I shortened the one side of my rear spring perch. These are from '46 to '48 I believe. I also harvested the torque tube and drive shaft which i will be cutting down soon for this build. I went ahead and painted them when i was finished as well.
After reversing the eyes on the rear spring and stacking the frame and cutting the top four leafs down and putting them on the bottom of the stack I am still not as low as Id like, but ill delete a leaf or two and see where I am sitting. I also attached the weld on spring perches I bought from Dave Havlir, which I cant recommend his products enough to anyone. Now that its below the car the '40 rear went through last year looks right at home.
Id like to go maybe 3 more inches down, anyone know when deleting a leaf is it just a guessing game as which ones to delete? then see how you like the look vs the ride quality? I dont know if i should delete the top one or the middle one.
You can gain a couple inches by cutting the top out of your rear cross member. Position the spring so you still have clearance at the frame rails, and fab a new top, or add material to the old one.
I probably went the easy route here to gain some clearance and take off the front pulley/sheave of my crank pulley, but i didn't want to remove the pulley to make this cut. I used a grinder with a fiber cut disc and went slowly and cut it off from the top. I need to clean it up more but its allowed for alot of room in front of the cross member now.
Got on the project of shortening the torque tube last night. Was easier than I thought it was going to be. I am running a 40 rear end. That tube has the inner bearing so instead of trying to remove it with a large punch, just cut it out. My first cut below you can see this. Then I mounted the front of the tube back in and measured up from the radius rod mount to the rear end mount took that measurement and cut out what I needed from the rear of the tube and tacked it back together. This left the inner bearing left out in which I have removed the radius rod mount and will attach later tonight. To get a good straight tack and welds I used two angle iron pieces and clamped. I then remounted and fits good and tight. Next is to mount the radius rods and lower spring perches I have from a 47 - 48 ford. Last night I realized with the shorter 46 rods I am going to run and the weld on top leaf spring perch I am going to have to cut some out of the mounting surface of the lower mounts. Ill add some photos to make sense of this later. No biggie, but was hoping this would all just fit together. ahahahaah.
Saturday I got up to burn in the motor mounts and cross member now that I have fully mocked everything with the body on and ran out of gas at 1130 and all our welding places close here at 12 noon. So I moved on to things I could do without gas. Mounting the Rear lower spring perch mounts. I had hoped this was going to just fit, but it took a small amount of cutting. When i put on the weld upper leaf spring perches i didn't realize i was going to create an issue, the photos tell the story. No biggie. All mounted now and looks great.
great job so far! cutting a torque tube in the center with a chop saw scares me though. not a chance in hell its an accurate cut, and then things move when you weld them. this is critical, that tube needs to be perfectly square with the rear end flange. after you get it welded back together you should find some one with a lathe long enough to face off the flange end to be true. i cut them on a lathe so its two perfect cuts, and then tack it together in the lathe bed so you can keep it true....and they still move when you weld it and a face cut is usually required. off a little bit and the radius rods dont hit the center of the tube
Finished welding up the torque tube last night and mocked up the headers and steering box, all are working together great. Been looking at a bunch of DIY bench seats and think I am going to try this route over the MINIVAN option. I have a frame that came with the car that will need some adjustments.
Forgot to give Dave Havlir over at Havlir house of Fab the credit here. He built the headers and rebuilt my box for me, both made this look amazing and easy for me. Cant recommend his work enough. Top notch.
While I am waiting on my drive shaft from the machine shop, this weekend started messing with the seat I am going to try to run. It is the frame that came with the car when I bought it. I think it is from either a bus or maybe an old go cart. It had a few braces and a plywood insert which I stripped off. The frame will work well in the original seat riser, which I think I will cut down at a later time so I am not sitting to high. The frame needed to be extended in the seat/bottom section about 2" and the top back rest about 4". I also had to heat and bend the top back rest risers to fit the interior of the car. I am waiting on a rear seat riser which I recently purchased, that will give me a better idea of how the back rest needs to really sit, but this is in the right direction. Once I have the rear seat riser and the wood slats in I will adjust the level of the frame and the tilt in-conjunction with the package tray. I am also after this going to buy a column drop once I know how I will sit and where I want the steering column and steering wheel. Next Ill be buying now zig zag/no sag springs for the frame and some foam.
Took my Drive shaft to Scotty's here in Austin. They were the only people in town that would touch it. They went the route of machining down the coupler/adapter half way and then cutting and machining down the shaft it self. This creates an interference fitting when pressed on, then they welded it together for extra strength. They cut it perfectly to the length I needed. 46 5/16" w/o adapter or 48 9/16" with the adapter. Only issue is that they cut the wrong end off, so the small divot that is in the speedo gear side for the retaining clip will need to be put in, but Scotty's said they would do this after I mocked up and made sure it was going to fit. She fits!
This weekend I messed around and mocked up how the trunk conversion parts I bought were going to fit. Was a cinch to install once i figured out how the parts work together. I will need to fab a small piece of sheet to span the gap from the curved piece to the floor riser box above the rear rear cross member.
I recently turned up an old seat riser front and rear for a roadster. I don't know if they are for a 28/29 or 30/31, or if there is really too much difference, but i figured out how to make these work for my needs. The rear riser does not have the legs needed to support the bump for the wood frame that backs where the original seat would have set. So I did have to make those, but it wasn't to hard. I made card board pattern and traced this out and looked at photos from books and the net and tried to copy what I saw best I was able.
Love how your car is coming along. I cut my torque tube and welded it back together the exact same way you did and it works just fine. Many things can be done with simple tool and much carefulness. Good Job!
You're spring pack is close to what I have in my Coupe. I'd leave it like it is for now. Once the gas tank and battery are installed it will be a little lower. After you drive it a little the spring will settle down a little too.
Last night I moved the Radius Rods attachment point so they would work with the '46 rods I am going to run. Little heat to make them fit up to the torque tube and I was done. I did this with the tube mounted under the car, which was a little awkward, however i wanted to get the right fit. Then tacked in place and removed the tube and finished welding.
Finished attaching the legs to the rear seat riser. I had to make little tabs for the wood braces to attach, came out pretty good.
Worked on the seat frame today, got a lot done. Making the little clips took most of the time. I took 16 gauge flat and put it through the brake and then hammered a little. Since my frame is round on the edges i needed to bend a round section for mounting as well. Once I had the lines drawn it was just the matter of time installing each clip and cutting the no sag springs down to size and them bending the ends of the springs so they stay in place. I used 10 gauge no sag springs. I have the paper wrapped wire and foam on the way.
Bought some 4" high density foam that cut initially with a bread knife to get the shape, then shaped down more with a jelly jar top with small perforations that I rubbed on the foam to shave. Then i took a small die grinder to get the final shape. I used spray adhesive to take the pieces together.
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