There are 6 sets of body mounts on an A. The 3 sets farthest forward like Spence-D showed, one set at the front endge of the seat, a set in the trunk are around the front quarter panel support arm, and a pair on the rear crossmember (at the edge of the raised floor section were a cushion will go if it were a rumble seat). This is all going off of memory, so I ma be wrong but I can look at my car if needed.
Thanks for that Chris. Well, just means i'll have a few more to drill out. Thats no big deal. If you can get pics, that'd be great.
Good project Star Guitar. Here's a pic of my project so far. I'm going for the late 50s theme. and my centre crossmember...
That looks really good man! I can't wait till i'm at that stage, although hopefully shouldn't be too far off. Your rear shock mounts are interesting as well. What did you do for a lower mount?
Updateee! So, a couple weeks back i chopped the mechanical brake eye and shock knob off the perches and this was the end result. Its half metal finished, and just painted with spray can gloss black to stop any rusting. Then today i started by cleaning up the bellhousing mounts.. also painted gloss black for the time being. Then i finished welding the last of the body mounting nuts in.. had all the others done last weekend. I then proceeded to begin boxing the rails. Since i'm using the original bellhousing mounts, i've got to box the front two feet or so, and the close up that bit and leave the gap for the mounts to bolt in, and then box from there all the way to the back. So i started doing from the front crossmember to the mount today. My boxing plates were laser cut, and came in two peices. The main part, and about a foots worth for the front. I used to front part to do this, and then for the second part before the bellhousing had to cut up the rest of the main plates. Still gotta clean up the inside of the mounts, but clamped them in plate to know where to end the boxing. This pic is the same left hand side of the frame, just upside down to tack the underneath of the boxing plates. You can see that i've put a 45 degree chamfer onto one of the plates, as well as leaving a 2mm gap to weld the two plates together. For now, i want to just have it all tacked together. I then did the drivers side (RHD). Only needed one plate to go to where roughly the steering box will sit. I'll have basically boxing from the crossmember to the steering box, then a bit more between the steering box and the bellhousing. I'll also be putting a plate in the inside of the rails to close off each section. One last pic of the frame upside down when i was tacking the underside of the plates. Thats it for now. I found that the boxing plates are about 5mm too thick, so i'm taking what i've got left to work tomorrow to cut 5mm off on the guillotine so they'll fit perfectly when i get em back home tomorrow arvo. I'll be updating more and more, since now i've got the boxing plates it'll be progressing a lot quicker
Great to see the progress Nick. Cramped working conditions - but I think lot of people do it that way & I don't think it seems to be hindering you at all! The boxing plates were probably sized same height as the rails - you will get better penetration your way I think. Spence.
Hey Spence, It sure is cramped. I can barely walk around in there without having to jump over shit. But hey, we can't all be so lucky to have a two or three car shed like you do to work in. If you weren't so far away, damnit.. i'd chuck my shit in your shed and work on the car there haha. The boxing plates were infact wider than the chassis rails by about 6mm in the middle of the frame. I got my old man to take em into my work this arvo and i put em through the guillotine and chopped a bit off. Might still have to grind about 1mm off, but i'll have a better look when i go to put the rest in. I was planning on doing most of the rest of the boxing this arvo, but was too buggered after work. Oh yeah, can i come around on the weekend and borrow your cowl and steering column? I need to see how much room to leave for the boxing plate around the steering box and also i'm gona make a middle crossmember at work, where it'll actually taper in at the rear and even after i pie cut it to resemble a '35 / '36, it'll fit into the A frame perfectly. So, i'll need to see where the pedals go as to determine where to put the crossmember.
I need to stop buying up at the swap meets or get another shed to store stuff in as it wont be long till my space is as crowded as yours You can borrow the cowl but i will need it back fairly quickly as i want to work out my set-up with the flathead pretty soon & not fall too far off your pace ( maybe i could modify the cowl subtly and make you have to do yours twice thus giving be some valuable time to catch up )- give us a ring closer to the weekend. Spence.
Gee, what i'd get done building in your shed.. Have a look on some other build ups that run a flathead V8. I'm not sure if you even need to modify the firewall to fit the flathead V8. I don't need the cowl right at this minute, but i will soon. I need the column just to see where the steering box sits and i can then just mark it on the frame and be done with it. You could have had your car finished by now with the amount of parts you have. Pull your finger out already haha. How long have you had it anyway? I've had my chassis since April.. i think you've had yours longer than that
Parts Rich / Time Poor.....Good things take time to mature... Won't be modifying firewall but need to make sure engine is not sitting too far back. Spence.
Ah i see. I'll give you a buzz before the weekend. Hopefully i'll have the rest of the frame boxed (tacked) by then.
Just found this thread,great stuff!Subscribing. Sounds like it's even harder for you guys to find 'A' parts than it is for us Brits.But,like you said in an earlier post,if you know the right people....... Good luck with your build.
Cheers Mark. Yeah, it can be difficult to find things. Although i suppose each person has their own methods, Spence goes to every single swapmeet and he has 3x the amount of cool stuff i have, whereas i know a couple of older Rodders as well as Spence, so i get my parts through people i know.
