I decided to make a mount to screw the rod end into and also serve as a place to bolt the rear radius rods to. I sourced a bung with the 3/4” threads to match the rod end
I took a piece of 1x2 tube and welded a sleeve in it for the rear radius rods to bolt through, then I had to heat the rear of the radius rods to get the right fit to the front mount.
I then machined a sleeve to fit the threaded bung mentioned earlier. I cut the top out of the 1x2 tube and beveled the edges for a nice fit to the tube sleeve. I tacked things in place and removed it to weld it up, angling the ends of the 1x2 and closing them off to give it a nicer look. I found another set of rear rods and decided I would use them to triangulate the bars, since the 39 rods are not strong enough on their own to hold up. One top bar would have been enough, but since I like symmetry, and I have two of them, I decided to use them both. Overkill I’m sure Checked it for fit and so far, so good. Next came adding a mounting point for the additional rear bars.
After chopping off the rear of the second set of bars, I bolted them up to the front mount. After looking at it and studying on it a while, I didn’t like the way it looked. So I added a couple of tabs to the lower bars that come up to the mounting bolts for the rear top bars. In my mind, this would tie it all together and eliminate the possibility of any upward movement of the mount.
Next up will be fabricating the rear brackets to bolt the upper bars to the banjo center section. Hopefully I’ll find some time here and there to do so. Thanks for looking.
Actually I have been getting in an hour or two occasionally, but the progress seems to be minimal. I guess the first thing I did since I last posted was enlisting a buddy to help me get the front crossmember and front gussets riveted in.
Hahaa. Thanks. I put that off for a while because honestly I wasn’t real sure the best way to go about it. I ended up making a bucking block that was welded to a sort of C shaped piece of thick steel. The problem was figuring out a way to hold the rivet into the bucking block so I could heat the rivet red hot, and get it pushed up through the bottom of the frame and hit it with my air hammer on the top, all before the rivet cooled off. Here’s what I came up with: I first drilled a hole through the bucking block. Then I made up a jig to hold the rivet so I could fuse dent puller nails to the rivet head. Set the rivet into the bucker, then bend the nail on the other end so it stayed in the block. Surprisingly, it worked well.
Another area I have almost got lined out is the rear transmission mount setup. As I said early in this thread, I’m running an off topic trans, so I won’t show it. I will give a rundown on the mounts I have come up with, since I’m using oem style biscuits and modified the original mount. Like this:
Those rear trans mounts will probably be riveted in after I see for sure that everything is going to work out. I have already fabbed the plate that spans the two biscuits and bolts to the tailhousing, but I don’t have a pic of that. The open area in the X of the frame will be boxed back in after I rivet the mounts in.
I had posted quite a while back about the front mounting point for my rear bones. I have been working on coming up with the rear mounts on the banjo for the two upper bars I’m adding. I added two studs to the housing with stud n bearing mount and machined some spacers to be able to bolt plates on each side of the top of the banjo housing. I will weld the bars to these plates and then I plan to add a bolt on plate across the top, tying those side plates together to strengthen the whole assembly.
Very nice, love the rivet solution, I've been wrestling with that one myself, my solution was no where near as elegant.
A little better pic of the bucking bar/block, or whatever you want to call it. The c shape let me get around the bottom of the frame rail and reach the underside of the top rail. It took a little practice and a couple failed attempts at “hitting the hole” before it got too cold. Lol. It could be improved upon a lot, but I figured it’s probably the only time I’ll use it, so I didn’t want to waste too much time on it.
My not so elegant 'scrap yard' version. worked really well though, did mine cold because I couldn't figure out a clever way to make them hot like you, but to be honest, they are really tight, and I have no issues with how they seated.
Nice job of riveting, what size riveting gun are you using? Also can you show us the tool that forms the head and where did you source the tool. I'm going to rivet a '32 frame together and I need all the info I can get. Tom
I used an old Snap-on air impact hammer. Probably not ideal for the job, but I figured since I was putting them in hot, it would have enough oomph at 100 psi. Just for some added piece of mind, I did two plug welds on the top rail close to the riveted area and a couple of tig welds from crossmember to frame rails underneath the gussets before I installed them. The rivets on the top of rail/crossmember are 5/16” shank and all the rest I put in 3/8” dia shank rivets. Not stock, but it’s not a resto so in my opinion, it really didn’t have to be original size. The tool for the hammer is just a home made piece I made on my lathe with a ball end mill. Again, probably not ideal but since there were only 16 rivets total, I figured it would do. If I was going to do an entire frame, I’d probably spring for an actual riveter and some proper rivet set tooling. (And some good ear protection. Hahaa)
Found a little time this afternoon finish up the work on the rear mounts for the upper bars. Pics are pretty self explanatory.
Finished out the right side bar and bolted up the pair to the housing. My plan now is to add a pair of threaded tabs to the inside edge of each bar mount, and fab up a plate to tie both sides together. One bar might have been enough, but two bars will surely be.
The Jalopy Journal
