What’s the story with the Spaulding flamethrower? It appears to be grafted onto the base of another distributor to use the vacuum and mechanical advance ? Great build.
Rebuild parts for those old flamethrower distributors haven't been available since the 70's and if you find one that is still in good working condition, it would cost you a fortune ( even back in the 90's when I got this one ). There are two of them for sale on ebay right now that are in good condition. One is for a Chevy and he is asking $850 for it. The other is for a 383 / 440 Chrysler and he wants $999.95 I picked this one up for a few bucks at a swap meet back in the 90's and it was completely worn out. I wanted to build this car in the style of rods in the late 50's and early 60's and the flamethrower was just the look that I needed for the ignition. The flamethrower body is actually just a fancy cap and when you lift it off, there is a regular distributor cap under it. I machined a brass sleeve to fit over a stock electronic distributor from a late 70's Chrysler 383 / 440. I drilled out the side plates on the flamethrower so the plug wires will go thru them and plug into the blue cap inside. This way I have the more modern electronic ignition with a vacuum advance with the looks of the 50's flamethrower distributor. I'm going to go ahead and mount a coil for each side of the flamethrower but one of them will just be a dummy.
Thanks for the reply, thinking out of the box the whole way through this build. I have just rebuilt a Flamethrower myself and yeah, the parts aren’t easy to find.
Hey Ray, I just wanted to say I appreciate you taking the time while doing your fabrication and machine work to take pictures to post and the detailed captions you post with them. I am in my mid 40's in age, just now building a large shop and hope to get deeper into traditional hot rod building and techniques. Its guys like you that inspire me to keep pushing forward.
Working with the fuel system. Both the feed and return lines are hooked up to the fuel manifold on the carburetors and the aluminum block mounted on the front of the engine. There is a chrome fuel pressure regulator mounted to the inlet port in the side of the frame and the rubber feed line is hooked to it. There is a black metal return line fastened to the bottom of the aluminum block and it is running down alongside the lower part of the oil pan ( behind the heat shield ). The electric fuel pump is mounted under the right rear of the car. The pressure line comes off the right side of the pump and runs up and over to a Fram fuel filter mounted on the left side ( the red can ). The line coming out of the left side of the pump, and is hanging out in space just now, is the fuel pickup line. The finned aluminum fuel diverter can is now mounted in place. The fuel inlet will be connected to the top pipe on the can for filling the two fuel tanks. The pickup hose from the fuel pump is fastened to the bottom of this can and this is the lowest point in the fuel system. These are my two home made aluminum fuel tanks. I think each of them will hold 10 or 11 gallons of fuel. The larger pipe on the inside bottom of each tank are the fuel fill tubes. The smaller tube coming out of the top corner on each tank are to let the air flow out of them as they are filled and back in as the fuel level drops. Turning the tanks over, you can see a heat shield fastened to the bottom of the tank on the right. The heat shield for the other tank still needs to have the holes drilled into it to mount it to the tank. One tank fits on each side of the car. Here you can see how the bump-outs on the tank fit into the usable space under the vehicle for maxim fuel capacity for the tanks. Here you can see the large pipe coming out of the diverter can to connect to each tank. This allows both tanks to fill and empty equally. Both tanks will be covered by the running board splash shields.
