Projects '36DD - (My Double Duty 3-window build.)

Got the front crossmember set back into place. Due to the notch in the ront rails for spring clearance, I needed to thin the rear face of the crossmember first.

I pie cut a section from the back face, and closed up the gap, which allowed the crossmember to meet up with the reduced height portion of the rail.




Once again, I had to fill a whole bunch of unneeded holes in the crossmember, and after trimming for a tight fit between the boxing plates, it slid nicely in to place.






I left the front flange intact to retain a stock appearance, and also to provide the correct mounting for the radiator support brackets later.



Once this is final welded, the front face should flow nicely into the 'capped' ends of the boxing plates.



Bear

 

Thanks Richie,
I wish I could agree with you on the welding, it's nowhere near as pretty as I'd like it to be. I guess that comes with a lot more 'seat time' but unfortunately I just don't seem to get enough of it.


Bear

 

Holy Sh%t, it never ceases to amaze me about the talent you will find on this board.
Killer build, I really dig your fab work. This 36 is gonna be fun to watch!

Thanks for sharing, Im subscribed!!!

 

Impressive work!

 

Thanks for all the positive comments and encouragement, guys! It means a lot.

Pretty much the same deal with the rear crossmember - a couple hours filling excess holes and prepping, then I trimmed it up to fit the '36 rear frame width.
Due to the 'A' crossmember tapering off at the ends, I needed to extend the lips on the channel by about an inch and a half at each end to meet the '36 rails.

Everything ended up fitting real nice into the new rear kick-up section. The rear upper and front lower corners of the crossmember are both right on the edges of the chassis rail section, the rear lower fixes right to where the original top flange of the rail runs inside the new kick-up ( so no 'oil-canning' issues there) and I will eventually form a triangular gusset to transfer the load of the front upper corner to the top of the rail.





The crossmember still has a bit of surface pitting which I will also address later, but I figure it's not too bad for an 80-something year old piece.

I sat an original Model 'A' main leaf in place to check the fit, and it looks like once the eyes are reversed, everything is gonna' be spot on at ride height.



Bear

 

Very nice! Brand new shop uh? If I weren't so far away, I'd come and help you add "character" to it.

I sure would like one of my own to add character to. The garage I have has plenty of character, just not enough room to hold all of it.


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Funny thing is, I'm sure I used to get more done when I had a grotty little single stall garage and had to push the car out into the yard to work on it.
Or maybe I just had more energy back then!

 

Stripped the original x-member down to the last nut, bolt and rivet and sent it off to the sandblaster. (And no, the cats were absolutely no help at all)



Once it came back, I rough cut it to size and set it down on top of the frame rails to formulate a plan.





Bear

 

After lots of careful measuring, I decided that I really needed extra space in the transmission area, particularly if the gearbox was ever gonna' have to come out once the body was on.

Rather than modifying the x-member in that area, I figured it would be better to spread the two sections further apart, which would allow the much bulkier Tremec to come back the 7 inches or so to clear the bellhousing, just in case I ever fried a clutch (or worse).

I knew that the new floor was gonna' have to be made from scratch anyways (despite the original floor being almost mint), so re-hashing the x-member wasn't really such a big deal.

I made up a couple temporary spacers for the centre section, which widened the gap by about 3 1/2 inches, and also brought the centre up to flush with the top of the rails.

I laid the 'x' on top of the rails, and scribed the cut lines, then very carefully made the cuts, sneaking up on the lines bit by bit.




Once I was happy with the fit, I squared everything up and tacked the legs of the 'x' into place.








Bear

 

liking your work!!! but what i really like is the design of that table your workin on! im gonna steal it ( the design not the table.lol) ok?

 

Super sano work SC....watching this one !!

Keep em comin !!

Rat

 

Beautiful workmanship!!

 

Very nice looking work on that frame.

 

Thanks for that.
The table is pretty basic, but it does what I need.
All the steel is stuff I got in trade for a flame job, so the design was based more around what I had than what I would have liked. It seems to be stiff enough (I've built a whole chassis from flat sheet in fixtures bolted to this), and I guess the best thing about it is that it is so open. You can climb thru' it or work from underneath to weld stuff, or even stand in the centre to get at stuff.

