Projects 60's Era Street/Strip Model A Coupe

Damn. Yeah, I see how that could slow progress down! Still, the trucks you drag home always turn out rad! Super fun to watch.

 

Ladder Bar & Transmission Crossmember Gussets & Engine and Bellhousing Mounts Finish-Welded:

The center crossmember will have a lot going on. It will have ladder bar mounts, a trans mount, engine limiter tab mounts, and be a source for strengthening the chassis.

Ryan fabbed up these beefy gussets made of 1/8".





Here it is sitting in place, tying into the frame and truss leg.


All burned in.



A shot from above.



Also, the mounts were welded.









When all the mounts are done, we'll get some triangulation put in.

 

One possible problem with the 55 - 57 Chevy rear motor mounts. They tear really easily. Even a stock 283 in a Tri-Five will rip them in half.

However, there is an easy solution....Drill each mount for two bolts. It's an old Jr. Stock trick from the 1960's. Did this on my 55, and haven't torn a mount since......Even when I broke the rear axel......Twice.....

 

100%.

They will be pinned/bolted and I am running a trans mount (or at least the provision for one) and engine limiter rods to prevent forward/backward movement.

Edit: by the way... great car!

 

Wow, this is going to be one awesome hot rod, love the direction your going. Maybe you should just clear coat the chassis, those welds are some of the best I ever seen!

 

Thanks, Mike! Those welds will look great under paint, too!

 

Back into a roller.

You can see the e-brake adapter on the side of the Muncie (Autogear). The next items to be done are the ladder bars. I cannot wait for you guys to see those. Seriously.



Here's the chassis, before. Sitting in Colorado. There are parts on this project from all over North America! I can almost say, we saved this one...

 

Gawd I love that rolling chassis!

 

Looking good, I had no idea those gussets were so thick! Loving the detail in this thread. Your doing a great job

 

Man that rolling chassis pic gets the blood flowing!

Looking forward to seeing the ladder bars!

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WOW real nice welding.

 

Great execution of the chassis. The frame on my coupe was heavily modified back in the 60's and has some aspects very similar to what you guys are doing here. Keep up the good work. This is a fantastic build.

 

Finally finished reading the whole thread and the car is awesome. And as a welder I can appreciate leaving all the beautiful welding. Your definitely inspiring me to get back to some of my sitting projects and definitely can’t wait to see the ladder bars.


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I'm the same way. Buttons, levers, switches, and gauges. The more the better. I think it comes from my upbringing in the passenger seat of a 359 Peterbilt with the Corvette dash.

 

Mike, you have the absolute gift of summing things up, so well, in one line. An absolute skill.

Thanks, man!

Yeah, they mess with your eyes, right? I wasn't used to it, at first. These gussets will be utilized on either side.

Tying into the truss leg is going help with the rigidity, too.

Thanks, Tom! Man, I am excited for these ladder bars... maybe a bit too much, haha. There are a couple other ideas/plans, not yet fabbed, that I am excited for too. These ladder bars will mean we've gotten far down the list... and they're going to be pretty damned neat looking, too.

Yeah, he's pretty talented.

Thanks, Mike! We both try to connect to those aspects and still have our personalities/ideas show through.

Thanks for working through the whole thread. I try to keep my thoughts to a minimum for that reason!

The ladder bars will be done this week. When they're done and mounted that will be one of the last larger fab projects on the chassis.

Cool! I know nothing about them, so I looked them up and 359s have a huge following! It's crazy how time in or around certain vehicles can affect us.

My interior won't have as many switches buttons and gauges, it will be pretty spartan... especially in comparison! Haha.

 

Weiand: was recalling when carb choice arose Brent, sm. Rochester pairs (no idle screw-front)worked, lg. AFB's, like Carters, not so much.

 

SO, I LOVE this build and this is the raddest Model A frame I think I have ever seen.

BUT, looking at it now, I've developed a mild concern. The frame up to the tube crossmember behind the transmission is heavily reinforced from the motor mounts back. But behind that point, you're just on boxed frame currently. My brain keeps registering this as being where the frame will twist and/or crack because the rest of the frame will resist more force, focusing it to this smaller area. Have you covered this already (did I miss something)?

 

Hopefully I’m not speaking out of turn but the frame isn’t done, it’s more or less being done in layers. Once the ladder bars are sorted out they will build in some triangulation and additional bracing.

with this in mind you can probably see that they are working from the front back. That’s why you noticed it being beefy everywhere but the back.

I think that tube just aft of the trans cross member is likely to be just bracing to keep things square while this is going on or maybe hang some exhaust off it.

Stay tuned you’ll be impressed

 

@patmanta this above is pretty spot on. There's still a bunch of work to do. Some of which is not commonly done on an A chassis, from what I've seen.

More than anything, we need to fit 10lb of stuff in a 5lb bag and not everything is in the bag, yet.

@Tim has a bit of inside info, and yes everything is going in stages that work best for Ryan. As for the plan and why crossbars don't have triangulation yet: that stuff will be added at the end. Things like ladder bar mounts, rear shock mounts, engine limiter rod bracketry, e-brake bracketry, a driveshaft loop, and a few other bits, are all being planned in conjunction BUT it's just easier to install that stuff without triangulation.

I think I may have mentioned it... only because I've had a few people (they already think this build is a waste or misuse of parts - haha) who couldn't see the forest for the trees. Most everything is being fabbed, so the list takes a while longer. Following along with your stuff for years, I know you already know that! Haha.

In short, there will be proper triangulation. The ladder bar/trans crossmember will be reinforced in two planes. A lot of people miss that aspect and they still twist under load.

And, Pat, thanks for bringing it up. I actually dig when people can bring things up in a respectful, well-though-out response. So, thank you.

 

What kind of knob doesn't like this car?

I think it's awesome. I hope it's getting a roll bar as well.

 

The same dip shits having a fit when someone wants to pull the fenders off and chop the top on their model A.

gosh guy they only made 9 bazillion of those, only 8 bazillion have been restored. And by golly if mr. ford wanted them chopped he’d have chopped them.

insert eye roll emoji so hard that I actually fall over.

fuck em. If they think it should have been done different they should have bought it built it and done it themselves.

 

Crazy Nice Build!!

 

Brent,
as you mentioned, those front motor mount cushions are very poor in quality. We built a guys Studebaker with those mounts, and within a year, they had squished.
We replaced them with these from Energy Suspension https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/9.4101
Time will tell on these too.
I know Ryan knows what he is doing, just wanted to pass along our experience from our Hot Rod Shop and say to add a bit more clearance up front for when things sag. (New parts are not even close to the quality we had 40+ years ago, just ask us how we know, it's so sad)

Carry On !
Glenn

 

He’s using the good chassis eng inc ones not the shitty speedway ones he should be fine. Those energy suspension pieces do look nice though!

 

Tim,
We used the Chassis Engineering ones also.
Glenn

 

Glenn, are these a direct replacement for the biscuits?

Looks like they may be.

 

So awesome! Going to be a hell of a coupe.

 

That welding is phenomenal!!! What did he use to fold that plate over for the gussets?

 

Bars ahead of the trans/ladder bar crossmember and tabs for the ladder bars are in place. There'll be some more details, soon.

Man, look at those front tires! It'll be nice when the axle gets adjusted.