yesterday; frame went back on the table for welding then back together with body resting on it to check everything.. again..
didn't get much done yesterday added and subtracted spring leaves 'till the ride hieght looked close to what I had in mind 'may not look any different but here it is outside again, four leaves rear and three leaves front, will add leaves as she gets heavier
Very cool idea on the curved style of the kick-up and the way it attaches to the rear crossmember. ...the Olds ain't too shabby either
tanks mang, I wanted to clear both the wishbones and axle allowing for at least four inches of travel. to make the kicks I removed a section of sidewall and a bit of the bottom from some 2x3 tubing, bent it to shape, cut some filler pieces beveled all edges to get full penetration, welded 'er up and ground 'er smooth the motor is just for mock up purposes right now, haven't decided exactly which motor will go in there but it will be either a 324 like this '55 or a 303 with 324 heads, either way it will probably get dressed up like this one
another uneventful afternoon in the shop yesterday I reattached the trimmed ends of the rear crossmember I had cut about three inches from the ends to let the cross member fit up between the subrails, when the body was on the frame I saw that the top of the crossmember lined up pretty good with the step at the top of the subrail. so I put the frame back on the table, welded the ends back on the crossmember and then retrimmed them about an inch to just clear the outside wall of the subrail, notched the subrail on the inside to fit the crossmember, notched the subrail to clear the rear axle, and also notched the frame to clear the front spring. looks like I will have to notch the subrail at the rear for the rear spring too, as I only have about two or three inches for travel there. put it all back together this time with U bolts attaching the springs to the frame and big C clamps holding the body to the frame. next big task is pedals... I have an NOS Ansen swing set with Chevy truck master but.. it's mid sixties era and I'm a bit on the fence as to whether or not to use it.. so far this car looks like early to mid fifties to me.. it would be the easy way out.. anyway here's a couple pic's of notches
Wow, that is really looking good. Gonna be a great car, & you're really zipping along on it! Keep up the good work Paul Dan
Awesome Build! Excellent tech, as usual, but what grabbed my attention was the '37 Cad / La Salle transmission to Ford torque tube conversion you did. I have an article from the june 1959 issue of Rodding and Restyling which outlines this conversion. I intend to follow their advice, or fabricate some sort of adaptor plate but before I do, I am hoping you could let us all know how you did yours? Thanks, Gregger
I already had a nice '37 transmission, a partial '37 transmission and two converted side shifts I tore them all apart and with careful attention to parts compatability and condition I was able to piece two nice complete transmissions together, the one shown in the thread here, and a side shift with the '37 tail shaft and housing that's a few inches shorter than the stock long tail. only a few things to watch for when working on these things, they are very simple. what would you like to know?
So on the bends was the center bend a 45 degee and the two outsides 22 degress? Always enjoy seeing your mods, great subtle work!!!!!
to be honest I didn't pay too much attention to the degrees, I just bent it up to fit the picture in my head
yesterday I tried to put a neat old dropped and filled front axle in.. I reversed the eyes on an original '32 spring mainleaf, and used some reproduction Model A perches and shackles. I knew it may not work but I had to try the axle had a severe drop, 5" total from top of king pin boss to top of perch boss. spent a few hours messing with it but there was no way to get my spindle arms low enough to get the tie rod under the wishbones, not enough room to put the tierod above the wishbones and I was not going to put the tierod in front of the axle or swap out the Model A 'bones.. so in the end it all went back to the way it was. 3" dropped Ford axle, aftermarket perches and nylon bushed shackles..
I'm going to follow the june 1959 article from 'rodding and restyling' and convert the tail shaft of my Cad / LaSalle transmission over to Ford Torque Tube. Did you follow the same procedure on yours? Or... Did you use a transmission what was 'done back in the day', and if so, did they follow this same procedure? My only hesitation in following the article is the way the ford support is bolted in. The article tells me that the Cadillac bolt circle is larger than the ford rear support, so I should 'plug the holes with bolts and then saw them off'. Then, I assume (they don't specifically say so, but...) drill the back of the Cadillac trans to the ford bolt pattern. This looks to me like the new holes would go partially through the 'sawed off bolts' which does not sound very strong. I am therefore considering drilling a separate set of holes in the ford part (and therefore the cad trans) to avoid hitting the 'sawed off bolts'. Alternatively, I wonder if it might be a superior method to create an adaptor plate, something like an inch thick ring shaped metal plate which is drilled to attach to the existing holes in the cad trans, and then separate holes drilled to attach the ford part to. The article also doesn't tell how to accurately line the parts up before marking for drilling, a step I suspect would be crucial to get right. I haven't taken my trannie apart to check this all out first hand...YET. But since I stumbled across this post and saw that you have the same set up, and your tech articles are so awesomely detailed... I thought it prudent to ask.
Here's the June 1959 Rodding and Restyling article. [/IMG] [/IMG] I have had the magazine for decades, but got the scan off the web so I hope it is clear enough for everyone to read. Greg
just learning as I go. last week was spent mostly playing with greasy old motors, found a combo of good parts that should work; '56 block '55 crankshaft '56 rods '56 heads '52 flywheel '50 lower pulley and took it all to Fred's to get machine work done it'll get a '57 solid cam, lifters and adjustable rockers yesterday I welded the brackets to the '40 banjo bells to accept the '36 bones and swapped the lower shaft in the quickchange to closed driveline today I dropped the driveshaft off to be shortened and renamed this thread
Hey Paul, do you have a jig to keep your axle tubes straight when you weld on them? I have to weld mine up and I'm worried that I will warp them.
I had the '50 Merc ends welded on by a machinist I trust. the brackets I welded on, checking as I went. I think they are within reasonable tolerance I discussed what I saw with my machinist and he said I was fine. all the welds go all the way around the tubes, I spot welded the brackets at four equally spaced spots then welded the gaps alternately to keep the heat from building up on any one side too drasticaly, same with the torque tube, only that I did in thirds to check the bells I stood the tube on it's big end layed a sraight edge on the bearing flange and with a simple tape measure measured from flange to flange all the way around one is dead on and the other has about a 1/32" variance a jig may be helpful to check with but I wouldn't expect it to keep the tube in line, you must do that by controlling where and how much heat you put on it
the new bolts do not hit the old I already had all the pieces nessesary to make the conversion, all I did was drill the case and plug the original holes to drill the holes I set the Ford piece on the case letting the bearing center it up, squared it so the mounts would let it sit level in the car and using a drill press first with a bit the same size as the holes in the Ford piece drilling just enough mark center, then swapping to proper pilot size for the tap and tapped them by hand. the plugs I made by cutting six 5/8" lengths of thread from a couple bolts and used a 1/16" grinder to cut slots in one end making them into screws and ran them in flush with permatex on the threads the retainer ring on the rear bearing needs to be notched at each bolt that goes through the Ford end/mount the Ford piece needs a step machined to accept the bearing retainer. I'll try to post pictures of the machined parts today.
been a few days since the last update last weekend I got the driveshaft back from my machinist, I had him cut and respline it so that went in, still need to make a run to the nut and washer store to get the rest of the studs covered but it's all in there then I made a simple column drop the big end on a Model A connecting rod is a good match for the F1 column first I welded in a patch in the dash where the stock column was then melted the babit out of the big end of the rod, ground the scooper off the cap, bent the rod a bit, chopped it to length and welded a simple plate flange on to bolt it to the dash. also spent a few afternoons patching the body, put a new patch at the bottom of the drivers bun panel passenger side needed a bit more work
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