Projects Kurt’s Puddle Jumper - 1930 Model A Extended-Cab Pickup Build

I did start a thread on the main HAMB forum asking for advice on radiator placement and hose routing and got some comments and suggestions.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/radiator-placement-and-plumbing-question.1246290/

OK, I spent yesterday morning in the garage measuring, measuring, measuring, …

I came up with a 4 prong approach which will be a lot of work.

1. Replace the Corvette water pump with a normal short water pump. Only picks up ¼ inch, but work wise is just clicking buy and twisting a few bolts. Does require getting a new pulley since the Corvette uses a ¾ inch shaft versus the normal 5/8 inch. For reference, the short pump is 5.545 inches versus 5.795 for the Vette.
   
   
2. Move the front crossmember front 1-1.5 inches. I checked my drag link can go 1.5 inches without replacing the tube and I have to make permanent brackets for the wishbones anyway. Anyone with experience, how hard is it to get the rivets out and move the crossmember?
   
   
3. Trim the back side of the crossmember about 2 inches. Was always planned for the next time I pull the engine to have room to pull the balancer in the car.
   
   
4. Move the engine back 1-1.5 inches nothing the firewall, especially where the distributor is. Really hate doing it after just finishing the floor / firewall connection, but my mistake.

By my measurements and calculations, that will give me between 2 7/8 and 3 7/8. The radiator is 2 7/8. Will not have room for a puller fan, but I have no problem with a pusher electric fan.

One open question I have had no luck researching online is pulley alignment. Does the weird depth Corvette water pump use a different balancer or lower pulley to line up or is the ¼ inch made up by the water pump pulley with the ¾ inch shaft hole?

Got started on it this morning. In 4 hours, I got the front brake lines drained and removed and 6 of 7 rivets on the driver's side drilled out. Broke 3 drill bits while trying to be careful.


A complication I need to address is my boxing plates where notched around the lip on the rear of the crossmember. I need cut that part out.



You can see the one remaining rivet on the driver's side on the right.

 

Nice work, I love your Jumper.

 

Well another 4 hours drilling and pounding and the 14 rivets are out. Final count 3 broken, 1 bent, and 2 dull drill bits. I cut the ears of the boxing plates off with a 2 inch cutoff disc in the angle die grinder. Worked better then I expected since the disks I have have a 3/8 hole and the spindle for the die grinder is 1/4.

A couple of taps with the BFH (5 pound hammer) and the crossmember moved. I was afraid due to the taper in the frame rails ahead of the crossmember I could not slide the crossmember front even 1.5 inches. I managed with the BFH to get 2.5 inches.




Next up is to cut the back (recessed) portion of the crossmember off.

I have to decide if 2.5 inches is stretching the wheelbase too much or not. I may be able to leave the engine alone and not touch the firewall. Will have to get a longer drag link, but that's just $35.

 

Back (recessed) portion of crossmember hacked off. A combination of 4.5 inch cutoff wheel, 2 inch cutoff wheel, and saws-all. Need to clean up the cuts and weld the back edge back on. Forgot how handy that recess was for laying tools and hardware. (Really lousy picture, sorry).







Trial fit of radiator behind crossmember. With crossmember slid front 2.5 inches and recessed portion of crossmember removed, there is 7/8 inch clearance on the waterpump shaft with the Vette pump. Can get another 1/4 with a short pump.



I chopped the grill shell so it can sit on top of the crossmember.


I need to get the spring and axel back installed and get it setting on the ground to check the height of the radiator and grill shell. I appears to be close as it sits, but I'm going to study it a lot before finishing the mounts.

I'm going to bolt the crossmember back in place for now with 3/8 inch grade 8 bolts. Interesting the rivet holes in the side of the frame rail are exactly 2.5 inches apart so the rear hole in the crossmember lines up with the front hole in the frame. Another hole in top of the frame that was not for the crossmember also lines up. The less drilling I have to do the more I like it.

 

I don't know if you already do this, but it is a good idea to push your car outside every now and then where you can step back and and get a good look at its proportions.

 

I have done this a couple of times but just found I didn't post a pic the last time I did it in April. Luckily, the pic was still in the camera directory. I actually didn't take it out just to look at it but to turn it around. Not easy to do by my self. On the driveway I could tug it around with the lawn tractor, but it could not pull it up the approach ramp to the garage (4-5 inches). I ended up using a come-a-long secured to the stairs in the garage.



Nothing done yesterday. Had to take bionic woman to physical therapy for her new hip and run errands. Waiting for it to warm up a bit before venturing out to the garage. 32 now. I know, I was just complaining it was too hot.

