26-7 T Modified Build ALL FORD - BY FORD

I decided to cull the heard this year and get rid of some of my extra bodies. In doing so I traded into a 26-7 Touring. I have always liked the look of the early lakes style cars but hate seeing speedway bought cheese dick aftermarket crap, stuck on a perfectly good Henry Ford body. Dont get me wrong i done it too! I just drew a line in the sand on THIS BUILD to see if I could do it. So heres what we done so far. Oh and the WE here is my good friend Jim Ford of Foss's Cool Cars. He says if Ford didn't build it, it'll be built by Ford!

BTW I dont give a crap about increasing my post count as some stated in another build I read. I have no clue how to put pics up in my posts. I will use what I know works.
iam in about 5 weeks so far!
I did my mock up on Oct 16 and will be posting as I get time to get caught up. I am more into building than talking about it however SOMEBODY (you know who you are) is pushing me to do this thread.

 

Don't get the wheel base to long. These things are really fun with a short wb- around 100"

 

cool been thinking of doing the same thing with a T cowl i have. cool build keep us posted.

 

10/22 10
We came up with a plan to extend the frame 5" and build a underslung tyype spring setup.
First I cut back my original frame just above the cross member.
Next I cut another frame I had back and attached it to my original frame. This gives me 2 cross members in parrallel.

BTW my target wheelbase is 96"

 

10/23/10

i hated the look and action of my old A spring. It looked and acted like it was 80yo
i took it apart and grabbed a flapper disc and a grinder and got after it.
first I rounded the ends. Next i beveled the undersides of the ends so they would quit digging in. Then worked out the old dig marks in the tops. Put it back togeter and jumped up and down on it. Damn this puppy works nice!

 

10/25/10

We thought it would be good to have a frame on the inside of the cowl to hang the cowl steer/ pedals etc. We also plan to turn the master cyliner sideways and mount it under the cowl directly beneth the flap by using a bellcrank off the brake pedal. Jim had some 1 1/4' tube laying around so thats what we used. With a little thinkin and 874 arm pulls on the HF tubing bender and we have a frame built.

 

10/28/10

now its time to build the front spring mount. I used a piece of 3/8" plate to tie the two cross members together.
next I used some 1/4" to build the top. 4 1/2" grade 8 bolts to mount the plate and 4 for the spring. Total of 8 through the crossmembers. should be over killl for a 1600lb car. Note that i removed the inner gussets to keep the springs from banging on them. Who put those there in the first place?

 

I am interested in this front spring set-up...

 

10/30/10

Now on to the bones. This is gonna be fun. i am sick of hymensphericle rod ends, and ive used tie rod ends on my other builds. I,m thinking something a little more stout this time. Jim had half of what we needed and my F-5 had the rest. Hell it dont need'm any ways.

 

11/2/10

The arms were bent a little wide and ran into the dropped A axle. Jim Ford staightened them out a little so we could get a pipe in closer and put a nice tight bend on them. Next he bent them up and back in to clear the top of our 40 bones.

 

what did you want to know?

 

11/07/10

Spent the day cutting 1/4" boxing plates off the spare T frame. grinders and cutoff wheels. Yeehaw!
Who ever boxed this frame way over welded it and put a long gracefull curve in both rails. Once I got them cleaned up and laid them side by side they came out pretty much the same amount of curve. I laid them up under the bodyline and they matched pretty much dead on. heres a mock up of how they will create my outer frame. Out riggers basically. These will add to the body line, add strength to my frame, and should get my front bones pretty nuch parrallel to each other. Note the blue stringline chalk on the passenger side. This was forward thinking in case I want a hood later. not much for the hood idea but who knows ?

 

11/10/10

Now we are moving to the back. we are going to stack the rear frame to create room for my unsplit bone to get through to my rear tranny mount. We measured it off so that when we stack it the old rear body mount will land just infront of my rear body brace. I removed the seat back and the subframe underneath it as it appears someone took an axe to it.

 

11/14/10

Today we set it up at ride height and checked out how we want to set up the T lights. That was easy, next we mocked up the top to see how we want to cut the windshield posts. i stole this of my 1930 roadster. it worked good enough to decide that I AM going to do a roof. how could I not! To cool.

 

fastrnu, I really like the frame you are building. Thinking about borrowing the front crossmember you built for a modified I am building. It is built on a "T" frame with "A" drivetrain and mechanical brakes. Body will be the front half of a '17 Dodge touring that will be narrowed.
Will stay tuned for further info no your build.

