Projects ReBuild Of my 1928 Model A Tudor.

nice work on the door and firewall repair

i do have to disagree with you on the visor, i like the look of the stock visor and the eyebrow on a 28/29

 

I did like it, with the stock height. Once I chopped the top I needed to recover some viewing out the windshield and this was the trick. Stay tuned.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Good save on the door patch! I really like the direction you’re going.

 

Let me work on that.

 

Cliff, you are doing fine. Keep up the good work.

 

Great rebuild story, lived in Manchester for a while back in the 60's, before moving south.

 

Nick,
Missed you this year, how do you like your new place? All set up there?

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Expert job in blending all these genuine Ford parts together. Loved the trans stand, mine is (was) a 3/4" pipe plug welded to a 1/2" X 2" plate that went in the vise! Stealin' your idea!
Also, the 276" recipe. Later rods/Merc crank, did a few of those. Long lasting, strong and dependable. "Grab the oxygen bottle!" Yep...that gets done around here, too. My bud had a roller, dies, and all...Estate sale, Wisconsin mfd. I used it lots, then they left CA for Idaho! Couldn't argue, but it was 'back to the bottle' for me...(the Oxy bottle!)
Very entertaining thread, like were there. Thanks so far...I'm subscribed.

 

Good stuff . Make your life a little easier next time and get some 18 or 20 gauge . Much easier to work with.


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A little more money, about $75 each, beltline and down door skins [snyd's] have the compound curves that the door does, being 18" or so tall they can eliminate a bunch of pits for the same amount of work.
used them on this coupe... split 1 in two and made cowl patches 15" tall... split another and used them for the rear quarter patches... lower beads all matched... HIH.
.

 

Copied your trans mount,

thanks,

jim

 

Problem with those skins is they don’t have enough crown ... you have to add with the English wheel ....also completely different shape then the cowl .


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Looking good!

I’m curious if you have had your front end weighted down enough to get the spring hangers to 45 deg yet.

I am also running an A axle and spring on “convinced” 46-8 wishbone and the shackle touches the wishbone at 45 deg. Curious if you have the same situation- should unless that axle doesn’t have the same perch centers as a stock A axle?- any how wondered what you did/ are going to do there.

Im probably just going to notch the wishbone to clear, there’s plenty of meat right there.

 

Thanks Mike.

I would have used the oxygen bottle but it was full and they are heavy, the acetylene was easier to move and pick back up off the floor.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Flop,
Thanks for the tip. I’ll check to be sure of the size since it’s been over a year ago that I did the sheet metal work.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Sloppy,
I looked at the patch’s and since I only paid $40.00 for the sheet metal I figured just make them, worked out good, the second time.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Tim,
I went out to the shop and checked, no interference issues.

What perch’s do you have? I didn’t have a stock pair of stock model A perch’s so I bought a pair of the speedway ones.

If I had to do the wishbone again I would use and early yoke and be done.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

I’ll take a photo this evening. It’s the same speedway perches. Hmm

It’s also possible that my “45” is actually steeper than 45. My front leaf pack had a few extras added I’m starting to wonder if I don’t have a longer main leaf that was maybe a higher arch option?

 

Tim,
My front spring was a posies reverse eye spring, I forgot the part number and I would need to check the axle because it could be only 34" perch to perch hole which is 2" narrower than a stock Model A and uses a 29" spring eye to eye. I'll measure tomorrow.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

OK, Since I finally mustered up enough courage to chop the top after reading everything I could find about it and the the Model A was the easiest one to do I'm like OK, lets get this show on the road.

Before people post about the bracing I looked high and low and it was a solid 50/50 to brace or not to brace. No extra steel kicking around, ok, no bracing it is. Well it wasn't that easy but that's about how it went as there was more over thought and sweating about that too.

Line up everything ahead of time, found some nice thin cutoff wheels at one of the box contractor stores .040" and .0625, nice and thin, cleaned them out. Gloves, face shield, hearing protection since I'm already deaf enough, one last deep breath and...............oh crap, gotta get the body back on the new frame.

So, body back on, shimmed and bolted down. The body doesn't have much of its wood left and it's pretty flexible. Lets try this out and see how it looks.




Ok, cut the top off, no turning back. SO at first I was like, WOW cool, then oh s%!#, then well before we go there lets try and get the top back on. The roof wood was from the 1st build and I left it in for strength but its going. I trimmed of the 3" pieces and then plopped the top back on.


OK, wow a 3" chop was just right, I like it. So i'm less scared but have quite a bit of clean up work and so much welding to do.



I rehung the doors and installed the gas tank to tighten things up. cleaned up some of the "not to straight cuts" pulled and tacked the top in place and tacked the door tops back on.



I pie cut the "A" piller area to get them to line up and tacked them together, that seemed to work pretty well.



At the back corners I cut two relief slits to pull the metal in and just kept trimming them till the sheet metal pulled in evenly.




I don't have more pictures, I was so nervous, scared, concerned, and busy trying to put the top back on that I missed taking more pictures but you get the jist of it, a 3" chop looks great on a Tudor.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Thanks man I appreciate it.

Chop looks great!
@Austin kays check that out!

 

So this is pretty close to 45 deg and the shackle
Touches on the back side.

