Starting a belated thread here for my friend Spillaneswillys. He acquired a particularly nice '34 Dodge 4 dr. this summer and we have been getting it in roadworthy order for a bit here and now it is down to the wire. It is now in final ***embly this week and going for PA. inspection. This is a profile of the car after it was pushed outside to take another car out this week. In the pic the back wheels look not centered while we set up the rear spring perches. This was a while ago and as finished now they set perfectly symmetrical in the wheel wheels and the car is about 3/4" higher in the rear to center the wheels as well. The biggest part of the cars rework was clipping the front of the frame from the firewall front and fabbing a new frame section to get rid of the early independent. Before anybody gets their ******* bunched up, the original front end was not only **** ugly but rotted on the bottom pretty bad. It was economically more feasible and much better looking to replace rather than repair the factory setup. The new railk sections were fabbed of 10 ga. Pickled and oiled in approximately the same profile of a '34 Ford. The first pic is somewhat deceptive in how well they blend and follow the profile of the open wheeled car. After being boxed and dressed the front end was installed with split bones and a Super Bell axle. The boxing plates are folded and shaped to seamlessly blend with the factory motor mount perches under the cowl and by offsetting the seams about 10" it is sort of "self fishplating". A set of my 'bone hangers attach the 'bones to the frame and give me perfect geometry for the drop axle.
A 350 Chevy "Target" motor along with a 700 R-4 was selected and freshened up. I then shot it with my blend of vintage red high temp urethane over epoxy base. With the vintage "Lester" valve covers, which were responsible for starting this whole project, the engine takes on a decidedly early '60s feel. The trans was reworked by replacing the solinoids and pressure switches along with the wiring to make it compatible with the carbed engine and is a fully functioning unit. A lot of 700 R-4 conversions use various methods that do not allow for all trans functions. If anybody is interested I'll post how to do it so everything works. These pics are a bit dated so I take a bunch of updated stuff showing the front sheetmetal and the rear end setup in the next day or two for your perusal. As all the fab work is done I'll post up ***embly as it goes together this week. I have saved pics of most operations including the fabrication of the new fuel tank to post so stay tuned! Thanks for watching as this one comes together.
Fitting up the Reo grille for the last time. This grille is somewhat different than the stocker and as such needs to be set to reflect body lines. Some string lines and a steel edge show the shell needs to drop 11/16 top be in harmony with the Dodge body lines. The shell looks really nice against the Dodge lines. The existing radiator supports set to high and wide and as such, I need to move the brackets in and line the rods up with the body lines. The headlight brackets on this one come off the sides of the shell and are braced to the radiator brackets to avoid the dreaded road shake so common. More pics later tonight as things get ***embled.
The Jalopy Journal
