82 year old rusty frame

Thanks kidC, I'm just trying to build something that will be my favorite possession. It fills 90 something percent of my brain space and I want to heighten and sustain that feeling for a long time to come. That's why I'm so particular. You know the way you get inspired or in love with some ride in magazine or here and you just stare at the bits and pieces forever? I'm trying to build something like that for my own garage that I can look at whenever I want and drive.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

I have no pics at the moment but I finally bit a small caliber bullet today. My aftermarket front crossmember has been bugging me since the day after I lazily purchased and welded it in. I'm sure all of you are familiar with the uninspiring looks of nonHenry stampings. After failing to get a Model A piece for awhile now I thought about getting a 32 and flattening it some like my rear. These are pricey so then I looked into 33-34s. This would have took extensive mods and still are pricey too. During consideration of the 32 and 33s I started to like the idea of the front motor mounts on the crossmember. I also wasn't so found of what looks like a strong potential of the old ones to crack. So now I've chosen to keep what I have and tweak it to my liking.
First I plan to alter the frontside shape to mimic a model A. This will take some cutting and grinding to the bottom edge, no big deal. Second, I'm going to widen the ends(which are too narrow even with my pinched rails)to reach the inside of the frame channel and give it a simulated curve on the side edge and a bent lower tab for a rivet. I don't want boxed frame horns on this truck for they look to modified for what I'm after.
On the back side I want to add pieces of scrap drilled boxing plate that I cut off of the tips of my front side rail fillers. I'll lay these on there side running inward to the frame center. They have two holes each and I would like to use the inboard hole fore the biscuit engine mount. Then form some 1/8 by 1" strip plate around the edges. I just can't decide wether to fill the gap between the two pieces and drop it down in the middle or leave it out for pulley clearance. Then weld'r back in and onto building my X-member which was on hold until I decided what to do about the front crossmember.
Here's an unrelated pic from some guys house I was at awhile back to tide everyone over.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Something like this: now I have to rob a corner section out of something else and puzzle it all together times two.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

So raise your hand if you think I'm crazy, hear that?, That's the sound if me raising mine. I picked up this 32 radiator off eBay for $100, it's in really fair shape, I know, not cool. No offense Walker but I can't afford $800+ although I have been mulling it over for awhile. Also the boys would kick me off the HAMB for another strike like using an aluminum radiator. I'm still trying to recover any respect for my 8.8 rear axle debacle.
The crazy part is I'm thinking of chopping the old girl 4 1/2" myself. Have I done this before? No, but did I do anything before I did it the first time?
I just had to have a radiator with the stock style cap location. And I love the original style support rod and grill brackets. Ditto for the angled down top hose spout.
Am I concerned with cooling problems? Absolutely!!! But I'll deal with that later. I have thought about running a secondary unit under the bed cooling off the heater lines, obviously something bigger than a heater core. We'll see.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Holy crap! Stainless bolts can add up quick. I spent just under $50 today for the bolts to mount my super awesome Armstrong shocks. I had almost forgot that I needed to weld the nuts in behind the boxing plates so a quick trip the hardware store and I'm back in business. I also got some to mount the firewall although I'll have to make new feet still. I don't know how I'm gonna bolt the cab to the frame yet. With my frame being narrower than Ford intended at the cab section I'm concerned about the integrity of its alignment staying intact mostly in the door area.
Gonna rebuild the shocks before final assembly, give em fresh fluid and make sure they're not gonna leak. I have to find out what the factory finish was, probably raw aluminum, I don't know anyone else?


