Projects My Model A project from 2015

Ok guys so this is my first thread on here. A little about me first. I'm 59 and live in Va. I have been a Ford tech for over 30 years, Senior Master tech for over 10 years. This doesn't make me a hot rod builder. I bought an original Model A coupe for my 50th birthday. I love this car, but everyone knows these cars don't go real fast. I live on a mountain and this car will only go 35 mph going home. I had this idea that I would buy another Model A and just modernize it with more horsepower and better brakes and suspension and keep it looking stock other than lowering it and cool wheels. So, I bought this 1930 coupe in 2015 for 8 grand. It had a very amateur restoration but didn't look bad and the owner told me it had low compression on 1 cylinder and now it didn't run. I bought it sight unseen in Pa. and towed it home. It is just about done now, and I have a lot of pictures to show everyone. It may not be a traditional build, but I built it the way I wanted. So here we go!......

 

So, the next set of pictures is what I call destruction of a coupe.

 

Cool....join the "banger" guys on here for some good info on making the A's run with the best of them....

 

More pics. more of the car coming apart.

 

Ok now the body coming off of the frame.

 

Some shots of the old frame and the new chassis I bought. ( View attachment 5349298 I guess I cheated here.)

 

I wanted more legroom and needed to move the seat back. I removed the seat track and seat pan.

 

It's coming along nicely!

 

I love your choice of Toys and admire that a non Hot Rod middle age guy will dive in head first and knock out a car any of us would like to have in our Garage. Something I noticed in the above photos after reading this comment, Quote [ I have been a Ford tech for over 30 years, Senior Master tech for over 10 years. ] end of Quote. Is that work horse towing the trailer a Dodge and if so is it yours? I would have expected it to have a Blue Oval on the tailgate. Nothing wrong with that, it just struck me odd.

 

Great start! I’m sure you’ll be able to climb the hills when it’s finished.

 

Great project. Good idea to move that seat pan first thing.

 

Ok guys, yes that is my ram towing the trailer. I have owned many Fords and Mopar's in my life. I've owned that truck for 12 years and it's been a good one. In the next pics. I removed the fenders and didn't know what to do with them, so I built a temporary shelf to store them.

 

Well, I decided to stay with a 4-cylinder engine. This 2.3 came out of a 1994 Ranger. I got a 2-sparkplug head for it and a marine intake that uses a 2-barrel GM carb. With a stock roller cam and factory header and I found a valve cover from a turbo T-bird, I think it looks good. Here I am mocking it up.

 

Well i just had a message from administration that some of my pictures were deleted because of big modern wheels. Well, I was trying to use 17 Mustang bullit wheels but being a novice, I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to have enough turning radius. We are jumping ahead a few years here, but I went with 15-inch aluminum slotted wheels. I hope you guys still want to see this build.

 

Keep it coming.

 

I see some kind of steering rack thing

I don't think that's an improvement.

 

Ok, here I am still mocking some things up, and I made an e-brake mount.

 

You have every right to be proud of your build, but I see this going sideways very quickly on this particular forum. Especially being posted in the traditional hot rod section.

 

I know there are mixed opinions on a uni-rack steering system but the little that I did drive this car it seemed fine to me. the next set pf pics. is a patch someone did in the trunk to weld up the rear crossmember over the rear spring. I also made some floorboards ds out of plywood and made a trans hump out of sheet metal.

 

Very cool.

 

Good work. Nice to see a 4 banger in there.

 

I went with a T anks gas tank mounted behind the seat. I made a slide out battery box and made a divider behind the seat.

 

I cut open the gas tank and the amount of rust could have never been removed with those baffles in there. Quite a few pics. to this process as I wanted to install a heater under there and I hid the ignition module and coil up under there too.

 

I found a second-row minivan seat everyone talks about, and they are right, it fits like a glove. I made my own brackets and bought sliders to adjust the seat. I kept the cup holder and modified the bracket to the back rest so I can fold it up to gain access behind it. I will also lock in place. I bought seat belts that will lock into the original buckles in the seat.

 

I bought a universal clutch and brake pedal assembly, but of course I had to modify it to fit. I used an aluminum Mopar master cylinder because I've had good luck with them in the past. I made my own brake & clutch pedal pads.

 

Just painting the factory header......

 

I don't know why it did that, repeated the pictures?? Now to the engine, I rebuilt the stock 94 Ranger engine with the factory roller cam, header and used a marine intake that excepts a GM 2-barrel carb and used a turbo T-bird valve cover.

 

Mating the engine to the trans, and made a sort of test stand to run it before the install.

 

Rebuilding the 5-speed transmission.