Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

Thanks. Mine measures 53.25” between the rear tires, so my 62” wide rear is just right for my wheel backspacing.

 

Today was a WIN!
As you probably remember, a previous owner notched the back of my 1934 frame to allow for additional suspension travel for a rear end that I’m not going to use. Bad idea IMO.
Today I repaired what they did. I used a piece of 5/8” round bar and 10 gauge steel to build back the frame for a factory appearance without compromising structural strength.
I’m happy it’s done. Bad weather kept me from finishing one small area, but I’ll knock that out tomorrow or Monday.

 

Looks great!

 

Good work! Strange how years ago we found something we wanted to build and now we have to fix what someone else built before we can build what we want.

 

Today I finished the last piece of frame repair.
Next is media blast. Everyone wants $700 for just the frame. Gonna save the money and just do it myself I guess.
I’ll order and likely test fit rear suspension (then remove it) before boxing.

 

Man, you're moving forward very well sir! Keep us posted!

 

Isn't that the real truth... The wiring that was done in my '31 was disgusting - 10 gauge wires spliced into 18 gauge, inline fuses on every single instrument gauge and other areas, etc. But in the late 60's when my '31 was built into a hot rod, I believe that a professional wiring kit was not available. The trans crossmember was hand built from scratch, no patch panels were available at the time either. Honestly, it was a tough task to build a hot rod for the DIY'er at home during the pre '70's... Next year, in 2025, it'll be my 30th anniversary of owning my '31 AND trying my best to get her back on the street once again!!

 

Still no patch panels for mine but there is very little rust to repair. Just the &@*% wood.

 

I’m going to switch topics.
I sold the Corvette C4 rear axle last weekend. Good riddance.
I bought a 1987 Camaro IROC rear axle. The seller said it was a 3.42 but it turns out he was wrong. It’s actually a 3.23. Posi and in good shape inside.
I took a break from the frame tonight. Weather was not conducive for media blasting. Too humid.
I wire brushed and cleaned the very little bit of grease from the Camaro rear axle. The brake hard lines are in good shape. I noticed a few unusual things and thought I’d point them out to you. The passenger side caliper connects to the hardline with a brake hose. The caliper on the passenger side is positioned in front of the axle. The driver side caliper is positioned behind the axle and connects directly to the hard line. I’m curious about the engineering of that.
When I see casting marks with a letter and a few numbers, it usually indicates the month, day, and year of the casting. I’m having trouble figuring this one out since there are two marks to decipher.
I think I’ll be happy with a 3.23 rear gear. A SBC 283 performs pretty well with RPMs around 2400 and that’s exactly where I’ll be at 65 mph with a 28.9” diameter tire. I know this from experience because my 1965 C10 truck also has a 283 and the same size tires and runs very well at that speed and RPMs. My 283 is freshly rebuilt with a Comp Cams 268H cam for a slightly lopey idol.

 

GREAT choice on that nostalgia V-8 Jay - love those small block 283 engines with steel cranks! My hot rod originally was built with a 1961 283 truck engine with a Turbo 400 trans behind it.

I'm also scratchin' my head on the caliper placement, never seen that setup before. Have you measured that IROC rear yet?

 

The rear is 62” wide between WMS and that works great with my current wheels and tires. I have 53.25” from inside tire to inside tire.

 

Looks like the calipers are identicle, maybe this saved $$ on having to make two different calipers, one left one right. If you want either facing the front or rear, looks like they're mounted on a seperate plate bolted to the housing, can you turn one mount over half a turn so the calipers face the same way?
Trouble is doing this will have one bleeder on the bottom, so you will need to bleed this caliper off the mount, with the bleeder up, then refit.

 

I should be done media blasting the frame by tomorrow. Not spotless but good enough. It’s not a Ferrari.
Picked up the 10 gauge metal for boxing the frame today. That will start soon.

 

Chassis has been blasted. Took 3X longer than I thought it would. Glad it’s done.
Link to video.

 

Chopped unwanted brackets off the rear axle tonight. I left anchor points for the brake lines, but they might need to be removed too. We will see.
I sent an email to St. Louis Spring to see if they can make the rear springs I need. Posies sells them as a kit which makes it easy.
Anyone have tips on making a frame table to mount and square up my frame? My shop floor is 100% level so that’s a good start.

 

I’m pretty sure they had one in Mad Fabricators Society, I think it was in the Bob Bleed episodes. Also pretty sure that Iron Traps Matt had a how to on his or Eastwoods YT channel. They’re pretty straightforward, just keep it square and level and check everything before/after you weld you uprights to the table and frame to the uprights.

 

Here is the one we built for my once again stalled '26 roadster build. Leroy & Bruce did most of the work. It is buried in my shop waitron for the next round of shop cleaning to free it. When I get to rebuilding all the wood the table may have to be too tall. It would be nice to be able to adjust the height.

 

Sprayed 2 part epoxy primer tonight. Only sprayed it inside the rails and bottom of the rear crossmember. Barely done before dark. I’ll remove just enough of the primer to box weld the frame and apply more primer on the inside of the weld seams as I box the frame.
Video link HERE.

 

Jay you’re killing man. Frame looks great; the daily progress is impressive

 

Frame is off the rotisserie.
Body is back on the dollie.
Boxing plate steel is ready. All 10 gauge.
Gotta get the frame squared. My floor is perfectly level in both planes.
I had to media blast a few areas again on the frame because of some flash rust. Then I sprayed Rustoleum Rust Reformer on the outside of the frame rails as a primer. More primer later. Good enough for now.

 

Looking good!

 

Picked up a roller a few months ago


sorry for the crappy pic.

 

Progress….messing around with engine placement

 

That is very nice!! Glad to see the Chevy suspension. The slicks look cool.

 

Personally glad to see another '31 AE Independence Sport Coupe like my own! Give us some more details on your build or even much better, start your own thread @Crkrjac!

 

The rear window slides down! Is that OEM? Or custom work?

Six Ball, What vendors might sell the correct Chevy front crossmember if I decided to do parallel front suspension? St Louis Spring can make the springs I’d need. Not sure what axle I’d need. Still have to solve a bunch of details before I can consider front parallel.

 

I bought 4 scissors type jacks ($6 each) at the salvage yard. Much better fine adjustment than bottle jacks.
I'm supporting the underside of the middle of the frame with very stiff angle iron. I think it's 3/16".
As it currently sits on the jackstands, there is a thin shim under the driver side front horn to bring the frame horns perfectly level.
The mid-frame angle iron with the scissors jacks is also level but with no shim.
I need to establish a centerline and make sure I am square left to right. My shop floor is perfectly level in two planes. So, I might not need a frame table.

 

I am not aware of a source for a new crossmember. You will likely need to find a used one or build one. Chevy used a lot of different frames and different crossmembers. I'm sure others here know mire about the one you need than I do. I have 3 crossmembers for my roadster frame and none of them are the correct one.
I am using a Chevy pickup axle. '51 to mid '55 maybe later were the same and use Bendix brakes which are better than Huck. The drums are the same '51 to '70. The '50s axles are heavier than the original. If lowness is a goal you may want a dropped axle. Sid's has a good site with good pictures and axle specs.
https://droppedaxles.com/chevy-dropped-axles-0

 

There was a very poor condition 34 Master 5W coupe for sale recently in my area. Never saw it in person but I saved this picture from the FB marketplace listing. Might be an original front CM.