The ignition timing mark on the hemi was on the outside diameter of the harmonic balancer with the pointer sticking out from the front of the timing chain cover. I replaced the timing chain cover with an after market chrome cover and it doesn't have the pointer on the front of it so that timing reference point is gone. The rubber on the original harmonic balancer rotted out years ago so that timing reference point is also gone. The original harmonic balancer is no longer available but you can adapt one from the newer 340 Chrysler engine to the old hemi but there are two problems. First ... the hemi crankshaft has a 1/4 inch key and the 340 balancer has a 3/16 inch key. You can widen the keyway in the 340 balancer out to 1/4 inch or you can make a step key that is 1/4 inch on the bottom and 3/16 inch on the top. The second problem ... is that the timing marks on the 340 balancer are in a different location then the hemi balancer in relation to the keyway. So you have to make new timing marks on the balancer or relocate the pointer. I have ordered a 340 balancer and it should be here in a couple of days. Meanwhile I need to find top dead center on the compression stroke in preparation for mounting the new balancer. Before I go turning this engine over a lot, I want to spin the oil pump and get the oil pumped thru the engine. First I need to pull the oil pump drive gear up out of the engine. I cut a notch into the end of a steel rod and slid it down onto the oil pump shaft. Then I put a drill on the other end so I can spin the oil pump. This pumped the oil up thru the engine and you can see where the oil has been flowing back into the area where the drive gear goes. Now we're ready to time the engine. My son came out help me and brought his degree wheel to mount on the crankshaft. We put a rod in the spark plug hole so we could see the movement of the piston. The piston was brought up and over center a little ways on the compression stroke. Then the rod was taken out of the hole and a piston stop tool was screwed into the spark plug hole. At this point, the crank was rotated back ( counter clockwise ) until the piston came up against the stop and the pointer was at 45 on the degree wheel. The crank was then rotated forward ( clockwise ) all the way around until the piston came up against the stop again and the pointer was at 113 on the wheel. Adding 45 and 113 together gave us 158. 158 was divided by 2 to give us 79. The piston stop was removed from the engine and the crank was rotated until the pointer was at 79 ... this is exact top dead center of the compression stroke. Now to make sure that the crankshaft doesn't turn while I'm installing the new harmonic balancer, I made up a bracket that fits into the flywheel teeth and is bolted and clamped to the transmission housing. With the engine a TDC, I can now put the oil pump drive gear back in place. This gear also drives the distributor so it has to go in at a specific rotation. I have a mark on the end of that rod that lines up with the notch on the other end so I can rotate the oil pump shaft to line up with the drive gear. The drive gear is in place with the distributor slot angled at about ten o'clock position. I'm using a newer Chrysler electronic distributor instead of the original duel point distributor. They rotate clockwise and you can see on this one that the rotor is just a few degrees ahead of the spline on the shaft. With the slot in the drive gear at about ten o'clock, this should point the rotor at about halfway between 10 and 11. I have already painted the lower part of the engine block and before I put the distributor in, I'm going to mask off and paint the rest of the engine.
For the transmission fluid, I have an air cooler along with the unit that is in the radiator. The cooler is located behind the front axle but I think it will still get plenty of air flow thru it. There was a tremendous amount of aluminum welding done to make up the two fuel tanks. I am confident of my welding but I still want to use a fuel tank sealer, if for no other reason then the fact that little hairline cracks can form in the welds over time just from the vibration of driving the car. I coated them up today and they are fastened to the back of the truck so the excess sealer can drain out. I looked both of the tanks over really good after I had put the sealer in them and I was very pleased to only find this one tiny little red bubble where the sealer seeped thru a pinhole in the corner of the weld on the left side. The 340 harmonic balancer came today and I painted it red. Chrysler harmonic balancers from the 70's and 80's have the groove for TDC and the degrees marked on the outside of balancer. The degrees on this one were only printed on and not etched into the metal so they disappeared when I painted it. You can see the TDC groove inline with the keyway in the hub. Here it is sitting next to the original crank hub from the Hemi. The original Hemi harmonic balancer bolted onto the hub behind the pulleys. With my engine set a TDC, you can see that the keyway on the crank is at about 5 o'clock position so using the existing keyway on the balancer will put that TDC mark on the underside of the crank. As you can see, the power steering pump and the inlet hose for the water pump are on the passengers side and the alternator is on the drivers side so there is no really open area on either side. The timing mark on the balancer needs to be in the position of the black line on the piece of blue tape. Even there, I will have to remove the alternator to gain access to the timing mark. Because there are no timing degrees etched into the balancer, the simplest way to mount it is to go ahead and use the existing keyway and just make a new timing mark on it in the correct position. I do not have a broach hub big enough to fit this bore for widening the keyway so I'm just going to mill part of the key down to 3/16 to fit the 340 hub. Here is the new step key in the hub. And here is the finished harmonic balancer mounted on the engine. I pressed the side of the balancer against the bandsaw blade to make about a .010 deep cut in the metal. You can see the timing mark just under the mounting bracket for the alternator. I'm going to use a Chevy timing tab to line up with the mark on the balancer because they have the TDC mark and the degrees marked on the tab.
