Projects Our Model A

Well; if we go the '32 frame route we want that frame to accent the body; like it was designed to do on the '32 cars (because the splash aprons were eliminated). We are going to buy a '32 frame and set it up and then put the body on that and go from there. We work out of a normal household 1 car garage so it's going to be very difficult...in the dead of winter....for us to set up a frame and have somewhere to store the body, old ch***is, and parts. That's why; right now, we are removing fenders and things to try and decide where we are going to go from here. If we sell off the parts we dont want; we can garnish the cash to buy a mostly set-up '32 frame. catch my drift? We're not like a lot of HAMBers who have relatively plentiful space and access to a lot of things Unfortunately we have to work with what we have and unfortunately that often takes twice as much work as it should. We'll figure it out as we go I guess. First on the list is getting a ch***is and setting the nailhead up....the body is the last thing we are going to worry about.

They salted the roads yesterday and the snow is now showing up in the forecast more regularly so the car won't be driven for several months....so we might as well get to work

 

Since the fenders were so difficult to remove; the car appears to never have had the fenders off. We were pleasantly surprised to remove the rear fender to discover the fender-well to be in incredible shape. No rot, not rust, and original paint that was lying between the fender and the body. We couldnt be happier right now.....

 

In case you did not know;

The repro 32 style frames to fit Model A bodies, come 2 totally different ways. One style requires a lot of the trunk floor and most of the rear subrails to be cut out.

The other one does not require so much cutting, but looks a bit odd in the way that the 32 rear side rails "just look cut off" just inside the rear wheel well.

Here is a "32 frame choice" thread I did, as a local North Windham friend wants to do his A coupe.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=646740

 

thanks for the link!

 

the blackboardhotrod frames look like what we're after. Already set-up for a Model A and very reasonably priced...but top notch work. Thanks for the help!

 

That's the one I thought was best, overall.

Did you see their "link" halfway down their main page??

check it out, good info. It's a "must read" IMO

http://www.cl***icroad.com/modelA/Pinch.htm

 

thank you for all the help! Im printing stuff out and saving it all for reference. The difference between the '36 that we sold and this car is a major one. We couldnt do the amount of work needed on the '36 with our current cir***stances. This "A" is going to be a fun one for us...this is what we are going to enjoy. We ARE capable of building this car....it's just going to take a lot of learning and gathering of info. Thanks again.

 

2x on the Bishop/Tardel book.

Decent thread about model a's on deuce rails.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=440495

The blackboardhotrod frames look very nice.

 

You'd be surprised at what gets built in one car garages.

 

Or even outside.

A lot of guys on this site are working out of cramped spaces too, you don't need to say--

I'd say 90% of us work out of a cramped space without all of the best tools and machines. Don't act like you're the only one.

Good luck with the build, that's a very clean A to start with and a Nailhead is my engine of choice. I'll be putting one (322) in '32 rails with a '30/'31 coupe body soon enough again.

 

Just a couple of pictures of a 425 in a 30 coupe. Running a stock grill shell and hood. The frame is a 2x5 rec tube duplicate of a stock A.



A you can see the firewall has been reversed and recessed as well. Only way to clear the engine. Don't forget the reference to Rolf's excellent build is on a 32 frame, 3" longer.



Check your waterpump and make sure it is the short one, you will need every inch you can get. Steering is a close fit as well, running a Saginaw 525 box with cross steering and steering column is about 1/2" from starter, with the engine offset to the p***enger side. The gas tank is also history. Don't forget to allow for the SP switches on your throttle linkage.




I replaced the with a middle seat from a Mazda MPV van to get a thinner back for more leg room and removed the rear package shelf as well.

The nailhead is a long engine.

Nothing wrong with working in a single car garage, that is where mine has lived during the whole build.

