If you're clever, you need not give up leg- and head-room to park your coupe or sedan seriously close to the pavement and still enjoy it on the road. You could do a front-and-rear step inside the cowl, as was done to a '31 coupe I saw in Donn Low's shop in Oregon last year. The front frame step was done inside the cowl where it looked like a substantial channel job with no loss of cabin height, while giving no hint of anything other than a substantial channel when viewed from the outside. Or you could do something like my friend Walt Letherman has done and construct new frame rails that look like a bellypan but are really more like the sides of a modern racecar tub. Formed from 10-gauge steel on a press brake and TIG welded to produce a torsionally stiff tube, Walt's frame "rails" add 6 inches of vertical foot and leg room to the basic stock-frame ch***is. The pictures present a general view of the scheme, plus some inside details. Notice that the floor can be positioned at the bottom of the frame "rails" as well as at the top. Also, the windshield header and framing are worth noting; Walt isn't a big fan of the stock Model A windshield and visored-header treatment.
Very good idea. The framerails look great and work looks top-notch. Too bad about that firewall, though.
Don and Kiwitinbender do SUCH nice work, don't they? I could hang around the shop for days at a time if they'd let me.
Awesome tips, look like great ideas....but have to agree with haring on the firewall....looks cheesey to me. Greg
That's a great idea and nice work. It's got to have a foot more head room than my 6"chop/8"channel PU! Any pics of how the rearend is mounted?
Thats nice,but i have a question about the latches. The latch and the striker are reversed,where is the handle going to be???
A couple of alternative for deuces, and other 6" or taller frame rails: 1. Notch the top of the frame approx 2" from the toeboard to the back of the seat. Of course the frame would have to be boxed for strength, and you would have to modify the subrails in the trunk area, but you would have a 2" channel w/o losing any legroom. Mufflers would have to be thin, non-existent, or ??? 2. For a full frame width channel, use the deuce rails firewall-forward only. Then use 2x4 rectangular tubing from there, z'ing the rear kickup, so that the tubing doesn't show anywhere.
Hey Mike had you kept both eyes open at Donn's shop you'd noticed to 29 roadster with the belly pan/frame rails sitting next to Donn's coupe lol.
Nice work, the frame reminds me of the series of Track T's built by Chauvin Emmons here in Phoenix in the late 80's. I met the guy who did the pressbrake work to build the frame rails a few years back. Very strong and light but dificult to make for the home hotrodder. Cool
Mike, Any more pictures of the detail on the front of the roof. I have often tried to picture the front of an A coupe roof without the visor and a rounded panel. From the shots it looks like he nailed it.
[ QUOTE ] Walt isn't a big fan of the stock Model A windshield and visored-header treatment. [/ QUOTE ] The visor MAKES the Model A, it's what gives it that at***ude.
[ QUOTE ] A couple of alternative for deuces, and other 6" or taller frame rails: 1. Notch the top of the frame approx 2" from the toeboard to the back of the seat. Of course the frame would have to be boxed for strength, and you would have to modify the subrails in the trunk area, but you would have a 2" channel w/o losing any legroom. Mufflers would have to be thin, non-existent, or ??? 2. For a full frame width channel, use the deuce rails firewall-forward only. Then use 2x4 rectangular tubing from there, z'ing the rear kickup, so that the tubing doesn't show anywhere. [/ QUOTE ] i did it 3 years ago on a 32 pickup .............out smarted myself though you still have to deal with the bellhousing and the trans if it were a 39 box it wouldnt be so bad but if you want to use anything substantial your screwed ....your kinda robbing peter to pay paul... if you can wrap the frame close to the body parimiter it would help...
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