Projects My 1931 Model A Coupe build thread - Inline six! In Alaska

Hey folks, this will be my thread for my '31 Coupe build. That is if I don't get kicked out for my wacky engine choice...

So here's the plan so far (and totally incomplete):
-Probably a highboy, haven't quite decided on that
-5 inch chop, as it's already %75 done (and was when I got it)
-Probably some sort of bucket seats
-Keeping the rumble seat for sure
-Pontiac OHC 6 with triple weber DCOEs
-Probably fenderless, unless I grow fond of fenders between now and the finish
-No decision on suspension, but will probably have two live axles.
-And I'd love a deuce radiator shell.

So here's the story. I bought the car in fairbanks alaska and it appears to have been off the road since 1960. The title was signed over in 1969! Lets hope the DMV lets me keep that. The body has got a 5 inch chop started, needs to be finished up around the a and b pillars, they need to be pie'd and lined up. All the floors are a bit rotten, so those will have to be replaced, or new ones fabricated (can I get a bead roller in here?).
The bit of this car that will be kind of the centerpiece is the inline 6 that will power it (or at least, is slated to). The motor I have a line on is from a '67 firebird non-sprint. I know, that's non-hambable but hey, people have jag suspension and mustang II suspension and stuff on here, so I figure, close enough. That plan for the engine is to balance the rotating assembly as precise as I can (probably have to have a machine shop do the crank). My goal is a "red line" at somewhere around 7500 rpm. I'd be happy with 300hp, preferably up high. So the plan is so far, triple webers (probably from pierce manifolds). I'll probably have to have a custom cam ground to get the revvy power band I want out of it, any one on here know anything about welding and grinding cams? The trouble is with this ohc stuff, you can't just lengthen a pushrod and call it a day... Also, I may or may not have to have the cam carrier machined out for a standard cam bearing. Stock these motors just have the cam ride against the bare aluminum (and oil, obviously! haha). Possibly having the head ported would do me well, and of course I'll need bigger/dual valve springs for the higher rpm. Hardened valve seats are probably in order as well. The good news is that the lower end will all cross over to chevy inline 6's, so forged rods, aluminum pistons, etc, are all available, as well as different cranks. I think the pistons may cross over into small block land as well. I'll probably run it at a higher compression ratio as well (probably 10:1 or 10.5:1? I think that's what the factory sprint motors were).

Now! On to the good part.


The car on the trailer that towed it 360 miles home to anchorage. Oh and note the dent in the firewall, apparently it's a late '31 which is cool or something.


'Nother shot of the front. You can see the genuine heated and dropped 'A axle up front. Really cool, what should I do? Keep it or not?


Rear quartering shot. You can see rust all along the bottom of the thing, and up into the wheel wells. This is happening on both sides. Oh, and the caty-wompus stance is due to the rear spring being not bolted in! This was super legit on a 360 mile ride. I of course, cargo-strapped the spring to the crossmember.


Artsy fartsy shot


Am I allowed another artsy fartsy shot? Well, either way you can see the stuff inside. An old seat and back, and the rumble seat decklid!


Crappy cell phone shot at wal mart before pulling an all-nighter back to anchorage. Would you lower 48 folks believe me if I told you this was around 12-1 am? Also, after this I had to feed myself so I towed the thing through the taco bell drive through... no one said anything.


Another crappy cell shot after loading up. Don't mind the dumb-assed strapping methodology, that was immediately corrected (my bad). Also note the literal truck-load of parts in the back.


The finished bit of the chop looks good. I'm told it has a bit of filler, but I'm not concerned. The welds look good from the back.


Here you can see the issue I need to correct with the front posts. Any tips from the experts?


Rust repair, period correct style.


Rust in the front right cowl and door bottoms.


Rust in the rear wheel well. This whole piece will probably be replaced.


Similar rusts, other side.


82 years old and still better than an 80's subaru.


Needs some chemo and radiation for the cancer.


Splash apron, old random horn, and original steering gearbox.


I was amazed, this steering wheel has 0 cracks in it. That's much better than almost any wheel from the 70's!


Box of goodies. Interior window trim, the bits cut from the chop, and awoooooga (that HAS to stay, I will make it work)!


Light bar, I really like these things. Dunno why. The lights and bar both look totally workable.

 

The fenders I have are, well, a sheetmetal workers practice piece. I plan to challenge myself to straighten this pretzel to practice metal finishing. It's totally possible, and not voodoo magic (okay, maybe a little) to do bodywork without filler.


