Projects My First Hot Rod Build

Back at it over the last couple days. Ended up borrowing a couple different front spindles from a friend to try out different layouts on the steering. I have since abandoned my original Y-link setup and went to a true crossover. Reason being is that with rotation of the arm, plus the rotation of the y-link located tie rod, there was to much downward movement. This resulted in hitting the radius arm. If I made to so it did not hit, it would be to high and have conflict with the frame under full up travel. Back to the drawing board I went sorta speak.


Made a tool to set toe in I figured I'd post. Just a tube with a set screw and a solid stock rod that is a tight fit, which slides back and forth. Get the front set, and check the gap out back or vice-versa. I usually do it on a specific spot on the tire, but for this small of a tire I'm going to just go off the bead of the wheel since I know thats true.


I will be running the double ended spindle on the passenger side and a single on the driver's side. I can't run the stock ones because they hit the axle while at full lock. Even if they were bent I don't think I would have enough room. I ordered the parts which should be here in a few days to get it wrapped up.


In all of this I completely forgot about finding proper Ackerman. This can effect how the steering arms sit dramatically. So I got the car sitting on solid supports and back at ride height. I went about finding the centerline of the rear axle shaft and the centerline of the chassis. Put some tape on the floor and marked those out.


Next was to move to the front and get the spindles dead straight/parallel to centerline of chassis. After that I found the center of the kingpin and again, taped and marked the floor.



Here you can see at the end of the pin where a stock arm location was in correspondence to the line it needs to be on. I won't be using these arms but it was a good test to see how close I really was just from a new build standpoint. My chrome arms to give reference were about triple that distance away. So you can see how moving/bending the arm 1/2" can drastically effect the steering setup in all forms.

 

Nice work...good job on posting your progress.

Your axle doesn't appear to be any different from most. I'm not sure why you can't heat and bend your steering arms to clear the drop. It's been traditional for only about 70 or 80 years or so.

 

Thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it!
I borrowed the 2 sets I tested with, so I don't want to bend those since they are going back. The arms I do have are chrome so those unfortunately cant/shouldn't be bent. I ordered stainless arms so I can bend them slightly to line up to get proper Ackerman angles. I cant wait for them to show up so I can keep moving forward. Once I get the Ackerman figured and the tie rod set, I will work on locating the steering gear box. Then the column rough location. I don't think I will set the column until I have the proper diameter steering wheel, but I might, who knows.

 

I'd be looking for a set of '38-41 (round back) or '46-48 (square back) spindles with stock steering arms. Apply heat and bend as required to clear your axle.

 

Since I can't move or disturb the chassis or body due to the Ackerman lines on the floor matching its location, I decided to do some work to the steering column.

First thing is the lower mount. Now, I don't technically know where it will sit since the body and pedals aren't mounted. That doesn't have anything to do with how it will get mounted though. First thing was to get a tube that fit the outer diameter of the steering column.


At the end of the column is a brass bushing. The hole is for a zerk fitting so it can be greased up. That said I needed to keep that there, so I drilled a hole just large enough for a socket to fit.




After that I had to figure a way to secure the sleeve to the column. I probably over complicated this part but why not, I had time. I didn't want to see the bolts so they were indexed to the bottom of the column. I put the sleeve in the spot where the zerk opening was good. I then out a tack to hold it in place. After that I drilled three 1/4" holes.


After that I decided I wanted to have the nuts inside. It would have been much easier to use blind nuts, but with the sleeve it didn't work. So I decided to bolt up the 3 bolts and then tack the nuts to a strip of steel. The strip will hold the nuts inside the column tube so I could tig them on from the top side.


After I burned the nuts into place on the inside of the steering column I broke the strip off that held the nuts in place. Ran a tap through the threads to make sure they were good to go. Put it in the lathe real quick to chamfer and sand the ends of the sleeve. Bolted it back up to test fit final assembly and it works perfect. I just need some shorter 1/4-28 bolts and it will be ready to go. I'll use this sleeve to weld to the frame at some point. It just gives me a good spot to attach things. This way, if needed the column can come out of the floor super easy later.





