Projects Little Truck Doctors 51 Ford Gasser

If it's wired by Lucas stuff gets warm and can go bad ? That's why beer is warm in England and Ireland?

 

Me and Andy are constantly talking ford/ Chevy shit (notice I didn't capitalize ford) but my shop fridge is a 1962 ford philco. He likes to remind me

 

That old Philco cools damn good, but it probably drinks the electricity!!

 

Both springs are mou ted and the axle is mocked up.

 

Looking good big boy

 

1st hub is mocked up and the front tires are mounted Thanks Lloyd's paint and glass

 

That 'axle is looking good!

 

C'mon Chandler, these guys like mock up pictures like your pop sent me!

 

Rear axle is out, got a lot done today

 

Good looking project you have there, young man.
Thanks for sharing your progress.
I also would like to compliment your clean, safe workspace.
Keep up the great work.

 

Yeah I agree, I'd have every tool I own spread all over the floor...even ones that I didn't need LOL

 

Ya but when you’re down there it’s easier to just scrabble around than to crawl out, get up and go to the toolbox and forget what it was you needed

 

You welded the springs in solid already, how did you mockup shackle angles ?
If those are the Speedway springs they are really stiff, I ended up removing half of them on my Henry J before it got any travel.

 

Did you mention chevy shit, I didn't notice. BTW, the other brand you mentioned is spelled FORD.

 

Apparently not, they already had to redo it once when the shackles went horizontal lol. Last 2 speedway straight axle kits I've bought have had damn good springs.

 

We didnt weld the springs we bolted them in place

 

The spring brackets were not welded in. They are bolted in. Lloyd is correct, we had to go back and adjust the position of the shackle brackets. No big deal. Adjusting things is part of the build process.

 

Get your facts right before criticizing

 

Well you corrupted the young fella, turnabout is fair play. His turn to corrupt you! A FE would look cool in the wagon
Dan

 

Oh and welcome to the HAMB @LittleTruckDoctor, I’ll be following along!
One thing you’ll notice is that there are a lot of opinions on this site, however with the opinions is an incredible amount of knowledge and skills.
Dan

 

Suggestions shouldn't be taken as criticism. Try not to be so testy please. Setting up shackle angles, and kingpin angles shouldn't be done until the engine and full weight is on the chassis. Doing so prior to having curb weight on the car will usually result in having to change or adjust them later, which is often difficult. Everything should be temporarily located until full weight is on and you can check proper angles before making things permanent.

 

This is NOT a criticism!

Are there only two bolts holding the hanger bracket? Did you stiffen up the frame where you bolted the hangers in place? I would make and fit 1/4" strips the width of the inside the frame where your hanger bolts are and make them long enough that you could get a bolt in front and behind your hanger bolts at least as far apart from the existing bolts as the distance between the existing bolts. This is crude drawing, but I'm sure you get the idea. There's a lot of stress on that 75-year-old frame where that hanger is and you don't want the bolts tearing through the frame.

 

Thank you Alan! That is a really good idea, we will work on it. Easy to do and I should have thought of it too.

 

Yeah, and getting up off the garage floor requires a little "thought prosses" pre-planning these days

 

Oh to be a know it all teeny bopper again lol

 

I will definitely do that thank you for the advice

 

I think I would have installed shackle end on front perch . But not 100% sure thats correct either

 

There’s been much debate on shackle placement. We consulted several people and the rear was the consensus.

 

Nosebleed lol

 

Almost every gasser or straight axle installation I've done I put shackles at the rear. But my theory is I also put steering boxes ahead of the axle, so I want my drag link to be the same side as the fixed spring eye so I'm not pushing-pulling against the end where the shackles can deflect. So if I put the steering box behind the axle, I'd have that end as the fixed spring end, and shackles up front. Or vice versa if steering is ahead of the axle.
I like steering boxes ahead just to make sure my steering box isn't sharing space with headers, or other things behind the axle.