Hot Rods Seattle Apple Orchard Survivor '32 5W

Glad to see another NW car get saved!

 

Subscribed.

 

Always a pleasure to see you do your thang.

 

That is the car that was in the hardware store basement in Ballard. Confirmed by the owner when he pulled it out and posted on here. I never thought it would happen, but very cool that it did.

 

Neat old 5w,subscribed. Can't wait for more updates.

 

steve is a rock star

 

Tell me the early HEMI was still sitting in the barn....

 

Nice find! It is amazing to see cars like this keep turning up.

 

No, it is long gone.....

 

Cleaned off the table and got some work done!

Check out the progress so far:



















Here is what happened. We knew the rails were in rough shape but it was worth it to me and Bob to preserve them even if it was a bit extra. I built two X-member systems just like the one I did for Anthony's 3W a few years back. One set went to Boston and the other stayed here.

I restored the stock rear spring crossmember, Dr Marvelus re-cut the bobbed rear frame horns and I did a bit of straightening and shrinking to get the rear rails to hold the correct shape.

The front rails were butchered on pretty good with motor mounts and such welded to them over the decades. A bit of careful and skilled pulls and pushes in the right places got them straight and stiff. I did a bit of metal finishing and they look nearly as good as new.

Dr Marvelus reconditioned the Model A front crossmember while I fabricated some sheet metal liners for the frame. These are 16 gauge cold rolled, they stiffen the chassis up quite a bit but in the future I think 14 gauge may be the way to go.

Right now everything is held together with 5/16 Button head hardware. As we close up on things, it will get rivets in all the holes.

 

very cool .....

 

Sweet looking forward to seeing this build

 

Its lookin good ! That's quite the center crossmember you made too.

 

Nice deal boys!

 

patiently waiting...

 

Fooking WOW! As usual! Such nice work from yous guys.

 

Just amazes me how many are still out there I just found a 33 working on the owner he has said its mine we just have not talked money yet ! Keep up the great work, its in good hands !

 

its coming together nicely ....

any updates on the body ....???

 

As always you and Dr. do wonderful work. I'm always impressed and inspired by the quality of your work and the thinking behind the results. More pics please.

 

Like a '34 frame? Did you put some paint inside before welding in the liners?

 

Break's Over, back on the 5W.

Last we left off the frame was nearly straight but lacking suspension. The front stuff is just going to be a little bit of updating. The rear is another story.

Started off with a dirty but very nice condition first gen Bronco rear axle. Found one from Driven 4X4 for a decent price, even though this is the small bearing unit it should work just fine. I decided to shorten 2" off the driver side to center the pinion and suck the tires in just a tad. It's all about the look, right?!

Doing my best to capture a bit of the old flavor but keeping in mind that Bob want's a bit more comfortable daily driver I fabricated a set of ladder bars that look similar to what they built back in the 60's. These are 1.25" .120" wall DOM tube with threaded bungs on three ends. The front is a 3/4" 1Ton truck tie rod end and 5/8" clevises on the non-moving end. I made up a set of spring perches out of 3/4" plate.









Rear shocks on 32's have always vexed me. I would rather use rotary hydraulics because of space, but customer comfort says Bilsteins... so that's what it gets. I notched the crossmember and fabricated a pair of upper mounts. The lowers I just couldn't find a solution that fit my aesthetic. So the ladder bar brackets came off and I cut up a new set with a lower shock mount. Much cleaner I think.

 

Before the frame came off the table I had to set up the engine mounts. My attempt at doing some trick stuff without welding and otherwise modifying the stock frame rails, I want to do as much bolt on stuff as possible. And as this is unboxed I want to add as much stiffness as possible. I made up another mount like we used on B1gdaddy's M/F'ing 3W and added a set of fabricated, bolt-in mounts that attach to the stock shock holes. We had to drill four holes in the Model A crossmember, but that's it.







Body back on the frame and bolted down. Finally got to adjust the doors and bottom edge of the body properly. At one point it took a hit on the right side of the firewall. We had to do a pull to get the wrinkle out, but we got some great door gaps now. Trunk fits pretty good too!










We got the nod to turn this into a driver in a few months, so updates will be a bit more frequent...

Here is a parting shot of the rear suspension all together.

 

Great build.

 

Really like the front engine mount, nice take on the Hurst style mount.

 

As always, I admire your work and style…just a little different from the norm and always pleasing to the eye. Did you use a straight rear spring and modify the rear crossmember?

 

Your work is ALWAYS the best of the best!

 

Outstanding as always.....

 

And the hits just keep coming


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Steve looking real good.

 

More amazing design and fabrication!