right now its all about crossing the T's and dotting the I's before paint. Kinda took off part of the summer from the build, but just started back on it so ill get updates goin. January is when itll be done. So close but not close enough to enjoy it this year.
Firewall is almost all filled, so many holes. and some detail work on the outside of the front rails and apron
I'm diggin it. I wonder how the car would look with 6.70 15's in front? Great job. Thank you for the progress reports! JK
Great work. I have a question about the headers. How do you get a weld all the way around the pipe when the pipes are close together? Do you break them apart and weld one joint at a time till you get to the collector? And how do you get to the middle of the collector to weld up the pipes so they don't leak? Kevin
You dont have a set laying around do you? Im kinda wondering myself. For welding headers im sure everyone does it different. What I do is tack all the tubes in there final and correct position, lots of tacks evenly spaced. Then removing only one tube at a time i weld each tube and tack it back to the collector and flange(in this case i used the other tubes to hold the flange and collector in place). Once all the tubes are welded I weld the seams where they meet the flange. For the collector side I remove it and weld the star that usually comes with the collector to the middle of all the tubes. Then I weld all the tube ends that meet. Then fit the collector back on and weld the outside. It comes down to prep. Get perfect seams where your tube ends meet. Have clean metal. If you have gaps or the bends are not meeting each other flush thats where they will move on you. If you keep correct angles when you cut your tubes you will never have problems with that. Another example of things to consider is most u bends are not mandrel bends. They do not keep perfect diameter through the bend. When you cut it, it wont meet up to that straight tube your joining it too. You will have time in making it align. So I guess I gave you more of an answer then I needed to but the welding part is easy if everything before it is done perfect.
That makes sense to me. I thought that's how it was done but have never done it so I'd thought I'd ask. If I understand you correctly your last weld is the outside of the collector to the pipes, right? Do you tig or mig the tubes? There's some sort of Ford gasser in my future so I figure I better learn as much as I can from yours. Thanks for the help. Kevin
I just forwarded this thread to a friend, he just bought the same car in red to make a strait axle gasser out of. Thanks for the post it should help us in our build as I'll be helping him most likely.
Dream/planning stage. I'm looking at 55-56 Fords, Falcons and Comets. Lately I've been thinking maybe a 65 Mustang since prices have come down some and you don't see many. I'm thinking small block in the unibodies and an FE if it ends up a 50's car. I've been keeping my eyes open, but I won't have any appreciable funds until spring. Kevin
Little update. Finished the holes around the front down tubes through the firewall. Officially, metal work on the body is done but there is a lot that needs to be welded underneath. Made the bracket for the fuse panel which will hang from the tube under the dash. For a little more oomph we have ourselves a new power plant. A stroked 68 302 block ending at 347ci with trick flow heads and a compression ratio right around 11.5 -1. scat crank, h beam rods, probe pistons and i could keep goin but you get it. cant wait to fire it up!!!!
Man, that looks good. Ought to be a screamer. What for cam are you gonna run? I love it when they get to this point. It usually means they're getting close. Do you weld the firewall to the tubes? Kevin
yes the tube and firewall will be welded together. As for the cam i have not matched up the part # yet but when i do ill let ya know. I bought the engine complete thinking and being told its a 302. Turned it over and saw there was a lot of clearance done on the bottom of the bores. hmmm they only do that with strokers. Starting breaking it down and part by part and sure enough its a 347. so i guess i lucked out.
Your ladder bars look good. I've been working on mine quite a bit I need to get some pictures and update my thread. Looks like your coming right along.
Well im sure theres some of you that wont like this post and the 60's loyalist leave spring junkies are disagreeing with me. The bird is goin to get some coil overs in place of the leaves. This decision was made for a couple of reasons. Mostly due to time, simple effective design, and proven reliability. I just had a poor design with the adjustment of the rollers and where they contact the leafs. I kinda figured out what had to be done to correct some of the issues and its just not worth it to me. For the cost, time, and still not knowing how well it would react to slamin the gas, coil overs was an easy decision to make. I lost a little bit of the look but ill sacrifice that to make the awesome events coming up this summer. sooooooo Heres some pics of it in the air and some with the coil overs mocked up. The leaves are still in because I have yet to order the springs.
Looks good, I've put 3-link under several cars in the past and they do hook better. I would probably have put 4-link under mine if I had planned on altering the wheelbase from the beginning, But I already had a set of custom leaf springs built now so I'm going to use them.
Looks good to me. It also makes sense. Disc brakes aren't traditional but they make sense to me, too. I've been thinking of the best way to get some slip on the leaf springs and haven't really come up with or seen anything I like. It seems to me that anything I've seen will eventually have some stiction in it and could be unpredictable. Of course, I could be full of shit and over-thinking it. There was a thread about a Willys gasser find that was built in the '60s that had ladders and coils. The builder fabbed up some spring cups top and bottom with the bottoms welded to the axle and the tops threaded onto inch or bigger threaded studs or bolts. Shocks were mounted behind the coils. Spring cups looked like they were made out of well casing or pipe and had a shitload of holes drilled in 'em. I liked this set up. KRH
Heres the battery box and an early Christmas gift. Problem is the longer a project takes the more you change your mind...and buy more stuff : )
The Jalopy Journal
