And it begins... my '28 coupe progress thread

looks good. love the tire/wheel combo.
what size are the wires?

 

Fronts are 5.00-16 ribbed Firestones on stock 16x4 '35 Ford wires.

Rears will be 8.90-16 Firestones on '35 Ford wires that have been widened to 16x6 (2" added on the inside")

I stole the combo from Myke Pic


- Matt

 

Good looking project.

/Eric.

 

I'm trying to get in the garage a little bit every night... chip away at the to do list piece by piece and eventually it will get done.


I cut off the ladderbar mounts and reamed them so I could turn them inward and properly mount them up front. Then after getting the spring thing fixed, the perches line up correctly also.




Don't let your eyes fool you. That tranny bracket is held in place with vicegrips and is a bit off center. The ladderbar mounts are OK.

I will not be using that P&J ladderbar crossmember; I'm not sure how I will mount them yet.




I've decided I will not do the final welding on important stuff. I haven't done enough to feel comfortable taking my life in my hands like that. Everything is just tacked right now.
But, I did want to lay some beads on non-structural stuff just so that when it's all said and done I can say I did a little. The more I do it, the better I feel about it... but still, no.




- Matt

 

sweet welds for a 110 mig

Good job Matt! I'm sure you know who this is.

Danny

 

Looking great man. Digging the Lincoln Brakes and the wires.

 

sorry matt, i saw you called but it was too late. i was freakin busy today. i'll holler at you tomorrow.

 

Lookin' good.

As I understand it (I could be wrong, it DOES happen) the P&J's ladder bar setup is supposed to have the forward pickup point at the same height as the U join't at the trans end. If you raise the ladder bars' forward end to that height is it close enough to the Dagel's X member to add brackets to there (so they aren't too spindly)? I have been eyeballing their X member for a while, definetly a neat looking piece, I like the fact it is made for easy shipping too.

 

Looking good,

 

I decided to tear into the engine tonight. I know, I know, its a SBC
It was free, and it will have some nice goodies on it... so deal with it

Last weekend I tried turning it over by hand and it was pretty tough. I consulted a friend and we both thought it would need a tear down and rebuild. It has about 30 min. run time on it, but that was 10 years go.

Well... it seems to be ok.

Here's what it looked like after getting one head off:




There was a little debris in each hole, but nothing I couldn't get out with some B12, a dental pick and a shop rag.




You can see where the ring pack sat for years, but there is no ridge there; just some discoloration.




It's a 4 bolt 010 (high nickel) block.




I met up with Danny (Dirty2) tonight, and after some BS'ing about light A's not needing too much power to run 12's, and then seeing how little work the engine will need, I've decided to at least cam-up.

If I had a bit less cubes I would throw a Duntov grind in it, just to say I did
I want a solid that will be ok with semi-low compression and pressed in rocker studs.

Anyone want to throw out a favorite SBC cam grind?


- Matt

 

Work has severly cut into my building time

9 straight days of traveling makes it hard to get anything done. On a positive note though, my rear wheels are now 2" wider and powdercoated. They will have tires put on today. I'm hoping to be able to roll the chassis out of the garage next week... with an engine and tranny in it. Cross your fingers for me!




- Matt

 

off to a good start, keep us updated.

 

Gee, I thought by now someone would have made a suggestion on cam. Of course I don't know for sure what you have. As a swag from your comment on the Duntov and having too many cubes for it (and no steam holes in the deck) I'll say,... 350? If that's right, I like the 327 325HP cam (hydraulic) for a nice mild cam. I've got one in my '76 beater / parts chaser it starts nice, runs good and has 'power' throughout the curve (as much as it ever had anyway). The engine has an Edelbrock Performer, Q-jet and factory iron manifolds W/ 2" duals and 'turbo' mufflers (cause they're cheap). I know, its a truck engine, but I figure that's the best I can compare with yours (at least till we know more about what you have, did I miss it somewhere?).

 

Yeah, just a 350
I have a Stude engine that needs a rebuild, but for now I want to build the car to drive EVERYWHERE. I know that a close to stock 350 can be fixed at damn near any parts store in Anywhere, USA... so I'll using it for now.

I was thinking about a Comp 270S but I'll look into the 327 cam also. I'll probably end up flipping a coin, because in the end I'm not too concerned with getting max HP or anything. I just want to drive it!


