Was asked for a little more information on this After being inspired by the postings of work being done by the Ionia Hot Rod Shop , I had to have something just a little different. I decided that my frame mounts should have a molded appearance, the question being how to do it in my one car garage??? Decided that hammerforming was the way to go, but a little difficult using 3/16 thick steel. Maybe the way would be hammer forging !! Dropped the engine between the frame rails and positioned it where I wanted it in relation to the radiator, clearing the steering and allowing room for pedals. It ended up ½ off centre. Once in position, blocked the engine up so it would not move and started figuring out something for mounts using pre 49 Ford style front mounts. Figured if I made a plate to bolt to the block and ran a horizontal plate off it that would be a start. From there using the measurement of the thickness of the front mount determined the location of the frame mount, both height and distance from the frame. Using this information decided that the mount should have a round molded appearance to match the bottom of the Ford mount, dropping down at a angle top just below the top of the frame with braces sweeping down to the bottom of the frame for support. Did a couple of rough sketches on paper to see if the idea would work, looked OK. Using the measurements of the height above the frame rail, diameter of the Ford mount and distance from the rail I welded up a Hammerforge form. The round disk on the top is the inside diameter to give the desired outside diameter to match the Ford mount. The angled piece is the drop to the frame rail. : Took a piece of paper and fitted it to the hammerforge form to determine the size of the piece of steel. Cut a piece of steel to size. Did not make the sides full length at this point, as I did not think I would be able to shape that much metal, just made them the same as the centre closest to the engine, about a inch. Drilled a hole through it to hold it in place and bolted it to the hammerform with a piece of scrap steel on the top to help keep the top flat. Then the fun, out with the torch and heat it to a nice cherry and start hammering and hammering and hammering and ham---. Worked the metal down into the angled piece and down around the sides at 90 degrees. Making sure I took it easy working the metal down to avoid wrinkles, just like hammerforming sheet metal, but using heat. Once the two pieces were formed this way, trimmed them for correct spacing to the frame, smoothed out the front and rear edges and welded additions on front and back for the extra support. The drivers side got an extra piece welded inside to allow clearance for the steering box and still give good support. Trimmed the front and rear edges down to a nice flowing line and smoothed the sides down. Cut a couple of notches in the front and back to allow a fuel line to run through the passenger side and brake line on the drivers side. Passenger side Drivers side Passenger side engine mount Drivers side engine mount Sorry dont have any pictures of the forming, never bothered taking any. Canuck
Very nice !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad to see you went that extra mile, and it shows.This place is nothing but filled with inspirational opportunities.If you can not get motivated by a 1/4 of what is being done on this site, well you just must be not into it.......Littleman
This is the kinda stuff that separates us from the rest of the animals.. Very nice touch. Be prepared to answer this question at rod runs and hotrod gatherings.. "Hey, those are nice....where can I buy a pair?"
Dublya Oh Dublya!!!!! those are AMAZING! How man hours and bottles of gas did you use to get such AWESOME results? your arms must look like Popeye I cant blame you for not snapping pics of the actual blacksmithing process,,, you had your hands full with torch and hammer as far as snapping from anealing, i thought that anealing did the opposite and made metal more pliable? fast quenching like repoman suggested would HARDEN them, and hardening makes metal brittle. i understand that metal also "work hardens" but would this be the case with heating the metal cherry red and then working it?. . . or do i have my facts mixed up??? im no metalurgist, i dont play one on TV. And, no, i dint even stay at a Holidya Inn Express last night Like Rocky says... something that nicely done you are going to get a ton of questions on for sure. when they ask where ya got em? "Professional secret" PS... dint mean to threadjack,,, but it seemed like the best place to ask PPS... I agree, TECH O MATIC!
Yes, that's what I meant to say. I think in this application you would want the steel harder, and yes, more brittle -sort of. Heating, and slowly cooling turns the metal into rubber. More likely to tear. Hardened will more likely snap, yes, but the strength is much higher. Breaking point for a hardened part is much higher than an annealed part. I second(third?) the TECH-O-MATIC!
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