Hot Rods Just Another 5-Window Build Thread

Thanks, Tom - I have already responded ....

 

Just a quick update - found out today that the cylinders will clean up at the max of 060 over. Ordered new pistons, rings, 401 cam, cam bearings, push rods, lifters, brass freeze plugs and oil galley plug kit. Crank rod and mains not yet as the crank may need to be ground. As of right now everything is/will be new and nothing is being left to chance ..... whew, some good news for a change and we are finally moving forward on this baby .....

 

Awesome build so far. Im Subscribed.

 

Finally got through the holidays, family happenings, and just finishing a project for my wife so I can now get back to work .....

Jacksandeuces and I continued work on the rear portion of my frame getting the sway bar and shocks set up ....

Sway bar is a 32-34 front unit ...

We did not use the links that came with the kit but purchased some ends and made brackets for the rear end housing ...


We then made up the rear shock mounts and voila! , the rear of the frame is done!

Now, when I say "we", I really mean that Jack goes into high gear and whips up the brackets and small bits like it's nothing since he has done it so many times before ... most of the time I watch, try to help out when I can, learn, and do what he tells me!

I did get the mock up motor and trans unbolted and stripped for ease of removal, which we did, and transported it back to my house. Next is to strip the rear and it's pieces out of the frame, remove the frame from the jig, flip it over, weld up the remaining areas, and install the front end. Then it will be time to transport the frame back to my house and finish up everything left there do for this project there ..... we're getting closer ....

 

Got the frame off the jig today and I dropped off all of my frontend stuff. I could not stay today as it's my day to take care of the grands but I will be there tomorrow before the snow flies I hope .....

Finally, a straight frame .....



Barring anything unforseen, the frame should be back at my house for a trial fit of the body end of next week .....

 

More progress today - after finishing up welding the topside of the frame, we used 1x2 tubing to sit inside the hat channel to locate the body and flipped the frame over ....

There's a lot of welding to be done but we concentrated on the front portion of the frame first so we could begin setting up the front end .....

After mocking up the front end, we measured and trimmed the 40 wishbones, and welded the bungson. Once we decided on a location, the brackets I made over at Dave's shop were welded on ...


Jack achieved his intent to make the radius rods flat, like the bottom of the 32 frame rail ....

We are inching forward and it's looking good to me .....

 

With our snow storm now our of the way, we were able to continue on the FE setup .... we started with the front shock mounting. For the lower mount we used a piece of heavy wall tubing. Since the axle is a cast unit, we welded the tubing to the lower ear of the 40 front wishbone ...

Using a pair of old shocks I had around, we attached it to the tubing using 9/16x5" bolts and then attached the F100 upper shock mounts to the shock as well. We positioned the shock and shock mount evenly on both sides and tacked it to the frame rail. I will drill the one upper hole, weld in an appropriate size nut on the backside. Since this area already has the "ear" of the front crossmember there, no additional reinforcing is needed. Once I have the frame home I will heat and bend the remaining portion to within the confines of the frame rail, then cut and reweld it so the second bolt resides inside and under the front crossmember, fashion a reinforcing plate since we are only drilling through the frame sidewall, and weld it and the nut to the backside ....


The shocks are way too long using the original F100 mounts but I will cut and reweld them to a shorter length.
We then turned to the steering arms, bending the passenger side first. As it turns out, the stock 32 front crossmember had to be trimmed for steering rod clearance ...



With the front xmember trimmed, we got the needed clearance. We will finalize everything once I bring over a set of the F100 backing plates and we can check for steering arm clearance .....

 

Looking good Tom


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I can only see about a half inch of weld on your shock mounts in those pics. The front lowers and those upper rears. I hope they will be gusseted more and further weld used.

 

Just caught up on your build thread. It has been quite an adventure. Thanks for letting us tag a long.

 

Alchemy - I will post fresh pics of the upper rear shock mounts. They are fully welded now. As for the front's, they will have more metal, and subscuently weld, between the round tuning and the front radius rod. We just got everything tacked in place at the moment for mock up ....

 

Thanks, Steve !

 

Alchemy - here ya go .....


I hate to cover up the rear radius rods - they are so cool looking!

Gsve the rear a first pass cleanup and threw some primer on it ...

The "factory welds" on this housing will need cleaning up .... More pics tomorrow .....

 

Finished cleaning up the rear radius rods today
.....

