Hot Rods Rich's Coupe - a ten year odyssey

True dat! He is the man.

 

You guys haven’t seen the scrap pile on the other side of the shop!

Rich

 

Unbelievable work and craftsmanship.
Keep the updates coming.
Thanks, Jay

 

Very nice work on the valve covers and firewall. You might consider posting that info on the metal shaping thread if you haven’t already.

 

I agree with brEad, Rich.
If you put your stamping information and pictures in a separate thread in the tech category, more members will find it in the future. Put keywords in the title.
Thanks for sharing!

Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

you guys

 

I already have it as seperate thread, but will lose all the pics that are hosted from
PhotoBucket. If they have not x'ed out the pics I'll replace them. As it is I'm
searching all over to find the pics for this thread. PhtoBucket sucks!!!

 

I'm jumping around so that I can keep this thread on pressing together.
Here's a simple run through on a Ford script I had been trying to make
for quite awhile. I've had trouble with distortion on such thin material. I ran into
a guy at a swap meet selling stuff cut with his plasma cutter.
He said his plasma cutter could do it no problem. Well it was a problem
, but it was close enough for me to straighten the dies, and clean every thing
up. I left a set of dies with him, but never saw them put to use. This is 18 gauge cr.

 

The first pic in post 138 shows the die, but realize there is a piece of 19 gauge
under it. You scribe around it , than remove the female die so you can place in the correct position.
Than you tape it in postion, next you place the male die on top. So we have a stack of bottom to top.
female die, blank piece, male die. now we press the piece. don't forget the WD40. you have to pry them apart.

 

Here is the finished product, of course I had to make some pieces for my buddies.

 

Here I've cut a piece of 1/4" plate the size of my glove box. The piece of 19 gauge
is about 3/4" bigger than the door pattern. Look at the corners where they bulge
out slightly. Any more than that you won't be able to get a smooth corner.

 

Here's a follow up to that series. I cut most of the 1/4" plate away, used a magnetic catch,
and made the hinge set up to match the original.

 

I made up some brackets to help set motor where I wanted it. There is one under bell housing also.

 

I was not happy with the hood line
, and after a lot of eyeballing lowered the frame mount 1/2".

 

Here I had rolledd it out to check that hood height mentioned above, also check gas
tank fit.

 

As it sits today. The small supports are to keep the tank stable when the body
is removed. There is some slight flex in the rear crossmember that will be
addressed later.

 

A shot of the 35 dash I'm using, pedal placement, and temp steering column
I'm using. [A

 

Have 32 gas tank mounts tacked in position.
Using 3/16" cold roll flat stock. Have a portable band saw in a home made stand
to cut the 4" wide pieces. I have a metal supply house a few miles from my house
which is really handy.

 

Most use 1/8" plate, I like the heavier 3/16". It's stronger, taps better, and I
over build everything anyway.

 

I alternated top to bottom with the welding , When done the frame did not move when
clamps rermoved.

 

32 rails , and tank mocked into position. I found that my ride height was not where I wanted
it, so I'm z,ing the rear.
Sorry if these pics seem out of order , Im jumping all over to find the right ones.

 

Here's some pics of the standard rear kick up.

 

I' adding stiffner plates inside the cross member, than I will box it.

 

Trial fit of body to clearance sub frame for 'Z' in frame.
Finished installation. I had to box the rear 32 rails, add a cross memeber, and
a lot of fussing around to make the tank fit.
It would seem that tieing into the sides of the frame would be more logical, but
trying to clear all obstacles is difficult.

 

I work alone most of the time so I built a rig to lift the body. (my buddies are old, and
cranky not much help lifting)

 

The cowl is very rigid here.
[ATTACH=f
Made tabs on the body braces to bolt lift to.

 

A friend gave me a 38 front end. (freebie!)

I'm using dropped steering arms with a new forged 4" dropped axle so I trimmed these
off the 38 spindles. I know you can buy tapered bungs, but I wanted to use the old
parts when possible. I took an old tie rod end, and welded it to a piece of pipe.

 

A little fussing around on the lathe , and we have the parts we need.

 

Heres the finished parts. I used 1/2" plate as I was Out of 3/8", and I think 1/4" is a
little light. (over kill as usual!)