Hot Rods The (mis) Adventures of a Compulsive Tinkerer

Pinion angle. How on earth do I build in the correct pinion angle? Unfortunately, by deciding not to use the standard spring pads I kinda shot myself in the foot, shim wise. I’ll have to make custom shims to adjust the pinion angle.
Well, I measured everything and sketched it all out and it looked like it will be close if the trailing arms are 90 degrees to the face of the housing. I’ll just tack the saddles to the housing, I can cut the tacks and adjust the angle later if needed. I verified every dimension. One didn’t jive side to side but it turns out one arm has slightly wider flanges at the back than the other and that was giving me the wonky reading. All good? Tack it. Four big tacks on each side, I’ll TIG everything later.
I cut a little placeholder crossmember and tacked it across the brackets to hold everything in place up front.

Off the jig and onto the floor so I can install my mock up 3rd member. It’s got the bushings from my housing narrowing jig instead of the gears and carrier. I don’t have a complete 31 spline 3rd member yet.

Next - axles. They are Speedway Cut-to-Fit 31 spline axles, there’s a little overlap in the center, lol.
I really wish that they would at least tell you what length to cut them to when you order from their list of standard size housings. Maybe cut them for you.
I dug out a complete 3rd member (28 spline) and took some measurements. I hope it’s basically the same depth dimensions as the 31 spline. All these measurements and all this math gives me a lot of opportunities to screw it up. This seems to be the perfect stopping point for dinner. I’ll let all this simmer overnight and cut them tomorrow.

I’m hoping to have this thing on four wheels by the end of the week, we’re planning to head down to the LA house soon for a little (maintenance) vacation. Lol. I’d love to come home to a roller.

 

I did a bunch of measuring and calculated the length of the axles. I ran a couple errands and redid the measuring and calculations just to be sure. Feeling confident that I know what I’m doing (oh, oh) I cut the axles using an abrasive wheel. I left them just a hair long for now.
I dug up some lug studs that fit and installed them. I was two shy of a full set so I just installed three in each axle for now, in the Chevy 4 on 4 3/4” pattern. I really like that these axles have three patterns, I have wheels in each of the three patterns.
Then I installed the axles and retainers. All ready to slide it under the truck.

It’s in there, just need to rough position it. I’ll get the exact location when I put the tires and fenders back on and scale the ch***is.

Just for kicks I mocked up the proposed springs. It looks like it could work just like I planned.

Next is to verify what is usually the centerline location for the housing, the middle of the factory snubbers. I’ll position the housing there and install the fenders and wheels/tires. If it looks good I can tack some temporary brackets to hold the position and remove the bed so I can install the rear boxing plates. I’ll also need to make up a temporary crossmember for the front of the trailing arms.
Lots to do to have it on the ground by Friday….

 

Rockin It!

 

Are those the factory style bushings and mounts for the front of those arms?

-rick

 

The front bushings are modified 1962-64 Chevy II leaf spring bushings. I made exhaust tubing sleeves to make the ID a little smaller and bored out the ID to take a sleeve for 5/8” bolts. Right now they are factory rubber bushings but I have a set of urethane bushings that I might use. Haven’t decided yet. I suppose ‘49-‘50 Olds bushings might be available somewhere but I’m sure they are way more expensive than the Chevy II bushings.
The mounts are just some Trans-Dapt ch***is tabs that I have a ton of, left over from my header/ch***is shop. They are just for mock up, if the final crossmember design requires something special, I’ll make new ones.

 

I like the spring idea. Are you going to use short shackles to connect them?

 

Strange as it sounds, no mechanical connection. I'm going to just weld pads on the top of the trailing arms and let the spring ride on there. I hope to add some kind of nylon or Teflon pad to the pad's surface. The shocks will control the drop when it's jacked up. A long Panhard bar will keep everything centered. Honestly, I have no idea if it will work or what problems I might encounter but I really don't see why it won't work. And it just doesn't get much simpler.
Easy enough to put it on the hoist and add coilovers later if I want to.

