Body C notch

Getting ready to cut the body C notch for the rear axle travel. I have been looking for a picture of an original 30 Model A without the rear wheels and fenders on. I just want to confirm the location.

my frame has 103.5" wheel base. i put the original hood and radiator shell on the frame. Slid the body forward until there were no gaps between the cowl/hood and hood/shell junctions with the shell at 90 degrees.

Having done that, this is were the axle is located. the measuring tape is for reference...8ft 7.5inches wheelbase.

Does this look right? It looks too far back based on the wheel well indention.

Thanks
Bryan

 

Will it have fenders? Is the axle and rear suspension already mounted in its final mounted location?

I'd put a wheel and tire on there and stand way back and eyeball it to make sure it looks right and looks centered in the fender well. Or if you're going to use fenders, mount a fender and a wheel and tire to make sure the wheel looks centered in the fender opening.

If you have a 4-bar or a 4-link or something like that, the axle may not travel straight up and down. It may travel through an arc, which might put the place where you need to notch the body a little forward of where the centerline of the axle at normal ride height is. If the suspension is all put together, you can take the springs and shocks out and raise the axle up until it makes contact with the body and make the notch clear the axle there and leave a little extra room towards the front for the suspension to swing the axle through an arc. You can probably rig up some paper cutouts to mimic the swing of the suspension if you don't have all that done yet.

It's kind of tough to answer the question without more details though, like whether the suspension is already in there and what type of suspension is in there.

 

the suspension is in. its a truck arm suspension. I'll be adding coil springs to it this weekend. The body is resting on the top of the axle in the previous pics. I thought that by using the hood and radiator shell, i would be able to pin down the body location. I think it a little too far back. Suspension pic is attached.

i'm not running fenders either.

Bryan

 

Those arms are pretty long, so the arc that the rear swings in is pretty gentle, but still the axle will probably move forward a little when it swings up. Remember to leave some space for the brake lines and the emergency brake cables.

If it doesn't look right, maybe you need to make sure the body is really mounted where it's going to be. If you don't have an engine in there yet, you might need to rearrange things and maybe use a slightly longer hood and slide the whole body back or something. The main thing is that it looks centered in the wheel opening when you're done. If everything with the body, engine placement, grill placement, front suspension placement is right, and the axle just doesn't look centered in the opening, then maybe you need to shorten or lengthen your truck arm suspension or move the front mounting points or something.

Make sure the body is located perfectly centered on the frame and not twisted crooked or something. Make sure the axle housing is perpendicular to the centerline of the frame.

 

yeah, i just mounted the engine and transmission this past weekend. i'll put the wheels back on and position the wheels in the center of the wheel wells. Then put the hood and radiator shell on and see where I'm at. i think it would be better to lengthen the hood an 1" or so rather than cutting the truck arms again.

I just wasn't expecting an issue with body fore\aft position once i got the hood. if i move the body backwards, i'll probably have to weld up the front mount holes.

Thanks for your advise RustyBolts!

Bryan

 

It's good to figure out where your ride height will be too before you decide exactly where you want the back wheels in relation to the body. Sometimes the fenderwells are not symmetrical looking from the side, or are teardrop shaped and the wheel might look better more forward as you get lower from a stock ride height. A lot of cars with front fenders look better if you push the front wheels forward 1/2" or 3/4" after lowering the car because it makes the wheel look more centered and streamlined in the opening when it's a little closer to the front lip of the fender.