Hot Rods Pulling the trigger on this one today. What Am I In For.

I'm almost 82 and have been around these cars all the years that I've been aware of cars, and the problems predominant in various makes, models , and years.And yes, that knee action front suspension is truly an abomination and a lost cause.
In the '40s, '50s and '60s, pirating a straight axle from the Standard series out of a salvage yard,
But in today's world, I would hesitate to put anything that old under it for fear of parts ,availability. I'm with Bill Rinaldi on this.

 

May I ask; is yours a straight axle or knee-action car?

 

Doing anything with the T?

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Driving it


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Found a place that makes kits for them or you can send them to them and they will rebuild them. applehydraulicsonline.com
Anyone heard of them


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Be very careful about Apple Hydraulics. Do some research before you send anything to them.

 

...I will admit mine had a 70 Nova subframe, I've done dozens of em, (drum brakes, a bit narrower than disc fronts) work out real well, Nova rear on orig. springs, ran a 250 strate 6/350 turbo, great cruzer...sold it,it's still around somewhere, has a 55 Chev car dash in it now.

 

Your car looks better than mine when I bought it. The body was on a trailer with the fenders thrown inside, the frame was in the back of the truck. I took out the straight axle and went MII, (the bolt in version is the only one I would use) and used the stock rear springs (first a 57 Chevy rear then a nine inch), good luck on what appears to be a decent car to start with!!

 

I dove mine for 1000s of miles straight axle cross steering with a Vega box. 9 in Ford offset pin lowering block . Front brakes 50 Chebby and 64 Chebby hubs for roller bearings . 350 , 350 auto , made on sweat ride . One of the ones I miss dearly . 100 % stock sheet metal no rust anywhere .

 

Looks like a great start.

 

I looked at there google reviews and on the HAMB, can't find anything bad about the.????
Anyone here ordered there kit?

 

Suggestion; try searching "The Ford Barn".

 

^^^^^^^^^^^ forewarned is forearmed!

 

It looks to be solid, and complete. Nice looking cars when done. Anyone remember the brown '37 in Hot Rod? sometime in the eighties. The writer bought it, as a sorta done car, and road tripped it home, and fixed the problems discovered along the way in ensuing articles. I've liked that body style ever since. Have fun!

 

If you wanted to go old school a later coil spring Chevy front crossmember and suspension between 46 (maybe earlier) and 54 have right at the same front tread width and should be somewhat close to a bolt in and look the part when you are done if that is a worry. Probably several hundred or more $$$ less in the long run even after a rebuild than doing the knee action front. 54 at 56.7 is right between the Master at 56-3/8 and the Master Deluxe at 57-1/4. 48 and earlier have 6 lug if that is an issue.
Still a bolt on MII front end isn't all that spendy if you do some research.

 

Well have a few thinks to figure before I decide which way I'm going with this. But its nice to know I have some options.
Back to the grind today.
Will update in a bit, Barbeque and Car show this weekend

 

Fill the knee action shocks with engine oil and drive it, the engine oil will will make the shocks perform like new.

 

Here's some handy reference material:-

• http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/fisher/1937_38/index.html;
• http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1938/index.html;
• http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/models/series1.htm; and
  
• https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/do...information-kits/Chevrolet/1938-Chevrolet.pdf

http://home.znet.com/c1937/ID.htm
Some Deuce Day inspiration

 

Some of my buds had Chevys, I had Fords. But I was always asked to help work on the Chevys, (I worked in a garage...we repaired these things daily, so I knew 'a lot')
The Chevys had a different 'feel', the bodies (Fisher) were solid...the Fords seemed like, 'hollow' in the doors, especially. I thought the Chevy 6 was just 'old man motor'.
Then I raced my Mexican friend Tony Martinez...his 235 powered '38 Chevy Coupe had a 3 jugger, and Lord knows what under that chrome valve cover...Beat me with pure torque!
My '36 had a 5/16" X 1/4 flattie, Offie heads & intake, Weber F-2 cam. Damned stovebolt passed me like a 'physic'. (that's an enema)
I built my flattie from a set of JE pistons and a Merc crank. 59L block, factory relief. Isky springs, Johnson adjustable tappets...seems like yesterday.
All to be passed like I wasn't even racin'! Damned inline stovebolt...grumble, grumble...
Chevy respect. That's what I got. Got it cheap, too...

