It looks like quite a few people here have lengthened the frames on their A's rather than using a recessed firewall, that sounds kinda appealling as I don't want to loose any interior room if I can help it. How much? 3", 5"?? I imagine you lengthen it right in front of the firewall?? How much room should I have between my dist. and my firewall?? Any tips anyone can offer after doing theirs?? Thanks-
I'd go for at least 5 inches. If you're gonna stretch it might as well give yourself plenty of room. Even with a normal 3-4 inch firewall recess there isn't any extra room to play with in the average Model A.
I've been thinking of doing the same thing Dan. Looks like it would help the steering clear the corner of the head on the flatty, and I don't think it'll be too hard to bend up a hood top so it doesn't rain down the 97's throats!
lengthening the frame also increases the wheelbase. My rpu is lengthened a ton, and the freeway driving seems much smoother. the stock wheelbase is too stubby anyway. tp
when i did the frame for the 29 that never got done i lengthen it quite a bit but in the rear, i sat the grill were i wanted it, put the motor between the rails, sat the body as close as i wanted it and marked everyting, then made the rear long enuff to work. always thought the "to long" look between the fire wall and the grill killed alot of other wise good looking cars tim
I'll be odd man out. My frame is stock length from the firewall forward. Merc flathead (to be replaced with a 59Z) with room to spare. The 39 pedals fit under the floor like they were made for the car and the steering is going under the dash with the drag link punched right through an unmolested firewall and hood side. Wheelbase is about stock (a little over) I'd guess. Lengthened a few inches in the front with the spring behind setup and shortened up a little less in the back with the same. Looks about right as a far as I'm concerned. I used measurements to make things square - the rest was done by eyeballing it and saying "that looks like a hot rod should". Function and form happen simultaniously. Good luck.
I guess it also depends on if its a modified, pickup or roadster/coupe, sedan etc. what were you building? tp aka zibo
Coupe here too. Figured to mount the engine then move the body back till everything clears and it looks right. Then whack and stretch the frame at the firewall. No fenders so I don't care abouth length as long as it doesn't look like something out of Disney or Looney Toons. BTW Dan if it ain't snowing there, it probably will be soon. It's really coming down here. Giant flakes everywhere, "and not just the ones I work for!"
Body style wouldn't have an effect on anything in front of the firewall though. I would have done that the same way regardless of body style. In fact, this is what I had planned for a while. Delete the six and add the flatmotor of course.
Yup, I agree. I worded that a bit wierd. The six would have stayed if the roof had stayed. But I've gone a completely different direction with the car - which of course you can see - and I like it a lot more. But I still have the six and a mostly complete stack of coupe sheet metal so who knows what comes next.
[ QUOTE ] I don't think it'll be too hard to bend up a hood top so it doesn't rain down the 97's throats! [/ QUOTE ] Rootlieb will bend up an over-length hood for you. $50. extra when I got mine a while back. Nice part about the Rootlieb hood is it has the stock belt line along the edges as well as it's the three panel style. Three panel meaning the edges are simply bent 90 degrees so they can sit on the 1/2 x 1" rectangular tubing firewall to grille shell bars that most use. I was going to make my own hood - and in fact have made the hood sides - but I liked the stock belt line so well I sprung for the Rootlieb. Course, if you have access to a bead roller you could get some rollers machined up and roll your own belt line. I think too, the belt line rollers may be commercially available.
I knocked the rivets out of the stock crossmember and slid it ahead in the rails about 2 1/2 inches to get a little more engine room. That was enough for an unchanneled body with a V8. Then I channelled 4 1/2 inches and recessed the firewall anyway. overspray
I've been thinking about this same subject since hopefully beginning of next year I'll have those 32 & 34 trucks i found. They're on the big truck frames so i won't have to do any lenthening, just shortening and z'ing it, but I'll have to figure out how much to shorten it. I don't wanna recess the firewall at all, wanna find a straight six to put in since I"ve yet to see one with the motor, and chop and channel. It's gonna be fun since I know very little about building anything that was made before 49'.
I'm thinking that with the simplicity of the A frame I'd just make new side rails to the new dimentions instead of trying to lengthen a set of stockers. You would end up with a stronger frame and no need to box if you used rectangular tubing. Frank
Hey, this post is O.T. enough for me! My frame is an aftermarket 2"x3" box section deal. For my sorta Model A RPU, I'm going to set the grille behind the suicide mount, use an inline six, stretch the cab for some storage behind the seats, and use the stock length pickup box. I figure that I'll have to stretch the frame by 16"-24" by the time I'm done. Grimlock, I dig those "slimefire"TM headers, those twin tubes are bitchin'. I want to do something like that, with drag caps, and dual pipes out the back. Zibo, what is your wheelbase length on your truck? Later, Kinky6
here is a pic of my sons completed 31 coupe with the frame lengthened 5 inches at the firewall, plenty of motor room and also nice leg room even with three pedals. We are both over 6 ft. tall.
oh well,the pic transfer didnt work. The pic is on the starblvd site in the album called pastimegarage.
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