Projects model A coupe build from Down under New Zealand

Hi guys, as they say,I've been "lurking" round the hamb for a short time now ,looking at events, car builds,engineering and fabricating wizardary,
This site is a great inspiration for guys like me who have basic knowledge on building hotrods,
I brought a stock 31model A coupe a few years ago, with the intention of stripping it down and building a old style hotrod,60s style ,trying to keep it basic with the intention of enjoying working on it and doing as much as I can myself ,and then when it's finished having a fun car that my wife can drive and enjoy also,
The running gear ,327 SBC ,Muncie,QC diff ,ford bell tubes ,Lincoln drums all round,dropped axle ,fender less,haven't decided on the lid but somewhere round 41/2"to 5", model A radaitor surround,16"steel wheels ,6.00 front ,750 rear,and no flash Harry shiny paint,
I know this set up and style of car has been done a thousand times before, but I think the look is just real cool,
When trolling through multiples of pictures on the internet of model As ,this is style I keep going back to ,
I have pretty much finished the chassis and running gear ,with just a few of the smaller jobs left,I've attached couple off pics from when I started up till now,I will post more details and pics as I go,I'm fairly green to this posting pics etc etc so if I stuff it up let us know,the pics are in no particular order of descriptions for each pic as I'm not sure how to do that yet,

Cheers



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Looking bloody good, where abouts in NZ are you from? I'll be following your progress, keep up the good work..


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Here's a few more pics of when I brought it home in vintage form,then stripping excess weight for racing mode (got another 1/2 mile an hour outa her with fender etc off, )
I then ripped the body of the chassis, I've put that chassis with all the stock running gear in my spares (guna do something with it one day) shed ,
I got a set of model a chassis rails in the states a couple years ago , along with all the parts I thought I would need ,
my good mate Surtz boxed and set up a perimeter frame using model A rear crossmember and 32 front cross member ,while he was on the job he also mounted the F1 steer box ,recessed firewall ,mounted the engine ,gearbox and diff,and kicked up the rear chassis over the axle ,set up body mounts and rolled up the gearbox / floor panel,clutch and brake pedal chassis mounts,
all of this in 10 days ,hella of a guy with a hammer and gas torch,
We got it rolling on all 4 wheels in unpainted guise ,I trailered it back home and stripped it all down ,I painted every part including the engine ,diff tubes,front end ,and chassis etc with a $1.50 Home Depot paint brush using POR 15, it all come out great with a few brush marks here and there,just as I wanted,
In between building the chassis I built up the 327 engine ,set up the clutch,assembled up the winters QC centre section diff ,which took a bit of figuring,machined up the bell tubes to accept 9"axles and Lincoln brakes,I had to make the outer axle bearing mounts to spigot on the outside of the backing plates because of the width of the Lincoln drums,
All the brake lines ,fuel line ,driveshaft,radiator mount have been done ,
A couple of weeks ago I fired the engine ,had a smile almost as big as my wife's smile ,cause she was starting to think I was spending to much time in my shop drinking and listening to 60s/70s music and not doing stuff on the hotrod
I still got a long way to go but I can see light at the end of the tunnel
Cheers

 

Few more pics

 

We live half way between Tauranga and Whakatane just up from a small town called Matata,I work in Rotorua which is a 45 minute drive inland ,
Cheers

 

Hi guys ,I notice my pics are coming up before the narration, can someone point me in the right direction as far as posting pics and typing the words for each pic, also getting the format of the pics in order of sequence ,
Cheers

 

Trying to get the stance and profile similar to the blue model a two photos below
I reckon this a great stance,this is my screen saver pic,this is one cool car My home away from home
Engine ,gearbox pic

 

That thing looks great as it is. Thanks for sharing and subscribed


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Nice old girl. I certainly hope you add a decent K-member to take the torsional twist out of chassis.

 

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

 

looks good, garage is awesome!

 

The car looks great and your shop is about as cool as it gets! HRP

 

that is a damn cool looking shop!
the A is rad... being a down under car, did it have wood subrails?

 

Yep wooden sub rails ,had a hell of a job welding the cross members in ,had to use special wooden welding rods ,and a spoke shave, ha ha
Hey thanks the shop is a cool place to spend time working on the cars and bikes

 

Special Twig welding is only available in little country towns like Matata. Great looking car .

 

I like it, more pics when you can.

 

Cool coupe and your shifter looks interesting.. Tell us more...

 

Very nice ride; and greetings from an Aussie living in North America! I too, am very interested in your shifter. I'm very early days build on a '34 5W which will be nailhead powered and Muncie. I'd like to be able to put the shifter on centerline too!! Is that your design?

 

yeah, I've got a hell of a time welding the wood top on mine... think I was using alder filler when I should have been using oak.



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The shifter was brought a couple years ago in the states while I was over there,I got it off a friend up in Kernville,he had been selling them at swap meets,
The forward position of the shifter is ideal for the model A I'm building, as you can see I've fitted a model a gear stick ,
The shifter mechanism is solid as and well made ,all linkages are fully adjustable ,and the mounts are strong as, to set it up for the neutral gate there are reference marks to align,
It seems to find the gears okay when going thru the gearshift pattern
I remember having a Muncie with a tail shaft mounted hurst shifter, even after fitting new linkage bushes and spending untold time with the adjustment it still would not go smoothly thru the neutral gate ,specially shifting from 2nd to 3rd,
I will post some close up pics of the shifter this weekend
Cheers

 

Here's some pics of the shifter


It is really well made,fully adjustable linkages, and the gear stick not only comes out way forward but is also centre of the car, I have also mounted the E brake and cable mechanism to the r/h side of the top plate towards the rear, this is perfect for the cables to exit out towards the ladder bars,

 

hey PJ ,great writeup. I see you got the hang of posting pics .
looking forward to following this and seeing the old girl back on the road.
mark

 

Good catch up the other night,your roadster is also coming on great,i could have stayed and talked hotrods for hours,
You need to stick a few pics on here to mate
,cheers

 

Nice work.

 

Cool car man !. Damn I need a shed like that.

 

Made up this diff breather tube tonite ,just gotta trim an inch off the bottom,it should work ok ,can't see any reason it won't

 

Spent the day setting up the chassis wood and refitting the body, got a few adjustments to make tomorrow with packing spacers ,going to refit the seat and some internal bits to the body to get car weighted so we can weld the top shock mount brackets at ride height ,
Also got bump stop brackets to weld to rear chassis
Radaitor is pretty much finished with alterations to both inlet and outlet pipes, also had to modify the top tank as the radaitor was out of a 32, I'm using a modelA grill,so that will also be fitted
Then fab up a column drop and support brace behind the dash ,
Still got a bit of body patch panelling and roof chop to go ,
at this stage my thoughts are to take 4 1/2" out of the roof,
Having a forklift is real handy, but no way as handy as a hoist
Just need the roof lowered
So that's it's for today, looking forward to another day in the shop tomorrow

 

Spent the day cutting the floor sections out ,going to shift the seat frame back about 3".

Also managed to set the wood round the rear window on fire,
Lucky I always have a bucket of water by my welding bench for these sort of occasional happenings,saves emptying a extinguisher,I've got a new rear window wood kit to fit after the roof chop
I've got a wind down rear window kit also to fit,

Also started straightening the bent fins on the radaitor core, the top and bottom tanks have been alter to suit the model A surround ,I've repaired both side strap plates and these will b fitted next

 

What diff is it on the raer axle? I never saw it on a model a!

 

Quick change centre section with ford v8 tubes(bells) by the look of it..


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