Roadster rebuild- Its about time!! *frame build tech?*

Well, with winter in full swing here, and being as busy as I am, I have decided that another project is just what I need.

Some of you guys on here know my car, most of you don't. I'll be honest, It's a real bucket! Although it was was sturdy and road-worthy it was a handfull to drive, especially over the lovely NJ pothole fields that we call highways. So after 2 summers and about 3000 miles, I have decided to rebuild it to better suit my liking as well as better "showcase" what I am capable of building. It is currently about 2" off the ground and done quite "rat-rod" like. Which I hate. So this week I stripped it down with help of fellow HAMBr' SPEEDKILLS. We got it apart in about 3 hrs. And tossed the frame in the scrap pile. And so begins the build.

Started off with a piece of 2x4 rect. box. I cut a taper in it similar to a Model A rail.


Next, I used a piece of 1/8 thick (1 7/8" wide) steel to close in the rail bottom side.


Then welded the strip in along the edges. Leaving it a bit under 2" wide makes for a nice corner weld. After Tig welding there is very little grinding and sanding to clean the area.


After some sander work they are starting to look good.


After a bit of math and a drawing on the steel bench, I made a couple of cuts and removed a pie shaped piece from 3 sides of the rail. I took out 3/4" on the wide side and clamped and tweaked the rail to match the drawing on the bench.


More math and a second pie cut near the front x-member area, again to match my drawing. More clamping and more welding. of course beveling the joints to insure proper penetration of the welds.


Some more sanding and I have a nice clean swept rail that'll get me 5 3/4" of drop.



Acouple hours later and I have a matched set of rails.


After much measurement and squaring on the table. I am ready to trim and install the front x-member. It is a stamped aftermarket x-member from Posie's. Nice product. Has about 6 degrees of caster built into it.


After trimming a bit off of the ends to fit my boxed rails, it is ready to clamp and weld. By the looks of the hole and center line on the table, I got it right. A few more measurements before welding to insure square and straight and weld it in.


After welding, with a temporary rear brace to hold the taper of the frame. Frame horns will be added later.


I'm kind of happy with the welds.


On to getting the motor in place. Yeah, I know Small Chevy- boring!!!. Well I drive it, and hard too. So being able to buy parts for it at McDonalds is a plus in my book. This motor is about 300 HP and will be for sale in a couple weeks to make way for the 400HP version-Hint Hint -Buy It!! (PM me for details and specs.). I used 2x3 box tubing to make the frame side of the mounts. The engine will have to be raised 1" from where it is shown. I will build onto these mounts to acheive the height needed. I will still use the biscuit mounts although I will spend a bit more and get the ones from Chassis Engineering with the band around them to avoid the "Bulging" problem that these already show. The motor mounts are a set of Speedway tube mounts with the tubes cut off and some 2x4 box.
I used the tube mounts in the last build and found that trying to line up the tabs and bushings when pulling/swapping engines sucked. Also had to lift the engine quite high to get them cleared of each other which means interference with the firewall, etc. The biscuits are way easier.


Last for this installment will be the trans. x-member. I like my car to be serviceable, hence the rant of the motor mounts, so a 3 piece tranny x-member is a must. Tubing is 1 5/8" od dom tubing. I cut it and welded on the flanges while keeping it all in line and level.


After a bit of measuring and centering in the car I got it all right. Then marked the center and built the mounting plate from 1/8" steel plate. All welded up and ready to go into the frame.



In the car and starting to weld. This will make future tranny, clutch, and engine service way easier.


I have started on getting the front end together and set-up and will update this post in a couple of days. ......Mike.

 

nice work

 

man if i could fab and weld like that...id never leave my garage.................................................40 ford pickup project for sale.

 

Nice work and a great post!

 

you ain't kidding. can't wait to see how this turns out. got used to seeing it way low like it is.

 

very nice I will look forward to seeing more post's. Do you have any pic's of the car before the tear down that we could see?

 

That is a pretty serious sweep.

How much more ground clearance are you shooting for with this frame?

 

Damn fine work!

 

dang dude! spank that sucker!