Next will be the column mount. That won't be done till the body is mounted on the chassis, pedals are in and the seat is in. Parts should be here soon to keep moving with the steering, or at least I hope.

 

Finally got the parts in and decided to spend some time in the shop today after work. Did the layout again on the floor to double check my lines. Installed the new arms and found that they were 1/4" off to the inboard side of the line. So, time to break out the torch.

I made a quick fixture to bolt the arms in. This gave me multiple points of reference while bending. It also gave me a good solid base to be bending the arms. I clamped them to my rack in the shop. That won't go anywhere so it's a nice solid thing to bolt to.




After letting them cool down and using some compressed air to aid in cooling, they were ready to be bolted up. I bent the passenger side first. I got it close the first attempt, but it took a few more tries to get it where I was happy. After that I used that measurement to get the drivers side. Bent that up on the first try, probably because I was able to index it off the other based on my fixture. As you can see there is a dot at the end of the pen. That was so close I decided not to mess with anything, figured it woild be splitting hairs at that point. I'm also not a fan of heating stuff up over and over.


Next on the list was to get the spindles pointing straight and then figure a tiny bit of toe in for now. It's set around 1/16" to 1/8". I used the spindle backing plate surface to get a toe in measurement based off the centerline and square of chassis. Easy enough not to bother with pictures. After that I measured eye to eye to get my tie rod length. Set that up, fine tuned it again for toe. Then I set the drag link. This is where things went a different direction. The drag link is about 3/4" of an inch too high. I need to get it level with the tie rod. So I've got some options to work with. Either lower the box, which will put it lower than I think I like.
Bend the pitman arm (which I really don't want to do) or cut the pitman eye off, flip it and then tig it back up. Those are the 3 options I can think of at the moment. I'd prefer not to see the top bolt location above the frame rail on the steering box. It might have to though. I'll get back out and study it some more later.

 

Heat and drop then bring it back to the correct angle 3/4" lower...unless its cast then dont do that haha if its cast dont even think about considering contemplating it

 

Taper the hole in the pitman arm halfway from the other side. Then the rod end will fit from below, and you can raise the box. I've done the arms on spindles before and it has worked just fine for many thousands of miles.

 

Those should only be bent if they are forged. Cast is a big no no. Plus, air is totally the wrong thing to do to them. The heat needs to come down SLOWLY. This typically done by burying them in kitty litter or sand and leaving for the afternoon. Had an old time welder/blacksmith/fabricator help me the first time.

 

wonderethatd that... too
Otherwise great work!

 

Okay, I know there was some grumbling about the air cooling. Let me just preface this by saying I cooled the eye only enough to use the string line without melting it. After that I let it cool slowly. You can use air to cool, just not water or other liquid to quench it. Some will argue that, but that's fine, it works. I don't have time to convince people who don't have real world experience with this method that it works. Now onto the project at hand. Steering and more steering work.

Now that the arms are done. Oh, and on that note I will be taking them to the engine shop for a proper Magnaflux just to check for cracks. I would do this no matter how you bend your arms. It's just a piece of mind one should do if they can. The steering arms I have are not cast as well.

Made me a flat plate to mount the box to. I'm not into buying parts just because, I'd rather fab something if I can. So it doesn't look like every Vega bracket out there. Notched the frame on the top side only for it and drilled holes for the box.


Next I welded some nuts to the back side. I did struggle with exactly how I wanted to do this. I originally had plans to drill the frame and weld in some 3/4 tube that was turned in the lathe to create a shoulder. Basically allowing an Allen bolt to sit flush with the outside of the frame rail. I decided not to do this and to drill the two lower box bolt holes out. The reason for the offset on the but location is the taper of the frame. I ran it in the belt sander to keep the box level at ride height.



Next step was to cut it so it's not just a flat plate, but more of a contour to the upper bolt hole on the box. I'll be honest, the offset hole bugs me. I wish the box was cast this way but it wasn't. The bracket will be final welded later. Then it will be ground and sanded smooth to the top of the frame rail.


