Elrod Model A Coupe Thrash - Flathead V8 time

Couldnt say that dash has been seen before.{purty schvweet}
You've got the right help to get it done .
she'll knock some socks off for sure at lsru and then some!

 

Man thats an awsome metamorphesis!
Schvweet dash conglom.
Looks like youve got the right folk in tandem for a healthy completion!
It'll knock socks for sure lsru or not!

 

for a second i thought the guy was in orlando cause theres a Betos mexican food here, didnt know there were others

 

Looks great Elrod!...can't wait to see how you mount the wishbone to the crossmember.

 

looks good man, i really like the dash

 

Dig the coupe . Subscribed ..
Will be watching closely..

Thanks for sharing..

 

....I believe we can claim our Betos as the original, the "master" Betos if you will.

 

Great to see progress! I'm learning a lot watching this thread too.

 

Yeah. I saw some pictures online of (I think it was you) that just moved the pedals over a full bolt hole width. That is not going to line up with the notch in my firewall or the steering column. I'm going to move it inward about one inch and drill new holes.

Thanks man. I think I sold you the rear window section for your Franken A. How's that coming along?

Basically going to do the same thing that is on my 32 K member. There is a lip that protrudes forward with a wishbone ball mount in it. Right now, the wishbone ball is falling directly infront of the F1 crossmember, so a gusseted tab will be installed.

 

I heated and reworked the pedals so they fit where i wanted them.

JEFF

 

Excellent idea. I was just brainstorming how to cut out the bolt holes and flip them over mirror image and re-weld them in but probably much easier to bend the pedals.

 

We ended up filling the old holes anyways, maybe cut out a sqaure and patch it and start fresh, if i remember correctly the pedals were really tight to the boxing plates when we were all done so kinda had to move it over as much as we did.

we also used a f1 steering box in the car, i think we mounted it really close to where the stock box went. i probably should have cut the flange off and welded a new one on but i opted to shim it, it worked fine.

jeff

 

A few updates...

Filled the old master cylinder hole in the F1 Crossmember and re-drilled on inch closer to the center of the car. This lines up the pedals with the hole in the cowl allowing the steering column to fit nicely between the pedals. The clutch linkage is also tucked in close to the frame rail.





We then welded in the center trans crossmember in the frame.



Also dressed up the front crossmember to flow smoothly into the re-worked 38 front crossmember motor mounts.





In working on the frame, Anderson and I really realized that...

FIRST, it's really flimsy! Man there is a lot of twist and not much support in these Model A frames. So next step is to go onto the frame table. boxing plates are on order and arriving today.

SECOND - It's gross working on this frame all crusty, so now that the motor mounts are located in the frame, it's off to the sandblasters. That should be back by Monday. More updates to come when the frame starts getting boxed.

 

Frame returned from the sand blaster's shop. Boy it's nice to work with clean parts...



I also bought some "Easy Weld" backing plates off of ebay. These are the kind with the little tabs that hold the plates flush to your rails, but are still just slightly undersize to allow for a very nice easy weld and great penetration.




They fit perfectly, but had to do a little trimming for the body bolt holes and for the trans crossmember and front motor mounts.





Took the pedal assembly apart to change out the bushings. WOW! that pin is in there really tight. Had to heat, drill and beat the living ba-jezus out of it before it finally gave up.

I found out that I could really use a new pedal shaft as the original one is worn. I thought the bushings were supposed to wear out, not the pedal shaft!

ANYONE KNOW WHERE TO ORDER AN F1 PEDAL SHAFT?





Trimmed the driver's side boxing plate to sink the pedals into the frame a little bit. I wanted the linkage as close to the side as functional to place the pedals close to stock Model A as possible. I love how it turned out.







Next up will be the driver's side boxing plate. I'll be back at it again tonight after work.

 

Nice!! You're making great progress.

 

Awesome!!! Keep up the good work!!! I ordered an F1 pedal shaft from Mac's a while back and they had to back order...

 

Hmmm.. Thanks for the tip on the Mac's pedal shaft. I just saw that they had them, but I also have read a lot about long waits from them. I wonder if JobLot has them... I may call them first.

 

Looking really good.

my machinist buddy made me a new one.

 

THese guys might have it http://johnsf100.com/

 

Hey brad2v! Thanks for the promising lead, but I'm only seeing the slightly later F100 stuff. I wonder if there is a johnsF1 store?

I called Mac's and they did say they are 2 weeks back order on that shaft.

UPDATE: JobLot is the company that makes those shafts and they had them in stock when I called.

 

What year are the F1 pedals? their catalog shows 48-56, I just assumed it was in here somewhere. I dealt with them a while ago on some frontend stuff and they were great.

 

F1 is '48-'52. F100 is '53-'56.

 

Last night's task was to finish boxing the frame for strength. Instead of using cage nuts in the frame, I wanted to have access to the body bolt holes, so drilled the boxing plates...



And this is what they look like after drilling the holes



Anderson went to town on the welding while I was drilling, and it turned out VERY nice. Here are a few shots of the finished boxing.





Stay tuned for the modification of the stock brake cross shaft to operate the rear emergency brakes.

 

I've been throwing that idea around myself. Looking forward to see what you do. looking good man.

 

Oops sorry for the double reply,,issues of the time log kind.
Yes shes all mocked up with the rear window section. She
is stalled for now ,thanks for askin! Yours is coming along nicely btw.

 

Put in some more work on the coupe this weekend. Actually my wife said she would be happy to help out, so I put her to work prepping a lot of small parts for paint. That put a big smile on my face!




Anderson built the bracket to support the un-split wishbones. I ordered one of the 50s style worn wishbone ball caps. My wishbone was actually not worn out at all, so it fit nice and snug.



At this point, it was time to pull the frame off the frame table. Wow! Much heavier, but EXTREMELY strong now. No flex side to side. Test fit the front axle. Success!



Close up of bracket



Now time to flip the frame over and weld up any small spots that were not accessible on the frame table.



Major milestone achieved this weekend. Frame table fabrication finished! Front end placed, pedals located and engine in place!!







I'm sure it will come apart a dozen times again before I'm done, but excited that it started to look like a car again. Thanks again to Anderson and my wife for spending a Saturday hacking on this thing with me.

 

This is all coming together really nicely. No sense in doing something on this scale if you're not going to do it right,,,,, and if this wrong, well I don't wanna be right (in my best Coming To America reverend voice).

Trans mount turned out great!

 

Lookin good!!.................

 

Thanks guys. I really want this to be early 50s period correct, and I've been collecting parts for about 10 years to do it right. I'm really happy that it is finally coming together.

This is the image that I have stuck in my head, and is the inspiration for the build...

 

Looking good! I like the inspiration pics too! Are you going to run hood sides?