So after many years of wanting a Hotrod and even living through a feeble attempt at building one from scratch, I do now have on of my own. Found on craigslist was this 31 Model A Coupe on a Pete and Jakes chassis. Four bar buggy spring with Vega cross steering front end. Drag link, panhard, coilover rear. 305 sbc, th350 and 9 inch open. vdo gauges, 60's chevy tilt column. 50's? style open wheel high boy, white walls, red wheels, body painted yellow with flames. Not exactly my style of paint job and I do plan on making it my own anyway. It did include but not installed glass fenders, splash aprons, steel running boards, bumpers, all the mounting irons and a real nice original hood. Advertised as a "driver" quality car so I jumped on a plane, rented a car and went and "looked" at it. Drove it some and right away it needed brake master cylinder. 305 showed signs of having blow-by / crankcase ventilation issues and the Q-jet needs attention, no wood blocks, body rattled some, doors/trunk did not fit well. Not a bad car, good "bones", includes parts I wanted and needing work I am willing to do. We agreed on a price. Much thanks to brother Rick for helping me get it home.... It was a whole car when I purchased it and I did drive it into my shop when I got it home. But since that first day it has been in multiple pieces scatter around the shop. The car needed and is getting much attention. The car was built some 17 or so years ago by a rank amateur. Not that I am any expert but there were things done that I would bet most builders would not do. The car does have a bitchin' firewall and 32 style dash, but the original tank was whole with holes cut in with a hatchet for gauge clearance with wiring stretched across jagged metal edges. I could not live with that so the first thing I did was strip out the dash and cut out the bottom of the tank. If you have ever done this while the tank is in the car they you know what a chore this was. No fun.... The body was put on the chassis with only the cowl blocks. The other 8 blocks missing with no spacing nor any proper gap filling. All the bolts were loose, the source of all the rattling. The body channel over the rear axle was very poorly patched. New inner fender wells were poorly installed. There is much steel in the trunk floor but none of it adding any structural strength and the 8 gallon tank was mounted rear most in the trunk and expect for 3 bolts and 1 unbroken weld it would have been skidding down the road... So the first order of business is to fit all the body/chassis blocks and rebuild the entire floor and trunk area body frame rails. The trunk floor will bolt in and allow for bumper iron clearance. A new 14 or so gallon tank will be fitted mid ship behind a bulk head. There are a couple of good posting on HAMB providing me with the inspiration for this. If you've stayed with me this long I will now reward you with some pictures and we'll see how my web posting goes down the road. I'm a computer guy by day so this to much like work versus the therapy in the shop. Regards, Vic.
Besides the shock mount, all I see are mostly pics of scrap. How bout some "before" pictures so we can see what you have to work with...
Pictures might need some explanation.... Trunk0a - Top to bottom, bottom half of the original cowl tank, front, middle, rear floor boards, trunk floor and gas tank. The tank was mounted rear most and I will not be using this one, nor locating it in similar location. The trunk floor is quite a structure with much extra sheet metal, all without adding and structural support to the body. The front will get a new panel, I'll reuse the middle panels, all will get half inch square tube skeletons added. Trunk0b - Close up of the cowl tank bottom half showing the hatch hole for dash gauges/wiring. Tank top that is left in the body is much neater as is the wiring. If I ever have the body apart I might clean it up some more. Trunk0c - The biggest pieces of rear body channel removed to square up and get to sound metal for the patching. Trunk01 and 02 - From above and below view of the driver side rear inner fender well. Notice the yellow paint applied to the inside of the outer skin through the rusted out body channel Trunk02a - Mock up both rear body channels outer and top patches. Trunk04,05,06,07 - Sequence showing the test fitting of the driver side patches. Trunk08 - The patches are welded in and the floor skeleton is taking shape. The floor including the sections over the shock mount will be bolted in as 1 piece to allow for shock servicing and bumper iron install later.
the trunk and center 2 sections of floor are done. Trunk floor will be screwed in with 10-32 x 1 stainless button torx head screws and mild steel square nuts welded to the bottom of the body channels. Henry riveted in the center section panels but do I need to screw them in also? I am leaning towards welding them in. Here are some progress pics
and some more pics I've seen some put the middle panels in with the sheet down, is there a reason for this ?