Made a template and small gusset/cover for the top bolt on the box. It's got a curve on back and front, basically a U shape I bent over the bracket. This way it lined up with the inner frame edge and still extended enough to cover the spacer for the box.


Went to the hardware store and picked up a steel spacer. Chucked it up in the lathe and cut it into 3 equal spacers. Then welded them to the bracket. Like a standard Vega bracket would have.


Welded up a few things. Tossed the bracket back on the frame and got it in its final spot. Put 4 tacks on it to keep it in place for now. Picked up 3 bolts with longer shoulders on them. I had to cut them down so just the threads go into the nuts and the steering box. That way the box working won't kill the threads and spacers over time. I won't do any final welding till I can test it fully. It's very snug, no bolt hole wobble at all and I'm happy with how it turned out.



Next move will be the body. I've got some time working with the lower sheetmetal of the body to get it fitting the frame proper enough to bolt it down.

Thanks for checking out the progress!

 

Body sheetmetal work has begun. Aside from the prior cutting to sit the body over the frame just a bit the back trunk area needed a ton of work. I picked up a kit from Steadfast a while back to make this a bit quicker for me. Not to thrilled with how thier fitment/quality control is but, I'm making it work. The back trunk panel they send out was warped quite a bit. I imagine from bead rolling it and not pre-stretching? I don't know but it was twisted. I fixed that though, so time to move on.

On a side note, I don't know how long this car had sat before I picked it up. If memory serves I was told something in the range of late 60's early 70's is when it hit the road last. Judging by the pil sticker I found on the door stating the date (11-22-63), I'd say late 60's.


Here's the Steadfast kit. Most of what you need to fix up the rear trunk portion and side rails. Easy enough, so I dove straight in. It's a fairly universal kit for the most part. No exact specs or directions came with it.


I needed to clean up the metal some where the side rails slid into the rear corner pockets. So I put up some plastic and got the portable sand blast box out. Made some dust, but not to bad at all. Cleaned up the metal as it should.


Quick shot of the cleaned up areas needed for welding.


Cut the factory bent in portion off, straightened up the upper and lower rails, cut a plate to fit in and welded both sides up. I will eventually use this as a good surface to weld a body mount to. The frame is has been cut about a half inch away from this point.


Next bit was to break out some cardboard and make a cut template to notch the rails back into the lower corner pockets. Got the rough shape, then did some grinding to get it fitting snug. I'm happy with both sides and how they fit now. I'll probably replace the fender panels eventually since they are pretty toast on the lower side.

 

Before I got to carried away, I should have mentioned above how I squared the back half of the car up. I had braces welded in place but they were in my way. So I set everything down and cut them off. Zero movement at that point. But I found that even small hits would move the body. I squared it up numerous times over this event. The final one being after the rear plate was in place. Before I put tacks on it and clamps to hold it in place.

After I got both rails fitting the rear pockets good, I cut them to length in the band saw. Squared up the factory sides and put a few tacs on to hold them in place. Again, checking square before and after.


I layed the panel in ans put some marks on it to cut. Not 100% Parallel, but I'm not sure if the old stuff was either. I'm guessing not. However, got that cut and fitting well. Put a couple tacs on it after yet again checking square. All was well in the world until I set the body back on the frame. I completely neglected to check where the rear crossmember sat in relation to the new floor pan. Nope, not even close, so I had to pull it out and cut 5" off so it would clear the crossmember. Plus I left 1/2" for clearance. Nothing like doing things 2 times. Good lesson for those who just burn it in, never do that until ya know for certain lol. Guess that's why 90% of this is still just tacked in place.


Under the rear I primed it and stuck a small piece of weatherstripping under where it bolts to the body. I kept the rear portion bolted in, just in case the rear valance portion had to ever come back out. I also didn't weld that to the rails. Everything should be serviceable, or at least easier to service opposed to welding everything in place.


