Technical CHASSIS, "How to Z a Shoebox Ford" in TECH-N-COLOR™

I thought I would do some traditional Tech in Tech-n-color and break the new HAMB in…

Close your eyes and pretend its 1962 all over again haha…

I’m building a ’49 ford sedan in a period of time… 1959 or thereabouts. I’ve had this car since I was fifteen years old. I named the car EVE since it was my first car and I chopped it... and there was no going back... haha the big bite out of the fat apple...

There was a sectioned shoebox ford I used to have on video that was built around the same period that was Z’d in the front and rear running a early cad motor. The car was LOW. I thought it was the coolest shoebox I had ever seen… Its influencing this build.

I didn’t want to section my shoebox, just lower it… really low. I wanted to chop it too and bring the top down really low. I started chopping it last winter and was literally hit out of the blue with… bad genetics. So everything was put on hold for a while.


One of the things I learned after driving my 50 coupe around is that chopped springs and drop blocks equal a rough ride. My coupe rides like a plank… another drawback is the tire wear and bump steer.


So Zing this frame would eliminate the bump steer, tire wear, rough ride and you still get the look. One thing it does is bring the cross-member up and thus raise the engine just over four inches. This is not a problem though.


I’m running a 1959 Cadillac 390 topped with a four carb Cragar intake. I have a Scheifer aluminum flywheel and a Cragar adapter that adapts the cad to the original 49 ford transmission. You can swap out the trans for a full sync ford trans out of later era fords and they’ll stand up to twice the abuse. I got one… In the rear im swapping out the stock ford for a 57 ford 9”.


SO LETS GET STARTED

First I had to remove the front clip and engine-

I started the Z by welding the car to these huge I-beams. I welded the frame on each side of the rail to keep it from moving anywhere.

If there is one thing I would’ve done differently at this stage is to have sandblasted the front frame rails but this option wasn’t in the cards for me as the local blaster sold his business when I started this.

 

Once I got it up on the frame and secure I had to plan the Z.

I wanted to keep the stock look when I finished it so you couldn’t really tell I had cut the frame.

I looked at the way the body mounts mounted and decided to hide the Z behind the front body mounts.

To do this I measured the width of the frame this is equal to the amount of drop.

I took this measurement and subtracted it from the mounts. From the backside of the mount I hung a string or drop line to mark the area behind the mount where the Z would start.

In this picture I PRE-CUT the mount and you can see the soap stone line. I drew the line so that the z would have the same angle as the floor pans and look like it was made this way.

 

I cut both sides… measured the location of my angle and transferred it to the other frame rail. I also welded up braces to hold the front clip together.

 

It’s time to cut the front off your car. This parts requires Hellfire… and I don’t mean the torch. I used a cut off wheel to cut to top and bottom lines first. Then I cut the sides with a snipped off sawzall blade. I had the front clip supported by a floor jack and jack stands.

 

I capped the ends of the rails with rectangular stock I angle cut to fit in the opening to ad more strength.

 

I used the cherry picker to support the weight of the front end and stacked the frame on top of itself. This part is the most critical. I used frame holes to locate and measure from so that I could square up the front clip and have the same wheelbase as before.

As you can see in this pic once you get it tacked in place this is where you would make your first welds.

 

I cut gussets out of 1/8” Plate to strengthen the Z and welded them in. The gussets are on both sides of each rail.

 

I cut the welds and took it off the jig so I could check things out. I had never seen this done on a shoebox so I was looking for possible problems.

I'm useing 600 16 firestones on 49 rims with aftermarket chrome sides and ill run new 49 caps. The bigger tire helps with the big body-

It works for me.

 

Now to kick down the frame in front so I can hang my front bumper. To do this I set it back down on the I-beam jig. I had pre measured off the frame to the floor before I Z’d it so I knew where I had to get the front frame horns.

This is kind of tricky… but hopefully you can pick it up from the pics and discription.

I cut the frame and added a piece of pie to point the frame down.

 

Then I had to figure out where to cut it so the frame would level back out the same height it was off the ground before I Z’d It. By doing it this way I could locate the bumper bolts the same distace from the crossmember that they were before...

 

I used paper templates and transfered them to 1/8” plate to fill the voids and complete the factory looking frame kick down. This worked out so nice that the factory bumper bolts are in the stock location.

 

I boxed the inside of the new kick down with a drilled plate. It’s VERY STRONG! My front cross bar was bent so I replaced it with a drilled and sleeved bar. You wont see these but I know its there… and now I can jack it up without worry. Before I boxed it I welded the added pieces on the inside as well.

 

Now there is one more thing to address with this and that’s the front steering box and drag link. I fabricated some brackets out of ¼” plate and it locates the steering in the stock location. It’s just above the scrub line.

 

I had to do the same thing with the drag link... which im lacking pictures.

Im attaching a pic of it with the roller tires and me standing next to it to put the car in perspective... and another after I mocked up a front clip on the car.

Materials? grinder disks, 1 cut off wheel, a couple sawzall blades, welding wire/gas and some steel I had laying around.

next... im finishing the top so I can lift the body off and C-NOTCH the rear frame...

Bags are for carry out -
subframes for streetrods...

The END for now... stay tuned-

Tuck

 

"Im attaching a pic of it with the roller tires and me standing next to it to put the car in perspective... and another after I mocked up a front clip on the car."

It looks low alright.

But I've been told that you're 7'-4" tall.

Nice job....but you cheated. It appears that you actually MEASURE stuff.

 

bad ass! great look. are you going with the a 4 speeed? are you keeping the stock pedals?

 

haha I'm only 6' 3" SJ its my buddy worm-o whos almost seven feet tall-

I'm going with a 3 speed and the stock pedals, linkage etc will all work- I'm thinking about leaveing it a 3 on the tree cuzz I love them so much... floor shift is nice but I'll never forget when I bought this car and didnt know how to drive it. I was stumped, first 3 on the tree I had ever seen- I had it down within 5 miles.

Tuck

 

god damn took that looks fricken sweet

 

Fuckin' A!!!...Right On, Tuckster!!!

 

Awesome job Tuck!!!!

 

Thats really cool.

 

Dude, that rules....... I looked at the pics again....

I think you should drop everything and work on this car till its done...... its exciting as hell. Seriously, DON'T STOP.

Now of course, you could have bought dropped spindles, and achieved the same thing.... BUT they diddn't have dropped spindles in '58...

Bad ass......

The other thing that rules is its going to push the motor through the hood...

Carbs out in the open.

 

Looking at your custom body and Z'd frame makes me want a custom.....

 

Bitchin' Tuck! That thing is looking sweet!

The only downside is that before, you just looked like a nerd standing next to your car...and now you look like a GIANT nerd.

Just kidding man, really nice work.

-Brian

 

So, when are we doing my '55?

 

Damn Tuck, that looks good. I love super low cars.

What are your plans for the front wheel openings, it doesn't look like the tire
will turn very much?

 

Yer my hero Tuck... Thanks for another lesson.. I am SOO glad there are so many talented youngins' on the HAMB willing to share...

 

That's bad-ass...
Now do a quick tech on those old Kodachrome frames for your pics.
G.

 

kick ass eh!!!

 

lol, I was just thinking how nice the picture frames were too.

Great tech, thanks for posting