Racing along now - you have soooo much talent. You seem to have the front spring as on my T Modified. Like yours, the ends were just cut dead square. I've rounded and radiused them. Did a lot of it on my new 14" disc sander with a 40 grit disc then finished it off with a soft disc on a grinder and a power file. I will have it blasted and then paint it black (with Tekaloid using a brush). Will add some stainless spring clamps.
blackjack, the rounded corners really help the look of the spring. I prefer the look of the original springs with no blisters. I may have to do that to mine at some point! Raven, I have been debating it for some time. I know its strong enough because its also plug welded in the center, but the 90 degree profile doesn't look all that great either. I'll do something about it before I drive it. I'm a firm believer in over doing it. Thanks for the input guys.
The first pic is of the tuck shrink I made to flatten the panel. I used a welding tip to heat the flange red hot while pushing lightly on the dolly with my hand. Then the tuck was hammered flat starting at the edge. The last picture is a solidworks simulation of the "z" in my frame with 1,000 lbs on the rear axle a ten 'G' bump. The whole thing fails and shows the weak point of the frame, but I don't think my tires would survive that bump either. The numbers are the stress experienced by the frame. The color corresponding with 36,000 psi ( red arrow) is where the frame starts to fail. The simulation for a 4 G bump looks pretty much the same only the red shaded portion experiences a stress of about 12,000 psi which is much more about 1/3 the maximum allowable. I'll play with some gussets and fish plates to see what I like best.
Don't get me wrong, I know you are doing a phenomenal job on this project, really nice work and forethought. With all the style you've put in the design and execution of the rest of the truck, it behooves you to add something to the frame to make it look intentional instead of stuck together. I know you will come up with something that is more than functional as well as stylish. Also, what are you doing up at 1:30 am? Don't you have school? r
I was actually at school! I hadn't left for the night. I appreciate the opinions so don't worry about hurting feelings. In all honestly I don't really like the looks of the frame and I'm going for function over form here. I will be running full fenders so most of it won't ever be seen. I agree that is looks like what it is... stuck together. I intend to make a more original looking frame for my next one. After building a frame with a z I realize I don't like them at all. In my ideal world I would scrap the whole frame and go about it in a completely different way.
Well I wont be buying anything from Currie Enterprises anymore. The customer service is a disaster. I bought a yoke that was labeled as a 1310 and when I got the thing it is not a spicer 1310. The bearing cap diameter on the 8 inch ford yoke dimensions sold by currie are; 1.125" cap diameter and 3.219" wide. The correct u joint is going to be a Cleveland or a "1310 special" combo joint in my case. Beware of the labels on their site if no measurements are given. Basically the guys at currie said 'screw off - you are wrong'... so Ill be buying from another company in the future
Bummer on getting the wrong part, and even more of a bummer dealing with poor customer service. There's just no excuse for poor customer service Good luck on getting it straightened out Bobby
Get it running, use it for a few years and then re-do it as you really want it when you're earning and have got even more skills and experience. You've got time on your side.
Thanks guys. I haven't made and decisions about the z, but I have been wasting time!! As I mentioned before, my vise was tearing the counter out of the wall, so I decided to finally set up my post vise. Its pretty crappy but it only has to work for year. I won't be moving scrap steel across the country when I get brand new engineering job! I'll post pics later today. I'm really enamored with these old vises... can't wait to hit it with a hammer.
Here are my radiator shell mounts. There is a 1/4x3" flat bar riveted to the lower portion of the shell with 1/2"-20 studs and lug nuts that came out of my rear axles. Next thing is to get back on the floor.
Thanks flow! What do you guys think about flatbed vs a box? If it is a box, the bed sides will be flush with the sides of the cab, along with full fenders and running boards. I'm going with dark blue for the body and black or really dark grey for the fenders. I'll post some pics of my ideas. Any ideas are welcome, but I'm going for more of a stock look rather than a sinister one. I'm also waiting to chop the top till after I have a bed.
Austin, I like the pickup bed but it's YOUR truck. I've seen several old trucks with wood beds that were lined with sheet metal for a smooth inside. They used large flat headed nails to hold it in. Might fit your look. The green and black configuration would be my choice, black hood and cowl. Lots of early trucks were black from the windows up too. Are you going to make your hardware for the tailgate? Should have a forged look to it, not hardware store.
I think I'll be making everything from here on out. I am trying to find any kind if refractory material here to make a small foundry. I would like to cast most of the brackets from aluminum and eventually replace them with brass/bronze. Forged stuff would be fun... I'll have to look into that.
Buy your self a little blacksmith forge, I paid $25 for mine. Get some soft coal and a few pieces of hot rolled steel, and play. There was a '28 Chrysler pickup, supposedly a factory modification, close by here. I may have pics of the bed. It was made the way I described, all hand made hardware for the bed. The nails to hold in the sheet metal might have even had round or oval heads, been about 10 years since I saw it.
Apparently refractory material is not used much here in town because I can't find any.... I'm going to experiment with cat litter. Supposedly it is mostly sodium bentonite clay. No luck finding a forge, but I can make one pretty easily when the time comes. As of right now, I'm getting the floor all squared away and full of swages for strength. Its coming along with moderate success.
These are of the front passenger corner of the floor. I want to start practicing my torch welding before I try it on the FLAT body panels. This piece turned out good with full penetration and only one burn hole at the corner filled with ER70S6 mMIG wire that was way too hard. I'll try a coat hanger next time I burn a hole.
I pounded a swage in the floor pan similar to the factory one in the firewall. It didn't turn out near as good as I wanted because the wood I used for my hammer form was way too soft. It left me with way too many dimples to waste time planishing out, so I wont be putting any more of these in the floor! On the plus side, it will be under the seat and hidden from view. Next on the list is the trans tunnel. This is going to take some time because I am getting a little above my abilities with all the curves. The first piece turned out alright.
Here is going to be the difficult spot. Making a permanent perimeter around the pedals for the tunnel to attach to, and room for my feet. I will be doing some simple cut aways for the throttle pedal area.
Austin ; Couldn't you make a male part to mate with the female part of the buck? You could us round rod & weld it up. Then use a hyd press to make the swage in your metal & not have the hammer marks. Just thinkin outloud here. truck is looking good
The second piece took two tries. The first I wanted to be a reverse curve, but it just wasn't working out, so I went with a simple design that is a little more flat. This made planishing the weld a pain but it turned out ok. The two similar pics are inside and outside of the weld. You can also see some shrinking I did in the middle of the panel.
Bob, that is a good idea. I'll give it a shot in some scrap and see how it work out. I hadn't even considered that.
I like your trans tunnel. It's a nice break from the slip rolled with a rounded end that everyone does just a little different and it looks good. Your oxy welds look pretty good too. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I love flatdecks - this is one of my favourite flat decks albeit largely unmodified - 1928 chev factory cab LP. I think the paint, or lack there of, and the 1930 headlamps make this truck.
Thanks redzula! I'm really struggling with welding the corners. I almost always burn the last 1/8". Kume that truck is really cool. I really like the early chev's. I'm think I'm going with a box. Supposedly there was a Graham Brothers pickup in '24 but there aren't any known survivors... Till now!
The Jalopy Journal