This portion turned out good. I have yet to put the second crossmember in place or weld in the little top rail extensions that come with the kit. Those little extensions are about 3/16" too short in height at the point where it meets the stock stuff. I'll either fill it with weld or make another set. Haven't figured that out yet. Onto the next steps of sheetmetal work!

 

I've been tackling the sheetmetal on the body to prep it for the frame. Lots of Notching, cutting and welding. So far ita coming along nicely. I'll try to let the pictures show what's going on. Lots of work, and little to show.

Since the back and sides in the truck area were wrapped up, I needed to move to the next crossmember area at the rear of the seat. I had the K-member crossing through this spot so I decided to make the support stretch out to the rear some. It avoided lots of notching in the corners. There wouldn't be much material left for support as well. So this is why I went further back. I carefully cut out the old section to give me a blank slate.


After that I cut a piece of 3/4"×3/4"x.125 angle iron to span across the rear side. This gave me a lip for the rear wood to lay plus a top edge to weld to. Then I cut and layed in a piece of 16 guage sheetmetal. On the front leading edge directly under the rear of the seat I used 3/4"×3/4"×.065. This square tube will be the support for the seat bracket, I still need to build tabs to lay the plywood floor down in this area as well.




Had to notch and weld up the 3/4" square tube. Once I get body mounts in there will be plenty of clearance between the frame and notch. I tied it into the original sheetmetal at both ends. The 3/4" fits nicely into the stock area.


Next was the front seat crossmember area. On the back side under the seat I opted to just plate the stock area. I didn't want to cut out the original one since it's a good reference point still. Plus with the tall side I could get away with a plate instead of having to run square tube.

 

The front section under the seat was replaced with another 3/4"×3/4"x.065 square tube. It also has the same notches to clear the K-member. Once that was in, it was time for the front and front sides. I had cut the front body mounts out a while ago. I had also made patches for it to tack in place. I got those tacked in on both sides.




I welded up the front sections completely.


Next I moved to the angle iron on the sides. I decided I won't be putting a wood floor down in the old lower area. The body simply sits to low for this, so I will be fitting wood on the top side instead. This meant I didn't need to factor in a lip for it to sit on like the rear sections. So I trimmed the edges flat and notched the doubled up area under in one spot. It's where the body sheet metal meets a second section, so it made the angle iron not sit flat. Easy enough, so that was trimmed clean so I can weld that up later.


I tacked both sides in place, and trimmed off the outter edges on the front to fit the profile of the cowl.


This isn't the final weld and sand, it's just to get the profile back for the underside metal I'll be putting in for the body mount.

 

After messing with the original sheetmetal supports and whatnot I moved to the "extras". This included some braces and extra support in specific areas. Nothing is final welded just yet to test fitment.


The front section where the body attaches needed some extra support so I decided to plate it with 1/8" to match the thickness of the angle iron I'd previously installed.

A shot with no 1/8" metal, note the extra layer under I tried to explain earlier.


A shot with the 1/8" plate. It will weld to the angle iron, the extra layer of sheetmetal and the front cowl. Trying to tie in everything as best I can.


I then lowered the body on and checked out fitment. Couple quick cuts and it was set. So I went about locating the body on the frame exactly where it would live. Front to back side to side was measured and set exact. I was surprised it was dead on all directions, but I guess that's what good planning, patience and a tape measure will get ya in the end. I drilled all 6 mounting holes, it will have 2 more at the door A pillar area, but I haven't got to them yet. I've got 2 up front, 2 above the rear frame crossmember and 2 at the B pillars. After that I raised the body back up to put sleeves in the channels at the B pillar and rear portions of the body.


Tiged them in place.


After that I moved to the one area.that was a bit of a mess for cutting and fitting. So much had been cut and moved in this location that I wanted to simplify it some. I fitted up some sheetmetal for this location, the location of the B Pillar body mount. The little 3/16" hole up in the channel is the location of the body mount.


They fit good so after the final test fit I burned them in. I will sleeve these mounts as well.