So a few more pics. This arvo, i got most of the passenger side boxing tacked in. This hassn't been quite as straightforward as most others builds i'm sure, seeing as i'm cutting and modifying my boxing plates but you get that. First pic, got pretty much the remainder of the boxing tacked at the top. Then flipped the frame, and had to shave down a few mm all the way along because the boxing plates are still a bit too thick. I'll have to guillotine my other rail at work tomorrow again. I ended up burning out our grinder, so i had to use the dodgy old one that has completely fucked bushes, but still spins. The disc just doesn't spin entirely on right axis.. its a wobbly motherfucker. So annoying, cause i had like three inches left and the grinder shit itself. Anyway, got it all tacked in. And as it sits now. I still have to box the last few inches where the gusset is, and i have to close off the front section before the bellhousing mount and also the rest of the rails just after the mount. That part should be easy though. More to most likely come tomorrow.
Another update. First, i got the driver side boxing plate in. It fit like a glove after i trimmed 3mm off it width wise on the guillotine at work today. Then flipped the frame in the jig and tacked the other side, making sure that there was an even 1mm gap between the boxing and the rails, to ensure proper weld penetration. I then started closing off each boxed section.. This is the pass side, and try and ignore that the picture isn't the right way up, i only noticed after i uploaded it and cbf uploading again. I then did the drivers side. These pics include the Bellhousing mount to check for adequate gap between the mount and the boxing. And without the mount clamped in place. The chassis in the jig, as it sits now. Only a few bits of boxing left to do, need to get a steering column off a mate so i can finish off the drivers side and also do the end of the frame. Also got a pic of the Roadster dash rail. Closed car dash rails were a different length to open topped cars. Need to weld up a few holes on the right side of the rail. Will get to that at a later date. Thats all for now.
HoW, Thanks mate! Spence, Cheers man. I'll need that steering column for a couple of days if you don't mind, so i can finish off the drivers side boxing. Also, you need to catch up
Used to play a yamaha electric, also have an aria elec/acoustic and a Paul Bennet black electric that i was given. Don't really play guitar that often anymore, although the username came from a banner that a mate i had back in school made for me when i was in like grade 7. As soon as i can come up with something good enough to change to, i'll be changing it haha.
I plan on doing the same on my project, what are your plans for the lower shock mounts? I assume you will be using F1 upper shock mounts. Thanks TBone
T-Bone, I'll be using F1 shock mounts for the front and for the lower i'm not 100% yet. I have to find out whats actually allowed here, i was thinking of welding a bung onto the axle just like it shows in the Mike Bishop / Vern Tardel book "How To Build A Traditional Ford Hot Rod" but again, not sure if thats even allowed over here. Rear shock mounts i'm not sure either. I'll probably weld a threaded peice of tube into the back crossmember as top mounts, and make a bracket that welds to the diff as a lower.
I've got some pics of heating and bending the F1 shock mounts i did over the weekend, but i've been too busy and tired to bother putting them up yet. I also had a TAC inspector come out this arvo, nice bloke but he didn't really know anything about Hot Rods, and more about race car fabrication. I'm sure i've heard similar things before, TAC inspectors inspecting cars they know nothing about. I then rung the Chief Inspector who also lives about 5 mins away from me (how handy, having an inspector and chief inspector living close by) and asked him what i'd asked the inspector, about running juice brakes on a full rego car. The inspector said that LH10 (Full Rego) was to be disc brakes, because thats what the LH10 guidelines said. The chief inspector said juice brakes were fine. Typical, i'm sure i'll have more of this to deal with in the future. As of this moment, i'm organising the freight of an original '28 Cowl and door i won on ebay the other night. I paid $1175 for it, but its fucking mint.. and i mean.. Fucking mint. I'll have it here HOPEFULLY by the weekend, or Monday at the latest. So i'll get some pics probably tomorrow arvo when i start welding out my boxing plates, now that i've had the go ahead for that. Might put em up tomorrow night, or you guys might have to wait a day or two.. i've been real fuckin busy lately.
I wouldn't weld all the plates until I got some crossmembers in. They help hold things in place, like an inside jig.
Good point Tony. I'll have to make a 35/36 style crossmember at work and put that in before i start welding it out. I'm about to go up and finish off my front shock mounts, i will have to pull my finger out and get some pics on here for you guys.
So another little update.. I started doing my front shock mounts on the weekend, got them finished and bolted up this arvo. First i had to heat and bend the 1948 Ford F1 Pickup shock mounts to suit the Model A chassis rails. Original on the right, modified on the left. Next on the agenda was drilling out the side rivets for the front crossmember, enlarging the hole to a 7/16th" and had to use a die grinder to take out another 2mm from the front holes, as the hole centers were 2mm out between the shock mounts and the rivet holes. No big deal. Here they are both sides bolted, with the inside nuts welded to the front crossmember. Before you ask, the drivers side mount is perfectly straight, i guess the angle of the picture just makes it look all skewif. Next up is the '28 Cowl and door i won on ebay on Saturday night. This Cowl is so bloody mint, its incredible. The thing is 80 years old, so its amazing that its in such good condition. It has been blasted and primed, but rust wise.. its perfect. Only parts missing from the cowl are the gauge panel, which i have one of, the gas cap which i have and also the dash rail, which i think is included though. I have one anyway, spares are always handy for trading though. Does need a windscreen frame and windscreen posts, still gotta find those. Oh, yes.. the gas tank is infact at the front of the body. Cool eh? Heres the passenger door that comes with the cowl. It still needs blasting, but rust wise its mint.
You do wonders in that cosy car temple of yours Nick! Cowl & door look fantastic - you must be pleased. ( Nice Steering column in the back ground by the way ) Spence.
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