Projects Tomcat’s Crazy '31 Model A Build Thread (2010-?)

Up early today so figure I'd dump a few more pic's. A buddy of mine had a couple of old engine stands laying around so I pick em up cheap. Fab'd a couple front and rear spreader bars, cut and re-welded the stands to make a rotisserie for welding and later paint.

 

Wanted to build a stable platform that would handle some power. Weight is always a consideration.

 

Time to cut some ugly out of the body. They just booger welded some sort of hot rolled sheet over the top of the original sub rails.

 

Got a new hat channel fit to the original sub-rails at the B pillars and then chopped out the garbage rear sub-rails. A lot of metal finishing to remove all the booger welds from what was still useable. I'm not liking the inner wheel well panels either!. They need to go!

 

Pealed back another layer of this onion to find some nice hidden rust. Unfortunately they welded the rear panel in. Oh well, I don't like the frenched in '50 Pontiac tail lights anyway. They would look better flush mounted.


Time to chop out some more....

 

Rotten Onion update; Sprang for some fresh metal from Brookville which seems to be the better quality stuff around. Fitted new tail panel and heavy rear cross member. But... not every piece comes with the necessary features.



I had to make some tooling out of some scrap tubing and press the recess feature and drill the hole for the spare tire support bracket as well as the holes for the angle attachment piece.




Then.... press fit and tacked some nuts in place.



Then.... Drill for and fit some more Model A style nuts.




And of course the re-pop spare tire support bracket (right) don't fit for $hit. Not even close! So I had to restore the original (left) which meant repairing the boogered up holes.


One hole repaired;




And finally the assembled mock up;


Then, there's the sill panel that retains the rubber trunk bumpers which I shortened custom for this car and will give it a finished look.

 

With the frame set at ride height. Engine angle is set and transmission crossmember fabricated. I need to weld some sleeves in the bolt holes so the tubing doesn't squish. Going to build in some transmission options just in case I want a 4spd or want to run my B&M Turbo Clutch.

 

Had Steadfast send me a sub-rail kit. Do wish the material was a bit thicker, but it's nice and should save a minute or two right? Where's Professor Whoopie when need him?

 

I'm sure there are many ways to get these sub-rails fitted but, it really depends on what your starting with. Unfortunately the previous "Builders" cut out a lot of the original sub-frame that I could of used to install the Steadfast pieces. So, the first step was to get some re-pop Model A sub-rails and use the ends to tie things in.


Time for some surgery;




Came up a bit short!


No Problem;








It's now obvious the inner wheel panels will not reach the sub-rails so out they went.




The thought occurred to me that I might (heaven forbid) need to replace parts if anything ever gets damaged, so rivets or screws might be better than welding somethings and is sometimes a better way of attaching parts together. I fabricated a couple u-shaped re-enforcement plates to beef up the joint;


At the front, I grafted the tops of the Model A sub-rails to the Steadfast rails;








Welded in some sleeves for the body mounts;






They say " you can eat an elephant...one bite at time"

 

Now onto the inner fender wells. The first challenge was to re-establish the corner radius that had been removed. Since I don't have a bead roller or any real sheet metal equipment, I came up with the idea to cannibalize some trailer fenders.






My friend who I consider to be a sheet metal master lent me some instructional videos from a Swedish guy named Lazze. This guy is incredible! I think there's some videos on youtube as well. So after getting inspired by these guy's I bought a used set of shrinker stretchers and gave it a go.


A little trimming and presto!






And after a lot of welding;


It took 2 sets of re-pop wheel well panels from two different vendors to finish it off. The first set had the recessed features stamped in for the tabs that tie in for the rear crossmember but the rolled beads didn't really match the pictures I had seen of the original Ford panels. On the 2nd set, the beads looked good but there were no recess for the tabs. I was able to make some simple tooling and press some pieces that I could weld in later. I also had to come up with a nice way to fit the bottom around the frame rails, so I made a buck for that.


Using the buck, I left enough material at the bottom to form a 1/4" flange and stiffen them up.


A little hammer work on the flange;






And after a lot more welding;




Hope I'm not boring everyone to death with too much detail. Let me know if I am.

 

Impressive work, not boring at all. Keep it up.

 

Not boring at all, impressive attention to detail. Thanks for posting all the pictures.

 

Not boring at all! It’s always a positive when we get to see good work for instruction and inspiration.

 

Thank you all for the kind words.

 

Looking fantastic! Love the details!

 

Great updates, and another vote for keeping the details coming!

 

Nice recovery from a too common problem, the "done" car . That slippery slope of "While I'm at it" knocks the wind out of Most's sails, you keep keeping on .Great attention to detail.

 

Thank you!

Thanks, will do!

Thanks man. It can be a very slippery slope and sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. Life often get's in the way as well but I'm inspired by so many talented people here on the H.A.M.B.

 

WOW!

 

Nice work

 

After getting the rear sub-rail issues pretty much worked out there was still a gap between the rails and the body behind the B pillars. After a few test pieces using my newly acquired bench top brake I was able to make some 22ga. pieces to fill in the spaces.

 

Thanks guys!

 

I'm just reading through this in awe. Fantastic work, and attention to detail. That car ended up with the right guy to save it.

 

I decided to take a break from sheet metal and take a look at the pedals and the steering column. The previous builders used the Model A column and my toes would run into it trying to put my foot on the brake pedal.

I looked at some original '40 Ford columns but, that was going to take a lot of extra work to restore/modify and, since I'm already ball's deep in this thing already, I decided to save some time and go with a LimeWorks column. Pretty pricey but, they make a quality product.

Since the dash is out of '36 chevy truck, I found a column drop for that to try and improve the angle of the column and re-position the steering wheel.

The pedals are the Pete & Jake's kit for a '32 and were going to need quite a bit of refinement.

Here's the first mock up;

 

Thank you sir, I'm trying my level best.

 

So many angles, etc., all intersecting at diverse stations. Chassis is excellent.
But the rear wheel well panels, with their 'trailer fender insets' REALLY did it for me.
Kudos to you, sir. This coupe will be masterful.
Please continue.

 

Nice work

 

Very nice work . You are inspiring .

 

That is a great complement Mike, thank you!

Thank you sir.

 

Thanks Okie Pete. One of my best friends in High School was from Oklahoma. He moved back a long time ago and is out there somewhere. That boy was a hoot!