Congrats, the 32 in my Avatar was off the road for 50 years until this summer. Feels good doesn't it!
As I was building this car I sent my uncle (Dad's youngest brother) some pics. Now bear in mind that my dad is not the most sentimental guy around and has often looked at something "original" on the car and said "you should probably just tear that out and replace it with something new". This was said about the only remaining interior pieces, the door panels. So my uncle sends me a note back about the door panels saying "I remember Mom" (my grandmother) "sewing those black and white door panels on an old treadle sewing machine in the living room..." Good thing I heard that story and didn't listen to my dad!
man-o-man.....your grandma was really cool.....as well as your dad...guess those good gene's got passed down.....
So, with no disrespect intended towards my dad, it was obvious that this car was built by a couple of teenagers along the backroads of PA during the late 50's. It all needed to be redone. huge angle iron motor mounts, front crossmember repaired by welding in a leaf spring and cutting the ubolts, crude split wishbones, etc.
I pulled the body and stripped the frame down. removed every bracket. welded all the cracks. It really was in pretty good condition and came back to life pretty quickly. I'm jumping ahead a bit but here is a decent pic of the frame coming back together.
Looks like your going in the right direction,I wouldn't be to hard on your dad's building technique,kids didn't have the knowledge or access to what is available today but what they did have was the desire to build hot rods and they made what ever was available to them work. It's a great looking hot rod and the beauty of it,it's a family piece. HRP
mine was my dads car also but is a chevy. here is the build thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/33-chevy-3w-time-for-a-cool-change.863287/ when yours is done we will have to get the cars and our dads together. it will make a good photo shoot. just don't paint the wheels green[/QUOTE]
Awesome car and progress so far. I'd proudly hand Dad's angle iron engine mounts on the garage wall. Love the fact that it has family heritage, and now that you discovered your Grandmother did the interior work, you're the 3rd generation to work on the 33. I'd do my best to upholster the rest of the car to match her door panels!
My first order of business was to get a rolling chassis. I definitely wanted traditional style. Split wishbones are nice but can be a bit boring. I do like hairpins. I needed to build something that was do-able in my dads youth. Then I realized my Ford 2N is a close cousin of the model 40 and has these awesome forged I-beam radius arms that would just pop with the Henry I-beam axle! These are not anywhere near a direct bolt on but I am very happy with how they turned out. When I get a few minutes I will try to walk you through the process.
That's funny...just 2 days ago me and a budy were looking at his old Ford tractor and commenting on how cool those forged radius rods were and how great they'd look on a hot rod! And here you go. Very nice job!! Johnny
OK, I know these are crappy pics but it is all I have. First off the 9N arms are really big where they bolt to the axle. I don't have the dimensions on hand but I guess the 9N axle is about 5" thick. Model 40 axle is about 2-1/2". Not really sure of these numbers. I decided to use a set of those spring perch shock mounts that everybody hates between the bottom of the axle and the lower 9N arm flange. Like this (this pic is from the rear of the axle with the shock perch pointing forward): This reduced the space a bit but the 9N arm still needed to be closed up a bit. I cut a piece of bar the height of the axle + the thickness of the shock mount, heated up the 9N arm and squished it down to size against the cut bar. The hot (red one) in the pic is the re-sized 9N arm, black one is stock 9N.
His dad quit the project cause ma sewed up black and white interior when he clearly asked for red![emoji41]
once I had both tractor arms squished down to the car spring perch size I had to deal with caster. The tractor arms are set up with about zero angle at the axle bolt. I cut a section of 2"(?) threaded rod the height of the axle spring perch, drilled it down the middle for a bolt, and welded this to a small I-beam at about 7 deg. I heated up the tractor arm, bolted it to this jig, and bent the arm until it was parallel to the I-beam. Does this make sense? Hope a couple pics help me explain this: and the finished arm with the correct caster:
The "tie rod" end of the tractor arms have a forged ball that pivots in a knuckle on the side of the transmission. I cut this forged ball off and drilled/tapped for a tie rod.
I also drilled those cool holes tapering along the length and drilled the holes in the axle as well. Then I made a matching set for the rear. They were a bit easier because I did not need to change the shape or bend for caster. I just tapped the end for tie rod ends and fabricated a matching mount to bolt it to the rear axle.
I tried purchasing some of these after seeing them on my father in laws tractors, but alas deals never went through. Henry I beam to I beam seams like a no brainier. Glad someone has done it so I see how cool it can be. To bad now that you've shown the world everyone will be doin it. But hey that's what the HAMB is all about, nice work!
Anybody still following this? Next I reversed the front leaf. Not a new concept for most of you but here is how I did it. First I traced the original out on the workbench with chalk. Then I marked a line on the spring every inch. Next I bent it in the press at each line working my way across the spring a couple of times until it matched the original arch. And the finished reversed eye main leaf:
Now on to the engine. My dad ran a caddy and I would love to recreate that car but in the interest of time and money I did what hot rodders are supposed to do. I used what I had! In the mid-90's I bought a brand new GM zz4 crate motor and mated it to a T56 6-speed for an off-topic muscle car. That project fizzled out long ago so I pulled the engine/trans and sold the car. So I needed front motor mount to keep it as period correct as possible ( I know I'm stretching this a bit with the modern SBC).
your story just keeps getting cooler, keep up the great work, the car is as bad-ass as they come and thanks for sharing. its always great to see the younger generation carrying on this great life style !!!!!!!!
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