There's is a guy on ebay selling a "how to Z a frame" article from 1953. From what I can tell the frame looks stock . Not even boxed. I like everything about this idea but is it safe? Are there any pics of it done and done right? What do you guys think?
What exactly is your question? It is very easy to use the search function to find a huge amount of info on that subject here. Please dont bump your own question every 10 minutes.
has anyone on the hamb ever "z"d a stock frame? The article on ebay looks like they just heated and bent the frame maybe.glad to know the self appointed hamb police are still around
No. Nobody has ever done that before ever. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417077 http://66.154.44.164/forum/showthread.php?p=39607 http://66.154.44.164/forum/showthread.php?p=4719401
Go buy the how to build a traditional Ford Hot Rod book. read it cover to cover. That's your best bet. These guys on here are going to be a$$holes to you with a open question like that.
How I did it, some old pics. Lowered it the frame width, 4" in front. This also shortens it. Mock-up showed it needed more leingth, so the rear crossmember was un-riveted and a dog-leg piece was made to sweep back & up, mock-up show's you how much also. You can see the original rivet holes where the frame ended and straps added top & bottom after the plate made. Inside pic. shows the box plate, crush tube there is for gas tank mounting bolt. Drop in front also allows the wishbone mount to be at the bottom of the frame, not at the end of a 4" triangle plate hanging down to get the correct 6-9 degree caster. Bolt everything to the frame that will be on there before boxing and weld the nut or if thru-bolted a crush tube inside. A constant struggle to keep the rails straight while boxing, tried to curl in at the bottom in center near the end. That can be steered, lots of tacks and lots of cookie wheel slicing and re-tacking, it can be almost perfect with effort Bucket body is a sit-down-inside, so no channel. Radiator determined motor placement, that determined crossmember and cowl placement, my comfort + upholstery determined overall bucket leingth. With all that mock-up, I could design the rear kick-up piece that would fill the space between the end of the frame and the crossmember on spring. I haven't seen "the" book, http://s845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/barrylm/Decorated images/
I think that if you z a stock frame it should be boxed, unquestionably, at least where the z is...and if you're planning on more than a stock flatty then the whole thing should be boxed.
Thanks alot for the pics. thats exactly what I was thinkin. How did you make the bends? did you have a jig made up? Was the build finshed? I like the original aspect of stock frame used.
Buy the book on How to build a traditional Ford Hot Rod by Tex Smith and Vern Tardel. It's a hot rod bible...
Yeah, like Fordguy says, it's a matter of pie-cut, has to be done very carefully because a little wedge means a lot more than you think. I almost always use big sheets of cardboard when fabbing and try cutting the paper first and see what it looks like, and you could use the sucessful results as a pattern for marking steel. And like stated before, constantly mocl-up to make sure you don't end up with something that you can't use, like some R** R**s I have seen. More pics of the car here: http://s845.photobucket.com/albums/ab12/barrylm/
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