The Family Hot Rod, or a Poor Man's Deuce Tudor

Yeah, great thread. Will watch with interest!

 

Subscribed,
Looking forward to it

 

Awesome! It's gonna be good!

 

Hey Dennis, thanks for the kind words! The handbrake mount is awesome, as is the rest of the hydraulic brake setup. Will be more pics coming of that... I am planning to have the Strunks run the brake lines before I bring the chassis home.

As far as the transmission goes, Mac's approach - and I think it is a very good one - seems to be to build the transmissions as much like Henry did as possible. He pays very close attention to the details and has an extensive selection of new & used parts to choose from. That said, he does clean the countershaft faces very carefully with brake cleaner and cover them with silicone RTV. He also cleans the holes for the locking pin carefully and coats the locking pin and holes with silicone RTV. Then it sits overnight to harden before it gets the cotter pin and final assembly. That's it, no O-rings or other tricks.

Some of those other tricks seem to work pretty well, but it makes a lot of sense to me to carefully return the transmission to its original specs - or as close as we can get.

Will Kimble

 

Nice work. I think the frame jig is really the way to go and looks simple to make. Will you box the frame or leave it as is?

 

You're welcome, they're well deserved!

The RTV methods you describe is like dejavu, that's the exact same method I use when I do a transmission for our customers. I also apply RTV to the whole rear machined surface that the bearing retainer / trans mount attaches too, the front bearing retainer and it's mounting bolts. The key to the whole thing is, just like VanPelt does, leave the thing alone after the sealer is applied so it doesn't get disturbed. It doesn't take much for silicone to get displaced and create a path for stuff to leak. If done correctly, one could use synthetic lube with no leaks.

Looking forward to more progress on your project and seeing more of our "stuff" in action!

 

Yup, we RTV the gaskets for the front and rear bearing retainers, too.

Hey Pewsplace, the frame jig belongs to Jack & Drew Strunk of Dropped Axle Productions - just want to make sure they get the credit they deserve. They are building the frame for me, mounting the body, running the brake lines & generally keeping me out of trouble and on the road to a safe hot rod.

The frame will stay unboxed, it is pretty much supposed to be like a stock '32 frame. But with new rails, a modern Model A-style front crossmember, crossmembers welded in place instead of riveted, no holes for fenders/runningboards, and so on.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

Here are some pics of the engine, it has been painted and is slowly going back together:





It is one of the oddball 59 blocks with a 3 1/16" bore, supposedly made as a replacement for the earlier 221s. Which would make sense, as it was in a '37 truck. The other interesting thing which seems to corroborate the theory is that everything but the short block was mismatched and wore out... But the short block looks great - no sludge, no heavy ridges in the bores, etc.

I switched to 59AB heads (was originally mismatched early 24 stud heads) and am planning to run an Offenhauser regular dual (2 Stromberg 97s) and headers.

Since the engine is a big unknown, I am trying to brace myself in case it knocks or smokes when I fire it off. If it has to come apart, I will bore to 3 3/16" and put in a Merc crank. New valvetrain and an Isky Max 1 camshaft. I promised myself I would build one strong flattie... And then it will be on to a 283, LOL!

Will Kimble

 

Judging by how meticulous you are with the transmission on this build I'll assume that the rest of the car is going to be nothing short of amazing. Really cool start!

 

All right, it was an exciting day today. The frame is a roller with front & rear shock mounts in place, engine mocked up, tranny bolted in, and it is time to start thinking about brake lines. Jack & Drew were ready for my body, and we set it on the frame for safe keeping. Here's what everything looks like at the moment:







Obviously the body will come down in the back quite a bit once they trim the subframe and fit the Model A body to the '32 frame. But the ride height of the chassis should be pretty close to where it will end up.

The brake pedal is hitting the corner of the mock up block, not sure what is up with that. I am guessing some pedal mods will be required to get everything working right, but there is no need to worry about that until we get the body mounted.

Might take some work to get the '32 column lined up with the column drop on the Model A gas tank, too.

I have been fretting about seats, but I think have decided on using Chrysler minivan second seats both front & rear. Will make it a little tougher to get in the back seat, but I think the kids can handle it. And I would prefer a bench up front to buckets.

Hopefully I will have some pics with the body mounted to the frame in the next week or so.

Will Kimble

 

Looks great Will, It has taken me all week just to mock up my front-end, lol and you have a roller in that time, I'd love to see how they did your front shock mounts.. Also what length shock are you using? That is my next project then on to boxing it finnaly...KEep the pics coming... Ryan

 

looking good!

 

And just for grins, here is a shot of the Model A chassis from the tudor that is going to be the youth assembly project at the MARC National Meet in French Lick:



This is the Meadowview Elementary Vehicle Day, and the car got swarmed by kids for three hours. It is running good, but the tires aren't round, don't have air in them, no shocks, the wheel bearings are loose, and it needs to be aligned. It was bucking so hard going down the road that I thought it might throw me off into a ditch. The guys in the Model A Club said it "looked good" going down the road, LOL!

