Here's the dilemma and I need opinions, yes, even from you cranky curmudgeons. Just finished with a divorce. Part of the deal is I get to keep 1/2 the garage to build my rod until she sells the house. It's a '29 Model AA truck (WITH a ***le) and I've got most of the "makin's" already there; you know, a flattie (already rebuilt), T-5, S-10 rear, Dagel X-member, most of the front end stuff I'll need, etc. I'd like to use the original frame since the AA frame is so freakin' huge, I won't have to worry about engine and firewall setbacks, etc. I'm also using a bed from a '55 Ford which I don't plan on making too much shorter, plus I plan on extending the cab about 6 inches so when I chop and channel I'll have more leg room. Hell, when I'm done, I can probably cut off about a foot off the framerails. The problem? TIME! I need to get the rod into a roller ASAP and get it out of the garage before the house is sold. Option 1: Though I'd like to use the AA frame (just 'cuz I'm ornery and no one does...), I'm wondering if it'd take wayyy too much time to totally dis***emble it, grind everything off it, modify it, section it here and there, and start all over...well, you know the drill. Option 2: Or, in the interest of time, salvage and sell what I can off the old frame and just buy some 2x4 tubing and build a new frame which will be cleaner, etc.? Is it REALLY easier to do, or does it take as much time as if I messed around with the stock frame? What have all you HAMBer's experienced? I've read lots of threads on doing it both ways and I'm really kind of stuck on which way to go. Oh yeah, for background, this is my first hot rod...I've built plenty of old Harleys over the years and restored a few muscle cars here and there, so I'm not really afraid to tackle anything, I'm just inexperienced in this area. Sorry for the long post but you guys yell at guys who don't give enough info... Hope it wasn't TMI...
If you're going for the traditional look, modify the original frame. If it's all gonna be hidden and you're gonna bag it etc., build a new one. I learned this lesson years ago, and it's served me well: If a customer wanted both ends of the frame modified, the project got a whole new frame. It was ALWAYS faster and cleaner. I don't do much with cars that have to have a period correct look, though...
Oops! Guess I shoulda mentioned it...It'll be fairly traditional (mostly, anyway). Spring over axle front-4" drop, reversed eye spring, etc. Ladder bars in back, no fenders, and a big, "Hell NO!" on any airbags, etc...Thx
I'm ornery too, and practical. The only time I would ever consider building a frame if one already made wasn't available................
If you have a matching numbers ***le and frame ,use the old one . It means a lot less problems when it's time to put the plates on it. Jack
I just reworked and origional frame for my '35. In hindsight, it would have been considerably easier and faster to build a new one, but it would not have looked like and early rod even though the new frame could have been a dead on repro. If you want to see a repro frame under an A search for a thread "Koz Roadster". That is a frame made up of 10 ga. mild steel with the rear 2/3 only boxed. I punched all the origional holes, including the ones I didn't need, matched all factory radius's on the rail folds, and riveted all the crossmembers and brackets etc. I've built at least 75 frames over the years and reworked twice that many, not including the ones at my day job, so I've probably got a pretty good handle on both routes. Even though I pulled out all the stops, and it is a damn near perfect repop, it still just wasn't quite right. Most people wouldn't know. But I do. It's just time and money and what works for you. My question would be, how much fab experience do you have? There's a lot more to building a ch***is than the ability to weld. Most 2x4 or in the AA size 2x6 rails are just **** ugly!
if the frame is good and solid,,USE IT traditional ?? well they used em back then so long at the integrity is good and its safe your fine
I think the whole decision process is different when a customer is getting charged. Its the intersection of customer expections and professional work and tools versus home-built expecations and home shop capabilities. While the thinking and approach of a pro shop might be instructive for the guy working in his garage I don't think the solutions always add up to the same. Of course exactly who is doing the work and what they have to work with can make some home shops look better than some pros...