 

I put some Ford rear ends on Marketplace and the last one sold yesterday. The buyer is the owner of our local tattoo parlor and his wife knows my wife well. Small world. We hit it off like long lost brothers. I brought him into my shop and showed him the current mess. I told him that I was finally getting back up to speed with my projects but sort of slowed to a crawl on some because of body and paint. He said, he paints cars in his spare time and he could possibly take one on when he finishes up the Mustang he's working on.
NO SH!T ?!?! No hiding the excitement of maybe finally getting my Sam Conrad roadster project back on track! I showed him the body, grille shell and headlights and he seemed pleased not to have to deal with a whole car. I showed him the painted and ***embled ch***is and pictures of Sam's roadster. He loved the color and seemed excited to take it on. We will be getting together soon I hope to closely ***ess what I need to do before he can get started.
Yeeeehawww!

 

Cool, lightning strikes and a great, new contact falls into your lap.

 

Going with a slipper spring arrangement. The only problem I see is wear. Had a trailer like that it seemed every few years I was replacing springs.

 

Yeah, that’s why I was hoping to create some non-metallic wear pads that I can change out when needed. But actually, I have so many 1 3/4” wide springs lying around this place that I think I have a lifetime supply!

 

Today was a rough one for an old man like me, I cleaned and dressed the rear frame rails prepping for the boxing plates. Then I trimmed and fitted the plates themselves. All the while hanging over the bed sides - ugh. I need the bed in place for now as a sanity check to alert me if I inadvertently move the rear end.
All went well until I was getting ready to weld them in. I almost forgot to put weld nuts inside for the front of the rear fenders. I climbed in the bed, took the plates out again and welded some nuts in. I finally got the plates securely tacked in and I noticed that I just closed off access to two of the bolts holding the bed on. Dang!
One bed bolt unscrewed and the nut fell into the newly boxed frame. The other wouldn’t cooperate. I drilled off the head and the shank, washer and nut fell into the frame. Errgh. I jacked the truck up, crawled underneath and cut the bottom tacks loose. A big screwdriver opened it and a coat hanger wire fished them out. I clamped it closed and re-tacked it. I love MIG welding on my back…..
It cleaned up pretty nice…. There’s very little serious rust on this old truck.

That 2x6” crossmember left behind by the previous owner’s well meaning rod builder friend will definitely have to go. Between it and the firewall there is a hodgepodge of different pieces of plate scabbed together to make boxing plates. I’ll have to address all that in the future.

I’ll have to do a little re-contouring of the top and bottom of the frame to fit the plates better. These rear plates didn’t fit anywhere near as well as the front ones did.

Tomorrow I’ll start fitting the springs….

 

Bob, don’t feel bad, I’ve had years like that. 2 steps forward, 10 steps back.

 

Great progress. We all bang our toes on the bed post.

 

It’s down on all fours. But not without a little drama. I got the spring mounts tacked in, a WAG as to the position/height. As I was setting it down on the ground my Mickey Mouse front crossmember for the trailing arms popped out of my cheesy little clamps, scaring the hell out of me. I crawled under and secured it with more clamps but… nope. Came loose again. And the fenders sit on the tires.
So I added a 1” spacer on top of the arms and tried again. Everything stayed in position and the height and spring arch looks good. The rear axle moved forward almost an inch when my clamps unclamped. Dang. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. This exercise is just to see what the springs would do and how good I was at guessing the spring mount location. I did ok, I’d give myself a B. I’ll have to move the frame mounts down an inch or so before welding anything up for good.

 

One leaves….
I had a “spare” 324 Olds motor that I bought so I would be sure to have all of the bolts and other little things that are usually missing when you go about building an old engine. The 324 in my roadster is all ***embled and almost ready to start up, just needs pushrods. So I listed the spare for sale and it’s going to a new home tomorrow. I’ll be keeping the Offy valve covers.
In the background of the first picture, covered with a black plastic bag is a ‘56 322 Buick engine that I also have for sale. A guy contacted me this afternoon and asked if I could deliver it nearby. So I’m hoping that while I have the cherry picker out and warmed up I can load up the Buick and take it to a new home also.

 

And one returns….
My other 392 Hemi is back from the machine shop. After we loaded it up, I remembered that I wanted to cut O-ring grooves in the decks. So he handed me the Isky Groove-o-Matic tool and said bring it back when you’re done. Ok? I haven’t done that before but there’s good instructions. I guess I’m up for a new experience. What could possibly go wrong? I’ll detail the block, clean, paint and preserve it with Gibbs and desiccant until I get my crank back. Which I hope will be next week….

Four bolt mains installed and line bored. Bored 0.030 over, decked just enough to flatten the decks and new cam bearings installed.

 

That is so Cool. Thanks for taking us with you.