........ A little information for those of you that like this sort of thing ................. The early Chrysler, Dodge and DeSoto Hemi engines were popular for hot rodders and drag racers back in the 50's - 60's and into the 70's. The stock Hemi had more horsepower then the other V-8 engines with equivalent cubic inches and their huge valve covers just makes them look massive. Because of their design, it was also easier to get more horsepower out of them then the normal overhead valve design engines. Because they were so popular, you could get most anything to hop them up and to dress them up. A couple of drawbacks with the engines was that their starters were on the left side of the block, as shone in this photo of a stock Hemi from a Chrysler 300. In this location, the starter would be in the way of the steering box when putting these engines into an older car. And the oil filter stuck way out from the block on the right side. You could get ( and still can get ) adapters to mount the oil filter along side the block or pointing straight down. Most hot rodders and drag racers did not use the stock Chrysler automatic transmission so adapters were available to use just about any other transmission with them. This was a very popular adapter to bolt the Hemi up to the 32 to 48 Ford standard transmission. This adapter moved the original Chrysler starter over to the right side. Here is an adapter to bolt a Chevy automatic transmission to the Hemi and it also mounts the original Chrysler starter over on the right side. When I first thought of building this car, I wanted it to look like the rods that were built back in the 50's and 60's. So, naturally, I wanted an early Hemi. ......... ( I'm glad I bought mine when I did because I sure couldn't afford to buy one now at today's prices. ... actually, I bought three of them. ) ........... As you can see on my car, there is no room for a starter on the left side of the engine. I had already made my own transmission adapter to bolt a Chevy automatic transmission on my engine. Instead of using the old original Chrysler starter, I wanted to use a more modern Chevy starter that I would still be able to get parts for it 20 years later. So I built my own starter adapter to put the Chevy starter on the right side of the block. Back in the 50's and 60's, power steering wasn't even a consideration when those guys were building their rods so ( as far as I know ) no one sold an adapter to move the location of the power steering pump. If you look back at the photo of the stock Chrysler 300 hemi, you will see that the power steering pump was mounted up on the left side next to the water pump. I wanted power steering on my car but I didn't want the pump in such a visible location. So, I made a adapter to mount the power steering pump down low on the right side and put the alternator up where the pump use to be.
Even though I don't have anything with a blown hemi, I am sure that as I follow your thread that I will pick up some nugget of information that I can use Keep up the good work.
Here is an interesting article on Chrysler's Hemi engine that I had run across : WHAT WAS THE FIRST MUSCLE CAR ? 1956 Chrysler 300B with 354 Hemi / 355 HP Car enthusiasts. In other words almost all of us would think of America’s big three. Have you ever wondered what vehicle kicked off the muscle car era? In a survey done a few years ago, over 90% of the people polled, thought it was the Ford Mustang. While those loyal to the Bow Tie, the Oval and the Pentastar agree it was not in the mid-60s, none of them can seem to agree on which car or what year it was built. When you follow the horse power back from the early 1970s and look at the performance of the vehicles you arrive at one car, at one event, that changed the history of horse power in North America. This one car does make a strong case for being the “original muscle car.” But before we get to it, we have to go back one more year. The prelude to the first muscle car was built at a Chrysler plant in 1955. The first engine to produce over 300 horse power was stuffed into a full-size Chrysler sedan and the Chrysler 300 was born. Of course it had a Hemi. The 331 cid Hemi eclipsed the other V8s of the day. The Packard had 275 hp, the Cadillac had 270 hp, the Lincoln only 225 hp and the Corvette had a mere 195 hp. Chrysler debuted the 300 at Daytona where it won the “American Stock Car Flying Mile” competition finishing first, second and third. It also cleaned up in AAA and NASCAR events that same year. For 1956 the Chrysler 300B was fitted with a 354 cubic inch Hemi and with 2 four barrel carbs, it became the first engine to produce 1 horse power per cubic inch, it also won The Flying Mile competition with a top speed of 143.82 mph and believe it or not, that speed was achieved with Vicki Wood driving in the ladies division. It was this event that kicked off the muscle car era and with their big Hemi engines there was no doubt who was leading the way. “Fastest car in North America in 1956!” The 354 cubic inch Hemi later set a new quarter-mile speed record of 166.97 mph at an NHRA event. With the Chrysler 300B setting new track records practically everywhere it went and winning almost every race it finished, Ford and GM had no choice but to get involved in the business of building competitive vehicles. horse power. The competition was stronger and more intense in the following years. The ever increasing horse power led to the peak production of the high performance muscle cars of the late 60s and early 70s. Supporters loyal to the bowtie declared the 1957 Corvette to be the original muscle car and claimed the 283 cubic inch engine to be the first engine to produce 1 hp per cubic inch and site that as their reason for making this claim. They are incorrect in claiming to be the first because in 1956 the 354 cubic inch Hemi engine in the Chrysler 300 produced 355 hp, therefore supporters of the Pentastar declare the Chrysler 300B to be “The Original Muscle Car.” The 1 hp per cubic inch plateau is widely accepted as the defining criteria of a true muscle car.
