Projects Thompson Shoebox Ford Build

Hi everyone,
This is my first chop and my first custom car. I have been working on this thing off and on for the past year.My goal is to get it to Ink and Iron in Long Beach this year but the show is 6 months out and I'm a long way away....

I have been on this site for a while and always wanted to own a chopped shoebox. When I bought this car I wanted to try chopping it myself. I researched the hell out of shoebox chops and info on this site and found some great work and answers to lots of questions. I'm posting my car to hopefully inspire someone else to do the same or maybe answer someone else's questions they might have.

Im gonna give it hell and see where I end up.
What I started with.

 

Some Chop Pics

 

B Piller Pics....

 

interesting looking build

 

Sail Panels...I ended up re doing the passinger side and putting in a patch piece on the driver side a few months after the inital pannels were made becuause they bugged me. These pics are over a year old and were some of the first pieces I ever wheeled... its funny how much you can learn if your willing.

 

Doors Cut... Door gas cap gone....rounded pass door top and like it better so i will round and finish both pass and driver... at some point.

 

Now for some not so run of the mill boring $hi@

Scratch made roll pan..(someone thought I bought it) . and dropped tail lights and body lines 2.5"....

 

It's late but ill try and post some more pics tomorrow so I can get the build pics up to date....

let me know what you guys think so far....


Thanks

 

Lots of cool touches. Are you going to round the lower trunk corners?

 

Looks good so far,keep it up!

 

Nice work !!! Keep posting.

 

I'm diggin' the taillight treatment. Looks cool so far.

Check out the Shoebox Group if you haven't already...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=127

 

Mr.Dickies: I thought about rounding the trunk corners but they already have a small radius to them... I do plan on changing the gussets inside the trunk when you open the lid tho.

Thanks for the encouragement guys... here are some more pics

Fixing some rot and blasted body outside.

 

Diablo,
Looks really Kool, Some funtastic ideas..........Keep Posting.

Thanks, Smoke in tha' Hills

 

Epoxied it, Ford 8.8 Rear, and air ride all around.....

 

Some front floors.... nothing fancy.. Trans tunnel to fit trans.... and new drive line and tunnel so driveline stays clear when lowered.

 

This brings us up to today and some of the last few things I have done...

Pass side sail panel fix... window rot fix and I just started working on welding up and grinding rear quarter seams... this is as far as I am as of today.....

Thanks for the kind words... I will try to post some more pics as I go.... and im still shooting to have it at ink and iron in June if I dont get to bogged down with customer stuff...

 

Kool - looks great - give more details on other work you plan, like seats, drivetrain, etc.

 

That's a lot of progress for a year! Keep it up and you will be done in no time.

 

Thanks guys, It seems like I have been building this thing forever!!!! but I just got back after it again after it sat for 5 months while I finished up a 59 short bed chevy for a customer. So its more like 7 months off and on...
I try to work 4 days on customer stuff and as much time as I can on mine in the mean time. Im between projects rite now so I have a almost a week to throw at it.... thats why it moves fast for short spurts.. too bad my bank account seems to move even faster.... in the negative direction.

I just received a 65 mustang gas tank I plan on putting in the trunk area but I'm trying to avoid what I call the rubber dingy with the gas cap in the center of my trunk so ill post what I come up with. Im going to get more sheet metal and square tubing for the gas tank install, trunk floor and the step notch cover hopefully today.

As for the power train and what not its just a 350/350... Its in the car already with Jamco mounts. I want to drive it to as many shows as possible and my wife really wants to drive it as well so thats that. Ill save the faltty for a hoodless car where it can be appreciated.

Rear end is out of a 91 ford explorer with drums and 3.73 posi shortened 3" to fit under the box. custom driveline already done cut to length and using a chevy to ford universal for the rear yoak.
Air bags with dual compressors and 3/8 lines.
Disk brake conversion on front. Floor mount master and pedal.

I have a few more things to clean up as far as rot and grinding on the body as well as body working the metal to try and straighten it out as best I can before paint and body is done. I still need to nose the hood and have not decided if I want to french the head lights or not.... still undecided. (Im leaving the rear lights un frenched so I might just re-chrome the trim rings and be done with it. I also plan on reusing the license plate cover thing but I'm going to section it to shrink it around the plate better so its not so bulky.

Other than the things listed Its gonna have shinny paint, Wide whites....

Modifying the old bench seat and rear seat to fit new tunnel.

Im doing everything myself except interior.... and mounting the tires... HAHA

Metal, Motor, Paint, Body, wiring and all the other shit that goes into building the car will all be done in my home garage.

Im sure I missed something but if you wanna know just ask.

Im gonna need some interior help in a few more months... any takers

 

Another shoebox under the knife. This is turning out to be a cool build. Can't wait to see more progress


Fryguy

 

What air ride did you use also what size bags did you use on the front. Any pics also

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

lorodz:

I have a local company here that put together a kit with choice of bags, fittings, dual compressors.. and so on. Im running 6" bags on the front (Slam Bags) and I had to cut the front cups the kit came with off and run a smaller diamiter pipe so it was'nt so sloppy. I also clearenced around the bag about 1/4 inch to make sure it would not rub when it tucks up inside the crossmember.

This is the only pick I have and its of the old cups that were not cut down so its not as low as it is now... If you need better pics I could probably snap some tomorrow when Im working... Hope you get the idea.

 

Looking Good!

 

Mustang gas tank arrived today! Here is the progress I made so far after rounding up some free steel from a buddy of mine.

I still need to add more supports and weld it all up but it should work out fine. I want to keep the tank as low as I could without putting it on the ground so I don't punch any wholes in it... Im also going to move the floor up a bit so I can try and hide the rubber hose and vent tube under a panel, and maybe just have a cool gas cap exposed or a door in the floor with no cap showing in the trunk.

Im also planing on putting my bead roller to use on the trunk panels and step notch panels.... too bad the Jamie Jordan art roll dies came out after I bought my roller the end of last year.... hell I don't have the money rite now to buy them anyway so ill just have to make due with step dies... and then be pissed later on and want to redo all of them when I finally get the new dies... HAHA

 

Dude! I like it. Cant wait to see more!

 

Great lookin' build - I like the B-pillar detail a lot.
Great work, thanks for posting so many pics - please make sur eyou keep us up to date with your progress.
Cheers.

 

yea if you could snap a shot of a close up into the control arms so i can get an idea of what needs to be done that would be sweet.

 

lorodz: I didn't have time to snap a shot for you today but if I'm not as lazy tomorrow ill jack the car up and get a close up for you.


Here are a few pics of the finished gas tank frame...My math tells me that if I can stand and bounce on it....it will hold 12 gallons of gas...

I busted off a body mount bolt on the drivers side and wasted my time trying to get it out so I hope to get further tomorrow....

I cut out the rest of the floor out that I will be replacing as well as the braces in the corners. Found a little rust through on the driver side trunk channel by the brace sot that need fixing and I decided to build the floor above the tank and just run door to the cap below it so the trunk stays flat.... its gonna be more work than I thought to do it this way but thats the story of me building this car....

I also have to figure out how to get the shit ton of under coating off the fender wells.. thats gonna be fun and chew up time tomorrow.

This is my first custom.... first chop and by the way... so if I can do it so can you.

 

I would like to seal the filler from the rest of the trunk on my shoebox also. This pic might give you an idea or two. The link is to Rik Hoving's site. You'll want to check out the rest of the pics as this car is AMAZING!!!!

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_...s/49-51_ford_custom_cars/1950-ford-coupe-har/