I am now working on cleaning up the rear end housing a little ...

 

Just a few updates for today - cleaned up the rear end housing, chased the holes, checked for fitments with the sway bar. Just waiting for my breather to come in to drill and tap the hole and then I can assemble the rear ....


I still have some addition work on the housing but it's getting there ....

I also put some paint on the rear radius rods ...

The biggest news however, is my frame will be coming home tomorrow ... man, I am pumped!

 

Went by Jack's today and he finished up the frame. The center piece came out really nice ....

The final piece to do was the panhard bar and bracket - we then loaded it up into my truck ....

Thanks for the help loading, Robbie. The ride home was uneventful and my neighbor Dennis gave me a hand at unloading it and setting it up on my car dollies with jack stands ...



The front upper shock mounts will be trimmed once I am at ride height.
First order of business is to get the front and rear suspension under it so I can trial fit the body and finalize suspension settings, trim what I need to trim, etc.
Gotta get to work!

 

Been busy working on my shop, the frame, and the front radius rods. First, my compressor was having a tough time keeping up with some of the new air tools I have been using for extended time intervals. It's a 5 horse motor but only a 20 gallon tank. A while back Gabby gave me a spare 30 gallon tank and after some trial and error with fittings and lines, I now have a 50 gallon air capacity. It's better for now ...

I worked on the front radius rods, grinding off the weld seam, smoothing out the bung area, and cleaned up the front portion smoothing out the welds and where the 40 spring hanger ends were cut off ....



Not too bad for a first pass. I also separated my mock up motor and trans and brought my tranny adapter over to johnrodz to be shaved down so I can get more bite on the tranny main shaft splines. He also has some steel spacers to enlarge the center hole in so I can space out the small center hole Plymouth artillery wheels to fit nicely on the F100 front hubs I am using.

So I did have my shop nicely cleaned up - now it's a wreck. Need to do some cleanup before I start installing the front end, assembling the rear end and installing it underneath to make a roller. Making progress .....

 

Only had time for 2-3 hours today but johnrodz came over with my wheel spacers and tranny adapter all finished ....

The "shave" of the adapter netted a little more than 3/8" for a total of 7/8" spline grab and I am happy with that. Thank you, John!
Weather tomorrow should be better so I can paint a few things and begin assembling the FE under the frame .....

 

Made some good progress - the weather cooperated enough to get paint to the needed pieces and I was able to install the rear, rear radius rods, and rear spring.


I used thin lock nuts on the inside portion of the rear radius rod brackets and modified the nuts to fit ...

I also finalized the steel shims/Plymouth artillery rim fit to the F100 hubs. Everything now goes on and off no problem. Had to modify the rims just a little around the center hole, grinding off just enough so they would slip on and lay completely flat. The rim resides right at the fattest part of the hub and snugging the lug nuts "pulled" the rim in making it difficult to removed. That little bit of grinding saved the day ...
So far I think the ride height looks good ....

 

Pretty day out today - cleaned up the axle, spindles, and the steel shims for the front wheels, painted everything, mounted the front spring in the frame .....

The steel shims are 3/8" thick total with two thick, two thin shims per side ....

While out at the LA Roadster show this summer, I picked up a neat little bracket that provides a location to mount a stock park brake handle on a T5 tranny ....

The top two holes attach the bracket to the passenger side 2 bolts that holds the shifter to the tail shaft housing ....

The center holes are the park brake mount holes, and the lower tab has a hole that corresponds to a bolt holding the tailshaft housing to the "head" of the transmission .... Simple and clean and it should work great for my project. Limeworks puts it out ....

 

Man you are moving right along on this one.

 

It actually feels good moving forward just about all the time now. I was moving backwards for so long it feels good JUST to go forward period!

 

I like that bracket idea, Tumbleweed. I am looking forward to seeing how that works out for you.

 

Just found this thread. Read it through & found it filled with many details I'll need when I start my model A build. Your pictures and descriptions are excellent. Thanks for taking the time to share everything with us.

 

Thank you and good luck with your build!

 

Tom....all this flurry of activity has inspired me to bounce out the the garage to get something done on my coupe today.

 

Moving right along -- Good progress, Tom!

 

Thanks, Malcolm, and Rocky - glad to hear you are going back out to the garage. Let's both get cracking and we'll see each other down the road in our new rides ....