Will

 

Hey Ryan,

It is only going fast because the Strunks are so good, took me forever to get my stuff lined up and ready to take over there. The front shocks are from Chassis Engineering, upper mounts are F1 pickup and lowers are shock mounts in threaded bungs that are welded to the face of the axle where the spring perch passes through. I will try to take some closeup pics the next time I am over there.

The lower rear mounts are the forged '46-48 shock mounts that they talk about in the Bishop/Tardel book, but my rear is pretty high and I am using a stock '32 rear crossmember so... They trimmed the lip of the crossmember and the top of the shock mounts right on the face of the crossmember. Looks great, but I am going to need some shocks that are a little longer than the usual hot rod shocks. Need to measure the length at rest and see if I can find a good match - seems like Mac VanPelt has PILES of old NOS tube shocks, I bet I can find something good there with a measuring tape and a little digging.

Thanks for the kind words everybody, I am really excited.

Will

 

MR. KIMBLE...your 1 of the very few people, who can take the least and make the most. my DAD was like that, he could rebuild an engine cheaper than anyone i know. i have no doubt that old hoopy will turn out fantastic. you are a great teaching asset, and you work is off the hook. it's an honor to have you here...POP.

 

Wow Will, I'm really honored buddy. Thanks so much for the kind words... glad you dug that car, and it moved you. There have been a few that inspire me for sure, that's a nice thing.

It's funny looking back at that car, I look at the pic you posted of my car and see a ton I would change. The body was the 1st body I ever bought, then sold after I chopped it, also the 1st car I chopped, then bought it back to build for a customer. The customer wanted me to build it the way I wanted, but of course he got involved. Which is why I'd change a few things, hahahaa.

Good luck brother... your doing a better job then me! Truely! If you need anything, just hollar. There were a few cool things I did on that car for the 1st time that I'd do on others I'll build.
Love 32 frame's, 30 sedans just look so right on top of them. Be well!

 

Will - Looks good!! I knew you were going to build something good after you bought all those parts at the auction. Keep it up..

#513

 

Thanks guys, here are a couple shots from today. The body is mounted to the frame, floor in, and Drew was running the brake lines.

This gives an idea of where the rear ride height is gonna be:



A shot of the floor, lookin' very nice:



Here are a couple closeups of the front end for Ryan (lrs30):





Hey Ryan, Drew thought you could do the same thing on your coupe, you will just have to bend the F-1 shock mounts way in (Out? You know what I mean...) to clear the fender.

Also got a chance to mock up the steering column, I was planning to use a '32 column and it fits really nice - clears the header & pedals, lines up within a half inch of dead center in the Model A column drop... But it is 4-5" too short for the Model A body on the '32 frame. After dragging out every steering column Jack had (LOL!) I decided to stay with the '32 steering column and look into having a '32-34 worm gear pressed onto a longer '35-48 shaft. Got some research to do, but I think it can be done. The good news is that it served its purpose, we know we want to use the stock location for the steering box and can go ahead and drill the hole for the sector. I will drill the holes for the sector housing later once I get the shaft figured out and everything clamped firmly in place.

Still trying to get my engine buttoned up, got the ligtened flywheel on yesterday and am hoping to get the oil pan back on this Sunday.

Will Kimble

PS: Here is the current configuration of the leftover chassis, I am digging the Excelsiors on 17" wires!!!

 

Great progress, keep it up and keep us posted!

 

me too very smart

 

Wow Will!!! VERY meticulous and detailed work you do, the car looks GREAT. I'll be watching this one!

 

Hey Andy (thunderbirdesq), it was SO great to see your car in the Jalopy Showdown pictures - it looks awesome!

Thanks for the kind words, I am meticulous when I can focus on the small systems but the car is starting to get so big & complicated that it is overwhelming me. I am happy and excited about how it is turning out, so that is good. But I laid in bed last night wondering if I should have just bought a nice, clean '36 tudor sedan and left well enough alone...

I have been worrying a lot about what to do with the steering, but I will figure that out - it is doable. And I have everything laid out to put the oil pan back on the engine tomorrow, that will be a good feeling. I am looking forward to getting it off the flip-around engine stand and down on to my nice roll around engine stand.

Will

 

pretty shweeeet build ,like the floor pans ,and chassis nice work

 

Great job Will - can't wait to see the finished car!

 

Great job on the new build, Looking forward to more updates.

 

X 2 !!

Looks super sano - keep em comin !!

Rat

 

I will be following this build for sure!!
Keep us posted!

 

Lookin good Will.Please keep the updates coming on the old chassis too,it's interesting as well..thanks

 

Very nice! Ill be watching.

 

Very cool!