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

I always say "life is in the details" which actually is probably inaccurate. But with a cool hot rod it sure is and I like details. I finished rough shaping my faux model A front cross member rivet ears. and I cut out and shaped the motor mounts I'm welding on rear of it.
So now I just need to finish cleaning up the inner half of the frame channel spray on some weldable primer and put her back in. Then the front boxing plates which need fit and finish work in the steering box area. I lined it up with one of the holes but of course it needs to be opened up for the mounting flange to fit through.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Going to repair this nightmare of a crossmember and trying to decide to what extent I will add fake rivets to the frame and possibly drill stock style holes in front rails( i think this might look wrong since I'm boxing, so it's clearly been modified and will be body color, wouldn't someone have filled the holes too, don't ya think?). I cut out a plate for outside left rail steering box hole support. Have to drill the three holes and shape the three corners curves. I am trying to decide if it needs internal support as well.
I have slowed myself down a little right now with the X member fab. There are a lot of variables to take into account all in my head of course. I am loosely basing it on a 33 -34 style. I don't want to box the middle rail section it is 5" instead of 6" like ford but has this reinforcement lip and is wider than ford so it might help . I am thinking hard on how I want to make the pedal support, center connector, and right side extra channel all as one piece or at least in appearance and vision. I don't want to add a second cross brace back further to the rear but I don't know if I'll have to without boxing the mid rails. Gonna mount the trans with biscuits in frontside of X 1940 style. I am real excited about the way I'm going to join the drilled x member to the drilled boxing plate with some faux rivets and a half big hole over full little hole junction.
More photos to come soon when I make some headway.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

As regards your radiator, check out Ford 8N radiators at yesterdaystractors.com.. new four row copper for under $200 that have a central filler neck...they are very similar to a 32 radiator.

 

Thanks 97, I'll check'm out. Funny, my dirtbag father-in-law has two of those tractors and I never looked. I always walk right past his junk cause I could care less. I bought this radiator for its originality and character which it has in spades. I'm pretty particular about what I like that's why I'm so late to traditional rods. Hell, I've only known of their continued existence for like maybe 15 years. Before that I thought all hot rods were Boyd billet stuff which I've hated at least since the first ZZ top videos which I would have been ten years old for( just for the record I have many old ZZ vinyls and love B Gibbons and his cars now that I'm older). Without sounding too elitist, I've always thought street rods look cartoonish or not built but born or just formed out of clay? They look plastic to me, no grit, no danger, no callus, no bumps and bruises, thus no life. I like cars with names and that are alive, anyone want to come to Runnin Shine's baptism?


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

This just isn't cutting it! Working on my pride and joy an hour or two three or four times a week when I need five times that to get six to seven days worth normal builder progress. To make things worse I make stupid mistakes like this eight to nine times out of ten. see the cuts? That's not supposed to be there but I had a moment of dyslexia and put the cut for my 33-34 steering box upside down 32 style! I almost have it all back on track now but a waisted a whole build session on this instead of working on this motor mount setup I want to shape some steel around this bent/drilled boxing plate scrap. I am thinking on it first because I think it looks boring.
Oh yeah, I jammed these old rivets into the front rails crossmember area for pretend and they made me all giggly inside.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Mistakes are frustrating and time consuming, but they can be funny remembrances (is that a real word?) when you think of them down the road. Liking your build, still watching.

 

Looking good man, keep it up.

 

Threads like this drive me here.Its great to see other backyard builders figuring out all this stuff through lots of trial and some error.Just wonder on the 32 radiator or any of these older radiators what kind of pressure it can take and how low a pressure cap you could run without engine overheat issues ?

 

Thanks for for the support. My wife is a professor and she hates my vocabulary and grammar. When I use a made up word(like...shanagle...a variation of finagle) I quickly and confidently say "it's a word, it's in the dictionary, look it up" which is a lie but I like made up words.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Thanks, you got it!


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Thanks burl, I don't know if my thread is any good, I tend to ramble. But I too keep "drive'n" here for this type of stuff. I just like having a place to share my passion. I bounce back and forth about weather to post every little step, some of my favorite threads never seem to have enough. I'm not trying to trial n error this build. I do as much research as I think I should but plans keep evolving and I seem to be screwing up on this project more than any before. I chalk it up to being to excited and in a hurry.
As for the radiator, I don't know. Although other HAMBrs are after it, I'd like to keep its old tired 32v8 butt. I foresee heating problems but its so cool it should be wearing sunglasses. I hope my aluminum heads, intake, high flow water pump, will help along with a low thermostat temp and racing coolant. Big problem is it needs to be 4.5" shorter. Important problem is that I have to rebuild my rad cap which will be a shortened model A cap to resemble a 32 PU cap. Finally I don't know what problems the pines winter front style grill I'm going to build out of stainless will cause. I'm not going to the trouble of making the blades move cause I want each sides set to be turned in just slightly, I love this look as much as any other anal detail I insist upon with this truck. I feel like a big jerk sometimes for being so stubborn about the look of this thing now that I've thought it over for about five years. I have a long way to go with way more screw ups to repair and hide but I promise it will impress when finished. I won't settle for anything less.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Weldable primer, your my new best friend. It's just me and you out there in the garage trying to keep this 82 year old rusty frame(actually 84)from having a cancer relapse.
Crossmember is back in for the last time. Took forever to get squared up but it's right this time. I am very happy with the pseudo model A mounting tabs. Was worth the effort but I should of smoothed it more while it was out. I'll just slide a little body filler in there when I'm making the horns pretty. "Goodnight America".


