Projects My Deuce Coupe Project

In Australia we have states, and the rules and certification proceedures vary. Where I live, the inspectors are hot rodders.

 

Might have to move over your way and become neighbours????

Very nice mate.

Always something to grab that's gonna make the coupe that extra bit special.

Keep us informed!!!!

You gonna be at Chopped this year???

HC.

 

I'll definitly be at Chopped this year. It sounded like a great event last year. But I'll probably only be able to make one day...... Which is the better day?

 

Obviously it's on from Friday to Sunday.

Staurday and Sunday are when the bands are playing.

Monday is a public holiday so I would say Saturday or Sunday.

Maybe both????

BTW. Is that Stang yours???

HC.

 

Hey OZ Rat,

Good luck with the project. I have seen some authentic 32 rails for sale locally - only problem is that they fetch 8k +.


As for authenticating the validity of the chassis, when I got my car rego'd I took the car to Vic Roads. They have a massive book there that describes the chassis number location and how many digits are in the number. Other than that I dont think there is much "testing" they can do. As stated you do need to have receipts for all of the major components such as the chassis, body and motor.

BTW- if you are interested PM me- I can give you a hint on which local VASS engineer NOT to use. When I payed him $250 to consult on my roadster it turned out he didnt know anything about hot rods! I asked him if I could split the wishbones and mount them on the rails and he then asks me -"where were they originally mounted?"

Cheers
Adam

 

Heyy Oz Rat.

Any progress on the build.

If so, keep us informed!

Cheers,

HC.

 

It's Here!!!!

My 32 Frame and other parts arrived this week from the US. It was like Christmas in November unpacking all the goodies.

The Frame looks great, A bit of pitting on the inside of the Rails, as you would expect, but it is as Solid as when it rolled off Henry's line 77 years ago. But most importantly it has the original US Stamped Frame numbers which will help with registration in the Over Policed State of Victoria (Aust).

Now I can start some serious work by cleaning up the Frame and commencing the set up.

Other Goddies I've purchased, aside from the ones pictured, since then have been a Forged 3.5 inch Drop Axle, a Rear end, Steering column (AP5 Valiant) and Tyres, which will now be making their way across the Pond.

I may have to change the title of this Thread as I'm now seriously contemplating scrapping the Coupe idea and going Roadster. The more I see of them the more they convince me. I'll have about a year to work that through my mind before I decide.

 

Very nice!

 

Looks like you're off to a good start with the flathead! Please don't put that Hilborn style scoop on top of the flathead though...

 

Fear Not......... The Hilborn Scoop is just a Box full of other smaller stuff..... This will be a Full Traditional Build. No Billet or Modern day equipment. Maybe I should have left the Box open.

 

Hey Mate,

Looks like things are coming along for you. Do you mind me asking how much shipping cost on the frame? I have always wondered if you are looking at the hundreds or thousands to ship something like that.

Cheers
Adam F

 

Thank god for that, I was getting worried.

...and nice frame.

 

(Good thing your parts didn't come in a feminine products package...)

 

I use Auto-Ezy-Search, here in Melbourne. They charged me $300 for the frame and an additional $100 for all the Parts. I've used them many times with no issues.

 

Wow- I am surprised at how reasonable that is - some of the shipping i have paid on small items has cost $50 US!

 

Please remember that this Shipping is via Shipping Container. You should allow 25 days on the water & one week either side for Loading & unloading.

 

Good to see everything coming along Oz Rat!

Really looking forward to seeing it come together.

How's the flatty coming along?

I see you've planned to go blown.

Rat Bastad has really infected you now!!!!!

HC.

 

Just dont paint it pale blue! Ha Ha.

 

What kinda poof would paint his ride pale blue?

Rat

 

The Build has progressed slowly since November but I hope it will pick up some momentum now.

The Flathead was sent to the Engine Machiner to get Hot Tanked and Crack Tested. The verdict was that it is a sound Block, despite the Trashed Cylinder which will need to be sleeved. It does however possess the common Flathead cracking between the two central Bolt Holes and the Water Jacket on each side of the Block. See picture below....