 

Got the spring back clamped down and it sitting on its wheels. Tack welded the temp brackets on and sliced, diced, and tack welded the rear of the crossmember.



Looks pretty level to the naked eye. A level on the frame and on the cowl to radiator seems to say the same thing.



Just a little forward rake on both.

Picture of the front of radiator clearance and the tack welded rear of crossmember.



Hard to see but 1/4 inch clearance. Think I may move radiator back another 1/8-1/4 inch.

Rear clearance is still good.


I think I like it the way it is. Hurry and chime in if you don't like it. Should the top of the grill shell be level with the cowl or slightly lower? ????????????????

Next up finish fab of the lower radiator mounts, finish welding the back of the crossmember, finish bolting the crossmember to the frame (only have 4 bolts of 14 so far). Then makeup some extensions for the radiator to firewall braces. I don't like the severe angle.

 

Old cars are like us, they get heavier with age and don't move around as easily.

 

X-cpe, I had to air up my lawn tractor tires today and thought I should top off the tires on the A. Found some were in the low 20's. Hopefully at my normal 32 pressure it will be easier to move. I'm too cheap to replace the tires on the lawn tractor even though I have to air them up every 3 days or so and I have to move it to get to the workbench or welder.

 

Finally got a chance to read your whole thread start to finish. Like watching how you solve the challenges. My car is also channeled over a home built frame. Someday it will be back on the road.

My life.

No matter how old we or they get, they never stop giving us opportunities to be a good daddy.

 

A possible solution for both problems. Make a bracket to bolt to the existing tab on the radiator. A piece of your 16 ga. should do it.

 

Well, the consensus was it needed to be a bit lower (me and one other in the radiator thread). So here it is a bit over an inch lower. Level says it is about 1 inch lower then the cowl. Will come up 1/4 since it is sitting metal to metal and it will have a 1/4 inch rubber pad.

With level



Without level


Made up one of the support rods. A 5/16 coupler drilled out and welded on the support. Then a piece of threaded rod. Cut a small aluminum plate to bolt to the radiator so the steel threaded rod is not touching the aluminum radiator. I know I bought two 5/16 couplers but can't find the other.

 

It has been a week since I posted. Didn't have anything really photogenic. Spent a lot of time this week driving the bionic woman to doctor / rehab appointments (over 250 miles).

Radiator is mounted and bolted in. Radiator hoses fitted.



Got the support rod bracket bolted in place. Still have to lengthen the 2nd Brace.



Yesterday and today I worked on redoing the front brakelines. I made a template with some aluminum wire I have had for over 20 years. Don't know where I got it. I used to use it a a snake.


I had to get a piece of straight 3/16th brakeline. This clad line is all the local O'REILLY'S had.

Line installed in front of radiator. Have not installed the clamps yet.


Took forever to get all the connections tight again. Brake fluid all over the floor.

 

Not a lot of progress to report this week. More physical therapy for bionic woman and I spent a day at the service dept of a dealer for my daily driver. Had a safety recall taken care of and paid to have the cruise control fixed.

Turned out to be operator error. Cruise control was not turned on. A switch with an Icon I didn't know existed. In 2 years I have had the vehicle, I never had to turn it on. Guess it was never turned off before. I HATE ICONS AND EMOJIES! Too old to learn these things. But do I feel stupid.

Still did not have brake lines tight. More fluid on floor. Decided to attack something else. Alternator on top of engine was too high. Thought I would try mounting it low on drivers side so prototyped a bracket.



Close but needed some adjustments.



Not as pretty as the chrome one Speedway sells, but mounted low, no one will see it.



Installed:



Alternator installed with 44 inch belt.



Interesting, to naked eye it looked like perfect alignment but this picture looks like I may have to shim it forward about 1/16th of an inch.

Next up pull the radiator and mount the brake lines.

 

Laughing my ass off here I can relate. Went to get my annual inspection prior to renewing my car reg in my OT daily. Hung around and they drive it in and check everything then park it.................. Got in it for the drive home and maybe 4 minutes later I was in a panic NO A/C.

It's always hot here the A/C was on since I got the car 12 years ago. Drove back in in a huff and was all WTF did you do to my A/C??????

Guy came back popped the hood and was checking it all out. AND THEN one little smart ass assistant leaned the cabin in and did something and I heard the compressor come on. So I said what did you just do??????

And he said "I TURNED IT ON"

Turns out like you there is ANOTHER BUTTON off the A/C panel the turns it off and on.

Gave him a nice tip and meekly drove out hiding my red face.

