Technical 26T Coupe Of My Youth Gets A Re-do! (build)

I tried to remove as much of the brass as i could. This hole is where I had to cut out a brazed piece that was covering a second antenna hole.

 

I spent a lot of time trying to get the hole for the steering column through the firewall just right. I was trying to get almost zero clearance around it. Success. However the more I think about it the more I think i ought to clearance it a little more due to vibration and road bumps. Any opinions on that brfore i paint this thing??

I drew up a column mount for the dash but wasn't quite sure what the exact angle was so i guessed, then 3D printed a prototype to make the final piece by.

 

Those rear ladder bars ain't doing it for me right now.
Do you have any plans to tidy the look of them up???

 

No Not really. I'm not really a fan either but they are kind of "the car" so I just tried to make them look as good as possible. I don't really like to alter the original personality of car with God only know what kind of history. Not sure how far this car goes back. I know it was green, then blue at one time and has been changed in several configurations over the years. I believe the yellow version to be from the late 70's

 

Love the Coupe, the Story, and the Build Progress.

 

So I had to do a lot of work to get the doors to hang correctly. They both were way off and hung crooked so i had to do a lot of cutting and pulling on the body the not only get the doors straight but also the body was way out of wack. In doing this it pulled this door away from the body so i slit the panel and pulled it over and filled it with a pie cur piece.

 

You can see on this passenger side door how it sticks out away from the body about 1/2"
I actually cut he hinges and took out what I needed and welded them back together. The door fits much better now. I had to cut on the door and also the A pillar to get the door to hang straight. The Pass side A pillar actually was slanted back (no photos) from where they chopped the top so i cut through it and used my spring jack to push the pillar back out straight and welded it back. Door is straight now.

 

[QUOTE="tI discovered that it had been stripped, and most of the major components stolen. I mean, literally everything. Body, engine and trans, wheels, tires, fuel tank, lights, steering wheel; you get the idea.

Good luck with your project; you are lucky you have a son to work with. I only had daughters, and my grandson just looked at me funny when I asked him if he had any interest and went back to his video game.[/QUOTE]

What was left besides frame?

Ditto with my kids also.

 

So after all that work I pulled the body and painted the frame. next will be to reinstall the engine and trans. I put the body on a roller stand and will finish it after the chassis moves over to the "clean" side of the shop

 

Turned out I had a couple bent push rods and some of the lifters were junk so i replaced the cam ,lifters and rods. I also cleaned the heads and relapped the valves. It was a very clean engine and it ran strong the last time I ran it so hopefully she'll last a god while longer now. (1964 289 SBF)

 

Model A wishbones have low mounting for the ball joint. When you split then, you have to mount them about 4" below the frame to stay in the range of 6 degrees of caster, otherwise it's thrown off. Whereas, 1932-up bones have the angle built in at the mounting point.

Also, I'm curious why you made the perch geometry so "light duty" looking. Those sharp radii are stress concentrators, you could have made the band a bit thicker and come off tangent for a much stronger piece.

 

So now I have the chassis pretty much complete and ready for the body. All the brake and fuel lines run. Now to get back to more body work.

 

Very nice work !


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What was left besides frame?

Ditto with my kids also.[/QUOTE]

The front and rear suspension were there also, but that was about all. I lost my nice chromed windshield and the good running 270" Dodge hemi with a 4BBL and newly chromed rocker covers and other accessories. How they got that out of the barn and down the road, I'll never know. By the end of the second year of driving it, I had it pretty well sorted out, and it drove and performed quite well. Bummer.

 

Great story and build especially passing this car on to next generation. I swear I remember your car at a NSRA meet at the White Post, Va resto shop & @ the Clark County fairground show in Clearbrook, Va in the late '80's. Do you know of another street rod family near Staunton, (Luray)Va. area? The mother had a '56 Chevy panel, the dad had a '40's Willys coupe & a Willys pick-up project. One son had a '41 Chevy 2dr sedan that I got some of his leftovers for my '41 coupe. His brother & I believe a sister had rod projects also. They lived in an old farm type house with a barn in back that had their rod shop in it on main street.

 

Wouldn't have been this car, and the family you describe was most likely Richard Powell from Stanley, VA.

I see you're a WV Man? This T Coupe came from Weston , WV. I remember my Dad saying that the guy he got it from was a NSRA inspector. Does that ring any bells with you? This car I believe was a bright florescent green at one time and also a dark blue. It had moTion II engraved on a wooden sun visor. Anything???

 

I love reading about home built hot rods. I think so much emphasis has been put on producing a super high end, bare metal car that guys with some skills, but not top builders get intimidated. One of the first things the poster said on this build thread was "I'm no pro coach builder". I think some of the bracketry that he has built is ingenious. I would love to have the skills and machinist tooling to build some of this stuff. We need to quit comparing ourselves to Jimmy Shine and these pro builders. It's nice to have a high quality standard, but let's get back to building stuff ourselves.

You and I are about the same age, so I know where you are coming from. I have a 36 Ford pickup that Dad and I built at home with a Montgomery Ward stick welder, an acetylene torch setup and a bunch of hand tools. I finished my 36 in 1985 and drove it to high school for a year or so. It's all blown apart now, but the quality of the work I did back then makes me cringe now. My abilities don't meet my own standard anymore.

 

I thought you meant tidy them "UP" but yeas I have them actually looking very nice now.

 

Thanks roothawg! Hope we get to meet someday!

 

What a great story,I love cars with a family history and seeing them brought back to life, looking forward to seeing the finished product. HRP

 

As a Model "T" enthusiast and lover, I really like you family story and the rebuild of your Coupe. Great work keep it up and like all the other guys I am looking forward to seeing the finished car.

 

Me too!!

 

To continue the theme of keeping some of the original flavor of the car's family memories I think you need to go back to that second picture posted from 1983 and get that mullet growing again. lol Tim

 

Just saw this thread.
As other said, what a great story and car.
A bit more work to do then its looks to be in the first pics.

 

Very cool

 

Very solid re-build.

 

Cool story, & fabrication work, good luck !