Modified Murray - FINALLY an update!

It's been so long since I've done an update on this car I had to go back and look and see what I talked about last time.

Lots to talk about with the build since I last posted an update. Problem is I'm at that stage where you do a ton of work and have very little to show for it. So, I hope nobody has dial up because there will be a ton of pictures to show and a LOT of verbage...

Get ready to read!

Okay... here goes. Last time it was all about getting the body out to media blasting. Well that's over and done and already ac***ulating a little surface rust thanks to the ocean air. Still a big improvement. The inside is still pretty clean of rust.

So, from where I left off... I started making bucks to fab the filler panels for the wheel wells. I constructed wire frame bucks to get the shape I wanted. I made one piece at a time to make sure the shape was the same from left to right. Came together pretty easily actually. I used what would have been the rear door patch panels as a guide for the shape and bead. Worked out good.







The finished bucks to use as a guide for the panels.



With the help of another HAMBer we started making the panels but it became more of a learning process. Basically made a huge metal potato chip and then decided to regroup with some 20 ga steel, some hammering, some e-wheeling and possibly even making them from more than one piece. The task was pushed off due to a ton of other things that were going on car related and otherwise. Hope to pick back up on this soon with some more knowledge and some new ideas of how to approach the panels.

NEXT! Ch***is work!!

Okay, I had some serious ride height issues going on up front. The spring I designed the front crossmember around was just too low. I was almost below my scrub line with the setup so I talked to Posies about doing an exchange and they helped me out. THANKS POSIES!!!!! Awesome!! The spring I switched to had more arch so I had to redesign the front crossmember and I didn't really like the direction the other one was going anyway.

Here's the before with the old spring and crossmember...



And here's how the redesign and reconstruction went...











There's a TON more work to do on that crossmember to make it strong and work out. The whole thing will be boxed with a single piece of plate that will be patterned, cut and fully welded in place. THEN it will all get gusseted and reinforced. The front will look like it was built from one piece when it's done. It remains on the list of things to finish, but at least the car is back on it's suspension and sitting correct now. More on the ride height in a bit.

BUT WAIT! There's more! I ran across another Hemi that another HAMBer approached me about. It was an old rebuild that basically sat. A pretty funky build with a strange pick of parts. None the less, it was complete and just needed to be freshened up, adpated to my transmission setup and turned over. Thanks to him for being patient with me. Purchasing a Hemi all complete when you're not prepared to do so is no small chunk of change! Thanks BRO!

So here's the newest addition to the family. It's a '56 331 Chrysler Hemi truck motor. Heads were switched to '56 354 car heads.



It's basically a 354 block on this oddity that was M***IVELY over-bored to 4.040" (= +.040" 392 pistons). That's all fine and dandy since that changes my cubes to like 368 cubic inches with the low-deck stroke, HOWEVER... the pin height is lower on a 392 piston so my compression will be substantially lower. No big deal. This motor will be great for shake down until I get one of the other blocks built up with all the parts I've been drooling over. At least I'll get to enjoy the car in the mean time.

I pulled the heads, checked everything over top to bottom, regasketed and re***embled the motor, and changed a few things to compliment what's going on with the car. Internally it's pretty much the way it started though.



Okay.... more juicy updates in a minute.

 

car is lookin great

 

Nice work man.

 

Okay, there was a few more things that needed to be done before I could adapt and mount the drive train in the frame and throw the body back on. Since I'm going to be running cutouts on the exhaust, I needed to add a path for the tubing to go through the frame back to the rear. UHG!! That means porting the crossmembers and welding tubes in. That's a tough job when you go overkill on frame tubing. 2x4x3/16 wall rectangular tubing is some tough stuff to work with in a case like this. I started out by using a hole saw and then decided it was time to start thinking about another method to cut the holes in the frame rails. Crazydaddyo came to the rescue and stopped by the shop with a healthy plasma cutter. 5-minutes of him burning some holes in my frame saved me hours of work! Thanks a ton Dan!!!!

Here's how the front holes came out. Still need to finish cleaning up the welds on the rear ports though.



Now that the ports p*** through the frame.... time to adapt up the drive train and drop everything in the frame.





Thanks to Creepy Jack for hookin' me up with a stock type bellhousing to pull the front and back together and for the loaner short snout water pump! RULER!!!