.... Continuing for your entertainment with information of adapting parts from other engines to fit the early Hemi engines. .... NOTE .. some of the photos that I have used are taken off other post from this site. ....... It's common for parts from one size engine to bolt right on another size engine that is made by the same manufacture. A good example is all the different parts that will interchange between the Chevy 265 - 283 - 327 - 350 and 400 engines all thru the many years of production. However, you would not expect to be able to use parts from one manufacture on another manufactures engine ... especially the water pump. A water pump is a unique part that is manufactured for a particular manufacture and sometimes for only one particular engine. Over the years of production, Chrysler had manufactured different styles of water pump housings for their Hemi engines. Starting with the 331 with a cast iron combination of water pump housing and timing chain cover. This early Hemi did not have water outlet ports in the cylinder heads. Then they put water outlet ports in the heads and made a cast iron water pump with a crossover pipe cast into the top of it to bolt to the heads. Engines with this style pump housing used a stamped steel timing chain cover behind it. They also cast the pump housing and crossover housing as individual units ( as shone on this engine ) They also manufactured different sizes of water pumps for the two piece housings over the years. These original style water pumps are still available but no parts store is likely to have one in stock and most places aren't even able to order one. You can order them from places like Summit and Jegs but they are really expensive. Back when these Hemis were still a commonly used engine, someone figured out that a Chevy water pump could easily be adapted to them by making a pair of adapter blocks. With the Chevy pump, you could use the Chrysler crossover thermostat housing. The crossover housings came with the thermostat housing on the top center ( as shown in the photo ) .. or on the top left side of the engine .. or on the front, a little off center to the left. Or make up your own crossover pipe and thermostat housing. Instead of buying a water pump adapter kit, I went ahead and made up my own blocks out of aluminum. I also made up my own crossover tube and thermostat housing. That chrome tube in the photo with the cap on it that is sticking out at angle on the left side is my oil fill tube. The oil fill tube on the original engine was in the front of the valley cover pan and stuck up in front of the carburetor. My oil fill tube is bolted to the side of the timing chain cover where the fuel pump fit. The cap is lifted off to add oil to the engine.
The Chrysler originally had a duel point distributor. It worked well but I would prefer to have electronic ignition. Of coarse several types of distributors and even magnetos were, and still are available. Or .. you could adapt a stock electronic distributor from a newer Chrysler engine to it. The base of the distributor from a 383 / 440 engine fits perfectly into the Hemi block but the shaft on the newer distributor is about 5/16 inch short. Here you can see that the tab on the distributor shaft doesn't quite fit down into the slot in the drive gear. There is a guy that makes an adapter to extend the shaft on the newer Chrysler distributors. Here he shows the original early Hemi on the left and a stock newer distributor in the center with his extension kit on the distributor on the right. With his extension, you have to cut about an inch off the shaft of the newer distributor. Then slide his extension up on the shaft until it is at the correct length and then drill and pin it in place, Naturally, I decided to just make my own shaft extension. Instead of cutting the locating tab off the end of the newer distributor shaft, I decided to keep it and just make a short piece to fit on the end of the shaft. I have a junk Chrysler distributor so I cut about 5/8 inch off the end of it. Then I clamped the tab of that piece in my mill and machined a slot about .100 deep into the end of it that is inline with the tab. The tab on the newer distributor is almost 5/16 long so if I had milled that slot the full depth so it fit onto the end of the distributor, then there wouldn't be hardly any metal holding the tab onto that piece. Once the slot was milled into the extension piece, then I cut some off the distributor tab so it fit into the slot in the extension. A piece of steel rod is bored out so one end slides onto the newer distributor shaft. The other end is bored out to where it is a press fit for the extension piece. The extension piece is pressed into the sleeve. Even though the sleeve and the extension piece are pressed together, I still drilled and put a small pin thru them to guarantee that they never come apart. The extension is slid up over the distributor and it is drilled and pinned to the the distributor shaft. Here is the finished distributor ready to go back into my engine.
For the timing tab, I made up a bracket that will bolt to the lower part of the engine and then fastened a Chevy degree tab to it. Here it is mounted on the Hemi.