 

37-8's are my favorite old Chevs, coupes or sedans...

 

I started with much worse than your car. Nothing but a lot of work

 

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Im thinking 68 nova front clip , steering box is in the back , no front fender clearance issues , if its too wide would take a day to narrow...use heavy wall tubing over the drag link and the sway bar , weld it up and Baam. If you find a four door runner wouldnt break the bank..I call it one stop shopping, ha ha

 

stay away from FATMAN.after sales service is poor

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Perhaps you could elaborate on this?

 

no bother Dave i.purchased a front suspension system from them satisfied I was purchasing a quality product from a reputable vendor.STREET RODDER mag were allways singing their praises,i had never heard a bad word against them.when the parts arrived (expensive parts when you include shipping and taxes on this end)I inspected to find one of the springs was damaged I contacted them and they replaced the spring.everything else seemed to be ok.after some time the rubber gaiters on the steering rack and the bottom ball joints were looking bad and perished.i contacted them they replaced them I suspect I wasn't the only complaint about the rubber quality.all the time the parts were stored in my garage or in my house.it was quite awhile later when I got my project moving it became apparent that there was play in the steering rack.the rack shaft had play in it up/down back/forth.also the input shaft had play.the steering is vague like driving with a worn steering box,constantly needing correction.i contacted them (Philip)he didhis best to fob me off.i emailed brent he never replied.i had previously been in contact with him about rims and the ideal offset for the front rims I needed to purchase at the time .brent was very helpful at the time.anyway I have a subbosidly reconditioned rack (defective )I purchased and shipped across the atlantic with little or no miles on it.i gave Philip the details of my build thread which has detailed info of the timeline of the build.under normal circumstances the part could not have worn out..i have come to the conclusion I was shipped a defective unit.i am sorry I purchased from them would not recommend them to anyone..i have researched them on the web and found tales of problems with their design mostly about bottom a arm bolts bending because it is mounted in single shear I added an extra bracket to the mount toprevent me having similar problems.also the system didn't include alignment shims which are not available here so I had various thickness shims laser cut here in stainless.i drilled a hole through each shim and wired them together and to the chassis.low cost improvments that should be part of the kit.if I was buying similar again id use Jeff KUGELwho I found to be a reasonable man to deal with.answered the phone and replies to e-mails in a reasonable time.all important issues to overseas customers.the other issue I had was the rubber rack mounts had perished long before I got to drive my truck.

 

My first pre 48 was a 38 chevy coupe. I wanted a 40 Ford but the old chevies were more affordable and with my son just the right age to help out with it, we decided to go with a solid rust free western car. I will list what I learned and what I would do different.
1. mustang two front end/ cut the a arms out of a real one and bought a Heidts
different--- would have left the org straight axel in
2. chassis eng rear end kit/ worked out good
3. 65-66 Chevy nova rear is a perfect fit
4. put a mild 350/350 combo in it
different--would find a 250 six PG and dress it up early 60s style
5. removed the vent windows
different--huge mistake/ would leave them
6. body work tons of mods
different--looking back, it would stayed with it's 60s repaint
7. v butt windshield
different==live and learn
8. spending 12 grand to get a car dependable and acceptable in the eyes
of the people I ran with was a huge mistake. By the time I got to that point,
I saw my errors and ditched the project
Summary.. I would get it running/ driving/ stopping / with good lights and a decent
interior and update from there. Easy on the pocketbook and rough on the eye.
That is how I build now, that way you can change horses in midstream without breaking the bank.
Nice car you have and I envy you with the blank canvas.

 

Thanks
What about using the hole mustang kit?


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NUNATTAX that's certainly not what you'd like to experience from a well known company like FATMAN, good to know.
CHEEP8, you state you should have stayed with the original straight axle. That's all well and good if your build was an original straight axle car.
Butthe OP has the infamous knee action suspension which is a loser from the word go, so he'ssorta got to do something else. So it seems to me that would be foolish to search around and try to find a system that is now quite rare ( the oem straight axle setup) and then find repair parts for it.

 

I've seen a couple of complete Mustang 2 front ends installed, original Mustang cross member and all. Also there are the original strut arms that have to be mounted close to the original position. The two I have seen where both on 48 to 54 Chevy pick ups. If the the spindel center line and the same position on the frame is flat enough it could work. Good luck finding a good cross member, they are FAMOUS for rotting out. Bill