Pretty sure Jimmy White (Circle City Hot Rods) has something like a 34 frame under his A coupe. The car is pretty legendary.
Nailhead. I have a 34 frame you can have for a lot less than $800. It is straight and not butchered, just rusty. Pm me.
The carrier bearing is un necessary and will get in the way and is for a different design than a model A or model 40, You'll probably need a custom drive shaft, If you're going with pnj style rear bars the front ujoint winds up about the same place as the front bar mounts. That keeps everything simple and working right.
If the front shaft has a companion flange that bolts to the transmission and if that flange also fits the joint on the slip yoke; there is no reason you can't eliminate the intermediate shaft and hanger bearing. Kinda odd for a hot rod; but a slip yoke shaft is pretty common in trucks.
I read the entire thread. While I don't have a ton of experience with early ford stuff, I've welded a model A crossmember in a 34 frame to get it low. I believe I'd start by measuring the width of the 34 frame where the body will sit and measure the 34 frame just ahead of where the 34 X-member resides. The plan would be to see if a guy could weld the front of the model A frame to the 34 frame, keeping the wheelbase to 105" or so as has already been suggested. If that appears like it would work, I'd go out back to set the model A crossmember up for a model A spring-behind the axle, using el-cheapo Speedway mounts. I'd also go for a set of Pete and Jakes style ladder bars. I believe Speedway also sell these. The photo is my 34 frame with model A cross member and spring...works great. PS...almost forgot to say I had to cut the back of the 34 frame where it dips down to hold the fuel tank. Brought it up against the bottom of the 34's floor and lopped off the excess frame rail.
Nailhead. I think it is totally do-able. If you look at how far I had to recess my firewall to fit the Nailhead, and you imagine placing the "A" cowl rearwards enough to clear the distributor, I think the A body would work. You are going to have clearance issues at the rear axle kick and will have to modify the sub rails to fit., but will end up with a longer wheelbase and better handling and ride. What rear end do you plan to use?
The engine and transmission came from a running truck and as I mentioned before I don't have a good source for old Ford parts they just kinda trickle in as money and availability allows...so the F3 trans and the F-1 rear will have to utilise the slip shaft at the very least but it would be nice if I don't need the carrier I'm still contemplating the '34 frame ...the one I posted about is gone but there is another one on offer. I really appreciate the suggestions and a picture is worth a thousand words it sure does get the back down nice and low...if I go this way i'll probably keep the longer wheelbase...I don't really want the old grille hanging out in front (like a tractor) look and i'm not big on most firewall mods or the lack of footwell space produced when cramming V-8's into A's so even if I do an A frame it will have a rear kick up, possibly Z'ed at the cowl and will be a lengthened wheelbase Hey Duncan well i didn't end up buying the original frame I posted about so it's back to square one which was a pair of really rough A rails and center crossmember with the ends cut off but I am trying to talk a buddy out of a pair of crossmembers so maybe I can iron them out a bit and stick these crossmembers on it...luckily I don't have that pesky rear subframe to get in the way lol ;-)...well that other frame had a 8" all set up in it it was a roller but now I've got a '47 ford truck with a slip joint driveshaft because i'm using a '53 truck 3 spd. with a solid yoke
Think of a channel. You are just putting the body over the frame and making either a new subframe to support the body or new floor to sit over the existing rails. Hot rodding to me is thinking outside the box and using what you find within your means to build a unique, safe ride. If I found a 34 chassis cheap I’d consider it. But I have a sheet metal shop and look at metal like cardboard if you can cut and weld you can make anything work. Shorten, widen, lengthen do whatever The Tardel hot rod blueprint is cool but limiting and disciplined and I like a challenging build otherwise you are a restorer (which I also do and enjoy) . I play piano and can play as per sheet music or improvise. I have nearly completed a very challenging full body all new metal rebuild on a 1967 Jensen FF prototype and whilst it is a restoration it taught me to reverse engineer which I hope to use on my two model A hotrod builds.
I say do it! When I decided to get out of the chopper building hobby and get a car I bought one finished so I didn't have to wait to build. I've been on the road since and slowly changing it to my liking. Best decision ever.
Yes! Here is a pic of my friend in Ontario that did it. It's a very nice '29 A on a '33 rail with a 354 Hemi. Lot of room up front. He's the kind of guy that has to do everything himself. He even built an intake for the 354 Hemi. I think it looks much better than a Model A frame at any cost!
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