Hot Rods The No Frame Model A Modified

I recently came up with a running and model A chassis, not really sure what I had planned for it I put together some of the pieces that I had laying around. I formed up this Model A Roadster pickup, and really it just didn't do anything for me.

In truth I probably should have just went forward with it after all was just a flip project, but I prefer to just let my mind wander little bit and make a project that I was actually excited about. So I extracted all the drivetrain running gear from the model A chassis. And set the frame out against the fence. After I had all the pieces on the chassis table and mocked up I came up with a perimeter frame that resembles a Lakes modified made from 1 inch square tubing. The Late Model Model A Grill shell was just too tall so I swapped it out for a 28 29 Grill shell and radiator.


To really do this right I needed to get my English Wheel Parts out of the attic that I have had for probably over 10 years and never fabricated the pieces to use them.




First few attempts at metal shaping on the Wheel.

 

I'll bite! Subscribed!!!!

 

Design and mockup of parts using .060 aluminum. Cut a piece, fold it up and learn what you need to, adjust the CAD drawing and cut another....makes for interesting scrap

 

The Mockup pieces including standins for the friction shocks, through the welded front spring hanger.

 

Subscribed. Interesting approach, and the workmanship looks great so far.

 

I'm in, nice to see someone thinking outside the box so to speak...

 

I'm signed on for the adventure. I'm enjoying this approach.

 

After a good sit and stare i decided that the side wings where I was at attatching my support struts was going to cause an issue with flexing and would require a ton of gusseting to make it work, therefore I decided to cut off those wings and attach my cross support structure differently.

Plasma cut out some pockets in the back side.

Cut out some brackets for the struts that would allow tge front structure to be removed from the motor plate.

Bent 2 sides of a triangle from 1" x .125" for the support struts.

While i think we are getting to where it will work I think I will keep thinking of a more elegant design.

 

Next step I built a substructure in side of the body to transfer the forces from the rear suspension to the front, I built these weld plates that bolt in at the motor plate so that the firewall/motor plate is still removable.


The upper holes shown above will go through tubes which will sandwich the throttle bracket and into the block for a little extra support.

If you can look through the Maze of square tubing you can kind of see how it is shaping up.


This is a shot of how the rear spring will be supported. The gas tank will Mount above it and there will be a gusset to tie the top of the body into the substructure.

The rear suspension is triangulated into the floor assembly and this transfers up to the transmission and this is how it will tie into the back of the transmission.


All of the holes in the gussets are for rosette welds.

 

Looks good!

 

Impressive! I'm in.

 

Super trick Leonard! I take it you are going to weld a steel " skin" over the structural skeleton to add some additional rigidity?

 

Thanks fellas,

It will be on the bottom but around the outside the body work will be screwed on heavily, and there will be an inner skin also.
Here is how the rear spring is shaping up. I ditched every other leaf as a starting point.

 

Working on the steering a little I found that the stock tie rods would nearly pass above the spring, and at full lock left no room for a cooling fan.


Back to the sit and stare

Turned the whole assembly upside down, this cured the spring clearance issue but required cutting off the drag link arm.

To fix the fan clearance issue, I turned these inch and 3/4 spacers to go between the tie rod arm and the spindle. I machine them to an interference fit.



I cut the threads off the original steering arm

I probably got a little bit greedy with the interference fit and nearly didn't get them drove all the way on, but finally got them driven home.

 

I have no idea what's going on here,but I can't look away

 

I'm in for this party....impressive work Rottenleonard

 

What is the reason/s why this style of build is being done.
Cos you can or are you trying to save weight or whatever???
I'm just trying to understand your philosophy behind it.

 

A Lotus 7 of hot rods? Sure looks interesting, and it should be very light, eh? I'm in! Gary

 

Dam impressive work! This will be awesome. I'm tagging along....

 

Along about post #10 Type 61 "Birdcage" Masaratti [sp?] from back in the day came to mind. Homemade cookie without the cutter, love the concept! Will be following for sure.

Ed

 

Thank you!

In part it is to make a light car, 40 hp will start to feel like something in a 1000lb car. Also i can make it relatively low without sacrificing leg room. And a good portion of it is what I like to call daydreaming in metal, it's in my head looks like fun...I want to drive it.

Thanks!

 

the arms after tign on the extensions. The model a's use a square shoulder to keep them from spinning, this required a little additive manufacturing.

and work with the hand held milling machine.

clearance at full lock looks much better

clears the crank pulley when centered.




Ackerman is pretty close too.

 

Great work and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

What happened to the KPI when reversing the spindles? Did you bend the axle near the king pin bosses?
Superb machining and welding...

 

Actually i just changed the steering arms side to side and upside down, the spindled are still in their stock location.

 

Excellent craftsmanship and vision

 

Wow. I feel like such a hack. ;-)

 

I'm sorry to say I can't remember the fellow's name, but a very similar car was recently built down under (light green roadster). It was an amazing build, and you might get some tips from him. Anyone help with the link to the HAMB build files? Gary

 

I would like to see it for sure.