The Engine Machiner assured me that this is fixable, as are the Valve seats. It will now have a sleeve installed in the trashed cylinder and then handed back to me so that it can be used as Mock-up for the Frame build.

I removed the K-Member from the frame as I will be installing a 5 speed gearbox as part of this build. It will be the only Non-traditional component in the build, but is a must for drivability. The K-Member could have been modified to accomodate the gearbox but I didn't want to cut up vintage tin, so I chose to remove it so it can be used for it's original purpose in some other life.



The Frame was then Sandblasted. What seemed to be a solid Frame soon revealed all of it's secrets. It seems it had been loaded with Filler and painted as a cover-up for the sale. Once it was stripped away it revealed Heavy Pitting on Both sides in parts and a few Rust Holes.







Welding and Metal Fabrication is not my strength and I didn't want to start practicing on such a project, so I have enlisted the services of 'Lowsquire' at Rancho Deluxe to build me my frame.

The frame was delivered to Lowsquire today..... Anyone that has seen the quality he has produced on his 32 Roadster Frame would appreciate that it is in good hands. I'm now looking forward to seeing this pitted piece of tin become the Killer Frame that I have pictured in my mind.

 

At this point I think you should consider aftermarket rails and stamp your O.E.M. serial number into them. Stronger, safer, smarter..... and the engineer/inspector dudes will never be the wiser. Hot rivet your crossmembers in and it'll look factory.

 

That's a shame on that frame, it's really haggard.

 

Tinmann - That was option number 1, but our Engineers are able to spot aftermarket Rails and then you are in a world of Shit trying to register such a car. Lowsquire believes it is fixable, so I put my faith in him.

 

The Right side of the rail proved to be unrepairable. The Pitting on both sides had made the metal to thin to save and there was far too much to cut-out & replace. So the search has now gone out for a new Right side Rail. Having spoken to the Engineer, it may be possible to replace the Right side rail with a Remanufactured one and still call it an Original Chassis. There is still more to come on this story

I've turned my attention on getting the Running Gear together so it can be all ready for Lowsquire to do the set-up of the Frame. I've sourced a Centura 3.89 ratio Diff, which will be the perfect length for the Look I'm chasing and has the Ford 5x4.5 stud pattern, along with a good set of 36 Bones, which are now making their way across the Pond.

I plan to drive the wheels off this Ride so it needs to be easy to drive, whilst still following the three Pedal rule, so I've selected a Toyota 5 Speed Gearbox to sit behing the Flahead. I Mocked everything up today using the original 1953 Toploader Belhousing which came with the Engine.

The fit is near perfect, as far as the Input shaft length is concerned.



I now need to take it to the Machine shop so they can grind out the Crank to accomodate the Spiggot Bearing and also tap out the holes to the original mounting points of the Gearbox.



These gearbox's use six bolts to mount up, but I'll only be using the four of them as there is no flat surface to mount the top two bolts onto.

 

Id plan on getting another block after you take it to the machine shop. It will probably need such an overbore or a sleeve to clean up the cylinder ,its probably will not be worth saving. They run hot in stock configuration.

 

What model of Toyota does the transmission come out of? I have a T 10 Ford four speed that I was going to put behind my 8 BA but I think a bit lower rear gear and the five speed might be a better all around combination.

 

This is called the Toyota W50 or commonly called a Toyota Steel Case Box. I have seen these and the newer W55 & W57 boxes behind Flatheads in many cars. They are very well suited to the massive HP that a Flathead puts out

The gear Ratio's for my Box (W50) are:-

1st - 3.03:1
2nd - 1.92:1
3rd - 1.31:1
4th - 1.00:1
5th - 0.84:1

 

Nice, very nice.

 

Errr...could you pls elaborate ?

Rat

 

Why not talk to Ian from lilow about repairing the rails - I've seen him do wonders repairing other 32 rails, that had been given up for dead.
He has all the jigs and CNC programming to make the job so much easier - then Ben can work his magic.