The rear fenders, getting to know each other. As you can see, one is much worse than the other, which just needs some cracks welded.


You can see the front fenders, the rad shell and dash I have here.


So that's that! Things I'd like to learn from you folks include, is there a way to fit a tight roll cage in one of these that's certified for at least some cool stuff that will also make me safer than a stock body? And what are your thoughts on replacing the wood frame with steel? Is that worth it? Added safety or added weight? How about the floors, any tips on replacing those bad boys? How about the best place to get sheetmetal replacement panels? Oh and one last thing, an old school Model A or Model B hot rod has always been within one of the top 5 dream cars I've had at any given time, so this car is really a dream come true. It'll be tough affording parts and what not at the $12 an hour I currently make, but that's why I want to learn sheetmetal work. More time fabricating, and less time buying things I don't nessecarily have to buy. I'm teaching myself tig welding right now. Oh and I'm 20, and live in Alaska, which is kind of tricky for building cars in due to crazy shipping costs. So I'm pretty much a badass. Hahhhh, Just kidding, actually fairly lazy still living at home using the parents garage and all that. But, hey, I realize it's either now or when I'm 65 that I build this, and frankly, the sooner, the better.

Oh and did I mention that I have a line on a '55 packard dash that may or may not find it's way into this car, depending on how available it turns out to be? A '55 packard is also one of my dream cars, so that'd be like two birds with one stone or something.

 

Ah a 1st project. Enjoy. Is there any night schools or similar where you can go learn so basic welding and fab skills?

 

Ol' Henry will be spinning in his grave
for sure, but I'm digging your choice of a
Pontiac OHC-6 with triple Webers!! Really
digging it!!

Mart3406
=============

 

I've been mig welding for quite a while now. I want to learn tig due to how nicely it plays with sheet metal (namely, how it's a softer steel than a mig weld). Also, not quite a first project. I finished this a couple years ago.

*imagine 1973 VW Super Beetle lowered on fuchs here*

Although it is totally non-hamb friendly. I think it expressly says in the rules, no vws! haha

Also, thank mart! I've been listening to sound clips of jags and other race prepared old sixes and they just sound so cool. I definitely don't want that old stovebolt bees nest sound (although that is totally cool too). I want it to be one of those motors that you rev and people go "damn!" Webers tend to help with that I've learned haha

 

very nice into/ thread start. Looking forward to seeing this one unfold. Good luck.

 

To go along with that OHC-6, a T5
5-speed stick would be sweet too
and would be an easy fit..

Mart3406
===================

 

That's exactly what I was thinking! I forgot to mention it, but yeah, I plan on doing a T5. It sure as hell won't be a slush box. But damn, I'm going to be pinching pennies for quite a while to pay for this motor.

 

got a build tread on the 1303 (super) oh yea and nice A project

 

Sure do, it's pretty sparse as the project had a really odd timeline (ah being a teenager). Also don't mind the not-what-i-would-do-today concepts I had at 16 years old when I started on it.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=366056

Also, I forgot to mention the bummer about this coupe. It'll be a slow project as I've got a '72 chevy pickup and a '69 Camaro RS/SS (getting an aluminum 526 big block, kinda cool) ahead of me in line in the family garage resto clusterf*^%

 

Nice project. Subscribed.

Later,Bill

 

Great looking project. It appears that there is a lot of rust in the subrails, take care of this first before you do the body panels. With the amount of body work I see, I suggest that you complete that first. Do some careful measuring for the engine compared to the engine bay if you run the fenders, not much room in an A coupe and you don't want the engine to far in.

 

Thats a train wreck you got ripped off.. Im sorry man but Ill take it off your hands tho..

 

Cool! Looks like a Dago axle, maybe not, but if it is that's cool by itself.

 

Woah! Hey, you're right. I did some googling and it looks like a power-hammer drop whatever it is. I'll take some close up pics of the drop. Any identifying marks that would identify it as being made by ed stewart?

 

Looks like an awesome project!

 

I look forward to seeing that OHC six.

 

looks Nice..

 

Search kruzer63 on here for Pontiac six in a model a sedan. Its awesome......good luck with your project

Mike

 

Hard to believe there are still projects available, out there, after ALL these years. Nice score!! Should have included ALaska in the title.
Personally, I think that whole aspect brings another dimension to this build. Granted with the internet at your fingertips, things are a click away. But, gotta be tough and hats off to you, for salavaging this old girl.
Straight 6??? Hell yeah!! Most would agree, that we all like different powertrains. Once agian, not the easiest way to go, but should be really cool when done.

