Projects Progress on Rocky's 34 coupe..last update 9/30/2020

Is that a hydraulic hand brake set up ?

 

Yeah, Simon...got an hour or two on it this afternoon. Made a bracket from 2X3" tubing. The master will push fluid to the caliper that's mounted on the quick change's pinion with a small [.25"] pinion mounted brake rotor.

 

Interesting as that would be illegal here. Hand brake has to be mechanical by law.

 

I know.....I'll see how it works out for my coupe.
In our fleet of dump trucks, we had a version of the line-loc we used as park brakes on the trucks with hydraulic brakes. They were electrically engaged and disengaged. I still have around here somewhere.
We had no failures and they were very effective. We hooked them to the truck's service brakes and I never heard of one "bleeding off". I still may employ one as a theft deterrent, plumbing it so the front brakes will be activated while the rears will work off the pinion mounted brake, thereby locking all 4 wheels up.

 

I know about pinion mounted hand brakes as I make and sell my own and it has to be mechanical.
Still interesting to see how you do this and make it work.

 

I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy. Finally collected enough parts to put my quick change together. I had the new axle tubes pressed into the bells, new posi unit replaced the spool and new bearings installed. The 4.86 ring and pinon is in primo condition so we reused it. I drilled and tapped the holes attaching the tubes to bells and used stainless 7/16ths bolts..cleaned up all the steel/aluminum shavings.
Today I cut the 31 spline axle shafts to fit and began assembling the unit. Got one side put together but was halted before I was able to get the other side done. All new parts except the brake hardware made it pleasant to work on. The perfect height [sitting on my table] and 75 degree weather also made it pleasant too .

 

Now I will have to read over again to see what gear box was that Rocky chose. I run 4:86 -1 in my T Roadster but I have 5th gear.

 

75 degrees ? Well, that's my hopeful air conditioned home temp'. Sure miss Omaha, except for the windy cold winter. Baker's grocery parking lot one winter ... 70 below with windchill. My winter beater died for almost a week. Battery froze, two tires broke(yep, broken) and the oil was carbon flavored Jello. Papillion/Lavista class of 1989. UNO 1994. Dodge Street was a lot of fun then. Great place to live. Doors unlocked. Keys in the ignition. Old Mil. Light $10 for 3 twelves at Food for Less. Yuck right ?

QUICKCHANGE looks great !!

 

I imagine with the quick change that his final ratio won't be so steep. I believe he's running a four speed and if anybody drives there cars it's rocky so I'm sure he's got some plan other than letting it buzz

 

Most quick changes have 4.86 ring and pinion gears. The spur gears are in the finned aluminum end cover and take about 15 minutes to swap out for which ever ratio you want....and yeah, Tim is right. I drive the shit outta my cars.

 

You could put some hwy gears in that quckie and zip on down to the HAMB Drags this year......

-Abone

 

.............and it just may happen.....next year.

 

Hopefully we'll all meet there for a run and a brew!

My QC has 486's but I ran a 286 to Mokan and switched off to 375's to race.

The car performed Well but my back was toast so Marcy saved me on the return trip on the trailer!

 

Nice coupe updates, Rocko! Keep it up. I looked at a photo of my car last week...

 

Nice progress, now that I have the 3 window into one pile of drivable parts its about time to get back on my 34. Hopefully I can catch up to your progress!

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone...
I forgot which spur gears I had in this rear end so I checked. I turned the gears around [19 and 20] to give me 4.62 ratio with the 4.86 ring and pinion. That's a good place for me to start. I also have a set of 2.70s for long hiway blasts. The opposite gearing for those is 8 sumthun! Holy shit! I could get a side job pulling ships through the locks with those.
The damned rear end is all together [except for the park brake caliper bracket] and I put the tires on it to get a "for sure" measurement between the inside of the tires. My car is 45" wide at the wheel wells and the tires are 48.5" apart.
Cool! Gives me a smidgen over 1.5 inches clearance from tire to body on each side...just right!
I should have just left the rar end alone and started with bobbing the rear frame rails and moving them up against the bottom of the trunk floor but nooooooooo! I just HAD to start cleaning up the grungy rear axle. All I had for cleaning supplies was a can of spray carpet cleaner, another can of windshield de-icer and some simple green. I KNOW, right? I ended up using all of the above with a stainless steel brush and some clean rags. I got most of the front done. The de-icer worked great for disolving the tar crap and a follow up with the simple green worked pretty good. I'd love to use some carb/brake clean but it'd stink up the house. This other shit has very little odor but doesn't work as well...
Oh yeah...I also replaced the damaged fill plug on top of the housing with one I drilled an 1/8th hole in for a vent. Hole comes up from the bottom almost to the top but no quite...drilled a connecting hole to it from the side so if the oil wants to escape. it has to make a 90 degree turn inside the plug. I personally think that gear oil is just too damned lazy to go through all that.

