Projects 1950's Tube Frame Sports Car

Looks Great Buddy!

 

Progress! 1 day at a time.

 

You do good work.

 

Made a little more progress yesterday. Worked on the clearance bump that clears the kingpin lock bolt.

Next I need to add a couple small gussets and then box the underside. Made a template this afternoon for the underside piece.

This area will be filled in also.

 

Looks great progress is progress! Gary

 

Looking good Jeremy. Remember tho to glue the nice Cheerios graphics on for the final finish...

 

Added the gussets and welded the underside boxing plate on. The sheet metal I used for the underside must have not been mild steel. I'll have to cut it out and redo that since it kept cracking along the weld. The sheet metal guys at work said it was when I got it from the scrap bin but who knows. The cracks don't show up in the last pic but they're there. I'll post some more pics when I get it fixed and

 

A while back I'd made a new set of tube axle kingpin lock bolts. That set was made to original Ford dimensions. Once I got my 4 bar together I checked to see how I was for tire clearance. At full lock I could just kiss the suspension with the corner of the tire. To make sure that didn't happen I sold that set and made some that had 0.100" additional head height. Finished the new bolts and nuts yesterday. Used 4140 hex stock.

 

Cut the cracked boxing plate back out and used a piece of .09 thick hot rolled to remake it. No cracking now. After grinding I blasted it and shot some etching primer on.

 

Looking great Buddy!

 

ok--going into production of these now??

 

HA! It'd take someone who is a way better and faster fab guy than I am to make a profit!

 

Got some spot putty and filler primer on the arm this weekend. Also painted the portion of the arm and backing plate that will be covered once assembled.

 

Finally was able to get the new steering arm on. I blasted the spindle where I'd heated and dropped it for tie rod clearance. Then painted the end of the axle and the back of the spindle. The new kingpin lock bolt drove in nicely.
I had quite a battle getting the arm bolted on. I had very minimal warpage when welding it up but just enough that it was difficult to get all the bolts started. Eventually it worked and I torqued the 1/2-20 socket heads to 90lbs with red loctite.

 

Next I'm gonna get the steering gear mounted so I can make the drag link. Set the old tie rod on to get a visual.

 

Looking good Jeremy. That steering arm is missing something tho... oh yeah I remember, the Cheerios box graphics!

 

Still one of the coolest threads going

 

Thanks guys. I try to compensate for being one of the slowest threads by posting lots of pics. Lol. I'll work on the graphics Dave!

Got the other spindle on this afternoon.

 

And looky see those nice new tires! Period perfect! Car is looking good. And don't feel bad about the progress. You're still young and gainfully employed. I'm not making very good progress, and I'm gainfully retired!

 

So going up over the hill into turn 1 at Road America the 1st time is going to be a real thrill for you. Skinny tires, old Ford brakes and suspension... oh yeah!

 

Yeah I'm under no illusion that this thing will actually be that fast, handle well or stop fast by modern standards In 1953 it would have been pretty hot though! The big Lincoln brakes should do way better than the typical early Ford ones that it came with!
My 3rd kid was born on the 4th of July so it's been pretty busy around our place. Everyone is healthy though so it's all good!
Tonight I got a little bit of time to work on putting the cast brake drums on the rear. I fitted them when I built the axle but them switched them for the original tin ford ones when I primed the axle. I wanted to be able to prime the cast ones inside and out before installing. They fit a little too well. I had to sand the primer out of the pilot diameter and stud holes.
I also shot some paint on the right hand spindle before I pump grease in.

 

I love your paint by installment plan. Have I ever told you just how much I? Maybe your way would make it tolerable. Glad to hear everyone is doing fine. 4th of July sounds like a great birthday.

 

I plan to take the suspension all back off and paint it after it's all done but then there is always spots that are really hard to get to. I figured I'd do areas like that knuckle so that the main spray job is just a second coat. Plus then if I grease it to test out the suspension there's already some paint in that area when some oozes out. The cream color I'm using is International Harvester white so the paint is easily available in both quarts or aerosol.

 

Got the original rear shock mounts removed this afternoon and the new ones welded on. Tried to go slow and not damage the tube while I cut the old ones off. Took a lot of grinding and peeling layers off.
After they were removed I got set up to tack the new ones on. I'd made a board that had two holes the correct distance apart. Once the frame was level I just put a level on that board to align the new mount.
Then I tacked both front ones.
Then the board was removed and the rear halves bolted on with a shock sleeve to space them.
Once all the pieces were tacked I test fit the shocks and burned them on.
Now I have to get the front shocks mounted.

 

Nice job! Very clean.

 

Okay Jeremy, it's time for an update. We're all in limbo wanting more information.

And I know, I'm not a good one to talk. I'm just barely making progress these days...

Anyway, hope you're doing okay.

 

Hey Dave, Sorry for the lack of updates. It has been a super busy fall. I'm fine and the car is fine, just haven't had any chance to work on it lately. Don't worry though, it'll still happen. One thing I did find recently is a used small Helling style air cleaner for it. Eventually I'll do some sort of multi carb setup but for now I like this better than the rusty JC Whitney one that came on it. I need to made a filter base that fits the 4-7/32 air horn on the 4GC. I know they make adapters, but I think I can keep it lower if I just made an base out of some scrap alum. Not the best pic but here it is sitting on the engine. Thanks for checking in.

 

Looks good keep at it Buddy! Gary

 

So Jeremy, just looked back to the part about how you bored the axle for 53-56 Ford F100 kingpins, because I have managed to get a tube axle! And as you can guess, the pin bores are slightly oversized, just like yours was. 10 and 15 thousandths. Not having a mill, I'm considering using a 6 blade adjustable hand reamer to get it close, and then hone to size with my Sunnen honing machine. Seeing as how you've already been there done that, what's your opinion on the way I'm considering doing it? And now that I have a better lathe, I'm going to make those lock pins to your drawing.