 

I got a little side tracked on the body and went back to the frame real quick. Since the body and chassis were final located, I decided to work on the back section for my trailer hitch. I plan to tow a small trailer with this at some point and want to put a receiver on it. Not normal I know, but that's my plan. I want to tuck it up so it can't be seen. All I want to look at is the receiver opening if possible, which I think is doable.

First step was to figure out how I wanted to go about it. I grabbed some 1/4" wall angle iron I had laying around and decided it woild work nicely for this. I clamped a level in place to keep them flat and parallel to the frame and each other during mock up.




After that I sanded down to bare metal in the spots to be welded. I made a cardboard template for the angle of the framerail to transfer to the angle iron. Got those cut and fitted nice. Then I marked the top framerail to be cut.


Buzzed those off real quick and did another once over to make sure it was good. Put some chamfered edges in spots that were butted up. Tacked both sides in place.

Did another check after tacking them in place, and then decided I wanted a little extra support on the outer end. So I grabbed some 1"×.125 flat bar and contoured it the the ends of the rails. Put a little radius on the inboard side and tacked that in place. All was well so I got the torch out and put a little heat on the metal. It was 24 degrees outside, snow covered and maybe 50 in the shop, so everything needs some warming up. Don't worry, I covered the wheels and tires, as well as the differential with a welding blanket to not damage them. Also wrapped the chrome spring with my leather welding coat to keep that decent as well.


Love welding overhead, nothing like a shower of molten metal to warm ya up.


Here's a pic of the final look. It all sits about 3/4" above the lower body line. Should hide nicely. I might build a bumper to fit into the receiver when not in use, who knows.

 

Subscribed. This is a great thread!

 

Some lovely neat work there, good planning makes things easier later on!

 

Thanks seadog and Outback, I appreciate the comments, they help keep me moving along!

Been working on things that aren't very glorious but have to be done. Specifically all the final welding. Takes time and doesn't photo well. However I did get a few shots of all the holes in the firewall being cleaned up. Sanded the paint down on the inside and outside of the firewall. Drilled out some of the ragged looking ones, and then took a round file to all of them to clean up the rust and paint. I did have some large holes so I made some round plugs out of some sheetmetal to weld in. After all the cleaning I welded it all up. Grabbed the grinder and hit all the high spots followed by the flap disk and final 80 grit sand pad. Did the same thing on the inside as well.

Had quite a few hole, not near as bad as some rigs I'm sure but plenty enough. Sometimes I wonder why so much junk has been drilled into the firewall on such a simple car.


One could say I had to have a few different size files! The big holes that are dimpled in were drilled out larger with a hole saw. Then plugged with new metal.


One of the holes plugged with the sheetmetal I shaped on the belt sander.


All welded up. Quite a few nearly put of site as well on the lower portion of the firewall.


Ground down and ready for spot paint. Just flat black is what I'll run for now, or some kind of low sheen. I'll probably brush it on, I'd say that would be the correct way of doing it in the day.


After I got the firewall cleaned up I had to get the body bolted down. All the holes had been located and drilled. This go around I needed to fit the poly body mounts in. I made a set for the front which were 1/4" by cutting them on the bandsaw. I wish I had a vertical band saw bit I don't complain too loud. Slid the body mount over a tool I've got which held it well. Spun it around in the clamp of the saw to cut all the way around the bushing. Bingo, I had some different sizes. These mounts are for an older Willys Jeep.



The mounts are 3/4" thick new. Since I was trying to line the bottom of the body up with bottom of the frame rail, I had to work with sizes. At first the 1/4" front and 1-1/2" in the back was to much. Too high in the back and to low in the front. Mind you the frame slopes in the rear, so it needs more height. Final resting spot was easy enough. Made some 3/8" fronts and those worked perfect. Took the 1/4" ones from the front and used them out back with 1 of the 3/4" ones. So total in the rear is 1", and that was spot on with the front. All the centers I will have to work with later to get doors to operate properly and what not. Didn't get my fingers to much while sanding them down to size. My picky side kicked in and I used a micrometer to get the bushings dead on with each other too.