Use the original frame, especially on a traditional project. Nothing looks better than a nice factory riveted together frame. The only thing you should have to do to it is shorten it. If it’s a ladder type frame that should be a piece of cake. The definition of a hot rod is a vehicle that has been modified from an existing car. You want it to look like you started with a complete AA truck and not a cab you found in the creek bed and what ever was available at the Home Depot. Your project will be more appealing to the traditional hot rodders and it will be more valuable if you decide to sell it. The number one reason to keep the frame! If I had a matching numbered frame and ***le I sure would not get rid of the frame. Out here in California, starting this year if you can't prove a newly constructed hot rod was modified from an original car than it becomes a 2010 vehicle and you have to install a new ugly $7000 certified GM engine package with all the smog controls. Pay registration fees based on the build cost, then it is subject to an initial smog inspection and certification process. Then it will need a smog inspection in six years and then every two-years after that for the rest of its life. I went to a seminar on this new law and I think they said eleven states were going to this regulation this year and eventually all of them would. They claim they are targeting guys that buy ***les and use them to register newly constructed vehicles. The truth is, it’s just another way to rob money from us so we don’t have a dollar left to build our hot rods. You need to photograph and do***ent that your project started life as an original Ford. USE THE ORIGINAL FRAME! I’ll tell you what these California *****s did to me Friday. I have a shipping container stored behind my garage with a ’33 Ford Pickup in it that belongs to my Dad. Its been there for years. I live in a rural area and my house is several hundred feet off the street. You cant see the shipping container from the street, you cant see the shipping container from any where in my yard, you can’t see the shipping container from any neighbors houses. The city took aerial photographs and they want everybody to get a permit for any storage containers over 100 sf . No where on the letter does it say what the permit fees are just what that the fines will be, $500.00 every fifteen days. I’m so fricking pissed at the city. They send me a letter on Friday and it says I have until next Friday to correct the problem. I understand that if your living in a tract house nobody wants to see a storage container in their neighborhood but if your on eleven acres and the damn thing is hidden to where it can only be seen by aliens and spy satellites then what’s the problem Jerry 　
I'd be getting the frame and stuff out of that garage ASAP! Her 'letting' you use 1/2 of the garage? You just went thru divorce, she ain't letting you do anything - if you haven't figured that out - one way or another you are about to get ****ed! Keep it traditional and move it out of there, it is in her garage!
I agree with Jerry (Flathead Fever) keep the original frame. Starting with a frame has got to be quicker than building one anyway especialy if you are building it as a traditional rod. Jerry it sounds like it is getting as bad over there as it is here (England) in regard to the stupid laws they keep bringing out.
I second the motion, get your stuff out of "her" garage! If she gets in a bad mood you will have a hell of a job getting access.
This was the first thing I thought too! As far as the frame is concerned, I used the original frame on my '34 Chevy. It is a 1-1/2 ton frame. All that I ended up keeping was about 6' of the rails but it was a lot easier to us the frame for mock up purposes to get everything where it looked correct (or close anyway .)
If I had it to do over again, I would have searched longer to find a useable frame before I built my own. Actually, If I had it to do again, everytning would be different. Thats how we learn I guess.
I have to agree with the original frame being a quicker way to go. The best advice you have been given and will get again from me is to forget the 1/2 garage hairbrained idea and get your stuff the heck out of there yesterday. You may be on decent terms now, but that can change in a heartbeat and you may get screwed out of whatever you have there. You will build something and she will see something that has gained some value rather than a "pile of junk" and want some of it, or all of it. Or maybe that time of month will hit Or she will be talked into something by a friend or family member... Get out while the gettins good.
I would go with the original frame, I have a frame from the Roadster shop under my truck, the reason for this was time, In order to build a frame that works properly you have to set up a jig and test and fit and mock and sometimes redo, If you had all the time in the world Id say build a frame and have fun, your'e already under the gun its already gonna be a stress fest, Id use the old frame. I am sorry to say I sort of agree with Blue One, Most old ladies dont like our stuff when we bring them flowers, when the flowers are done and the florist is out of business they dont want to see us at all. Sorry but this part may be the best of the advice. You need to find a gal with a rod collection and a big ***ed garage asap.
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