My Model A book says " back the head nuts off of head 1/2" then start engine. The head pops up and lack of compression will stall engine" Brilliant!
I’m a little late to the party but Nice work so far with regards to rivets vs bolts if the hole for the bolt is relatively close or slightly under the diameter of the bolt (.001 interference) and the bolt is torqued properly it will be fine in production riveting is much faster and less costly than bolts and nuts.
I believe they are 40 brakes on 37-41 round back spindles and a 40 rear end so shouldn’t have any issues with mating to wheels.
Project in front driveway of nice neighborhood gave me good laugh. Did the same for years someone only called cops on me once. Now lots of projects on dead end alley/driveway with cars & pieces of cars all over. Great build signed up to completion
Got another step done last night. I cut out the factory crossmember since the K member was going to be right on it. This is due to the SBC vs the flathead length difference. I modified the 32 K member to fit inside the frame. I’m going to mock up engine and trans with trans mount all set up to get my final location in and weld in my motor mounts. After that I’ll fill in all the modifications to the k member and make it look as factory as possible. Then the frame will come apart one last time and get painted again, then it’s time to make build progress from there on.
I have many ol Model A frames. Those with bolts in the crossmembers show enormous wear on the bolts. In some cases the bolts allowed so much flex the the bolts are worn to 1/2 the original diameter. Not a good idea
If using bolts the holes must be an interference fit 0-.001 or they will work as you have seen. they also must be a sheer bolt and torqued properly
After getting the K member cut down enough to get installed in the frame, I bolted up the engine and transmission again, with reference to the radiator.
When we were in high school a friend worked at a junk yard. He bought 3 totaled Jag XKEs and built 2 out to the parts. The old lady at the corner called the cops - she just knew we were car thieves running a chop shop in his parents driveway. They came by and we all had a good laugh when we asked them - why would we steal wrecked cars???
You may need to get a zips water pump riser to get that fan up there where it needs to be. Good job man, dig it.
Although I like them for raising the fan, and leveling the engine, I cant find when they were first designed. Someone said they came out in the 70s but not sure. I dont think they were invented in the mid 50s. If someone knows the history on them, Im all ears.
As long as you don't put a electric fan or one of those flex fans on there, I'll be supportive! haha Yeah, the break from hardcore traditional to functional and traditional sometimes requires sacrifices here and there in one form or the other, the balancing act between the two are the hard things balance.
No progress on my poor car until today. Having 4 jobs and way too many projects for customers keeps me super busy. Pulled the interior and a guy picked it up. He’s going to make the new interior tuck and roll out of black leather, and bring it back. He bought 3 black leather hides and I can’t wait to see the new look, smell the new cab. Leather, and 100 year old wood, metal and oil running down the road. Yes!
Finally scrounged some time to put in on the ole A. I welded in the Av8 motor mounts that I make. I then modified the Hurst front mount since I needed the biscuit mounts to clear the mechanical fuel pump. I designed and cut out some tabs and gussets on the cnc plasma. I also made some boxes that will take place of the rare Hurst SP150 spacers I’m on the search for.
Had the engine and trans bolted to the K member, and followed the Bishop Tardel book for the rest of the details. Since the engine up front was dialed and centered, it was time to finish up on the K member side. I drew some reference lines under the frame to show me exactly what angle the member was in the frame when the engine and trans was bolted up. I removed everything and then flipped the frame. Instead of heating the k member “floor” I opted to cut and weld so I would have some nicer crisp lines and be able to follow down to the frame nicer. I then designed and cut out the frame landing sections with holes on my cnc plasma machine then welded it up. Drilled into the frame, and set everything up. When I remove the K member for paint, I’ll detail the rest of the welds and patches, and blend them smooth.
Last night I started on the K member legs. Sadly, all K member legs are not created equal! I thought the rivets would line right up but they did not. More match drilling and welding/blending required I guess. I got them cut down to bishop tardel specs, and roughed in. Still need to detail those, will be another full night I’m sure.
Got to weld up the driver side K member leg, design the F1 steering box flange and cut it out on the cnc plasma, as well as the sandwich flange, and drill template plate. Probably another product I’ll put in my Etsy store along with the motor mounts. After drilling the holes for the new flange, I welded the other ones and then blended the welds. Making progress!
After searching for a year I found the elusive SP150 hurst spacers!! I had to buy a front mount with them, but it was worth it to have real ones for my build. So stoked! Crazy enough, I guessed how tall they were, made my temp spacers, and got so close it’s scary. Good to know my engine and trans angle is perfect on the k member exactly where I set this car up.
Project is looking good. I like the 55-57 era, as I am building my coupe as if it was finished in that time frame as well.
I finished all the frame mods, and also cut off the split wishbone attachment plates, cutting them down by over an inch, and re welding them on. I then pulled it all back apart, painted it with my sprayer, then put it all back together and used all new hardware. I also finished blending and patching the hacked up K member and painted that.
I started heating and bending the steering arms on the spindles last night. I got them to both clear the 4” drop and need to add the other bend to bring them back up. Since I’m going to run the tie rod on top of the split bones, I need to reverse taper the tie rod hole.
Bent up the steering arms over the weekend, and reverse tapered the holes. Added more bend to the F1 mounts to clear my fenders. I might shim those out from the frame using a stainless 3/16 plate I designed. Seems I’m really starting to get traction now, and it’s getting pretty addicting. I set the toe to 1/16 as well. Car is coming together! Next is bolt in the engine and trans, then cut the driveshaft and weld. Also bought a reverse eye main rear leaf from Millworks since they finally had them back in stock and I’ll be centering the leaf over the rear axle in the coming weeks as well.
I had a snag along the way. While moving the transmission I heard something slosh around inside and the transmission was supposed to be empty. I could tell from the noise that it sounded like water. We had a lot of rain over the winter in San Diego last year and even though the car was covered, a couple days I think the cover blew off. I pulled apart the transmission shifter and looked inside to see some rust and was pretty bummed as my transmission was super nice when I bought it with a fresh rebuild. So this was the first step to be able to put the flywheel, clutch, and trans on the engine. Decided to tear it apart and wire brush all the gears to clean it up and inspect the bearings. I cleaned all the gears with wire brushes and they look as good as I can get them now. I’ll be putting it back together tonight.
The Jalopy Journal
