^^^ I thought about that myself. But then I realised that I would have a lot less room for M/C, pedals, and other such. Now if you went with hanging pedals, M/C on the firewall it will probably work just fine. Just not the way I want to go if I can help it.
Boxing plates, a guy will sell you on here for like $100, cut to fit. It's cheap insurance. But with the right K-member an A frame is fine up to around 100 HP or so, particularly if you're just going to drive it on the road, have no plans to race it or try to do endless burnouts/other craziness with it. Also helps to keep the torque tube.
Im not boxing my the frame on my AV8 project. The A frame was designed to flex. Figure it survived 80 years that way. Whoever had it before me more then likely put it through more abuse then I ever will. Thats my opinion anyways.
Cheers, I pie cut the "K" member so that it would taper up to meet the "A" frame rails and left "ears" on the ends that met the ch***is rails so that when I slid the "K" member in from the rear of the ch***is into its position it would be unable to fall even if the welds failed (hope I explained that right)
Front crossmember & X bolted. Nuts welded on inside frame, X removed after fitting, frame was boxed & then X bolted back in
Good point. That explains why even the old old How-to books recommend 33-34 and later X-members rather than the 32 K-members in their modification instructions.
Even a 32 frame is improved with a 33-34 X-member to replace K-member, for rigidity and so ****** can be dropped out with out removing engine.
Hey bobbooth, thanks for those additional pics and explanation. As they say, a picture is truly worth a thousand words. What did you use for wishbone & pedals? I see you modifed the X at the pedal mount instead of using '33-34 pedals - were they a poor match or were you just trying to use what you had? Turned out fabulous, just out of sight! Thanks again, Will Kimble
You mean a stock flathead? With a stocker, a street machine, for fun tooling around, you don't really need to box it. The first thing to go with a stock model A Ch***is is the front crossmember cracks. If you don't box it, check the crossmember every couple of hundred miles. If, when the front crossmember cracks and the rest of the frame don't, put in another front crossmember............. .......... and have a ball driving it. It was a TV show for crissakes', but Boyd ****ed up the frame against the owners wishes, without the owner's permission................
Box the front at least with a k member up to the k member with small boxing at the rear of the k member. I'm running a low commpresion 302 ford. Why worry about a few pounds. A frames are kind of spindly.
A guy here in Pasadena several years ago did exactly that but not edge to edge. He overlapped the outer rails over the inner rails so the inner top was under the outer and over the outer on the bottom like later modern frames. His 29 Tudor was his high school car up in Indiana and his parents had it in their barn/garage all those years. He welded the rails like modern factory with welds about 3-4" long every 6-8 inches. The car got a 50 V8, 3-speed OD, and 50 rearend, and he hydraulicized the stock A front brakes himself. He bought three 50 V8 Ford cars and used one for the Model A update and the other two to build his son's first car. His son was 14 when they started and drove the 50 to Deer Park High School when he turned 16. Kids there couldn't believe how much room there was in an old car compared to all their modern junk.
I planned on doing that. But I've cut too many pieces out of my spare frame to pacth the good one. So it will be boxed with some angle iron added inside the rails to give it a bit more meat where it is pitted.
I have a coupe on a Model A frame unboxed with a 51 Mercury flattie that has been beefed up. It's got an older Isky track grind cam and few extras. I just built my own crossmember and even stretched the frame to lower the back end over the 41-48 Ford banjo I used, but kept the original model A dimensions. Rides and drives just fine. Been going strong for about 2 years now. The only problem I had was fixed when I rebuilt my old F1 steering box. Was wore slap out. Oh yeah I've also read that you can't run Fenton headers on em either, well my originals fit just fine. You'll hear arguments for both. Good luck either way.
Here are a couple pics of mine. We went by the Bishop/Tardel book and built a 32 style k member and left the frame unboxed. The book said it was designed to flex? I have driven it for 4 summer just about every day with no problems (knock on wood).
sure it will handle it .im putting a 350 in mine but you might want to box the frame, a lot of people just box the front half i boxed all of mine.
Model A frames bend ... from just the weight and running of a Model A engine itself. Model A restorations routinely start with frame straightening. Almost every one sags at the rear motor mounts. Ford built the frame as cheaply as possible. And, didn't intend for it to last 80 years or have V8's installed. For those unfamiliar with Henry's approach, check out the brake rod return spring (they are not "anti-rattle springs") brackets on the side of the frame. Now look at the holes punched in the center cross member. How much steel did the old boy waste on building the frame? The frame was actually barely adequate. Flex? It sure did ... make that bend. That's why many Model A's don't have hoods that line up. You can do as you please, but understand that the Model A frame can be expected to sag as part of its design.
yeah I remember and for once I agreed with Boyd. Bluebear was a dumb ***, he was given the chance of a life time to work and learn from all that talent at that shop , but he was just to f--ing goofy . As for that extra 10 to 20 pounds of steal... hell yes I'd add it .
Its the foundation of your build, and just like a home or building you dont want a substandard foundation. I built mine to accept any possible Horse Power that could be put in it in the future. (forward thinking) the better you make it, the safer and better it will go down the road. And the longer it will last with out ch***is problems
You basically just described the roadster pickup I'm building right now. Look for it out at El Mirage in the near future! It will be Washington blue with an 8BA (ok, not 21 stud), Evans intake, black 36 wires, full hood and sides, no windshield.
Will , I used a pair of 39's as like you say they were lying around Damm,i will have to change my axle
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