Im building a roadster and need some opinions on my frame design. I scored the front half of model a frame and would like to use it from the cowl foward for a more traditional look. The rest will be 2x3 tubing. Instead of doing a Z or a suicide perch i want to use the stock spring mount and mount the axle in front of the frame. To get the right height I will swoop the frame 8" and mount the spring to the wishbones. The rear will have a 19" kickup. It will be located by a buggy spring and 4-bar. The model a section will be boxed with 3/16 plate with lightening holes. Does this sound like a solid setup? Would it be better to use 2x3 for the entire frame? I made the body out of a dodge cowl, model a doors and some sheet metal for the rear sectoin. It will be channeled 3".
Well I think that you would have a much stronger foundation to build a complete new frame out of 2x3 then try to graft the front half of the A frame to a new rear section. Since your going to mount the axle suicide you wont have frame horns anyways, so its not going to have model a looks even if you did use the model a front section. Are you sure you need to sweep it and kick the rear up that much though? I am building a frame for my A sedan that is bagged front & rear, and will lay the frame on the ground when aired out. And I'm running a tall 16" tire/wheel combo. Even with this I only z'ed my front 7", and did a 19" kick in the rear. And that will lay the frame flat on the ground. For a fixed drop I don't see any reason to build the frame with such radical kick-ups. Plus to sweep the front 8" would put the front rails on a crazy angle, I think it would look funny. Maybe build a mock-up frame out of 2x4 wood and see how it pans out. Its no big deal to adjust the dimensions in wood, rather then build a steel frame and realize somethings wrong. My front end is run similar to what you want to do, except my front crossmember hides the air bags, and instead of a spring there are swing arms that pivot from the crossmember and attach to the bones. The bag lifts the swing arms. If you are gonna run a suicide set up I would use 35 or later bones, as they are much beefier then model a bones. Heres a couple pics of my frame. Though all of these pics don't show it, I ended up tapering my front rails to give them a model a look, the last pic shows how they look tapered, you could do the same thing on yours. These will give you an idea as to how big the kick-ups you described, and should show you that don't need so much for your frame. Good luck
I have a similiar frame under construction. I am useing the rear section of A frame (same taper, much cleaner) with some A frame horns. I plan to use a suicide front, with frame horns. I also plan to Z the front section right before the toe boards. Unless you plan to run a T spring the 19 inch step seems excessive. The thing you want to figure out ahead of time is where the front wheels end up if you suicide it with the springs hung from the bones. I think it could get disproportionally long if not done right.
I can understand why you want to use the front half of a stock frame...the look of old steel....do box it with some substantial steel plate. I did one years back with 3/16" cold rolled steel.... Use 2 x 4 steel tubing, .120" wall stock for the rear section....and join it with a "long" tapered splice like Tex Smith shows in his book on building hot rods..with a fishplate inside for extra strength. With a channel job it won't show either...make the joint under your body.... I built a new ch***is for my chopped Model A 31 Coupe the year I had my stroke in 2001...I used a stock rear crossmember and spring, Posies mounting kit for 32-34 Fords--moving the rear spring back 5", the Pete and Jake's rear ladder bar set..and a custom made front crossmember that was made from 2 1/2" square .250" wall tubing, with one side milled off for a low front end...and I had to step the rear crossmember up 2" to get the rear end down a bit...too much of a cartoon car look. I powered it with a 2.3 l Pinto engine and C4 automatic/8" rear end from a Mustang, 1969 I think. Never got to finish it, a long messy divorce got in the way. Now back into it again--and my 14 year old son's T-Bucket project too...Have the parts to put a 32 gas tank in too...Body is a junker...I ***embled it from all the junk stuff I ac***ulated since I was 17...(now 51...)--parts from 16 A coupes went into this body to save it..and I cchopped it 2" as well, and mounted it as a Highboy. Hope my 2 cents worth helps ya. The 2 x 4 wooden frame looks like a good idea...I heard of a carpenter who made a complete frame from wood and plywood...to fit his engine, transmission and rear end and new gl*** coupe body. Took it over tot he fab shop and had pros build one in steel..A good idea if you ask me... Abonecoupe31
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