Finally Got a Henry J

Hi Phil. Nice that it fits that nice for first try.

 

The floor was cut when I got there so I went to work lowering the body onto the chassis. Once that was done I hung the rear end, it is really close, about 3/32 off on the passenger side which should adjust with the ladder bar adjuster.
Now to lock the body down on the chassis before the evil gremlins start moving things, I'm pretty happy with it.

 

I took the front clip, doors, transmission, tunnel ram, motor mounts and steering box over today. We set the front end height and made new sliders to fit the new chassis. Also hung the doors to make sure it all lines up.
It's sitting proud now !

 

Daaaammnnnn looking good Phil
Let's drag the j vs the truck

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Looks great. Love the stance. I can visualize the wheel stands already. Awesome.

 

Thanks, it's up there that's for sure. I need to take the wheelie bars over, keep forgetting those. I'm on the fence of moving the front axle forward an inch more.

 

I like the looks with the axle forward( and better traction to boot). This one looks a couple inches forward.

 

Wow, looks like the Bad Moon wants to take off. You'll be getting so much air under the front of the car it will feel like it will want to. Looks great you have to be pretty darn excited, nice job.

 

Mocking it up sure gets you pumped up

 

Looks very nice, Phil.

Gary

 

Thanks, getting a little excited about it again.

 

That's super cool!!

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Hadn't checked in on your build for a while. Looking good!

Devin

 

Thanks, was trying to mockup the engine/trans on Tuesday but to many cooks stirring the pot. I got a little weird feeling and called it a day, laid on the couch for the next several hours. I'm going back on Monday night with me and the owner/fabricator of the shop only to finish up, have to look at the oil pan sump which looks like it's right over the tie rod and drag link.
What's a good rule of thumb in inches for clearance ? I know the pan will get closer as the suspension compresses, just not sure how much.

 

I like to have at least 3-4 inches as long as the suspension is fairly stiff. You could also think about using a dropped draglink . You can bend the pitman arm down a bit to gain clearance , and move the tie rods on both assemblies to the bottom side of steering arms (unless they already are). Like to see some pictures to see what they set up looks like, tie rod ends or heim ends, etc.

 

Heim ends and are stacking the drag link on top of tie rod behind axle, steering arms on top of spindle. http://www.gassersinc.com/howto/SpeedwayGasserBuild.pdf
My t-bucket has the arms below and drag link behind tie rod, but also buggy spring.

 

I think I have about 3". My shocks are vertical right above the axle, and using wire ties as indicators on the shocks, I show 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" of travel over the rough roads around here. Of course, I don't have to worry about coming down hard from a wheelstand, either.

Gary

 

I moved the steering to the front, brakes to the back and finished mocking up the engine /Trans tonight. The motor plate is just for mockup purposes, I'm putting solid side mounts on this.

 

Hey Phil. Not to be a wise guy, but shouldn't the pitman arm should be facing towards the rear with front steer...Never mind. Just realized I was looking at the steering arm.

 

Sure is a nice clean shop to be working on it in.

 

Yes it will, I'm taking over a pitman arm today, I've got two GM boxes, a 605 and a vega. I'll have to see which one works with the relocation. There's got to be more to it than just putting the pitman arm forward or backwards.

 

He's pretty organized over there, the thing I like most is the level floor. My garage has a 4 degree down hill pitch to it, which you have to add into the equation. That equation is everything from driveline angles to dropped sockets, nothing is ever where it dropped, always rolls out of reach.

 

I would think the Vega box would work fine. I have a 525 box on my 55 Chevy (in frt of axle) and a Vega box on the Corvette (behind the axle )and just the installing the pitman arm facing the correct way for your set up is all you need to do. Set the angle of the steering box to have a good shot to your column (clearing motor mounts, exhaust etc) and than you can bend the pitman arm to straighten out the drag link. I ran my draglink between the spring and frame to the forward mounted bolt on steering arm on the spindle and ran the tie rod assembly below on the back side to the stock steering arms (early Ford spindles ). Food for thought.

 

I was looking at Mike's photo and noticed he has the drag link above spring and tie rod below. It looks like I need a straight pitman arm, which I don't have for the Vega box. I do have one for the 525 box though, I'm hitting a swap meet this weekend and will be on the lookout for a Vega one. Here's a photo of Mike's steering setup

 

Going to Lockport, Phil ? Maybe I'll see you up there on Saturday.

 

I do plan on going, probably me and my son.

 

I have my drag link in front above the spring and my tie rod below the spring in the rear. I had the tie rod in front but it scrubbed the tires a lot backing out of the driveway.

Gary

 

With the tie rod in front it changes the Ackerman's Principle.

 

Phil. Are you using Ford or Chevy spindles ? Borgeson sells a straight pitman arm . Part #806010

 

Chevy spindles, yesterday I took it back apart and tried everything on the backside bottom of spindles this time. I would need a much lower pitman arm to clear the sump on the pan on a left turn, plus the box would be really close to the firewall. So I moved it all back to the front upper position and will order a straight pitman arm for the Vega box.