 

Roadduster,
This is the only one I have in the computer.


It's gonna go from a 115" wheelbase to about 97". Should handle great around town. I don't think it'll have too much affect on highway stability. I wanted it short to keep it all tight without big gaps between the engine and firewall and rad. With the high sweep in the frame, the rad. needs to go in front of the front x-member or be real short ($$$$). So I pushed it all together and put the fan over the the top of the x-member. Should be interesting.

Flipper,
I am looking to be 6" at the bottom of the frame rails. The front bone mounts will hang a bit lower but I don't think they will be a problem at 4 1/2". And they are made from 5/8 solid steel so even if they were to drag a bit in driveways, I doubt they would be damaged.
The body is just a shell and the doors are are welded closed. It was a race car body in the 60's. Since it is all welded up I have to climb over the doors to get in. I can't have it much higher. Especially since I'm vertically challenged. HAHA. I will document all the suspension stuff as I go.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

 

DAMN. That is going to be pretty!

 

Killer frame work Mike, you should be proud to show off that kind of workmanship. Keep us posted with updates.

 

Mike, I had this one scanned from last year, hope you don't mind me posting.

 

That is really cool that you are talking your first car and redoing it with the new knowledge you have. keep us posted on the build.

 

looks good mike .. ill post some pics of the T in about 2 weeks when its painted..

 

Lookin' good. I like the quality of that frame fab work.

Using any of the stuff ya' got from me on this one?

 

Hi Frank, Not on this one. I already had all this stuff. All the major stuff was from my original build. New spring, front axle, and shock mounts. All the other parts will go through the "recycling machine" and be reinstalled.

 

Thanks Kyle, I look forward to the pix.

 

Looks great man! Keep us up to date!

 

Hey Mike!
First off, I have always loved that little roadster. I've seen it everywhere at every show I've been at for the last couple of years. People can say what they will, but I know you drive the Hell outta that little car.

The frame is lookin' awsome. your welds look great as well, and I'm glad you are taking the time to do the finishing work on them. Its gonna be a beautiful thing when it's done. I'm sure you will put some miles on it this coming season.

Thanks again for your input when it comes to R&K. I enjoy hearing what you have to say when we talk at the shows, and most times I even agree with you!

Be well and keep building!
Spike

 

I weed through all the lame posts that have no bizz here on the HAMB. There have been way WAY to many in the last year, show me pics of this or that, does this grill shell make my butt look big, And what is with you jerks and the O/T posts?????? Then I run across a post like this!!!!!! its refreshing! a post thats related to RODS & Customs! Lets hope we see more of this in the new year! Fantastic post! I loved it
FRITZ

 

What about the radiator? Will it still stick up higher than the cowl?

 

That car looks good already - I love the low stance - it is gonna be killer with the new frame!

AB

 

Nice work. Thanks for showing it. I'll be watching for updates.

 

Thanks for the encouraging words. Means a lot coming from you guys, especially from the likes of Fritz and Spike.

Richard, radiator will go in front of the x-member. I'm recycling many of my old parts to keep cost down. With the rad on top of the x-member it would have to be real short to be at cowl level. I could have one made that short but it would run over $600. Mine is free. So up front it goes. And I know that it cools well already. Plus it'll give the front end a little different look than other Model As. It ought to be about even with the cowl. We'll find out in a day or so.

I will update weekly.

 

I dug your car before.

This should be a build worth watching.

Norton

 

Nice fab work!

 

How about some dimensions so those of us building our own frames will have some reference.
Thanks,
Chris

 

With the radiator in front of the x-member, what happens with the lower hose?

 

That's where it gets to be fun. On the original set up the sping was way behind the axle so the lower hose went under the center of the spring, no problem. Now that the spring is right over the axle and is real close I have to come up with another plan. Probably seal off a few rows of tubes near the bottom of the core. Then I can have the lower neck come out of the lower tank on top (within the core area) and do a 90 towards the rear to go over the x-member. I've done this before on another car. I will loose a few rows but the rad. has plenty of capacity so it won't be an issue. And yes, my radiator guy is awesome. I will post updates and pix. so you will see it soon.