Well, the project starts with a story, I'm going to try to post enough tonight, I'll be catching up on the past 5 months of building. It all started when I finally decided to ditch on trying to get my hands on a Monte Carlo, I've owned 80's Chevy as daily drivers since I'd gotten my license. I've always had a thing for '50's cars, and always thought one would really have to lose an arm and a leg to build one. About a year ago, I moved in with a friend who owned a '22 model T touring, and that's when I was bitten by the bug. So about a year ago, I decided to shop around for a car. Didn't take long, I found a 1930 Dodge DC8 sedan sitting in someone's driveway, and he wanted 2k for it. The car was ALMOST complete, minus a serial number on the dash, two windows, all the door handles, and a couple of other pieces that made a virtually made a proper restoration near impossible, since parts for a DC are REALLY hard to find. Anyways, it had all the mechanical components there, and the engine was the whole reason I bought it. Here's a pic of how I found it. So I carted it home and started sorting through all the parts, and then on with dismantling it, and I had come to realize really how big this car is. It's freaking huge! I love to modify, and a restoration surely could not scratch that itch. I then decided to basically separate the drive train from the body, and it would later get a 283 from a '61 laurentian to move it around. The descision to use a T coupe was easy = easy to find parts to complete. It's not a common car in the area, and poorly built model A's are popping up like a bad rash, along with T trucks. Another reason would be that I thought it would look really mean on the road, seeing as the engine takes up more than a third of the length of the car. Ok, so I'm not much of a storyteller, so I'll just get on with it, everything might not be in order, but close. Dad's a welder at a gravel trailer manufacturer, so getting steel was cheap, and getting things cut and bent were free, so instead of going with 2x4 tubing (a 2x2 t frame wouldn't likely hold that engine up) I made a C channel out of 10 guage mild, then when the frame is basically done, I'll close the outside of it with 3/16 or 1/2 inch high tensile steel. I made my 2 frame rails, and moved on to the engine, which is a solid mounted unit, which fits right in between the frame rails, and once put together, would just barely fit inside the cowl. I found it was rather hard to turn over, and so I pulled the head, water pump, and all the other extras... I found the bag and bucket the guy had put over the carb had not always been there. The back 2 cylinders had taken on water, and as a result of said water and sitting outside... the valves had all rotted away. At this point I decided it would be best to let the machine shop handle this as I am not very familiar with 'pre-war mopars', and a mistake would cost me an irreplacable motor, which someone had carefully rebuilt before abandoning the resto and selling it to the previous owner.
I decided to hold of on sending the motor to the machine shop, because I needed it to build the frame, seeing as the motor itself is basically the main cross-member. Here's my lovely ***istant, Dad. Lol
Well the body was pretty straightforward, except the part where I need a new welder to do bodywork. All I have as of now is a machine that can only use 045 or bigger. So have to wait a bit and go buy a little Lincoln. Did a 4 inch chop on the body, which took quite a bit to straighten out, seeing as it was a bush car. Pulled up all the floor, had to widen the base of the cowl a bit to allow the frame to sink in a little. Haven't angled all the window tracks yet, and waiting for some cash for panels and parts. So now, I'm at the point where I have to figure out my suspension. I am modifying the front axle to accept for style hairpins and a transverse spring, and I am planning to use an A style rear spring as well. Here's what it looked like last month before took the body back off. I'm not very good at drawing exact blueprints, so I do a lot of mock up to get a good idea before I take the next step. This car's meant for lookin', not for burnin' rubber. The whole thing is sitting what I meant to be my motor stand, then turned into a frame jig. It's nice to have it sit up high while working on the frame and doing bodywork. No breaking my back hunched over all day.
I guess I should post the fact before anyone says anything; It's not going to be a rat, this is a budget beginning to the build, and I am doing all the major mods before I start blasting and priming everything. I may have also forgotten to mention that all the parts on the car are '30 Dodge DC parts. The one thing I was sticky with was not letting any of those good DC parts go to waste. I guess I've left a lot of explanation out of the why and what I was doing with the car, but I'm ready to fall asleep, so I'll leave that out until tomorrow. Hope this interests some of you on here. It's kind of a "What if Dodge still made parts for Ford in '27" concept. The idea really appealed to me so hopefully my efforts produce something I'll be satisfied with.
Burnin8, Your build is looking to be off to a great start. I would only have one question. To me you have the frame rails swapped side to side. It is normal for the open part of the channel to be on the inside. When you finish fab work on the frame you would than close it in with boxing plates. Just hope it works for you. Like the idea of an early motor for the drivetrain. You know us rodders are really good at recycling . . . . . . .
With it boxed on the outside, I wanted to make it apparent that this is a fabricated frame unlike most others who use tubing. I want it to have a bit of a rough appearance, give it a little more character, and most of all I want the workmanship to show. My father does the majority of my large welding projects, and he does beautiful work. Believe it or not, That frame has cost me 0$ so far.
Well I guess it's about time I put a little more up on here, so I figure since I've finally decided what I'm getting done to the motor over the winter to post my plans and see what you guys think It's a 220 CID, bored 0.40 over, and everything was rebuilt something like 10 years ago. It's been sitting since its break-in, and the meager 77 hp that it puts out will definitely not cut it for me, so here's the plan; Graham Supercharger (4 psi boost) Replace ALL studs on engine Port & polish (already done) Stainless steel valves, guides and seats Grind cam (longer duration if possible) Balance & Blueprint Stainless intake & exhaust Magneto distributor with mechanical tach. I will get all this done, so long as my wallet will allow, along with chroming every part possible on the motor. Can you chrome a head? I don't want to increase the lift seeing as the head has likely been shaved a few times already, so would increasing the duration help increase power enough to justify having it done? It has new babbitt bearings in it so I'm not sure whether or not this should be changed, since I am running less than 6 lbs of boost, and how much this would likely cost me. Is there anything I'm missing that I should consider?
The DC body is a future project for when I've improved the quality of my work, and once I've decided on exactly what I'll do with it. That or I'll sell it. It's a nice car and I think it has a lot of potential as a custom.
The Jalopy Journal