The top rectangle is made from heavy 2 x 4 channel, legs are 2 x 4 box, lower crossbeams are 3 x 3 box, lower side rails are 2 x 3 box, and the angled braces are 2 x 2 box.

I drilled equally spaced holes down both sides so's I could bolt a variety of fabricated 'stations' to it, and then remove them when required.

This was my '34 woody frame in the early stages.



Bear

 

Thanks a bunch, guys. That's the 'restoration' stuff outta' the way. Now I can start making some stuff from scratch!

 

Had a couple pieces of channel folded up to the same profile as the x-member channel, then cut some holes in them to make 'em look original. The larger ovals were done with 2 holesaw cuts, joined up with a thin cuttting disc, then dressed up with a file.

 

Then I cut them to fit in between the rail and the centre of the x-member. The holes should be handy for routing the exhaust.







Spent a bit of time getting a nice tight fit - everything is pretty much getting tacked into place at this stage. I'll go back thru' and final weld when I'm sure it's all gonna' work.

 

Neat!

 

Excellent work

 

Very clean fab work. "36's are one of my favorites so this one will get a lot of my attention.

Frank

 

I like where this is headed also, very cool man! Subscribed!

 

Cut out a plate on the bandsaw to tie the two legs of the x-member together, in the absence of the original centre section.



I was originally intending to weld this in place, but have decided to make it removable to ease future removal of the trans, if required. I'll replace the bolts with button heads to more closely match the original riveted look.

Bear

 

Very impressive work so far, I like the look of a stock styled X member.
Looking forward to more updates on this.

 

I was going to use button heads on my '36 project for the same reason, but the McMaster-Carr site said they shouldn't be used in high stress applications. That kind of soured me on the idea. What's your thoughts?

 

Haven't checked out that site, but our New Zealand Hobby Car Tech Manual (which is the 'bible' for low volume vehicle construction in NZ, and entirely written and compiled by suitably qualified hot rodders), classes both marked and unmarked button head fasteners (non stainless) as 'very high tensile - approx, 84 tons per sq. in.', compared to Grade 5 at 54 tons per sq. in., which is the accepted minimum standard for 'critical functions' or 'high loadings'.

I've always understood that 'black' socket heads or button heads are the premium strength fasteners (with button heads being the purtiest), so I figure I'm good to go with these.

But then, I am just a sign painter, and am happy to be corrected if that is not the case.

 

Got a Chassis Engineering 47"axle with 2 1/4" perch bosses going under the front of this, so I needed to find a '37-'41 type wishbone.
After much searching, I stumbled across a nice clean pair of already split '40 'bones at Geoff Mitford-Taylor's shop in Napier.

Because this thing is so dang low, I had to split the 'bones right to the outside of the rails, which also meant that I had to shorten them slightly so's they don't foul the flange where the front fender meets the running board.

Cos' of this, the bungs originally fitted had too small of a O.D. to blend nicely with the taper of the 'bone.
I had some new pieces turned up with a gentle radius and a slight taper to transition nicely with the shortened 'bones.



I then needed to sand the 'spigot' portion to an oval, to get a nice fit inside the original 'bone.



Once I was happy with the fit, I drilled a hole for a plug weld and set the bung into place. After plug welding the bung will get the sides sanded to the same oval profile as the 'bone.





Much nicer look than the standard bung.



Bear

 

I'm addicted to this build, amazing craftsmanship!

 

Nice attention to detail.

Mart.

 

Thanks guys.

In order to mount the bones to the frame, I had to mount the rod end thru' the frame rather than on a tab underneath.

I like to keep my suspension arms level at ride height to minimise the caster and camber change (in this case, just caster), so that meant the end of the bone would need to sit around half way up the rail section.

Got some bungs turned up with a taper to receive the early ford truck ends, along with a deep recess to give access to the retaining nut (which will be a nyloc).




I made them flush with the inside of the rail, and setting slightly proud of the rail on the outside so the rubber boots wouldn't scuff on the rail.