 

Rocky, Jog my memory about that gearbox again will you.

 

Rock you would be surprised how active gear oil can really be. On my sedan I though a vent in the banjo rearend would be a good idea. I drilled one of the top bolts holding the side housing to the center. The hole pointed straight out the side. The oil still worked it's way out.

I ended up replacing with a stock bolt and just let it vent through the transmission like stock.

 

Gearbox is a close ratio [2.20 low gear] Muncie, M-21 4 speed.
Jeff..I'll keep an eye on the vent for leaks...thanks

 

Now that will make it fun to drive with that quick change rear.

 

No, I haven't died or run off to Mexico....still bustin ass on this coupe. In preparation for the rear axle install, I've been getting the frame ready. Jacked the car up and cut loose the temporary 9 inch ford axle and it's steel plate temp mounts.....put it in storage 'till the next swap meet.
Before I made any cuts, I did some head scratching and then sliced the rear frame horns off. They're only purpose was to mount the original 34 gas tank and I have a stainless tank already mounted under the back glass. Plus, they look like ass hanging down behind the car. I then took a slice up the rear frame rails at the rear axle centerline.....cut all the way up to the top rail and left the 34 rear crossmember in place to help keep the rear rails level with the frame ...forgot to mention I leveled the car with my smart phone...got it at "Zero" degrees.
Jacked the back of the sl;iced frame rails up until they fit snug against the bottom of the trunk floor and zeroed the angle again....I made a pair of "C" channels from 1/4" plate and tac'd them in place...checked my smart phone/angle finder again to see I was still at zero...that's about it for now. I still need to limber up the sawzall on the original 34 crossmember as it's gonna be in the way of the quick change. Right now I haven't decided if I'm gonna use all of my model A rear crossmember or just weld the center of it into the 34 crossmember like some guys do.
All the welding will be finished welded after I yank the body off again...over the fall/winter.

 

here is sits tonight, patiently waiting for me to cut the center out of that corssmember and jack the axle into place...setting up my suspension brackets...I'll find out if I have room for the tiangulated 4 bar I have or if I'll have to buy the Pete and Jakes ladder bars..not much room with the flat trunk floor.

 

Really shaping up Rocky,I like the Pete & Jack ladder bars and the work well. HRP

 

Thanks, Danny..

 

Looking good Rocky!
I had a homemade 4 link my 34, and decided to change to a P&J style ladder bar set-up. Pretty hard to beat, they work well, hook up good, and look better from a side profile (no bars hanging down). About the only draw back is routing big exhaust.
I may be back on my 34 soon....That or sell it. I was contemplating pulling my coil overs for an A- Spring over the Quick change. I haven't decided yet.

 

Looking good man! I'm going to try and make it up your way in the fall to check out the speedway museums expansion. Let me know if you switch to the Pete and jake set up I could run over to the shop and bring it up to you

 

Looking for inspiration for a new project coming together I came across this and thought you'd dig it.

It's not really the right era for your build but it's full of louvers and going fast on a drag strip so it's probably close enough.

 

Thanks for the offer, Tim...I'll let you know.
And get your 33-34 now before you and Sarah have 43 screamin kids draining your bank account.

 

Made a cradle out of scraps and welded it to my floor jack's pad...trimmed the center of the original 34 crossmember out and jacked the Q.C. up in place to get an idea whether I should use the triangulated 4 bar set up I have or go with ladder bars. If I use the 4 bars the top bar attachment point will be fairly low on the car's frame. I need to research if that will give me problems with handling
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