Been wanting to do this for as long as I can remember and now it's finally happening. Picked up a bodiless 31 Model A roller with a 28 motor after a 2 year search for something in my area. The plan is to build a traditional banger powered hotrod as my dad and uncle would have in the 50's. I'd really love to find a roadster body but am quick learning they're hard to find so a coupe body will suffice. With a few pictures for reference and Vern Tardel's book for guidance, the journey begins. I used to build prerunners back in the day so I'm not completely wet behinds the ears. This forum has been a huge source of information, so I'm hoping all you experts will be able to lend some experience as issues and questions arise. A big thanks in advance! At the moment, the motor is at Bert's in Denver getting rebuilt. Unfortunately, the babbits were close to gone with no shims left. The cam was pretty worn as well, we'll see if it can be ground. Going with a bearing conversion and a high compression head while it's there. Everything is apart and mostly cleaned. The chassis has been blasted, patched, and Z'd with most of the holes filled. I just finished rebuilding the rear end today, it's sitting in the garage with paint drying. Tomorrow the leafs get pulled apart, cleaned, rounded, and painted. Still need to go through the transmission, hopefully everything looks good. Still on the fence about brakes. Would love to do juice brakes but I know nothing in that area..... Wish me luck!
Nice starting point. Add a cowl, a pair of bomber buckets, and a T oval gas tank. You'll have a nice speedster. Add some sort of overhead valve/cam head converson, and it would be really period correct. I'm going to keep watching.
About time you started posting - have fun - don't forget the Banger Form - the guys would like this....and progress.
I am not sure if this type of OHV set up is applicable to your engine, but its very cool for a banger engine.
i bought a brookville body years ago, i know, i know, not a real ford , but for the price of a rotten ford you can have a new body and be on the road before you get old
Ha, I keep navigating to the brookville website after failed attempts to search for a decent body. Just wish the price wasn’t so hefty.
when i bought my brookville 29 roadster in 2007, i think they listed for about 6 grand. i looked for 2 years and at that time, rotten bodys were 2-3 grand, and fairly common. but if you want a good body, i found they only come up for sale about once a year, and they will bring 6 grand and still need work. perfect bodys almost never come up for sale unless you know someone that died and its not on the market yet. when i was looking, my 29 body was on ebay with a buy it now price for 5 grand. some guy didnt pay his bill at a rod shop in florida so they sold his body. i got off work on a friday afternoon and headed south. thought i would sleep in the truck when i got tired...but, zoom, thru chicago...st louis , atlanta at sunrise, loaded the body in north florida in mid afternoon, and still made it out of state before i got a motel and crashed like a zombie. i guess it must be exciting to have a new roadster body!! anyway, it was nice to have new tin even if henry didnt make it.
The Build without a Body could be my title as well My project started because I had a ‘34 flathead that I wanted to hear run I then picked up a A frame and some parts when I tell people that I’m building a 28 model A they ask what body I just say there won’t be a body Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Great start. I did that years ago. I got a Speedway Motors 27 glass body for $4oo. I glassed in a marine plywood floor. Just hop in, and go. The seat folded fowards to access the gas tank. A buggy step plate on the frame to help to get in. No hood, doors, trunk, or top. Just a bare bones Hot Rod, and Low dollar. But FUN....
Thought about a speedster but my heart is set on a steel roadster body. May end up a temporary "speedster" if the body comes late in the game. We'll see how local PD deals with a milk crate racer.
never know where you will find a body - I have placed a wanted ad for a low buck Hot Rod in local throw away classified ads paper and got the call and made the deal - be sure to do likewise here - also, look at zoomthelist.com where you can search all of craigslist - pics are low buck projects that I found this morning that others may need
The juice brake upgrade is fairly easy and traditional. Mechanical brakes are cool if you're restoring a model A, but this is a hot rod site, stock sucks. I've seen spindles and backing plates here in the classifieds a lot. Usually reasonable on the price too. That's gonna be a lot of fun man.
Do yourself (and others on the road) a favor and learn about hydraulic brake and the conversion. There are a lot of guys on here that run mechanicals, but as cheap and backwards as Henry was, even he came around to hydraulics (although forced by his son and the industry). There's a reason mechanicals fell by the wayside.... SAFETY! Don't listen to the 'experts' that say mechanicals are safe when properly maintained, not in todays traffic at todays speeds. Be safe, and keep the other people on the road safe.
lookin good!!! I have to disagree with the post above regarding mechanical brakes. it seems your plan is to keep the banger motor, and if thats the case i would stay with the mechanical s. i see in your first pic you have most of the parts. mechanical brakes if not worn out and all in proper working order work just fine, and never leak. the basic problem of the A brakes is the steel drums. steel absorbs heat quickly, then brakes fade. Henry figured that out and went to cast iron drums in late 31, then an inch bigger drums for 32 thru 34 , then wider shoes in 35. if you are going to stay old skool the ticket is 35 brakes on the front, and repro cast iron model A drums on the rear. those brakes will lock up on dry pavement as well as the first generation of ford hydraulics. there are many stories about this over at the ford barn if you google up "cast iron drums fordbarn", or "35 brake drums fordbarn", or a recent post here at the hamb google 35 brakes hamb. i enjoy my cars with no brake fluid every spring when i go out for a first drive, nothing went bad over winter!
Unless I can find a screaming deal on juice brakes, the mechanicals are going back on. They are pretty crusty and will need a good cleaning, turned, and paint. Ultimately I think hydraulic is the way to go and can easily be installed down the road a ways. I still need to figure out what front axle/spindle/bla bla bla works well with each other. Looking at dropped axles but not sure which is best now and for future brake upgrades. Trying not to spend twice cry twice.
there are many articles available on rebuilding model A brakes. to be brief, to work correctly all the clearances need to be fixed. thats, the roller tracks, rollers, bushings on the front and rear actuator arms, etc. if every thing is not up to par its difficult to get the adjustment correct, which is really why most folks say they are bad. hard to have good brakes if all 4 are not hitting at the same time. brattons model a parts is my favorite , good catalogue to have for wishing at night. cant wait for the day the body arrives !!
Great build. I like the direction you're headed. As far as mechanical brakes go, just go through them and replace and repair the worn parts. Ive built and driven hot rods with both mechanical and juice brakes. And not just banger powered either I ran a 21 stud flathead v8 model a with mechanical brakes. Stopped well even with the added power. Many people just dont know what theyre talking about and assume mechanicals cant stop well. Theres some good step by step on YouTube on fully rebuilding your brake system that I found really informative even with years of mechanical brake experience.
Great project! Starting with a good chassis will bet this finished a lot quicker than collecting parts for years. Bob
More paint. I’m losing brain cells fast! Rust be gone. Surprised most of the leafs fit in there. Talking to my 80 yr old buddy, I said I was gonna round over the ends of all the leafs....he said, “well ain’t that some fancy ass shit for your fancy ass grinder.” The story went on to something about back in my day, files, and walking in snow. Moral of the story...I’m not going with fancy ass rounded leafs.
I was thinking about my stash of parts that I intended to use on the Model A Vicky I sold last summer and with a frame I am not far from having a running rolling chassis with the parts I have stashed away. I remember that when I built my T buckets in Texas in the 70's I had driven the running chassis before one of my buddies told me were a pile of T body parts were laying beside a fence row. The big issue is deciding what frame to use.
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