JT

 

Another on being saved!!! Nice...have fun with your build.

 

Looks like a fun project,,I used a V6 Buick in my first Model A,,it ran great and rally kept up well with all my friends with V8's. HRP

 

Awesome start, I like the inline 6 idea, but are you gonna have to recess the firewall a lot or stretch the frame?

 

Do you have the Weber carbs and
manifolds for the OHC-6 yet? If not,
another cool set up to look for too,
that also works gangbusters on the
OHC-6 is the old 'Man-A-Fre' 3-2bbl
set up that uses 3 large-bore 2GC
Rochesters. It's a 'semi-individual
runner' design rather than a true
I.R. set-up like the Weber set-up.
Similar to a Weber set-up. other
than a small connecting passage
to facilitate idling, the Man-A-Fre
manifold doesn't use a common
plenum - but unlike a true I.R
set-up, where one individual
carb venturi serves one dedicated
intake port, the Man-A-Fre manifold
uses the two venturies of each carb to
simultaneously feed a pair of intake
ports. The manifold is long out of
production, but the odd used one
turns up from time to time. They
work killer on the OHC-6 and the
2GC Rochester carbs are easily
junkyard source-able and they're
also a whole lot cheaper and easier
to rebuild and set up than the exotic,
and albeit very cool, high-dollar
Webers..

Mart3406
===========

 

limp, thanks for the tip! I'll check that out for sure.

mart, that's a cool intake. I don't have the webers yet, but I am shooting for a smoother idle so I do want that individual runner. It'd probably be pretty lopey without it. And probably still will be any how. The weber setup is $1700 for everything. So, I'll have to save up for that! Haha I think I may run the car for a while as a work in progress with the motor stock with the 1 barrel until I can get the webers and really build the motor up.

So today I dipped my toes in the water for the build. I rebuilt the most important piece of the car... the ahooga horn! Kinda fun. Although I lost one of the springs for the brushes (why does this ALWAYS happen?) so I had to make a new one. But it really didn't need much to make the motor run. I just cleaned up all the connections. Gave the inside of the brush holders a light sandblast and wire brushed the brushes (ironic) and also cleaned the armature contacts. After that and some lube, it spun up nicely. I've yet to put the diaphram on though, so that might just bog it down.


Here's the before (my apologies for cell-phone images).


After rebuilding the motor and getting it to run. Pretty cool motor, check out the hand wound stator windings! At least, I hope they're by hand, they sure are wonky.


Next, how do I get this dent out of the bell?


Rip the bell apart! I called it bed time before diving into the hammering. So we'll have to see how I do on this. It'll be good practice for metal working. Screwing up the bell of the horn is much less important than screwing up the body IMO haha

And last, jake, I put alaska in the title haha so now it's cooler I guess. Naw, really alaska isn't to difficult to live in, it's just less convenient to get stuff up from the states.

 

Nice build I am building a 31 pontiac with an OHC-6 with the tripe webbers they are a great running setup once you get them dialed in. I have run man a fre intakes in the past while they are a cool looking setup they run like crap. Also be aware the ohc is a hard engine to build without a good sized budget parts can be hard to find cams are the biggest problem although Clifford performance is offering them for sale again. Pm me if you need ohc help

 

I've seen that kanter sells cams as well for these things, I saw your car, great stance!

 

Kanter sells the E cam which is the standard 4 barrel cam with the webbers you should run at least the H cam which is the 69 4 speed cam Clifford has 3 cams larger than the H

 

Sweet score man ! I watched your bug build on the club site. I've got a few VW's myself .
Anyways check out my build and let me know if you need any help with anything.

Carl

 

Yeah! I saw your build, KB was wondering who you were at the thursday night cruise tonight haha he saw your build on here. Have I seen you/your vws at any of the shows around here?

As for my car, here are a couple pics of the drop axle I've got. Any powerhammer axle gurus out there?




Also, don't worry, I have a 2x12 under the front end now so it's not sitting on the ground. Was going to put one under the rear but then... Oh shit! There's a bees nest in the pole barn!

Oh also, I got the ahoogah running. Here's a picture. It's certainly not perfect, but the general shape is there. I'll have to practice finishing out the fine hammer marks and such in this whole metal finishing shenanigans. Anyone want to show me how? haha