Hey all- just picked this up Thurs night- '26 ( so the guy said) A PU- clean body, surface rust on the frame, minor pitting, complete suspension, banger with compression. It's a bitch to turn over by hand! This thing also came with 7 tall 'n' skinny whells, plus 2 16" wires, extra steering box, some shiny new parts, 2 rear fenders, and other misc. parts (HAMB classifieds anyone?) The doors are AFU, will be shopping for new ones soon. The last car I built was a '79 VW Rabbit with a full cage, 200hp 16V 4-banger and sidedraft carbs. So pardon me if a ask some stoopid questions. Attached are some pictures, take a look and let me know if you can help. First question: can I run a flattie with this tranny? If not, can I mate this rearend up with a SBC/auto tranny? Second question: this has original unsplit bones, can they be modified to attach to the outside of the frame, after I box and Z it, or do I have to buy different ones? Third: Who can I contact that can box and Z this frame in the SOCAL area? (don't want my first foray into welding to be on the frame that's keeping my ass off the ground at 5o MPH) I live in the valley, don't have a welder (yet) and want to box the frame also. Any SOCAL HAMBer's want to do a trade for framework for parts + cash? fourth: I tore down the front end to ditch the mechanical brakes, and the front spindles have tons of slop, can I get rebop spindles/kingpins? And what kind of juice brakes can I run? Sorry if'n I sound dumb, it's my first rod (maybe it's just a warm stick right now.....)
The flattie should bolt straight to the tranny, But there is a kit, Speedway carries it, that will turn that rearend in an open drivshaft, kind of pricey though. As far as splitting wishbones, it is a fairly straight forward procedure you should be able to do yourself. If you're just starting out, a great reference book would be to buy Vern Tardels and Mike Bishop's book, How to Build a Traditional Ford Hot Rod, or Oddo's book on Flatheads.
looks like a good start.... It isn't a 26 its a 28-29 model A, a 26 would be a T. As for 28 or 29, I don't know the specifics well enough to know the difference. I'm pretty sure that the four banger trans is different from the v8 trans, I think even the 32 four banger trans is different from the A trans. You can run the rear with a late-model trans. The late model trans is "open drive" which means the driveshaft is not inside a tube like your A has. It requires a yoke and seal for the rear they run about 300 bucks new. Those doors don't look that bad. Anything is fixable and when you are talking about a car that is over 70 years old, rusty/dented is pretty good shape as long as it is fixable. Good luck.
Yes, it is a '28-'29 with a car grille shell. Trucks, i.e. commercial vehicles came with painted grille shells. The A trans IS different than the '32 and different still from the '39 on. Closed drives were built through '48. I would sell the A rear end and go find a later model I agree that before you do anything, go buy BOTH of the books mentioned above. If you are going to run an SBC you won't need Oddo's book on flatheads. Go find a set of Ford spindles from '39 on, either the round back or the square back. These will take either the original Ford Lockheed hydraulic brakes or the Lincoln Bendix style brakes. Also F-100 11" dia. brakes will also fit with the correct bearings and a little massaging of the spindles. Do a search of the archieves here and you will get a lot of your questions answered. Good Luck with you project. Keep us posted with pictures.
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