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Mounted the modified Plymouth front leaf spring hangers tonight. these will now be radius rod mounts. I will weld the torx head closed to act as a rivet. I welded the original rivets on the bottom. The bolt I used for the bigger head to hide a little damage from their previous removal. Next step is finally putting the front boxing plates in. They're all fitted now and primed on the backside as is the front frame channel. I'm still cutting up the rear pieces and getting to the c-notch. I bought a 3 1/4" hole saw to drill out some extension plates to add to the rear portions so they reach further forward into the X-member area. "It ain't Snoopy but I love this truck anyway"


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Kind of a silk purse out of a sow's ear deal going on here. Nothing wrong with a little american ingenuity.

Don't go over any railroad tracks with both doors open, you'll never get them shut again.

Truthfully, this build looks like some of the stuff that crawls out from underneath my shade tree. Rube Goldberg would be proud.

I say press on, I like home builds better than 1-800-repop parts cars any day of the week. Well done.

 

Doors!? What doors? It's a hot rod, you know how much those weigh?


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Still think these look boring but I just came up with a solution. I'll try and make the changes tomorrow and post new improved photo.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Is this better guys? I picked these gussets up at the speed shop for only $99.99! Yeah right! More leftover boxing plate cutoffs $0.00. I drilled the holes to save weight and surface tension with the atmosphere so my truck will go really fast! LOL .


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

I'm voting for the Ford Tractor radiator, even when it's cut down, it is still a new piece, and not likely to bathe you in coolant too soon.

 

Crossmember and engine mounts look great!!!

 

Final iteration: followed with worlds crappiest weld.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Well I haven't posted lately(for me) because I am very unhappy with the welding goin on over here. I have made a little progress though but I have been too ashamed to show it. But I can still redo things until I am happy with there finish. So after making the forward motor mounts I continued the drilled gusset theme with capping off the forward rail boxing plates: then I got back at the X member work. I have been building this hole contraption from scratch using parts of drilled boxing plate, 1/8" by 1 1/5" flat plate(for the tops and bottoms of the C-channel), two cut sections from the old Plymouth rear crossmember , and some scrap L channel from the garbage(just like the metal for the front and rear spreader bars). The L channel I spliced together to make a place to mount the pedal assembly to and to strengthen the X and frame combo. I just about have these finished up. The pedal side still needs the hole for the brake master to come through and opened up and boxed on the bottom for BMC clearance. Started putting in the passenger side they have holes drilled for lines and wires to run through. They taper from 6" in the trans through-way Down to 5" to meet the frame, although its hard to tell in these pics. I also have been working on the rear boxing plates and the left one can go in as soon as I finish the C-notch: I might make a place to mount an axle bumper in there, thinking on it. I have the rear crossmember trimmed to fit. It needs the cosmetic repairs finished. Made some fish plates for the inside channel .


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

I had to secure these rivets before I could install the front plates and the top and bottom 1.5" plates to the vertical plates of the X's channel. something like this. The 6" by 12" inner pieces that will be on the sides of the trans tail shaft I cut from leftover scrap then trimmed down. The angled curved portions mate to the angled drilled boxing plate that runs back to the kick-up area. I have to cut out the top and bottom plates to and to these. I'm still undecided on how I will span the upper and lower gap between the trans pathway, still exploring my options. I will use biscuit mounts 40 style for the trans mount.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Been working on my little minibike the last couple of days getting it ready for its annual race duty. But I squeezed this in when no one was looking then tacked it in the frame. I went to put a 1 3/4 hole in it for the MC, but apparently some of Jerry's blood line must have stole it to make perfect doorways in some baseboard.


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

I just noticed my work is smiling back at me


"Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"

 

Enjoying following the build, Shine.

If you press the return key before and after the image code, the post will be a little easier to read.

Mart.