So with the body now fitted to the frame where it will live, the next step was flooring. Onto the next phase!

 

The floors will be 1/2" birch cabinet grade plywood, the good stuff one could say. I had a bunch of cardboard laying around so I went to town making a mess with it. Cut out templates for the front, under the seat, behind the seat and trunk area.



Broke out the wood tools to make some dust. On the front floorboard, I wanted to tie in the kick panel as well. I decided to make a piece to join the 2 together. Broke out the biscuit joiner, some #10 biscuits and titebond 2 glue and married everything together. That gave me some good support for the floor and kickpanel to mount together.



Clamped it all up and left it inside the house overnight. It was too cold to leave in the shop to dry well.



I spent some serious time on the kick panel. There are multiple layers glued together and then profile sanded to fit the shape of the bellhousing area. I should have got a pick of that but didn't. I'll probably bondo it up underneath and then fiberglass over it to give it some more strength. The 2 together can come out in one piece or separately.

This is the shot with cardboard though.


Last shot of the front, didn't get the back done yet. Under the seat panels also come out in 2 pieces if needed. They will be screwed in from under the car. Those panels don't need to be removed so I figured the serviceability didn't really matter on those.



Before I get too far I should mention that the floor will be held down by 10-24 stainless machine screws. I have rivnuts on the floor to hold it down. The upper mounts on the kick panel are Tee Nuts pressed into the wood that are 1/4-20. 2 bolts on the top on each side. Super easy to unbolt from the engine side of the firewall.

Now the time has come to locate the hole for the pedals and column. I started by tracing the pedals and firewall opening on the back side. Took the kick panel out and layed it out for cutting. Poked 4 holes in the corner for a small radius and then cut the hole out. Sanded it a little and re-installed it. Pedals work perfectly in the holes, column slides through good and sets in there rather nicely for a rough location.



Front shot of the column sitting in a random location. This will change some with the column mount I'm making. Sure ain't much room when ya get the column and pedals in.



Next step will be to put the seat in and locate the column via how I sit in the car. I plan to run a 15" steering wheel, which I don't have yet. Swap meet is coming up soon.

 

When welding up holes that are jagged, a cone drill does a good job of making them round. A friend had a heap of wads made & opens holes out to those sizes.

 

in your search for chassis numbers you have a gas bottle id try burning off the paint you know the approx location.burn and scrape the paint away till you find the numbers .sanding is the last resort in my book and take pictures plenty pictures chris

 

Yeah, unfortunately I didn't have a step bit quite large enough to clean up the holes good. That would have been way easier though.

 

Spent some time woking on the steering column location and brackets. In a previous post I made an end for it that was a sleeve I could weld to. I've completely changed that now. I wanted to use the old F100 bracket but it wasn't long enough. So I had some decisions to make. I want to keep the old dash setup, but I needed a place for at least 3 guages. So I came up with basically just making the smaller stock column bracket larger. I copied the angles of the stock one and basic shape. It has the area now for 3 guages.

First step was the template. I took angles off the original with my protractor so I could copy the original shape. Transfered it off to the metal to cut. I set guage location, but they probably won't stay in this location. I just needed it for size. These are 2-5/8" guages as well.


After bending the edges in the break and hand bending the other 2 the next stwp was the mounting arch and strap for the column. Took some tube that was the same outter diameter as the column tube. Hammered it out just a little bit to compensate for the rubber ring, to keep it from being too tight. Cut it to the same width as the stock one.


Next was the strap, same deal here, just copy the old one. After a little more working after this photo it set flat. Drilled some mounting holes on each bracket.


Drilled 2 holes for mounting it to the dash, a tight fit for sure. Bolted it in about 5 times to get the angle proper to fit the column angle. Final welded the 2 lower corners as well. The original dash barely clears it, if not touching barely, but I like it and it will give me a good spot for guages.

 

Wow!
What a Great Car to start With!
No Rot? At all?
Coolio!!

