I'm helping a friend rebuild a '31 Model A coupe that has been butchered up rather bad, so I need to undo the damage before I put a new frame under it. When it was channeled long ago, someone hacked out all of the subrails from the doors back, and from the doors forward there is barely anything left. Anyone here put in all new subrails? How did you support the body so it didn't twist out of shape? Anyone have any pictures of the back portion so I know what it's supposed to look like? Thanks. Here's the new subrail from Mac's http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb...~S2J91BVG2W24160216616e~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000021x
sounds like work to me.. Havent done it.. but I bet someone here has.. SO BTTT for you.. perhaps brookeville's catalog might show how they go??
It's going to suck either way. I'd rather do it right if it's possible. I'll have to post some pictures of the mess some time, it's pretty ugly.
I replace all of mine in my T coupe... I used 1.5" tubing and 1.25" stacked to make the stock height of the original. I braced the body up and removed the old subframe, laid it on the shop floor and built my new one on top of it. Then slid it back in and welded it up. Also, before I took the old out, I welded some 1" square tubing pieces to the A and B pillars right on top of the old subframe so I new how far up it need to be, then I clamped the new sub to them and welded it up. Let me know if you need pics?
I'm channeling it anyway, maybe just making a new setup with 1X1 is the way to go. Cool idea, I wouldn't mind seeing a couple pics to show how you tied it all together.
I have a similar challenge in front of me. My ’30-’31 coupe has no sub-rails at all. So I had my brother get me a door sill section of sub-rails from another coupe. I plan on building the rest out 1”X1.5” tubing, beings I am not channeling. I have been waiting until I get my ’32 chassis so I can use it as my base to build the sub-rails off of and then attach and square the body from there up.
Ok, I didn't know Coupe Sub Rails were on the market, get a set and the wood body blocks and you are ready to go.
I had to do the subrails on my sedan a couple years back its not that bad I used Macs they fit pretty good
I have done it. My coupe was poorly channelled when I got it, and I put new subrails in it from the front to back, and set it back on a boxed A frame. I ordered mine from MACs but they were shipped from Brookville at that time. The job of doing it wasn't that bad, but I had another old crusty set of rails to get the width measurements from which helped me a lot. In my opinion the hardest part was getting the width correct because the cross channels are not pre-cut.
Start from the cowl and work your way back. Get some reliable measurements from a diagram or another modle A coupe. I used Snyders subrails and they were fine. I found the trick was to get the door B pillar set up and the struts in the coupe rear onto the subrails etc.
Ha, I'm really embarassed to show you guys my coupe body... I'd done so much work to it that the only thing left of the real body I bought is the quarter windows, rear quarters, A pillars and header! The subframe was rusted out from the B pillars to the rear, and I thought of replacing the rear section, but I ended up just rebuilding the whole thing so I was strong and I wouldn't have to worry about whether the front would fall off or not! This subframe slides right over my frame, then I welded 6 mounts to it to mount the body to the frame. Hope these help??
I had a complete roadster floor and subrails loose a few years ago, and I tried to get a doodlebug with another complete set on it. If you have something to go by I don't think they're going to be too bad. On the deal with the crossmembers not pre-cut, if you get a repop floor pan section that's pre-cut that would give you something to go by -
The Jalopy Journal
