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Technical can you help with a '49 shoebox measurement?

Discussion in 'Traditional Customs' started by Hammerhead_77, Oct 19, 2024.

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  1. Hammerhead_77
    Joined: Oct 19, 2024
    Posts: 4

    Hammerhead_77

    Brand spanking newbie here hoping to tap into the knowledge pool. Bottom line: I need to find out the measurement from the center radiator mounting bracket hole to the front axle/spindle centerline on a '49 business coupe.

    Background - my teenage son talked me into starting a frame-off resto-mod of my highschool car. It hasn't run since 1995, and had a Buick 350 and TH400 because as a broke kid that's what I had access to. Now I can do this project like an old guy with a checkbook and we're going whole hog. Body off the frame, cut the frame right before the bulges for the shocks & control arm, new stubs and a Mustang 2 style front end as the first step. Due to a couple of mistakes and mishaps, we fear we have lost the precise marking for the front axle. We know we have the center radiator mount bolt hole precisely. We need to see if someone has or could measure the front to back distance from the radiator mount hole to the transverse centerline of the front spindles.

    one other reference point we know we have perfectly is the place that the body braces in front of the firewall connect to the top of the frame rail just where the frame levels out behind the cross member. The distance from there forward to the axle center would be fine as well.

    My thanks in advance... I hope to be a productive member of the community and I'll start a build thread shortly.
     
  2. Kiwi 4d
    Joined: Sep 16, 2006
    Posts: 3,865

    Kiwi 4d
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I can’t help as we made a custom independent front for our 49 coupe,clipping the big bulges off , the numbers are not set in stone . As an idea can you bolt the front clip on and centre the wheels in the fender . When it looks right the get an accurate measurement from a known point on the frame on either side . The as a final check square up the wheel base accurately
     
    gimpyshotrods likes this.
  3. Hammerhead_77
    Joined: Oct 19, 2024
    Posts: 4

    Hammerhead_77

    Thanks for the reply. with the body off the frame, getting a fender to check before welding the crossmember in is going to be a real bear! We have a measurement, but I'd love it if someone was able to throw a tape on their car and give us another data point.
     
  4. 37 caddy
    Joined: Mar 4, 2010
    Posts: 526

    37 caddy
    Member
    from PEI Canada

    See if you can find a frame measurement chart from a body shop,They have them for doing frame straightening,try ebay i see them on there sometimes,or find a old bodyshop that might have some of the old books left.They would work for what you need.
     
  5. Hammerhead_77
    Joined: Oct 19, 2024
    Posts: 4

    Hammerhead_77

    Good advice, thanks. I did find the technical data sheet from Ford for the model year, but it doesn't list any of these measurements. I may end up having to split the difference and just deal with it if I get the centerpoint off by 1/4"
     
  6. Hammerhead_77
    Joined: Oct 19, 2024
    Posts: 4

    Hammerhead_77

    if anybody has the book "How to Build Shoebox Fords/Mercurys 1949-1954" I understand the dimensions I need are in there. it wpuld take me a while to get a copy. The green bible does not have any dimension that references the centerpoint of the front spindle
     
  7. corncobcoupe
    Joined: May 26, 2001
    Posts: 8,687

    corncobcoupe
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    Mustang II asuspensions and updated front stubs are too new and off topic on the H.A.M.B..

    I’m closing the post.

    The rest of it fits in and start another post if you need some additional information.

    Please read the rules to familiarize yourself.

    Thanks,
    Moderator
     
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