Thanks again for all the support. I admit I was a little hesitant to put it up for viewing. Their are so many very gifted fabricators doing such amazing work out on this forum. And I will take the guy in coveralls (Vincent) for a ride. He has been over to the house several times and looked at my progress. He only lives a few blocks away.
I should have included these at the beginning of the thread. The 1st picture was the 1st time I saw the one. I did not even know about the shopped one on the ground until I went out there with Vincent. You can't see it from the road side.
I had to rebuild the area around the deck lid. I used the 90 degree bends off an old clothes dryer I was going to throw away. I ordered a deck lid skin re-pop and stiffened it up with additional layers of sheet metal and an internal cross brace. The other car I got in the deal had a real cool metal roof screwed onto it. It took me a while to figure out that it was hand cut from some donor car with a chisel. You could tell by looking at the edges of the cut. I transplanted it onto this car and used the original full radius head screws. It looks like it has been there for 50 years.
You are making trash into treasure. I bet the PO is both glad and jealous at what you are accomplishing.
Way to go Doug ! Suggestion: When posting your pictures, choose the LARGE picture option, ALL of us will love you more. Hot Rods Rule the World !
Large Pictures. Will do. Speaking of jealousy, I had the local small town banker walk across the street to tell me that he had been trying to buy those cars from Vincent for 40 years. I kept waiting for him to smile and laugh but he didn't. Seemed kind of pissed. I just don't think anyone had ever really taken the time to show Vincent what they are worth and make him a fair offer.
I found some spokies and I really like them. I set the discs aside for now. I also had some 16" truck tires that I got in a swap for some other stuff laying around. They will work until I can buy some 16" bias plys.
Then it was time to set that flatty in there and see how she fits. I built the frame about 3 inches longer than a Model A so I would have a little more room. It was pretty tight. Don't know were that extra space went? Then I trimmed the firewall out using the back of the engine as a template. The F1 box cleared the Millworks headers real nice.
When I first saw your car's profile pic I wondered if you stretched the frame. It looks really good. Nice job man>
I never thought of reversing the firewall. Too late now. Thanks for the idea 1pickup. More comfortable ride is good. I did not know it would do that. I think I was just trying to get a little more engine room when I did that. Make it more like a 32 length if I remember right. Anyone have an idea about how many inches to take out of an F1 steering column? Or maybe how close the steering wheel should be to the dash?
Nic job Doug. Don’t worry about steering column length just yet. Get the pedals in , get the chosen seat in and sit in the car and see what position feels most comfortable for the wheel.
I bought a case and a shifter from a guy over in El Dorado. I also bought a side shift 3 speed out of a 1940 ford. I got real lucky because the side shift trany looked like it had been rebuilt. Great internals. I put the guts of the side shift into the 78 case. Notice the odd casting number on this case.
I pulled these Hoot-eye tube shocks off the F1 truck that it got the shock mounts off of. They still seem to work great. I didn't even know Houdaille made tube shocks back then.
Next I traded off those hair pins for some dog legs courtesy of my good friend Corky. They look much better. I ordered a hokey ass ebay 32 grill shell and it actually looks really nice. (especially if you have never seen a real one) I built a bracket to mount the C oldcase lowboy radiator to hold it all up. Notice the extra bolts in the pitman arm. If for any reason my welds were to fail, they are still bolted to the ends of the original shaft. I put in new end kits and fabbed rubber seals out of an old inner tube.
Next step up front, headlight stands? Keep the updates coming Loving it. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I am glad you all are enjoying the pictures. I know very few people in the "real" offline world that understand what this car is and what I am trying to do. Most of my "car buddies" don't understand things this old. Not to sound like a snob, because 2 years ago I was in the same boat. Yes headlights. I bought these Two-lights for $60 up by Hutchinson KS. They work. I did not intend on using OEM lights but I like they way they look. I will admit that some of the stuff I like is probably not what is typically thought of as being on a hotrod (like the spokies), But I like the older looking stuff. The stands are just some Speedway parts. I decided to go with the chrome since the headlights are originals and still have chrome on them.
So sadly, it was time to blow it all back apart and weld up the motor mounts, radius rod brackets, tranny mount bracket ect. If I did not mention this already, I traded in those hairpins for some dog bones up front.
I cut down my torque tube myself. The drive shaft required some help. After talking to several shops I decided to just do it locally. I have a friend that has a lathe and he turned the shaft down and pressed it into the coupler. I had it welded by a guy that welds for a living. Hated to not do it myself, but man what a hard part to get to if it breaks. I welded the pin in place that goes through the coupler and the drive shaft. Then bolted the other end of the coupler to the pinion shaft.
X2, but for my 32 pickup. I wanted that old look and got model As for the flat glass and 1” smaller diameter but still big lights.