Since I'm here... here's a good "big & little" shot




Here's a shot of the body on. The chassis isn't finished, there's no weight on the front, etc.
I just put it on because I need the other side of the garage for a few days to do some cleaning and organizing and find a place for some new power tools.
It will end up being channeled much lower... and might end up without the chop




- Matt

 

MMMM, new power tools.

The 325 HP cam might be a little tame if you were considering a 270. My truck passes emissions with flying colors and they would definetly fail me if the idle didn't sound 'normal' (if you listen close enough you can tell it's not a 'smog' cam but you have to listen pretty hard). Of course if you want a hotter cam there's always the 365HP cam. Mine is a Comp grind as well, I haven't had a problem with a comp cam yet (so that's 3 now, 1 flat tappet and 2 custom ground rollers).

 

Engine mounts mocked up. Tranny mounts might come tomorrow.



- Matt

 

Im running Comp 270 in my sedan , 40 over 350 . I like them wheels . Peck

 

Tranny mount is done... as long as I don't change my mind about it.

Engine and tranny are now mounted hanging free. I ended up cutting up the drop mount that was supposed to be used with this crossmember. the 4" Z in the frame made the tranny mount just about level with the bottom of the frame rails.








- Matt

 

OK, question time...

When mounting the ladder bars, what kind of angle should I be looking for?

I have the P&J ladder bar crossmember, but with the X that I am using it would involve a lot of cutting, notching, etc. I am going to try to come up with a more creative way of mounting the front brackets.

How close together or far apart should these front mounts be?
They should be close to level with (or maybe just a little below) the tranny output shaft, right?



- Matt

 

Pete and jakes set theres up with with about a 4 degree rise slightly up hill. You can set them up however you wish. Try to keep them as close together at the front as possible without interfering with your driveshaft and farthest point (wide) on the rearend you can live with without any frame issues etc.

 

Sooooo close to rolling... Got the front drums today, mounted the rear spring perches and gussets, hung the rear on the spring.

Still need those damn ladderbar mounts though
I think I know how I'm going to do it, but I need some metal first... that might be an issue.

Damn those rear tires are big

 

Keep moving ahead.Its lookin good.

 

Looking good.
How do find the garage time?
Ohh,turn off the 'puter and walk away.....

Keep taking pictures !

 

damn, your a madman~! lookin great matt!!!!!

 

Eric, man, I can't thank you enough for helping me decide to start over with a new chassis. I'm having a blast!

As for finding time... that's easy. Just neglect everything else! LOL
I haven't been to the gym in 6 weeks. Woops. Last night I worked in the garage for 3 hours instead of going to the grocery store and packing for my trip today. I guess you can do that kind of stuff when you're young, right?

Can you tell I reeaaaaaallllly want to drive it?

Thanks. I most definitely don't hold a candle to some other other "madmen" around here... but I'm not one to turn down a compliment This is my first groundup build. I'm probably making mistakes left and right!


- Matt

 

It's looking awesome bro, you are really making some progress. I'm hoping to get the motor and tranny mounted in my coupe in the next few days. Did you make the motor mounts or where did you get them, I dig em.

 

Dude DON'T channel it any lower, that is a bitchn stance right there, it looks likes it's READY for BUSINESS!!

 

I bought them. I was planning to make some but I came across these at a swap meet. I'm on the road for work right now, but I'll get a better pic of them tonight when I get home.

No worries. It won't go any lower
I put the body on and took that pic... then let it sit there for a few days. I did the walk around and the Sit-N-Stare more than once, and it definitely grew on me.


- Matt

 

Guess what... NO JACKSTANDS!

This mother rolls!

It will have its first "roll out' tomorrow, but for now here are some pics of the ladderbars. I notched the X (a little too much, but I'll fix that easily ) and the ladderbar crossmember sits right up under part of the X.








Better pics tomorrow!


- Matt

 

that fits in there quite nicely. pretty tight but looks awsome. How do you plan on doing your steering. i read you were going with an f100 setup, im a newb so if this has been answered somewhere else sorry, but you dont have the holes in the frame like the orginal chassis used to have. so where do you mount the box? or are you going with a cowl steering setup?