 

11/15/10

attacked the rear z today first jim and i measured it 3 or 4 times. laid out our cuts and got after it. The idea was to get it done without wasting material and using what we had. If we did it right we would end up with 1" of frame top& side.
First measured and cut it so that the left side end would fit back in the right side cut to form the upward part of the Z. Then repeat the procedure so that the original ends would tie back into the stock rear cross member. this kept the stock width so we could mount the old T tank back on the frame with no extra fabricating.

when the smoke cleared we had a total between the stack and the Z of 10.5". w got our 96" wheelbase dead nuts on the money. top of the seat back is 40" before motor and tranny (Ford 2.3 & 5 speed) real close to the original mockup. I tore it back apart and did the boxing plates in the joints the next day.
BTW ended up with 1" of frame left over. I love it when a plan comes together!

Now i wait for the Quick Change center section to get here from Dick Spadaro so we can set up that 35 rearend

 

11/18/10

Tore it back down today and got after the outer frame. cut & coped my gussets and welded them in as well as a 2 cross members in the inner frame. one at the top of the stack and another at the top of the Z. I put one gusset on each side of the mounting points for my bones and another towards the rear. When i get my rear bone figured out i will tie the end into the inner frame as well.

 

11/22/10

Wow what a day! finally up to date.
This was a great day. we set the motor and trans in to get it to weight and check the front spring.
set up the front bones and got'm mounted. Then stuck the springs to the bones and did the happy dance. Grabbed the tires and set it to ride height. OH HELL YES
oh and the front cross members ride at 3.5".

I will post more as we make more progress.

HAPPY TANKSGIVING

 

Looking good man. I am really digging the modifieds lately.

 

Thanks! I'm digging the gremlin.

 

Thanks, if they fit the site more I would post up some pics...

I would like to see how you attach your front spring to your axle? These modifieds have really got my mind flowing. I have the perfect project in mind.... Just need to learn a little more about the suspension in these.....

 

Thanks! I'm not sure if i can let you borrow my cross member cuz i kinda need it LOL. i can show ya how to build one though.
It was pretty easy even for an old guy like me

 

update?

 

Rad hair do.

 

Waitin on Dick Spadaro! once I get my quick change i can set the drive/crank line. Once thats in place well be gettin after it.

 

uh ....thanks?????

 

1/13/11

Still waiting for my quick change from Dick Spadaro, so I got busy and put a wood stove in my mancave and cleaned it up. Finally emptied boxes from the move back in 97. Yeah been busy OK. Over the weekend i built a pinch collar to extend my F-1 steering shaft for my cowl steer. Mr Ford hand cut the splines for the new shaft so he now gets to cut the splines for the pinch collar.
It snowed pretty hard night before last so I spent yesterday with a fire in the stove , working in a T-shirt. THATS A FIRST. My cave is usually 10 degrees colder in the winter trhen it is outside. not sure how that works?
I drug in my portable parts washer and some specialized tools and cleaned up my tubes and carrier while witing on the qick change. cant do much till then as it will set my driveline. Once it gets here "stay back and dont let the sparks hit ya!"

 

1/20/11

Looks like my quick change is ready and dick spadaro should be picking it up next Weds(weather permiting) So I stayed busy by knocking the bushings out of my model T spring and my 35 perchs. i stuck them in my antique "Armstrong Press" and used a couple Taiwan sockets to drive them out. The 35 perchs went pretty easy. Not bad for spending many years in a farmers field. The T spring put up a good fight. i ended up using a 4' cheater and tag teaming it with my boy. finally busted my 20yo vise on the last pull. aaaaarrrggghhh. bad part is they are now $120 if you can find a dealer. Oh Well next!

 

1/27/11

Ok here goes. Decided to set up the cowl steer night before last. we took the body off-grabbed our F-1 box and drag arm. clamped it to our mounting plate and set the height according to our drag link running parrallel to the bone.
Tacked the mounting plate, punched a hole through the cowl measured for length on the extension tube, hacked it down and set it up. Looked great, but when i went to set the angle on the column I hated the box height. Just to low for comfort. we grabbed a F-5 drag arm which is a little over an inch longer and hacked off the 1 1/8" ball (A and the F-1 balls are 1").
We drilled the F-5 arm a little tight for the madel A ball stud and tossed it in the coals in my woodstove to expand it a little. tossed the ball stud in the freezer to shrink it and had dinner.
next we gently pressed it in with nice big man hammer and welded the back of the stud. Grinded it pretty and made it look all nice and natural. stuck it back together and love it! Drag arm is still parrallel , like the look ofthe heavier arm and the box lines up perfectly. next we shorten the model A tie rod tube 2" for our drag link. Sometime today I'll get around to punching holes and mounting the mounting plate.

 

1/29/11

finished off mounting my F-1 box today. i mounted a 1/2" stud for the top of the box/plate and a 3/8" stud through the back corner of the plate. this way i can pull the monting plate and box together. These will keep the weight off while removing and re-installing. i used 4 3/8" bolts with nuts welded to the back of my mounts to hold it together. capped off the end of the mounts, put it back together and called it done for now.
Looks like that quick change is on its way FINALLY. should be here next Fri