Hot Rods bringing my Model A pickup back after the fire

A update on the Labor Day weekend- I finally got my front brakes un-bound up. it took a thicker spacer behind the adapter, this time they are 1/2 inch instead of the 1/4 inch.
I also took the hub and rotor assemblies apart and made sure the new bearing races were fully seated.

And sure enough, the races on the passenger side tapped in a little further. It’s still not quite the same as the drivers side, but a lot closer. It all seems a lot happier.

 

I also started mocking up some other stuff for the front. I have had this steering box for ages. I think it’s for an F1, and I want to use it for this project.
The steering box on it had been a 1940, but was too messed up from the fire to use.
Anyway, it bolted right up to the bracket I had made years ago.

 

Not that I didn’t see any problems

like the Pitman arm being too long and sits at the wrong angle.
And that area is crowded now, with the fuel pump, steering box and oil filter all wanting in each others way.
I have a remote oil filter kit coming that will free up some space, and I’m gonna have to do some research about the pitman arm.

 

I have also been wanting to see how my front shock mounts and headlights are going to work.
So I eyeballed the radiator into place, and then checked how the fit is.

 

These are also old F1 pickup pieces I’ve had for awhile. I had forgotten that they need to be cut down to use on a model A.

 

And these headlights are really cool, but might be problem. They’re both small ( 5 and3/4?) and really shallow. It might be difficult to find anything that fits.


and the mounts are kinda useless.

 

I think there is good info about the shock mounts in How to Build A Traditional Ford Hot Rod by Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel. I’ll have to dig up my copy and check it out.
If anyone is unfamiliar with this book, it is the Bible for traditional hot rod builds.

 

Not that my build will be all that traditional, but there is really good info in that book..
They cut the lower section of the shock mount aft of the first eyelet and rotated it so the holes are at 90 degrees, and welded it back together, with a center to center distance of 2 and 3/8 inches. Then it will match up to existing rivet holes for the front crossmember.
Cool.
Thanks, Mike! Thanks, Vern!

 

So, as it turns out, I sawed up a perfectly serviceable pair of F1 front shock mounts. I then drilled and tapped a couple of holes in a scrap piece of plate aluminum, and mounted them in place. I then had a co worker weld them up. They look great, and they’re just what I wanted.

 

Does that front spring look too tall to anyone?

I installed it straight out of the box. I didn’t take any leaves out. I might pull it apart and pull a leaf or two and see if it sits better.

 

And Ive finally decided how I want to do the rear crossmember. I had bought an aftermarket one to make the floor flatter- no hump in the bed. But I really like this gnarly old thing.
Someone had actually welded an old piece of farming hardware on it to repair cracks back in the day. My wife’s dad knew exactly what it was, and what it was from. Should have paid more attention. Anyway, it’s a different look.

 

this shows the thing a little better. It matched the curve of the center hump really well.
I should have taken a close up pic of it. Anyway, after a bunch of trimming and grinding, I have it mocked up.
So I’ll have to actually do some welding. My welding isnt THAT bad, I just work with some really good welders.

 

The weather has been good, so I decided to get some work done on the pickup.
What is hanging me up lately is the trans crossmember. I drilled the rivets out of the original and made some boxing plates to fill the gap. I got a tubular crossmember but I didn’t want to weld in all in place. I want to be able to remove it if I have to pull the trans in the future.
The plates I used to box the frame are .125” thick- 1/8 inch. Plenty thick, and the rest of the frame is the same thickness.But not enough meat there to thread a 3/8 bolt. I thought about using a Rivnut, but didn’t seem beefy enough. Rivnuts are great, but I wanted something structural.

 

So here is what. Came up with. A weld-in nut with 1/2 inch of threads. Couldn’t really find what I had in mind, so I used some scrap round stock I had to turn some weld- in nuts.

 

The outside diameter is .750”, so I can drill small pilot holes and use a 3/4 inch hole saw , then weld the inserts in place.

 

a little grinding and some rattle can paint, and it looks like I hardly did anything at all

 

I still had to weld the ends of the crossmember onto the assembly,
So I bolted it into place and tacked the ends onto the tube.
Yikes, I didn’t realize how ugly that tube had gotten. I should have cleaned it off before I tacked it up. I did flapperwheel it before finish welding, tho.

 

Love how any thing gets in your way, you just open a path.
Thanks for the show

 

More grinding, welding, and painting and bolted it in place.

Not to mention all the measuring, measuring, and measuring again. But my transmission crossmember is finally in place holding the trans up. Now I need a rear suspension.And steering. And the cab and bed in place. And wiring, and a driveshaft……

 

A number of years back, I heard the term “critical path item”. That’s the thing that is keeping you from progressing on a project.
It’s the “I have to do this, so I can do this, so I can get this done” problem.
So, what is the thing I need to do to get me to the next thing?
I think it’s the rear suspension. That way the whole thing will be a roller, in case I need to move it around.

 

I got some work done on the rear suspension today. I started by welding on the rear crossmember.

I drilled some holes in the mating surfaces so I could do some plug welds (rosettes?)

 

Then I welded and ground it.

 

Then I got everything really well placed and measured, so I could tack the frame mounts for the rear suspension in place.
Till I realized I couldn’t use the bottom mount as is.

No big deal, I just wizzered the round spacer off, but I thought it was funny I got that far without noticing that.

 

I then tacked the mounts into place. I want to check everything before I weld the tabs on the diff, but I got some progress made today.

 

So I’ve been working on the Model A but haven’t posted for awhile. I went backwards on the rear suspension and am finally getting it worked out. But for now I’m making some headway on the dash.

here’s what I want it to look like. There’s some attaching points on the cowl already that I might be able to use.

 

I tried to mark the points so I could drill some holes for attaching hardware, but there wasn’t room for a Sharpie.
I ended up spraying paint on a twig and pushing it through the threaded hole in the cowl to mark the back of the dash.


I took measurements and took measurements and fussed with it till I was happy with where I was going to drill the holes. The fasteners are 1/4”-20, so I’ll drill the holes 5/16” in order to have a little “tolerencing”. I didn’t really need to fuss with it so much, I suppose.
“Measure with a ruler, check it with a micrometer, cut it with an ax. “

 

Way to go, Briz! You're way farther along than I am.

 

I want to countersink the fasteners, so I made a simple dimple die to help me do that.

a simple dimple die?
Yep, a simple dimple die.
After I’ve drilled the holes for the fasteners that I want countersunk, I thread this hardware on and tighten it all up and it “dimples the hole at a 45 degree cone ( or a 90 degree cone depending on who is measuring it) and a (90 degree) countersunk screw will sit in nicely.

 

I had to grind one side cuz it sat so close to that edge.

 

The. I tightened the whole thing together till it mashed a countersink into the dash panel.