OOPS ....... I made a mistake on the extension that I made for my distributor. As you can see here, there is a counter bore in the top of the drive gear above the slot for the distributor shaft. The counter bore doesn't look very deep in the photo but it is actually about 5/16 deep. This is the the first extension that I made for the distributor and, as you can see, the bottom end of the steel sleeve goes right down to the milled drive tab. I have had to make a new extension that has some of the shaft sticking out of the end of the steel sleeve so it can fit down into the counter bore in the gear. The distributor now fits onto the engine block with the rotor pointing at about ten o'clock position. With the distributor housing at this position, the rotor roughly lines with the number one spark plug terminal at the ten o'clock position on the cap. This is the position of about where the vacuum advance chamber will be. The original distributor only used a mechanical advance so they didn't not have this vacuum chamber mounted on the side. The port for the oil pressure is under the vacuum chamber so I may have to put a 45 or 90 degree fitting on it so the oil sender will clear the vacuum chamber ( it will depend on how tall the sender is ).
The back of the engine is getting a little tight as I assemble more parts there. The distributor is mounted and the holding clamp for it is bolted in under the vacuum advance. The oil sending unit is also mounted beside the distributor and the water temperature sending unit is screwed in place on the intake manifold. The last thing to hook up was the rubber hose for the vacuum advance. The vacuum line runs up the back of the blower and is connected to the right rear carburetor. There are four, Ford model-94 carburetors on top of this 471 blower and each one is rated at 162 CFM. These are 2-barrel carbs and this model was manufactured between 1938 and 1957. The two carbs on the right side of the manifold are linked together so they open and close at the same time and the two carbs on the left side are linked together so they open and close at the same time. This engine has 280 HP stock and for the most part, driving it on the street, just using the two carbs on the right side will be plenty of power to move it down the road with out any assistance from the blower. The carb linkage is adjustable for the two carbs on the left side. There is a little chrome clip that goes thru a hole in the red linkage rod. With it in the hole at the end of the rod like this .... The throttle can be pulled all the way back and it will not open these two carbs. With the clip in the second hole in the red rod like this .... Then when the throttle is pulled back, these two carbs open so that all four carbs are all the way open at full throttle. When this happens, I would strongly suggest that make sure your seat belt is fastened securely and hang on tight .... cause we be going for a ride !
Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks. You are a man of great detail and I really enjoy the way you describe each new part. I really like your creativity, and not just settling for bought stuff.
Rubber from an old inner tube is glued to the surface of the mounting flange on the gas tank for the right side. Rubber is also glued to the inside of the tank where it will ride up against the side of the frame rail. The gas tank is then mounted in place. I cut pieces off an old hydraulic hose and put them on the bolts that go thru the top of the mounting flange. These bolts are threaded into the mounting bracket so they can be snugged down just enough to keep the tank in place without clamping the mounting flanges tight to the frame. Then lock nuts are threaded up on the underside of the bolts so they will not loosen up. With the mounting flanges mounted in rubber, it allows the tank flanges to move a little to prevent stress cracks from forming in the metal later on. The rubber also insulates the aluminum tank from the steel frame so oxidation wont form between the two metals. The 1-3/4 diameter fill tube is connected to the diverter can, under the car,with a fuel resistant rubber hose. The sending unit for the gas gauge is mounted in the back end of the tank for the left side. And then the tank is mounted on the left side. The fill tube for this tank is also connected to the diverter can. This will allow both tanks to fill and empty evenly at the same time and the two tanks should have about 22 gallons capacity. This is the gas fill neck that I made up years ago. It has a 3/4 inch diameter tube that will connect to the 3/4 inch tube at the top of each tank so air can escape quickly while the tanks are being filled. The smaller tube is the air vent so the tanks will not build up pressure. This is the fuel fill door on the drivers side of the trunk. Open it up and the fill neck is right there.
This is the pipe that will connect the 3/4 inch vent pipes on each gas tank and connect to the vent pipe on the gas filler tube. Looking at the installed vent pipe from over the rear axle. The last thing to put on is the 1-3/4 inch hose between the filler neck and the top of the distribution can.
Fitting the exhaust manifolds onto the engine. The heads on this engine hang out over the frame rails and in order to be able to get the manifold in and out without lifting the engine, I had to split it into two pieces. Each one has to be twisted a little in order to get it in place. Looking up from underneath, at the outlet tubes of the two manifolds. The exhaust outlet tubes extend down past the mounting flange. Those two outlet tubes fit down into the two holes in this header pipe. With them countersunk this way there is less chance of the flange gasket blowing out. This header pipe is bolted onto the bottom of the two exhaust manifolds. Then the rest of the exhaust is fit into place. The muffler has the inlet in the center and the outlet over to one side. It sits at an angle so the outlet is below the underside of the running board brackets. I used part of an exhaust header to make up the four tail pipes coming out from under the back of the running board. There is an exhaust hanger holding the front of this pipe up where it attaches to the muffler. And a bolt and lock nut with a spring on it to keep the back of the pipe in place. This allows the exhaust system to flex a little.
