the radius rod. When Ford ran their wishbones to a center pivot on the car, then the wheels could move up and down on opposite sides of the car, and the radius rods would pivot at the center, so nothing was "stessed". By splitting the wishbones and anchoring the front to the framerails on each side, you screw up the original geometry. Don't sweat it---I use parallel 4 links on my rearends now, but I have ran them like you are doing, and they seemed to work okay. If you do use a urethane bushing, use Pete and Jakes microflex--they are way cheaper than a Heim end, and you get the outer sleeve which welds to the end of your radius rod, the 2 urethane bushing halves, and the inner steel sleeve that goes inside the urethane bushings for less than $20 each side.

 

thanks i'll check out those pete and jakes jobs. anything else i ****ED UP?!