Grille does look like an ole race car, but kinda takes away from the sweet work on that hood. A deuce shell may be cool, but I really like '37 truck grilles on '34s
Yeah.. I'm still not sold on the grille either. But I'm gunna keep truckin'. I can always change it later. I haven't really posted much on my intentions, so I thought I'd lay out a plan. Trying to bring back a lot of it's unique racing build, while building the visually appealing hot rod I've always wanted. Body: Finishing hood/grille, filling holes from nerf bars. Probably adding some "sponsors" and names, but that's pretty much it. Doors and trunk are staying welded. Chassis: Putting the original style shocks back on the front as well as the pipe supports on the front, and maybe some other small changes. Cutting down the rear bumper, and some kind of a nerf bar/bumper in the front. Also going to paint the entire chassis silver, like it was back in the day. Drivetrain: Merc flatty, 3x2, aluminum heads, and a Magspark. Really want to build my own motor, but that might have to wait. Airbox that ducts inside the car for fresh air, like they had originally. New tires should be here next week - I'll probably have to make my own rims for the back, that should be fun. Anyone have a couple centers out of wide 5 rims?
Did I miss it? What tires are you getting for the rear? I really want to widen some wheels for mine and get rid of the "late model" Hoosiers I have currently.
Going to run Firestone dirt trackers all around.... I wish I could just widen the stock rims, but the backspacing isn't really enough. Even though I used the widest banjo, the current tires will still rub some on the wheel wells. Towel City has some vintage looking race tires, or they can fully groove their cheater slicks, that might be another option for you.
Gotcha. I'd love love Love to get some of those dirt trackers for the back of mine but I can't justify spending the coin (too many other projects.) I'm thinking about some 7.50-16 trailer tires that I will sipe myself. The towel cities look good but the cuts seem awfully shallow? I should probably contact them as @falcongeorge suggested and see what they can do. Keep the updates coming!
like the "trog" series... so much better to see a seasoned old ford end up a trog car than a vintage roundy round car... ... TROGLODITES.....
Looks lean and mean- it'll horrorize some of those overdone "painted ladies" at TROG! I dig the air cleaners thru the hood.
I think the grille was a stroke of genius..keeps the model 40 flavor but says race car. With a little trimming at the front of the hood top, it'll be perfect. That body is still nice enough you could make a street car out of it after running it at TROG. It's a lot nicer than what I started with. Mine [avatar] was an old roundy-round car too.
So an attic find and a snowbank find from a friend donated their guts to the project... ... In order to make some rims for these: Now I just need to find a wheel hoop that'll take a 14.25" center...
I always like to see old cars getting another chance and being restored for others to enjoy. Thanks for saving another important part of our car history. Jimbo
AMAZING as usual Shaun!!! The grill is perfect, just lean it back just a smidge. I would put a bolt in 2" tube spreader as a front bumper between the horns, and add a simple curved bar straight up from the top of the spreader from some 1 3/4". That flatty looks great. I like the 3 air cleaners myself.
Check with this guy for hoops and wide five centers... http://www.petepaulsen.com/catalog/cataloghome.html
A little progress... It's been quite a while since I tried my hand at Photoshop, but after a few hours of frustration I managed to come up with this:
Thanks Rocky. If it makes it to TROG, the first thing afterwards will be to get it back on the road. Not sure I foresee it becoming a door slammer anytime soon though.... Yours certainly came a long way, and I love the stance on your coupe! @ANDEREGG TRIBUTE thanks for the kind words - I like the look of that sketch! It would be fun to build it out of Sch. 40 pipe... That's what the original builder used for the rollcage and bumpers- some pieces still have the threads on them. Being a plumber is handy sometimes, I can probably recycle some stashed around the shop. Planning to finish up the grille soon and deal with the radiator... Thought about painting the grille black, but think I'll stick with red, and a silver insert. I'm really hoping to keep 16" rims all around, otherwise I need to find new front rims as well.... Plus return all the tires I just bought haha. Have a couple homemade 15" wheels, rebar reinforcement and all, but of course they're different widths. Guess I'll have to hit the junkyards and hope I get lucky on some a rim that'll come close to fitting the Wide 5 center.
I was going to ask if your new tires were 16s. I need to do the same and thought about cutting the rim off another wheel and widening some wide five rims rather than pulling the centers. Please post what you find out. The photoshop job looks great!
Wish I could have just widened a set, but unfortunately backspacing is also an issue for me. Even though I was sure to get the widest Banjo rear, my current 650-16's rubbed on the wheel well. Definitely hoping I can use those centers haha. Thanks on the photochop! Thought it might be a little much to ask for in the Photoshop thread, they've helped me quite a bit already. On the fronts Coker recommended 3 - 5" I think, so the stock 4" wide rims are fine (though they were a pain to seat). The rears they recommend 6 - 8.5" wide, though some have mounted them on stock 4" rims. Talked to a couple guys running them, seems 7" might be best.
Can you not carefully cut the wheel band outboard of the wheel center on one set ( leaving the center in place and intact. Then on a second set remove the center, carefully cut the wheel inboard of where the original center was. Fill the rivet holes, then true and weld the two halves together. I don't have a 36 wheel in front of me but I would bet you would end up with a 6"+ wheel. Clear as mud....
A little progress... Found an old, no-name offset generator bracket. Originally though that drivers side would be the best bet, but after looking at pictures for reference I realized that it would interfere with fuel lines and linkages. Of course an 8BA style doesn't exactly fit an early style intake, so a little trimming on the back of the generator mount was necessary. Thankfully looks like good clearance for everything. Hoping to find someone to cut down the carb risers to make the hood and air intake jive a little better... After digging through my stashes at 4 different shops, I managed to find the original seat belt, donated from some aircraft. Marked A-F 43, maybe military surplus? Fabric cleaned up decent, trying to rejuvenate the leather now...
I've thought about it, but not really sure. Howard and I were talking about a '36 Pickup grille - has characteristics of a stock 33/34 grille, with a wider shell behind it. That would help to "lengthen" the hood a little more, and cover the radiator. I've thought about that option, but I'm not sure it would work for what I'm doing. Backspacing is just as much of an issue as rim width, and the stock rims don't give me much option to remedy that. Hadn't considered a Lincoln though - might be something to research!
The Jalopy Journal