I had a lot of wild ideas when I first started building this back in the late 90's and the exhaust turned out a lot crazier that it really needed to be. I could have used the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds if I bolted them on before the engine was set in the frame. If I ever had to pull them, I would have to lift the engine about two inches up but that would most likely never have been a problem because you almost never have to take off a cast iron exhaust manifold.
I have a power brake unit mounted under the body and when I went to hook up the vacuum line, I realized there isn't a place to hook it up to. The small vacuum line for the distributor comes off the port on the carburetor but there isn't a large vacuum port in the Weiand intake manifold on top of the blower. You would think I would have realized that before I bolted it on top of the blower and fastened the carbs, linkage and fuel lines all up ... but obviously I didn't. So .. it's time to pull the intake manifold back off so I can drill and tap it for a vacuum port. The Weiand manifold is bolted onto the blower with four bolts. The left rear carb and the right front carb have a hidden mounting bolt under each of them but I can't get to all of the carb mounting bolts on those two carbs unless I remove the right rear carb first. With that carb off, I then have room to use the allen wrench to remove the back center bolt on the right front carb. Then I can reach the front inside nuts on the two left carbs. Technically, with the left rear carb removed, I can now reach both of the hidden bolts so the manifold could be removed without removing the left front carb from it. However, because I'm going to be working on this manifold, I went ahead and removed the last carb. Here is what the bare Weiand manifold looks like. And a look at the bottom side. The manifold is clamped in the drill press to drill and tap the hole in the back side. The manifold is re-mounted on the blower and the carbs are bolted back on in the reverse order that they were removed. I'm using a chrome plated copper line, that is used for plumbing sink faucets in houses, for the vacuum line. Here the first bend is being formed in it. The line runs down the back of the blower and over between the oil dipstick and the distributor in the lower right corner of the photo.
Time to do some work on the inside. This model-T body is only 45 inches wide on the inside. I have a pair of small bucket seats that are only 20 inch wide so they will fit inside and still leave room in between them for an emergency brake handle. I need to cut a piece of plywood for the seat base to fit on top of the metal model -T seat frame. when I was working on this back in the late 90's, I had made a cardboard pattern for the seat base and the silly thing is still good enough to use after all these years. Here it is sitting on top of the original metal seat frame. The battery and the master cylinder for the brakes are mounted under the floor board so I need to be able to get under the seats to access them. This also leaves storage space under the seats and I'm going to get a couple of square plastic containers that will fit in the two cutout spaces to use for storage. They will keep everything from sliding around under there and I can just lift them out when I need to get to the battery or master cylinder. Also in this photo .. there are white lines drawn on the metal of the back of the body. I'm going to cut this metal out and make this area behind the seats part of the trunk space. The metal is cut out between the cab and the trunk. Here is how it looks from the trunk. The pattern is set on a piece of plywood ready for tracing around it. The back of the seat base is cut to size leaving extra on the front sides. Then the seat base is set in place and the two seats are placed on it to determine where to trim the front sides. The finished seat base is bolted in place with 1/4 inch counter sunk flat head bolts. The area at the back between the underside of the seat base and the floor is closed in ( this is now trunk area ). These seats have a solid frame work so the backs do not fold forward. In order to make it so I can access the area under the seats easily, I'm going to have to cut the seat frames and separate the backs from the bottoms. The backs will be bolted in place and the bottoms will be easily removable by sliding them in and out. I'm going to enclose the area behind the seats with a piece of plywood that will fit from the seat base up to the underside of the rear window to separate the cab area from the trunk area and the back's of the seats will fit up tight to this plywood. The sides for this enclosure have to be made first. Here is the left side piece. It is fit to the floor and the back of the body but There is extra wood left on the front so I can fit the front piece to them later. And the right side is fit into place. The two black lines going into the holes above the opening are 3 - wire electrical cables for the tail lights, brake lights and turn signals. They are running thru steel tubes that are welded to the inside of the trunk for extra support around the trunk lid opening.
This piece of wood took me a little time to figure out how to design it and how to cut it out. It fills in the area under the rear window. With that piece fastened in place, I can figure out where to mark a line on the two side pieces where the back of the seat back board will be. The extra wood is cut off along that line and the two side pieces are fastened in place. And finally the piece of plywood for the seat back is fastened in place. This is how the inside of the trunk looks. The area is extended 7 inches farther forward now.
The Jalopy Journal
