Kevin Lee
12-10-2003, 04:42 PM
I guess it's common knowledge that the preferred cross member for putting a flatty in an A frame is the 32 "K member". It is proven and there's no arguing that it looks great but a good 32 piece is getting harder to find. Factor in ebay and that means your chances of finding an original 32 Ford Deuce hot rod rat Guide 682c E&J 1932 cross member are slim unless you're ready to part with some dough. Repops are available and I've heard V. Tardel now makes one "precut" and ready to fit in an A frame which rules - but that's not what this post is about.
There are probably plenty of overlooked candidates for this but the one I'm covering is the '39 Ford. That's what I had so that's what I made work. Of course being a hotrodder yourself you understand this. I'm going to concentrate mainly on the pedals and the transmission & motor mounts. Hot rods being what they are I'm going to leave it up to you to determine proper placement between the frame rails fore and aft. This is going to be quick since the picture does most of the talking.
I'll start with the pedals. What you are basically doing is taking the front holes of the assembly and bolting them into the rear holes in the X. First you need to remove the stock trans mount as it is right where some of your linkage will need to be. You can grind off the rivet heads and drive them out with a punch but I have always had better luck just drilling them out completely. You will also need to drill two new holes in the X for the rear of the pedal assembly and cut a large hole for all of the linkage for the clutch and master cylinder to work through. The easiest way to accomplish this is to remove the pedal assembly and trace a cardboard template of the hole layout directly from the X. Move the front holes in the cardboard to the rear holes in the X and trace the hole placement directly onto the new location on the X. Drill the two holes and cut along the dotted line for the center opening for the linkage. Done. You could fill in the stock holes the linkage used to work through but they don't look out of place plus they mirror the matching holes on the opposite legs of the X. I'm a sucker for symetry so I left them.
Next is the trans mount. It's as simple as drilling two holes in the top of the X and inserting the biscuit hardware. You have already removed the stock mount (remember?) so there should be no clearance problems with the bottom of the trans. This whole operation moves the transmission back and up about three inches or so. Take this into account when building your engine mounts. It is probably easier to build from the front back concerning engine mounts but I can't tell you for sure since I just plugged along with everything falling into place. Serendipity. What you end up with is something that looks like this. As a bonus your clutch linkage lines up perfectly. I don't know how...it just does. This is the "magic broccoli" part of the photo. I just threw that in because I thought zibo's post with it was funny and I'm jealous because he's putting miles on his RPU and my car is still in pieces in a basement. Any questions?
There are probably plenty of overlooked candidates for this but the one I'm covering is the '39 Ford. That's what I had so that's what I made work. Of course being a hotrodder yourself you understand this. I'm going to concentrate mainly on the pedals and the transmission & motor mounts. Hot rods being what they are I'm going to leave it up to you to determine proper placement between the frame rails fore and aft. This is going to be quick since the picture does most of the talking.
I'll start with the pedals. What you are basically doing is taking the front holes of the assembly and bolting them into the rear holes in the X. First you need to remove the stock trans mount as it is right where some of your linkage will need to be. You can grind off the rivet heads and drive them out with a punch but I have always had better luck just drilling them out completely. You will also need to drill two new holes in the X for the rear of the pedal assembly and cut a large hole for all of the linkage for the clutch and master cylinder to work through. The easiest way to accomplish this is to remove the pedal assembly and trace a cardboard template of the hole layout directly from the X. Move the front holes in the cardboard to the rear holes in the X and trace the hole placement directly onto the new location on the X. Drill the two holes and cut along the dotted line for the center opening for the linkage. Done. You could fill in the stock holes the linkage used to work through but they don't look out of place plus they mirror the matching holes on the opposite legs of the X. I'm a sucker for symetry so I left them.
Next is the trans mount. It's as simple as drilling two holes in the top of the X and inserting the biscuit hardware. You have already removed the stock mount (remember?) so there should be no clearance problems with the bottom of the trans. This whole operation moves the transmission back and up about three inches or so. Take this into account when building your engine mounts. It is probably easier to build from the front back concerning engine mounts but I can't tell you for sure since I just plugged along with everything falling into place. Serendipity. What you end up with is something that looks like this. As a bonus your clutch linkage lines up perfectly. I don't know how...it just does. This is the "magic broccoli" part of the photo. I just threw that in because I thought zibo's post with it was funny and I'm jealous because he's putting miles on his RPU and my car is still in pieces in a basement. Any questions?