 

O ring install will be interesting Bob. Never seen that done looking over someone's shoulder.

 

Rod1, my pleasure. I’m so thrilled that I’m finally feeling back to my old self again and since I sold my Austin, I have a little extra dinero to play with.
Hey Walt. I kinda wish my friend Willy, the machinist would have said, “bring that thing back in here and we’ll take care of that” but I think he was glad to have it done and gone. So I get to try it.
We’ll see…

 

Found a picture of the potential front spring setup that I might use on the whatever. It’s very similar to what you are doing with your rear spring setup. Here’s where it differs. Notice how the spring bar mounts in the mounting bracket. And then there’s a jacking bolt that allows the spring preload to be changed. It will also raise or lower the ride height, if both sides are turned the same amount.

You might want to consider making your spring front mounting bracket in a similar configuration. That would allow you to adjust your ride height accordingly. And another thing is that the end of the spring bars on my setup will just rest on the top side of the front axle, much like your setup. I did this on my first dirt car mid 70s, on both ends of the car,front and rear axles. It worked well. Of course I didn’t have to worry about long term suitability, but I didn’t use any lubricants between the axles and the bars.

Unfortunately I wasn’t much of a photographer back then, using a Poloroid SX70 for pictures, and they don’t hold up very well. This picture is my only one from when I was building the car. You can see the spring bar on the left front just inside of the F100 Ford twin I-beam radius arm, strong, light but not the best choice for use with a straight tube front axle.

 

Thanks Dave. I’ve seen sprinters and dirt cars that have the torsion bar levers riding on a pad at the axle end and that’s why I wasn’t too concerned about not having a mechanical connection. As far as adjustable pads, I did briefly consider doing again what I did with my T roadster ch***is. The ch***is height was easily adjusted by the Jack screws located in the trunk.

This one had perches and shackles above the housing. I’m trying to keep it simple and I don’t seem to mess with the ride height of my cars once I have them where I want them.
BTW, I’ve been following your thread, very cool!

 

With the little truck finally on the ground I decided to take a break from it and do some stuff that’s been needing my attention. Besides, the guy and his wife showed up to buy my spare Olds engine and we got to talkin’ while we were loading it up and, well you know how time flies when two hot rod guys start BS’n. I needed to replace the plastic cover anyway so I uncovered the roadster ch***is for him to see where my Olds was.

After they left, I did a little maintenance on the family truckster and since there was still an hour or so of daylight left I set about to give the Stude wheels their regular clean and wax treatment. I must be weird because cleaning chrome wheels and seeing them look like new gives me a warm feeling when I’m done, unlike any other maintenance task. ( it’s so much easier when you have it at stomach level on the hoist) The poor old truck is due for a good overall spring cleaning.

I feel better knowing that they are protected with a good coat of wax. It’s been cold and really damp here lately.

 

When I open the garage door this morning, I’m going to be faced with SNOW! I’m envious of that picture…

 

What kind of lift is that? How does it work? I've never seen one like it...

 

I admire your ambition, skills and grit. Enjoying following along, Thank You

 

chains run crosswise to anchor points on the other 2 columns,through the frt and rear crossbars that support the long 'ramps' the car sits on

 

Exactly. In the upper right corner of the photo you can just see the adjustable anchor point on the top of the post. My neighbor, a Caterpillar repair guy, rebuilt the cylinder for me when I set it up after moving to NorCal. It’s been a pretty versatile and trouble free unit.
I bought it used in 1994 when I opened my shop in LA for $2400 installed! And it has a 12,000 lb capacity. I needed a 4 post because I was doing custom headers and for that you need the car sitting on its suspension. I have cross bars and jacks that I can use to do brakes and suspension work on it. I’ve been meaning to sand and paint it gray so it blends in with the house and shop a little better. Maybe this spring.

 

Thanks, I knew when I saw the picture I wasn't looking at a "modern" lift. A 12k capacity lift would be pretty pricey today.

 

Yep, that rating gives me a warm feeling when I’m doing stuff under there.
I did find out the hard way that it’s best to take it slightly above the desired height and lower it into the next tooth on the safety latch and let it rest there. Leaving it on the cylinder alone it bleeds down. I had my roadster temporarily stored under the hoist, no problem. When I went back a couple days later it had bled down and broke the windshield and bend the windshield frame. Luckily, I didn’t bend the cowl, the safety teeth kept it from going down any further. Lesson learned.