 

Steering column was now ready to go in for some better test fitting. After tossing the seat in, getting it set front to back where I'd like it to be for my legs, I wasn't loving how far the column stuck past the firewall. Made a call to a friend after looking at it to get an outside opinion. He was in agreement that it needed shortened. Not only that but he made mention that I should check with the head in place. I'm sure glad he did, because it was a little close for comfort.


I took the u-joint and set it next to the head in line with the column. I wanted the small skinny area on the ujoint to be in location at the corner of the head, giving me maximum space. Marked the column and set it in the bandsaw for trimming.


After the trimming I grabbed a spare bearing from my Cyclekart stash. I soon found out that the original steering shaft was not true to round or size. I put it in the lathe and took a little off it to true it up to 3/4" and the bearing fit great. After that I clamped it up in the Mill to machine the flats for the DD ujoint. After the Mill I put it back on the lathe for a finish sanding. The Ujoint fit perfect, in fact way better than the old one, which looked like it was done with an angle grinder.


After that I tossed the lower bearing on. Used some flange sealant, had this laying around from transfercase rebuilds and it works nicely on close fit metal surfaces that you want to hold in place with medium strength.


Put everything back together and clamped the column in place to check fitment. Also double checked that my turn signal switch would clamp to the column with some free space, just to make sure it fit well. Checked the clearance with the column and joint, which was now plenty good. Happy with this setup now. I will clean up the metal at the firewall, but the body stays on for now till I get the tunnel work and floor work done.


Next was the lower firewall bracket for the column. I decided to go between the pedals and then I will fill in the sides later where the pedals travel. I want to use some kind of gasket for the pedals to seal them up at the firewall, haven't got that far yet. Grabbed the paper and made a template, transfered it to the metal and cut it out. I don't have a current pic of that but it fits nice. After I get my steering wheel here I'll locate it all for good, but I did make a mockup wheel for testing to get this far.


The original F100 wheel is 18" in diameter. It really crowds the cockpit, looks disproportionate, and just feels off. I made a 15" wheel for a mockup. It feels good, fits nice and gives me easy access to the shift handle. It also gives me more room from the door to the wheel which I wanted. Going with the 15" Bell 4 spoke design.


Next move is the trans tunnel. Stay tuned!

 

Onto the tunnel work. I decided to make a template as most fabricators do. However, I made one mistake in doing so. I cut the steel to the shape of the template. Not wrong, but I didn't make it easy on myself. After taking the cut piece of steel to a friend's place who knew much more than me about making one, he informed me that the best practice would have been to leave a larger portion of material on the sides. The reason for this I very soon found out. When you go to bend this over a tube or cylinder you will find that the center is relatively easy, minus some pushing and grunting to get it started. After you work toward the outside it becomes more of a struggle. You have absolutely no leverage to push with. Since I had cut it to fairly rough shape I needed to bend it nearly to the outter edge. While I managed to get it, I will never make that simple mistake again. Next time I'll leave a good 6" or so extra. Then place the template on as I bend.


The tools of the trade. Simple but effective. Different sized pipe and cylinders are your friend.


Got it bent to my liking. I wanted more of a pointed crown then a round tunnel. My reason was for more foot room for the throttle pedal. The peak would clear the trans. Since the sides of the transmission weren't very tall I could get away with this. I did some final trimming at the rear and front to meet those surfaces well. Made some notes, put some lines on for the flanges and set off to my friends place.


We tossed it in the break to make some flanges. After getting home I did a little bit of work to get it sitting right. Next step was the front flange. I decided to cut out a piece, trace out a line, then cut it. Tack welded it on and then pulled it out for final welding. I used a little trick for this process though. I traced the flange, then pre-cut it almost all the way through except for 3 spots. One on each side and one in the middle. This gave it just enough rigidity to hang in place in the car to tack weld it. Reason I did this is to make my life easier. If the steel rested on the floor it made it easier to tack in place. Had I not done this it would have had to be taped in place. This was super simple and easy to do. Plus I could final weld it, then bend the back off like a tab. Notice the flat end/foot. That's what sat on the floor.


