TECH: The MODIFIED has a FRAME...almost finished it LAST NIGHT!

With all of the traveling I do, it's sometimes hard to justify spending time on projects rather than with family. Well, being home the last couple of weekends got me in the project mood and a little further on the '31 DeSoto modified. The body is at a buddy's shop for some metalwork while I build the bones. This isn't a huge accomplishment but it's substantial with my schedule.

I started out with a pair of old 1.5"x3" thick-wall rails I'd made up a few years ago. I did three sets at the same time. One went under the Hemi RPU that now lives in Texas and is HAMBer owned. The second set went under a modified that nearly killed my buddy when the shotty front suspension (built by a third party) gave out. These frames had an 18" rear kick...radically low! The direction for the DeSoto is more truly traditional than that so I canibalized the old rails.

Basically I cut them down to raw pieces and started over.



I wanted to emulate the kink in a Model A frame so I measured the location on a set of A rails and marked the new ones to match.

I cut through three sides of each rail with the chop saw, guessing that when I squeezed them back together they would have about the right amount of bend.

To get them as Identical as possible, I lined the rails up parallel to each other and clamped them tightly together. Then I made sure the cuts were in line with each other and were parallel to the side of the table, set some plate steel pieces (also parallel) under the rails and clamped the rails down on the opposite side of the cuts, closing up the cuts.

After a couple initial tacks I finished welding them while still clamped. I'm not super happy with the look of the weld here but it will do the job and will be under the channeld body anyway. The bend turned out to be exactly the same as the A rails. Good guess!

Next I went to the front cross member. I lined the rails up with each other again and clamped them tight. Knowing I had given myself extra rail, I measured from the rear forward to locate the holes correctly, leaving an excess of rail in front. I measued and marked them as a pair.

After using the 2.5" holesaw to cut the first hole, I checked the fit before moving to hole number 2.

Both holes cut. I actually ended up cutting holes on both sides of each rail to try something different. You'll see later.

With the rails the right shape and the front crossmember holes driled, I measured and moved, measured and moved, and measured and moved the rails until I got them to the right positions. Then I clamped them down as securely as I could and set the front crossmember in place.

Now you can see where I cut holes through both sides of each rail and then removed the excess meat from in front of them, but left the top and bottom "tabs." I decided to take the disks cut from the rails and tack them to each end of the crossmember. I tacked them in one location so that I could bend the disk out to match the angle of the narrowing distance between the rails. With the disk being slightly smaller than the tube, they made a great lip that almost locked itself in place on the notches in the rails.

After tacking the crossmember in place I started beating the tab on the top of the rail down to wrap around the crossmember, tacking as I went because I don't have a torch. I filled in the extra space with weld and the whole thing needed only minimal cleanup.



In the back, I cut a notch out of the bottom of the rail to fit the Model A rear crossmember. Measuring over and over before cutting the notches made sure it fit snug and square. Now that's a weld I'm proud of!



The perimiter frame in all it's glory. Not the best ever, but I'm sure proud of it and it is less than a 1/32" out of square! The front perch should be in by the weekend so I can start mocking it up!




I got a little more done on the ch***is.

The front perch




Mock up of how it should sit

 

That's a nice looking frame...

I like seeing a frame without a m***ive Z in the front once and a while... Looks racier.

 

It's guys like you that make the rest of us look lazy and unskilled! Thanks!

 

I love these frame fabrication threads - every time I see one, it makes me want to go out and build one myself. Nicely done, man... I really like the treatment of the front xmember dovetailed into the rails - looks really good.

 

Dead cool. I love seeing stuff like that as it gives me so many ideas for future projects. Also shows that you don't need a huge great jig to build a ch***is that'll work.

 

You really don't. I built that welding table the previous weekend and the top is only 36"x36".

It's all about things being leveled, squared and secured.

 

Muy bueno.

 

Looks great. One question, are you tig welding this or using a mig. The welds around the bracket and front cross member look great.

 

Very well done . . . . . . . *******.
Craig

 

Looks like Mig brother, Hey Kirk, your kickin' ***, good job!

 

very nice.

 

Very nice work Kirk, I am liking the rear kick and the welds looks good.

 

Very nice work Kirk.--TV

 

Have you been reading old Hot Rod magazines again?
They did the same front crossmember in an article back in '68.

Is that old cowl steering going to work for you?

Lookin' good buddy !

 

Hell of a job, need to store this mentally for when I get to mine!!

 

I'm sure going to try. I really like that funky steering box but I still can't figure out the make.

I knew I'd seen that crossmember setup somewhere. I sure as hell didn't invent it. Well, actually the way I saw it, they didn't cut through both sides of the rail, they cut the outside to the contour of the tube. I was too lazy to do that so I tried something new. It actually worked out as well or better. It may be stronger because I was able to weld in more places more thoroughly.

 

When I "boxed" it (sloppy I know)
I was checking it out.
I think it is a modified Ford pick up steering.
Look at the end of the worm gear,it should have a number stamped on it.
That will help reveal it's origin.

 

i may have to think about adding that kink to my mod frame. thats roughly at the fire wall? right?

 

Man, and after I spent all that time grinding on the last frame. Well, it was about seven minutes, but being around you made it seem like an eternity...

Looks good!

 

That's looking good. What is that grill shell hanging on your wall?

 

The mig handpiece in the floor in the last pic tells a "thousand words".

 

The bottom brace on your "ch***is jig" seems like a good place to hook your heel and have a beer but they also look like shin stabbers. I'm planning on building a table soon...any specific advantage to running them on the outside?

 

Nice job, inspires me to build one after my truck.

 

Love It!

 

nice job kirky-poo!

 

Graham. I have another that is going on the modified.

 

It was just easier to cut 8 pieces the same size. The frame directly under the top is the same as that lower one.

 

NICE!! i like it. simple but elegant.

 

Cool. That's what I was going for. I'm hoping the rest of the car follows suit.