Hot Rods The 'General Mischief Coupe' Model A build

So I've had this 30 Coupe for a while and have flip flopped on how I was going to build it. After going to Speedweek and seeing all the cool traditional cars there and after acquiring a GMC 302 I have decided to go Rolling Bones meets Inliners Meets poor boy with a ton of old parts in the chicken coop. I want to fabricate as much as I can and use as much of what I've got on hand of old pre 1946 stuff.
Of the stuff in my stash was 5 banjo rear ends. It took all five to make one good one. I'm going to use the QC that I fabricated and use the original axles with wide five stuff.
I had to redesign the frame to put a QC with a transverse spring. I kicked up the back frame and made a suicide style perch for the springs. I made some ladder bars kinda like Brian Bass Wade coupe but not near as nice welds....still trying .
Made motor mounts and mid engine mounts as the GMC is friggin heavy, I don't want all the weight hanging on the trans. I fabbed up a pedal assembly and hydraulic clutch slave cylinder bracket.
I am going spring behind on the front axle and I have made up bungs welded into the Model A bones with the perches from a set of adjustable perches that I had.
I am going to channel the body 4 inches over the frame , not sure if I will chop it or not. I was going to do a wedge channel at 5 inches at the cowl and 3-1/2 at the front of the rear wheels but It may be too much work with limited results......still deciding.
Anyway , have a look and let me know what you think

 

FAST TIMES at Jethro High...that's looking the Hotrod part just fine in my books @Jethro...I'm in...

Hey thanks for starting the New Year with a Former BANGer mobile...Very Cool and what's that other word......oh yeah...Bitchen!

 

...that A has the look, would look good with a slite chop but probly don't need it, has old school look as is specially with the inline 6,..nice work...Rolling Bones got nuthin on you.

 

OH YEAH!!!

 

I like it! Body looks real good and the headers are really cool.

 

That is rad. Keep up the nice work.

 

I'd say chop yes; more channel no. Just my opinion. Neat car, I like all the homebuilt stuff.
Phil

 

This is great Jethro! Looks real good so far...I'm also a big fan of sixes.
Keep it coming!

 

Looks great. I vote to chop it!

 

I am sitting down having supper, “think i will build myself a quick change tonight” very clever dude. And not following the crowd equals your own style of cool.
Leave the chop till you get it on the ground and the seat installed ,then see how you feel.

 

I'm digging it, nice work so far.

 

Awesome build. Chassis looks real good. Keep the pics coming. Nice work.

 

Gonna be a good one.

 

Depending on how tall you are I'd wait on chopping it till you have seats in it... Your already channeling it 4 inches... Great looking build...

 

Been working on this the last couple days. The bracket will weld to the bottom of the frame rail and will have a gusset for support

 

Dont chop it brother. Looks great.

 

Looks killer! Nice fab work. I would personally be a little concerned about the front spring mounted to the side of the wishbone.

 

Wow! You've made some really great progress. Real quality work too. Awesome!
This is the build I've been hoping to see since you first told me about that engine.
Hey, if you need any wide 5 wheels or drums I know a guy with some. He also likes that old junk.

 

OK , because the crossmember was already welded in, I worked out a way to raise it about 1-1/4 inches. I cut a 2 x 4 rect tube in half and drilled a hole for the spring center bolt. I wanted to get rid of the u-bolts so I made a plate and tabs from 3/8 plate to eliminate them. I needed to raise the motor about 1/2 inch to get the belt on as the front pulley is over the crossmember. I cut what needed to be cut and slid the channel in and welded it. I lopped off the frame horns and finished the ends. So by doing this and removing the top spring leaf I grabbed 1-1/2 inches more drop. So far by my reckoning I have lowered the suspension by nearly 6 inches still using the stock model A axle.
I also welded the bones and installed the frame mounts. With the weight of the motor at what I imagine ride height will be I have roughly 4 or 5 degrees of caster. It will all get rechecked later and corrected as needed. Ithink it's going well so far.

 

I wanted the name to have GMC because of my choice of engine ....I found this later

 

i find undropped axles just as nice as the dropped ones. i like em out front and center. very nice.

 

Thanks Garrett , I'm starting to like them more and more. There is a simplicity to the ModelA , the curve and lack of extra bumps and holes. I may keep it and do a 117Harv treatment.

 

Proof you don't need to run up every credit card in your wallet to build the coolest hotrod on the block

 

The only money I have spent so far after restarting this build is shop supplies and the master and slave cylinders. Not saying I didn't spend any money previously though , but that was 10+ years ago . I will get to the point where I have to order some things but right now I'm working with stuff I have laying around.

 

You have your own style going here. Looks great!

 

Found this shot somewhat like your Avatar.

 

The one in my avatar was from Speedweek 2019.....notice all the standing water in the pits. My camper is in the background to prove I was there

 

I drilled these with a 5/8 lathe center drill, it drills without wobbling and chamfers the hole. I found some perforated metal and thought it would work good for this

 

Several years ago I was walking through Home Depot and saw these caps that go on the top of the posts for chainlink fence. I thought they would be cool for something , but I actually forgot that I had them.
I needed to get some dust caps for the front hubs, I noticed that the threads were buggered pretty bad. I turned down the OD of the post cap and bored the hub just past the threads. I spun the cap and sanded it to get a brushed finish. I'm going to be running the wide five hubcaps anyway but they'll look cool when the hubcaps come off

 

They say "the devil is in the details" and this is one hell of a build. Great imagination and attention to the small things. Looking forward to more.