I've not posted in a while but I have been making some progress. When I got this car the front most factory body mount bolts were not provisioned when the builder installed the Bitchin firewall. I thought it best to have them so I fab'ed in new mounts
While I was at it I filled a few unneeded holes. I fab'ed up the lower column mount as a bolt in panel. But with the tilt up front floor I'm planning this mount will need to be fitted and welded into the firewall. I'm happy with the look of the mount pockets and yes there is enough room from the inside to install the bolts.
I had been shopping Craigs list for seats for quite awhile and the ol'boy finally came around with these. From a 1970 Corvette with very use as is patina. c3 vette seats are very similar in size to Fiero seats right at 19" across the widest point, I'm quite happy with this purchase and I'll be fab'ing up some mounts... Any body know what the clips on the front of them are for ? I'm thinking that is good location for a cup holder....
I've not made a update for a while but I have been making some progress. My Brother was in town and built this mount for the fuel tank and batttery. looks pretty good in the car and there is some adjustment available if needed. I know more when I get the column and seats in. After it's in the final location I plan to use these parts for the filler neck.
I have completed the full rebuild of the brakes. New lines throughout and a new clutch/brake assembly, pedals and master cylinders. Clutch master is not present. I have plans to put a t-5 in it. This picture also shows my th350 shifter setup. The previous builder put the rear brake lines through the frame, but I redid them on the axle and with just one flex line. I plan to put Model A bumpers on so I will use those through frame holes for the bumper irons. The rear shoes, wheel cylinders and hardware are newer items and in good shape. Missing though is the emergency brake parts that I will be adding when I do the manual trans. The rear is all SAE and the front GM calipers are the metric, 79? and newer style. The previous builder used aluminum SAE adapters at all the wheel cylinders and the adapter was stripped on the drivers side front. It fell out when I checked it for tight. One good stab of the brake and it would have let go, good grief... I replaced all the flex lines and the front have the proper banjo fitting and metric bolt. The stray wires are grounds not yet terminated.
Here is the front floor going in. The round hole in the riser is for a bulkhead wiring connector. This should make future body / chassis separations a little easier. And a test fit of the panel around the pedals. Passenger side riser has a opening for the main power to the starter. And a test fit of the passenger side.
And a test fit of the center section. I welded up the through holes for the gas pedal mount and fab'ed up a new mount with studs. And the final front floor. Ready to seam seal and prime. I'll fit a panel between the pedals after the body is back on the chassis.
Been a while since I've posted and only recently made any progress on the coupe. I have completed the seat installs. Here are some shots of the seat base.
Also got the fuel fill worked out. Here are the parts I used. Thanks to a fellow jalopy journalist for the actual cap. It is a custom motorcycle part.
I had a moment of reservation about taking this tool to nearly 90 year old Henry Ford sheet metal. Especially where it would readily seen by everyone that might not appreciate my limited skill in metal working.
I was determined to have a fuel fill not in the trunk. So i selected the spot just off the front left corner of the trunk lid. I'll save cut out and make a key chain fob or something...
I am liking the placement. The cap needs a bit of contouring and the opening needs cleaning up. And a look at the parts in place to the tank. I'll add the clamps on the final install. Over all I am pleased with it all. What are your thoughts ?
Does the cap pop up, or unscrew or? Cool car. Wish me and the kids fit in one— Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Slight push in, rotate counter clockwise less than 1/4 turn and allow to pop up, unscrew about 2 turns.... Henry made rumble seat cars, 2 and door sedans that would seat 4....
I like it. Clean install but does have a touch of ‘streetrod’ to it but not enough for me to dislike it. r Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Used the same tank, and an off road filler in about the same spot... I have to pump gas so slow it takes forever... make sure the filler tube is as steep as possible... before you fill it with gas...
Add a vent line that ends just below the filler cap . Then the tank will fill much faster. Those tanks need an external vent line. Most off-road guys use a high mounted vent with a roll over valve at the top. But that is stinky and kinda tends to fill the car with fumes. An alternative is to run the vent up to the top of the filler then back down to under the car.
In recent weeks I got enough of the coupe together to actually drive it this past weekend !!! Just around the neighborhood for an initial shake down ran. All systems performed as expected. Exhaust is to loud, rear suspension has not near enough compression motion. But I love it. Now the question is about auto insurance. What did you do ?
Dumprat, thanks for the suggestion. Fuel fill is a custom motorcycle piece that is vented at the cap. The tank does have fittings for a return line and a vent. Would be a challenge to plumb to the fuel fill. For now it will see how it goes, I have yet to fill the tank completely full.
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