I think the posie springs have a shorter main, as I’ve never seen one sitting under normal load at a 45 they are always a little less like yours

I’d assume the reasoning would be to allow you a little more suspension travel over stock. If you ever take a look at a stock A the bottom of the spring eye almost always has a worn flat spot from hitting the axle.

With a shorter main leaf you still get the same degrees of travel range but the “bottom” isn’t hitting the axle. Figure on a lowered car your going to get closer to bottom more than a stock one.

not really an issue, hitting the axle, with the 46 bones as they are thicker than the A by almost an inch on the axle end.

Any how sorry for the ramble but you did answer my questions

 

Tim,
That looks like its alot more than 45 degrees. I would take your phone, as most and an angle gauge in them and check the angle.

My guess is the spring is too long for the axle. Measure between the pin perches at the top of the axle to figure the width. The spring from eye to eye when it's not installed should be 5" narrower than the perch dimension. What is the spring you have?

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Well, with the chop done and looking good I finished welding and grinding on the car. Started what I called "body work" which included some tiger hair, bondo and lots of sanding and primer. I did my best to make things flat, clean and smooth.

There were some imperfections that i didn't get out. Some due to my lack of tooling and experience and others because I liked the character that it had wondering how that got there all those years ago. My whole thought is it's just a hot rod, nothing slick and fancy, just something I can drive and enjoy and looks like I want it to look. If others enjoy it, all the better but at the end of the day it's my car and I'm happy with it.

So, My grandson is back and he's taking a wack at DA work while I use the grinder. Conner has been at this in the past, blasting parts in the blast cabinet, welding headers, painting small parts and such. I hope its something he enjoys and wants to learn more as he gets older. James likes riding in the car a lot and has his on mechanical skills but like the motorcycles better. Enjoy.

Cliff Ramsdell

These door creases I left. Two fold here, I didn't want to pull the inner door off to hammer dolly them out and I likes them. Its just a hot rod, not a show car just a driver. They didn't effect fit and finish so they stayed.
Conner Going to town. He was great and we had a great time.

So, sanding, grinding, filling, priming and repeat. I know why I'm not a body guy, this would kill me.

I got it pretty good, we'll see when the last coat of primer goes on.

So, I think I'm good. Got the past sanding done, all the weld grinding and filling done. Got all the wood built for the body, guess I should have posted that one before this, crap.

 

OK, Body and roof wood. Well, I priced this stuff out because wood working is another task that I'm not proficient at. Well, at over $1000.00 for a top and body kit i'm like, oh H$!! no, I guess I'm making my own some how.

Don't get me wrong, I can build stuff. My wife and I have remodeled most of our house including a complete kitchen and dinning room tear out but all that stuff isn't the same. No fancy band saw for the curved lumber, no router. A table saw, 40 year old Montgomery Ward jig saw, belt sander and circular saw and that's it.

So, how much can I build and how much will it cost you ask, well I started with $100.00 worth of douglas fir because I don't think I need some hardwood for a car that will never see summer, winter and the such living outside and all. Add $50.00 worth of assorted hardware to bolt this all together and don't forget an couple hundred tiny a$$ nails to attach the sheet metal to the wood with and draw untold amounts of blood from my fingers every time I missed the damn nail. Some stain for a really nice color and then a semi gloss urethane for a nice finish.

I'm really happy.

Cliff Ramsdell

The Starting product, will it be a finished product or a pile of fire wood???
Like I said, not much to work with. A clean area, small table and the lack of desire to spend the money.



I made templates for most everything. Since it had a chopped top any prints or body kits were not going to work for me anyway.

So, I started with the door posts first, next was the header which I made to accept the visor being moved up. Then the wood above the doors and rear windows, the back window wood and then the curved pieces for the rear of the body.

The curved pieces were the worst and I tossed a couple of mistakes because the table saw grabbed them and sent them flying like a boomerang. Yes I had on gloves, yes I had on a face shield, yes, I was wearing a jacket to protect myself, no I didn't get hurt and no, I don't recommend doing it like this, I'm just saying......



I drilled pilot holes for the millon little nails, it was easier to get them in but still didn't stop my fingers from getting wrecked especially when your working upside down and in weird angles. a very small pair of surgical locking pliers helped once I got smart enough to go looking for them.

 

The top wood was another exercise is personal abuse. Again I had to make curved cuts with a table saw. It's tough, the saw will kick your butt, it doesn't like doing it. I used a couple of nice sharp blades which made the task easier, set the blade low enough to just cut through the wood and made the best of it.

I used the roof bow that's in the center as a template for the curve and went to town. The Router, that I borrowed for a buddy, was great for doing the cut outs needed to fit the rear wood and roof bows.

T nuts were used to secure the bows.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

OK, that's good for today. Next I'll post about the paint and staining the roof and floor wood work.

I hope this helps others with ideas because I read a lot of build threads to get ideas for this and that and they are a great help.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Cliff, wow great job and really coming along. I hope to be starting mine soon and you are greatly helping me and others with your photos and posts. Following along for the ride for sure!

 

Absolutely love those wood photos! They help a ton for some one considering how to attack such a project.

How did you go about making the curved pieces that go into the very back corners of the body?

~ as far as I know I’m using an A spring. I’ve been trying to see if there were different main lengths that were different lengths but I’ve yet to really find anything. I’ll check the actual degree of the shackle tho afternoon

 

Son of a bitch your right, now I get to figure out what the hell that spring is lol