Boxing Plates

Ordered some '32 frame horns to extend my lopped off rails on the RPU. Got 'em in, they looked great, welded them on the ends of my frame. Then I decide I want to box that channel before installing the front crossmember.

The frame horns are 1/8 steel from Brookville. I picked up a piece of 1/8 plate to box them with but now that I look at it, I wonder....

Will 1/8 plate boxing a small channel be OK? Is it thick enough? I'm a little concerned because my front crossmember will be welded to the plate. Don't want that coming apart going down the road.

Thanks, JH

 

A little thicker would be better, like 3/16". But why not weld in the crossmember first? Then you would have much more weld area and bracing strength since you would be connected to the whole inside of the frame rail "box". Then bring the new plate up to the side of the crossmember for a clean look.

It's probably even more important to make sure you V the path for the weld so a lot of the weld isn't ground off during the pretty-up stage.


alchemy

 

heres an idea...

make the templates for the boxing plates of the frame rails,

then use the right size hole saw for the crossmember, if its round, to trace onto the template the right place fror the hole,

then weld that crossmember in, then weld your boxing plates on.

this should give you the exact right shaped boxing plates without alot of trimming and whatnot


i used 3/16 to box the front of the frame on my 66 f-100

its prolly a little thick though, if the rest of the frame is 1/8 i dont think it would be any problem using the 1/8 inch stuff.

you should fishmouth the other end of the boxing plate too. it spreads the forces better instead of concentrating them on the sharp corner of the squared off end.

if you do a search for "boxing" it should turn up a bunch of posts on here. it is usually a common subject.


hope that helps

 

Not to hi-jack the post but how did you make out with those wheel cylinders Harrison? i now they were rough but did they do it for you?
As far a boxing is concerned you only need to use the same thickness material as the channel web.

 

alchemy makes a good point. I an redoing an old 70 32 3w rod, Welds were ground when originally built, lft rail in front of cowl is loose @ top & I gotta reweld, fool also ground most of serial # off frame.
How long were the pieces you bought? I picked up a 30 roadster channelled over a 32 frame, rear of rails bobbed off, I wanna put back, build as highboy. Hopefully they didnt cut off too much.

 

BELLM, Kugel Komponents still makes their firewall-forward frame rails, if the typical front horn repops are too short.

 

email HOTRODDRUMMER and have him show you some of the boxing plates they make at his dad's little rod shop/ very cool and they fit right in with no hassle. i believe they are cheap enough that it is'nt even worth the time to make your own. you can also get them with "belled" holes in them if you want along with matching boxing plates for the rest of the frame. you should really check them out even if you insist on making your own. they are a real nice piece. drop him an email and ask for the "HAMBer discount" ihrs1932@triton.net


Mike

 

Thanks guys. The frame horns I ordered were about 18 inches in length. ASC makes a "half rail" for anyone needing longer ones.

Link, the wheel cylinders are going to work. Once they were blown apart and cleaned up, they looked really good. Thanks again.

JH