Got the flange welded up, then decided on need to drill some mounting holes. Got those done and then figured out exactly where the shifter hole needed to be. A bit tricky since on the back side and front side of shifting it only clears the boot ring by 3/16" max. Not much room for error. There is an arm that bolts up to push the shift lever forward, that's why it's offset. I will fill in the 2 sides of the kickplate area later. I'll round them and ease it so carpeting can go in without being a 90° bend.


I'd say shop dog approves!


Next will be finalizing the steering column, column bracket, u-joints and D shaft.

 

Steering column work was about half done at this time so this is more of the fine tuning and buttoning up of the small stuff. I was waiting for the local swap meet to find a steering wheel. While I did find some they were either junk or way over priced. I'm not a fan of spending 600 plus on an original wheel so I sprung for the aftermarket one this go around. After the 15" template I decided on the 15" wheel. After that arrived along with the adapter and horn kit I tossed it on the column. Decided on the in/out location which changed about 3/8" or so from the original location.


Next was to tack weld the lower bracket I had previously made.


Pulled the column out and then final welded the floor column bracket up.


After that I tossed the column back into the car to get the u-joints and D shaft figured out. The shaft can barely come out if you clock the joints just right. I wanted this to service things like headers if need be. I don't want the shaft in the way. I have a final clearance of about 1/2" to the moving parts from the head. I'm happy with how this looks and turned out.


Next step is misc items. I'll probably be working on the rear end to get the tires back on. New bearings are in the mail for those. Final weld the chassis. Final adjustments to the steering. Then some front end misc like new bushings on the kingpins and shock mounts.

Thanks for checking the build out!

 

I've been messing with lots of misc items lately on the A. After the steering I went about taking the body back off the chassis. I hadn't final welded the chassis yet and figured now is a good time. I took the engine and transmission out for better access and went about welding.
Don't worry, carefully covered the rear end and chrome leaf spring out back before welding.


Next move was to address the rear axles. Part of why you just seen it on wheel dollys. I had grief with finding the proper bearings, but I found some. The old ones were less than stellar one could say.


One of the axle retainer plates had had a much better day at one point. Not sure what happened but I welded it back up, sanded it down and got it back to decent shape to use.




There is a sad reality here with these bearings. I always thought Timken was a good bearing. Turns out these are now made in China. While not everything made there is bad quality, I'd prefer US made ones. I did find that Strange bearings were made in US, but they didn't fit this ford 9" axle. SKF from Napa is made in China, but look and feel good. The Timken ones were over half as much cheaper then the SKF, so I'm taking a chance on them being decent.


As seen in the photo above there are no wheel studs. One axle was good, and after further inspection I found the threads to be bad on the inner portion. So, I knocked all those out and picked up some new ones at Napa. Good thing they still have the old books laying around! It's too old for thier computer system to look it up he said.


Next step was the kingpin bushing. These are who knows how old and not feeling quite right. I picked up 4 new bushings for them and made a little driver on the lathe.


Again, upon further close inspection I found one huge issue. I knew one pin was an absolute fight to get in after it was on the axle. Found out why, there was a large burr from a top side hit on the corner of one of the spindle bushing openings. This had to of been there prior to the bushing being put in because the bushing was deformed all the way down and not just where the burr was. I spent a little time carefully filling it down. Here is what the bearing looked like after pressing it out the direction it was pressed in. Gives ya an idea of what I was talking about. On the inside there was a flat spot. Some would think the reamer would have got this, but nope. Maybe it wasn't reamed after??


Took the zerks out and cleaned up the holes good to get the grime out, wiped down the interior surfaces where the bushings will live, then made my way to the press. Put a little red dot on the top of the bushings to indicate the grease hole. Then set about pressing them all in. Dang it if that little tool didn't work like a dream! This was driving them out, the zerks were left out on install.


That's it for now. I've been working on the brakes to get those going. Also getting items together for wiring. I'll be taking the spindles to a friend's house to have him help me ream them to proper size. Then the front end will go back in the car. Shock mounts and brakes will be done out front soon too.