I've been building this "hot rod" for the decade off and on, though more stuck on for the building this past year. Making this puppy as cheap as possible, to show all the people who saying that "hot rods are expensive!" and to look like a 60s rod rather than the "rat rod" standard of the 50s (nothing wrong with it, liked the 60s more, or at least what my false nostalgia tells me). the frame is based on the California Custom Roadsters' 1915-1923 frame plans with some changes, longer rear section to fit the CJ5 gas tank i scored (due to buying a Jeep gauge in the first place), quarter ellptical springs in the back. supposed to be a T bucket, but if i can get me a cheap roadster body or pickup cab, might change that... anyways, here's the frame fabrication that started back in May, started with 2x3 rectangular tubing, found at the cheap price of 60 bucks while my fabricator was working his other job of asphalt estimating. notching the rear crossmember: setting up the kickup and frame rail on the welding table: completed side rails: incomplete frame awaiting the tube crossmember:
around this time, I brought over the front axle I had bought off a fellow HAMBer. i had found that the 48-54 chevy truck axles to be much cheaper than the early ford axles, and asked around here about putting one on the front but transverse spring. it can be done! but my fabricator's buddy, Larry, told us it was a bad idea due to welding on forged steel and the likelyhood of cracking. Too bad i already bought a 53 Chevy pickup axle and springs. upon looking at the leafs (which were oddly wrapped in saran wrap), they looked pretty bad. Larry said he'd scrounge around for some NOS ford truck springs he had laying around. When he came back, he brought, two 32 ford reversed eye leaf springs! Awesomeness. asked him what i owed him, "I'm donating them to the cause! Cost of chevy axle:125, cost of 32 ford springs, DONATED! one set got cut in half and redrilled to be quarter elliptical. Danny had some 1/2 in x 2in plate laying around, so thus it was cut up into mounts and gussets: The rearend you notice in the background in the last picture is a Dana i got off a street rod who i was in boy scouts with. They got it as a door prize a few years before i got it back in 2002. Even though i had just wrecked my daily driver, still threw down 20 bucks for a rebuilt rearend. Looked nicer back in 2002, been in my mom's shed, thus the rust taking it over. no pics of it before we torched off the Jeep spring mounts: centering a rearend has to be the most frustrating yet importat thing i've done so far. After 10 minutes of trying to get it right myself, Larry popped in and ***isted with his much better knowledge of this kind of thing. for some reason, i have no picture of the rear with the rear spring mounts in. right now, they're just tacked in.
skip forward some more, imagine june. ran over to Wegner Steel in valparaiso for the round tube. forgot my tape measure, asked to use theirs, the lady at the front desk replied, "if you dont return it, we will hunt you down." and then laughed. searching through their s**** pile (and life sized Pac Man made out of plate), found some 2in round tubing and some 3 and 4 to give as a thank you to Danny. again, 60 bucks. dont have early pics of the tubing, but here it is: next up was the front perch. Danny and i had fabricated a winch mount for a guy who brought us plenty of 3/8 in plate. so freebie time yet again! Here it is with the reversed eye 32 spring i didnt chop up
The Jalopy Journal
