I'm getting ready to box the rails on my Model A. Has anybody just used a piece of round tube and run the body bolt threw the rail and nutted it from the bottom?
Why not just weld a thick piece of flat stock to the underside of the top rail before you box it, then you only have to drill and tap a hole where the bolt goes.
Reason i was interested in this method was to eliminate setting the body to get the exact location of the nuts. My A had 3/8s bolts holding it together. If i were to use a 7/16 i.d. tube, it'd basically get me a little tolerance. I have no problem using a welded nut, just asking about alternatives. I've searched, but never came up with what i mentioned.
If the car is channeled and you can't see those nuts, I can't see why you can't do it that way. That tolerance might be pretty slim after it's all welded up, both the bodyworking and frame building. you might have some misalignments with so little room for error?
My A has 7/16 wheel nuts welded inside the boxed rails. it has the hole in the body slightly larger to allow that little bit of wiggle room when mounting together, just use a large thick washer.
After sleeping on it i realized the bolts would be about 7"s long or so done that way. went out to Farm-n-Home and bought some 7/16 square nuts. Going this route.
The Jalopy Journal
