Well I reworked my frame this weekend, guess reworked is the wrong word. I scraped the using the stock model A setup in favor for a new tubing frame. Last weekend I was trying to make sure everything was straight and even in the old frame and got annoyed with all the angles, bends, holes, boxing, etc so I decided to start new to be confident in the straightness, strength and durability. Heres a pic of the original rails Plans for the new one... Some things changed, made the main rail 4x2 instead of 3x2, because the 45degree cut at the rear was 4" tall, so it made sense. Then I proceeded to use my 3x2s up front instead of 2x2s. Not sure what I was thinking after seeing the 2x2s I knew I wouldn't be comfortable with all the weight on them. I also lowered the rails abit at the front Z and increased the rake of the sweep, to add more meat to the Z area. Also I extended the front rails to 32" and shortened the main body rails 1", just to hide the front Z and the one piece of tubing I got had been cut with a torch and I got them to cut them right at 4' so I had to cut back a little to get a good straight line. I ain't one of the pro builders like some guys on here so if you see something that you think I should change let me know. Heres the pics..
Heres the start, I tacked the 2 rails together has I kept going at the rear to make sure they were identical. I used extra tubing along the side to make sure they were straight vertically. Then I laid them over on the flattest spot on the floor to double check on each side. I used a square and some tubing one the next piece to make sure its square lol. That about covers the rear, tacked up Here a pic of the 2x2 that I had the machine shop cut diagonally for me. It would have been too much with my limited tools for me to cut that nice. I had did a mock up on the floor to see the angle that I wanted to cut each rail at to achieve the desired sweep at the cowl. Then I had predetermined in my drawing that I had to go in 2.5 degrees so I mocked up the one end on the front rails high enough so that the I got the appropriate amount of degrees minus the floor slope and cut away. Worked good, 2 different degrees with one cut.
Then I laid my rails out together and drew a straight line out, measured my determined 8" in the drawing on each side of the line, lifted them the 1.5" so it tapers in from 29" at the cowl to 26" at the crossmember and tacked them in place. Heres another pic of the rails tacked together. Finished tacked rails, lookin alright I made little gussets for the front Z welded them in good and ground everything smooth. Looks pretty good I thought. Here one rail compared to the mess I was dealing with. With the rails straight all the way back theres only cross rails to cut for the floor, no messing with the sides of the subframe.
Had a special helper doing some custom welding. The old lady is getting pretty good at welding, lays a good bead every now and then, she was welding in the front taper pieces for me whislt I was off grinding and cutting. Heres the rail up by the sedan for and idea. The front will end up being a bit lower so the front sweep won't look so obnoxious. Just got to flatten the front crossmember, weldin a rear crossmember then cut the subframe and slide the frame in, weld the subframe back in with the step around the frame. Then I'd like to mount the motor and tranny, weld the 4 link in the rear and then I'd have the frame pretty much done. Going to weld some fishplates over my kick up joints for extra strength and have some finish welding & grinding to do yet but got some good work done today and yesterday.
another awsome canadian build ...one day i'll cross the rockies cuz it looks like sask guy got it goin on
Thanks for the replys. I didn't want the Z up too high coming out of the cowl, because it looks a little unplanned in my opinon. But too much of a sweep looks less appealing too. Would like to have the frame square as it will sit, either temp crossmembers or the real ones and slap in under the car just to cut the subframe crossrails and weld them back with the step up to the frame. Then I'd like to mount the engine and tranny in. We'll see if I get enough done next weekend to make a post lol. Thanks for all your posts leadsled, they are great motivation.
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