Canuck

 

i dont mean to sound like a piece of work but i see plenty of threads here on the HAMB (actually the majority that i seem to click on) where everyone is working out of these elborate garages and workspaces, every tool needed (or access to anything they need), friends around who know what theyre doing. With that being said...i've seen cars here on the HAMB that were painted in plastic pop-up garages. Everyone has their own way of doing things but It gets old when people tell me that "oh since you couldnt build the '36 you might as well stick with keeping things simple (and not very desireable) so you dont get stuck in the same problem..." when the issues with the '36 and the issues with the 'A" are not even relatable. The only problem the '36 had was it needed lots of money and patch panels all the way around...and floors. If we had to do that work with the poor quality parts available for that car; we'd be done in about ten years with what tools, space, and knowledge we had. This was not something we were interested in; at all. The only problems with the A is deciding what to run in it, how to build the frame, etc. The body and paint and body work is the easy part for us on this one. Its what to do underneath that would still amount to being traditional yet strong enough to hold up to the 425...thats where its at.

Obviously people are taking my comment (which was not intended to offend), the wrong way so i apologize.

 

WOW! That car loks great! Congratz on the addition to the family.

~ Carl

 

Here's some encouragement.... most builds get really bogged down/abandoned when the body and frame is in very poor shape.

Since you have a good body already, get busy saving up for that ch***is..

It will go fine. May be a bit scary when you have to cut out the rear floor, but you have solid metal to weld to, already.

go for it.

I like stock original cars, but I am not one who says the best cars should be restored. Back 50/60 years ago, they started with mint cars, and some did not even need repaint.

I started my motor again today; I needed to hear it run one more time before pulling it out to put a clutch back in. Spring is coming.........

 

I'd flip the fire wall, and lengthen the frame if I were putting a nail head into a Model A. People do make the common misconception that hot rods are easier to build cause they have less parts. . . but all of those parts are out in the open.

So making things work together, that were never meant to work together, without having sheet metal to hide it under, and without it looking like a mess is the challenge.

Good luck.

 

thanks! we are going to go for it. Tax return money is going to get stashed for a ch***is. And by spring hopefully we will be able to put a nice ch***is together..or at least mostly together.

We took the stocker "A" out on Sunday when it was 18 degrees out. Drove it all the way to Hampton and back. She loved it but it was further proof that we dont want to do 40-45 lol. Thats why we have the plymotuh (which will do 55 compfortably). We dont need another stocker

Spring is coming! Less than 2 months til March! bring it on!

 

nice

 

Another Turkey with no lips. ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzmoooooon

 

great score

 

Looks great Farmergal............had to jack with you earlier on a PM about "a hole' ZMan.

 

We removed thed driver's side rear fender last night to find a nice good sized rust hole in the front corner of the wheel-well. It's a sad find but it's fixable and shouldnt be too bad of a fix. Thanks to road grime getting caught up in there; it's a common place for them to rot. Good news is that it didnt affect the rear quarter panel so YAY!

 

Your overall plan is what I have been doing EXACTLY, except I am going to run a 312 Y block for power. My thread is "another stocker falls"
Check it out and ask as many questions as you like.
I will continue to follow this thread as well!

 

Hey; thanks! I will go check out your thread. Right now we're removing fenders and garnering a gameplan. The driver's side rear fender well has a rot hole in it but nothing that we couldnt fix so its not big deal. Christ; we are pretty fortunate to have something this solid. We feel pretty fortunate that the car obviously had very caring owners its entire life. I will try and keep this thread updated as much as I can. It'll probably sit dormant for awhile as we get a plan together and get a frame, front end, etc. my other half is quite sick right now so we havent been able to work in the garage lately. Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

 

here are some photos of Abilene as she sits right now...

Gary at Black Board Hot Rod Frames is a month or two behind on his frames so we are going to have to wait until we can do much else at this point in time. We're going to clean up the engine and get that ready to go while we wait

 

You guys did good on that buy
nice start

 

thanks we're excited and happy with it.

 

Looks better every time I see it. Lucky dogs.

 

I wanna see it chopped

 

Damn, I hope I can find an A coupe that clean... I want to see it chopped too.

 

the front fender-well has some rust issus thats going to need to be tended to but its a 3 inch diameter circle so it shouldnt be a big deal. so far; thats the only rust on the car....and it's spent its entire life in new england (so we think). pretty nutty,