So now that it's all sitting in there, it was time to put the body back on. Some help from MAW and his fork lift and here's what we get.





Obviously the grille shell needs to be cut down still, but you can get an idea of where things stand up front.







Something major I want to change is the bones. The location of the spring mounts, the overall length, etc. They're too long. I want to shorten them by about 3 inches. I bought an unsplit wishbone from DE SOTO a couple years ago, so I'm just going to start from scratch.



Now you can get a better idea of the ride height with all the weight on there...



More coming....

 

Looking bad*** man. Nice fabrication.

 

Okay, got some seats finally. They will eventually get replaced with my own doing. Something scratch built. I don't have the tools to make what I REALLY want, so these will work for the time being and help me get an idea of what the car REALLY needs and how it will need to be ergonomically.







Subfloor and tunnel needs to be finished before I can mount them in, but it looks like everything should clear just fine with seat position vs. all the other **** I need to shove in this thing.

 

Man, that looks real good. Very cool, I can't wait to see it finished.

 

In addition to all this I need to finish the carbs for the 6x2. I started cleaning up the bodies and pieces. I have everything I need for the rebuilds except for the throttle shafts. Just need to refinish the pieces and start the re***embly process. Then will come the linkage controls.

Before...



After...



I will run the Offy 6x2 on this motor, but it will be restricted since it's basically a stock cam and low compression. WAY too much CFM without restricting the setup. I will get the engine running with just a 4bbl Holley and get it all timed right before I try to start messing with the 6x2 insanity.

 

Really coming together now, great score on the HEMI......looks like you just need to whack a 6/71 on top....

Stoked to hear you say that....that issue has been bugging me ever since I first started following your build.....what are you aiming to do regarding the steering/tie rod?

Keep at it,

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

i am very impressed

 

In other notes... I've picked up some things to help the fab process. Bunch of hammers, metal shaping tools, body files, shrinking discs and have been doing a bunch of reading and learning on metal shaping. I'm a little ways away from doing some fun body work, but I'm getting myself prepared.

OH! I picked up a *****in' welding helmet and WOW! I can't believe I went this long without a nice helmet. I can finally see what the hell I'm welding. I've started cutting out welds that I didn't like and reding them. Some more to do and I still need to flip the frame over and get all the bottom welds, but what a great learning experience so far.

Other stuff...

I still need to finish the k-member that will support the front portion of the frame and help keep it triangulated and strong. It will also take some stress off the motor mounts and drive train. Now that the body is on, I can match it up to the shape of the subfloor.

Speaking of motor mounts... I HATE the motor mounts I made. They were an afterthought and they were rushed so I could get this thing on a trailer and get it down here. They will be tossed and rebuild. The frame risers for them will probably stay and get finished off, but the rest will go and I'm replacing the squooshy Speeday pucks with some Ch***is Engineering mounts. I like that they're a tougher durometer.

So now I need to finish...

- subfloor and trans tunnel
- rear storage and battery mounts
- still waiting on my gas tank from the Hot Rod Company
- engine mounts
- wheel well filler panels
- split bones
- cut down grille shell
- shock mounts
- radiator setup and mounts
- finish front crossmember
- cowl steering and support structure
- pedals and foot controls
- all the patch panels, header/visor panel, finsh work on the body, etc.
- gage mounts
- get the engine running and tuned
- build some headers
- fix more welds
- blah, blah, blah... TONS of little things.

So that's where I'm at! I'm pretty much out of my mind at this point. Just trying to push through all this stuff and get it done. No shortcuts!! It's do or die now.

Thanks for reading. Sorry it's taken so long to get an update on here. Just didn't seem like there was too much to share until now.

WHEW! That was a lot of typing...

 

Yeah, they've always kind of bugged me too. That's why I bought two sets of bones. I just had a feeling there would be a change in the future. I just HATE the wheelbase. It's too long. I knew I wouldn't be able to make changes until I had a fully ***embled motor in the frame though. OH! I can't stress this enough also.... the spring mounts WILL be reinforced and the bones probably will be too. I don't want anyone to think I haven't thought through all this.

The tie rod will be behind the axle and below the radiator/gille shell. The axle will still be ahead ofthe grille shell though. Still going to run cowl steering with the Cuda box I picked up. Still have all that to do. It will be intersting to see how the drag link will sit in relation to my head lights. Little bit concerned about that. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it though. Minor stuff.

OH! AND YES! This motor will get the aide of a 6/71 somewhere in it's life. It's a GREAT candidate for a blower!!! Not in this vehicle, but maybe this motor will land in the next project... whenever I recover from this one. HA!

 

dude. that thing is *****in, keep up the goodness my friend! -jordan

 

Damn dude! Good luck! I cant wait to see that thing in all of its dark blue majesty!

 

are you gonna shave the door handles or what do you have planned there? I think some Lincoln push****ons would be the cats meow!

 

wow! it's bout freakin time!!!! hahaha

very nice Scooter... what did you do to the carbs to get em that clean, gl*** bead?

 

the lights (which ones you hoping to use?) will be a juggle, but, if you build a headlight bar like the one B*** is doing for his roadster, you will be able to sneak the headlights forward a bit (the bar will visually distract the fact the lights are in front of the radiator surround), thus buying you a bit of real estate for the drag link.

Here's the coupe Pinkee's did....although if they came forward just a little more they probably wouldn't have needed to make a indent on the back of the headlight.

Keep going, doing good.

Drewfus

P.S. having just bought most of the bits for my 331, I can appreciate the blower issue/struggle.....thats my last hurdle to overcome....one day, bit by bit, part by part.

 

I was wondering where this build was.Very nice work. Have a murray body as well,not as good as that tho. I have been keeping a close eye on this build.thanks for the update.

 

Here is how Pinkees got around the problem ( a little hard to see )

 

YES! I've seen how he handled that little interference issue. It's clever, but I would prefer not to do that. I'm going to get it all set up and then see how they sit. Doesn't help that I'm using the narrower axle either. I'll be using 28/29 commercial lights with fluted lenses. I really like the look of early Model A lights.

Not sure where they will even sit, top to bottom. I think they will be close to stock height, maybe a little lower. (relative to the top of the shell) I don't think I want a full light bar. I love the look of a good 'ol '32 Ford grille shell, so I want it to be uninterrupted.

Thanks for the nice words as always. MAN, I want this car to be driving already! As long as I don't run into any major issues and as long as I keep pushing forward it shouldn't be too much longer before this thing can go down the street under it's own power.

 

OH! Door handles will remain as well as the stock latches. They're the later style, the twist type. Not the pull type. They latch and STAY closed nicely. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the door lock though. I don't really want to walk to the other side of the car to unlock it. Might flip them over and put the locking handle on the drivers side if I can. Would be even COOLER if I could find door handles with locks on both drivers and p***engers doors. Details, details... that's all the fun stuff I'm really looking forward to.

 

scootermcrad, it just continues to get better and better. Great vision and excellent workmanship....Mike

 

Yes, gl*** bead. When I was done I was very careful to go through every single little piece with compressed air... A LOT of compressed air, to make sure everything flowed.









I hit these with the gl*** bead and then rubbed them out. No particular reason. Just **** I guess...



Word has it that the gl*** bead has a tendancy to embed itself into the aluminum, so I used a lower pressure. Just enough to get them clean. They weren't too aweful to begin with. Just wanted them all to match. They will get that aluminum dip, sealer, stuff that you get from Aircraft Spruce next. I'll do a thread on everything I do with the carbs.

 

NIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!
-Jeremy

 

Can I send you my two carbs to bead blast?

 

Looks killer, brother!!! Glad that I could help with parts. If you think of anything else you need, let me know, 'cause God knows I probably have it.

You and Ian are both doing killer work. Makes me want to get back to work on my own stuff for a change!!! Working on other people's stuff pays the bills, I guess...

 

Dude! You're a ruler for sure! Thanks for all your help with EVERYTHING!

I need to stop up soon!!

 

Looks good Scott,
Think you'll be driving it to breakfast next week end?

If you need the plasma again or anything else, let me know.

 

I have about as good a chance of driving to breakfast this weekend as you in the RPU... (I have a feeling I'm gonna' get it for that)

Okay... I have to take that back. That's just too mean. Seriously hope you get that crank figured out man!

Thanks again Dan for burnin' some holes for me! You've wrecked me though. I need to own a plasma cutter some day! What a seriously handy tool!!!

 

Any time, homie. I'm ALWAYS HERE.

Oh yeah, we need to do that "vintage biker flick" video festival one of these days.