 

Holy hopp'n hot rods Batman, it's a Puddle Jumper......Yes & it is cool.

 

Well, I thought I had fixed all the brakeline leaks, but overnight the pie pan was half full. I tried again to tighten them but got frustrated. Decided to do something else.

I need some kind of exhaust system to finish the start phase. I was going to build some lakes style headers but the bionic woman doesn't like the look. So decided to use the original vette exhaust manifolds for now. Got all the airpump holes plugged. Got some flanges that matched and cut up some 2 1/2 to 2 inch reducers to make matching flares.

Installed manifold and fitted a 90 degree elbow that looks good.


Only one problem, flange is almost touching brake line.



Decided to relocate brakeline to under the frame rail. Made a new line in one piece to eliminate the coupler. Had to do it twice as I cut the first try 1.25 inches short. Drilled and tapped holes to install clamps.



Front line secured as well.



New line had 5 connections. 4 of them leaked. I guess I'm either too weak or afraid of over tightening them. Finally think they don't leak.

A couple more pics of the exhaust. Nothing welded yet. I had to route them over toward the center to be inboard of the ladder bars. Need more 45 elbows to move back out around the rear-end pumpkin.





Original idea was to just put a 18 inch pipe out to the side for startup but got a great deal on 2 8 foot straight pipe sections from Advance Auto Parts with 15% off and free shipping. Had them in 2 days. (I had searched online for exhaust pipe and found them at Advance. Next day they sent an email offering 15% off).

Will just run the straight pipes out the rear for startup. Will install some glass packs for the drive phase.

Startup to do list is getting shorter.

 

Sometimes it's the valve in the stem and not the tire...I pumped the Ole Wheel Horse right rear tire up for literally years and finally decided to fix it el cheapo and that's all it was... don't let an old weather cracked tire mislead you...

 

Will try changing the valves, but don't have much hope with 14 year old tires.

Well make a liar out of me. "Finally think they don't leak" Did not fill the pie pan but the shop towel in it was wet in the center. Can not see which of the 4 connections at or near the front tee. Will have to get the bionic woman to pump the brakes while I watch for the first sign of fluid.

Had grand plans to get a lot done today, but yesterday afternoon I had to hang lighted Christmas wreaths outside and I could not find a working GFCI outlet outside. Finally got the 4th out of 4 to work. Had to replace 2 today. I have no luck with GFCI but these were original, 14 and 16 years old.

 

Got a good 5 hours work in garage today. Again, one 1/2 wide puddle of Brake fluid. Used a level to plumb up to find likely suspect fitting. Managed to tighten it about a 1/16 of a turn. Was dry the rest of the day.

Got the starter and alternator wired. Have to get some wire loom to dress them up.





Got drivers side exhaust mocked up all the way to tailgate. Hope to tack Weld and work on hangers in next few days.

 

Worked on exhaust off and on for 5 days. All fitted, tacked together, and hangers made. This old body does not like crawling on a cold garage floor. A bit too tall on creeper and wheels get caught in joint between slabs. Easier crawling on big carpet scraps.



Not easy to take good pictures of exhaust.





You can see in the last pic I'm missing a clamp at the end of the pipe. Thought I had more, but will have to get some.



Also need to get some isolators for the intermediate hangers but good enough for getting the engine started. I can't wait to hear how it sounds with the straight pipes. Will hang some glasspacks before I get it driving.

 

Finishing up a bunch of items on the "To Start To Do List". Not a lot of photogenic things however. Since last post finished:

Wire Fuel Pump
Trans filter
Trans gasket
Change engine oil & filter
Fastnen Grill shell
Trans cooler lines
Radiator
Exhaust pipes
Weld dash brackets

Also wired enough of the wiring harness to start engine. Wires running over firewall since I need to get grommets.



I guess it did need the trans fluid changed.


Started on template for dash. This has the center line of all gauges level across. I think I will raise the tach and speedo so the bottoms are level with the other gauges. Hope to get gauges for Christmas.

 

Ok, it has been a month since I posted. Was off to MN for the holidays. 26 inches of snow one day in Northern MN at my youngest daughters cabin. Each year I say never again.

Today I got my tools unpacked and put away and the garage partially cleaned. Inventoried my hole saws to see ones I need to order for the dash and firewall grommets.

 

Three days working on the A and minor progress. Got three hole saw holes in firewall drilled. I had to cut and weld a plug for a larger hole for the throttle linkage.


Two grommets installed and rewired. Had to take a picture from under dash since you can't see it behind the distributor.

 

Gauges coming next Tuesday so back to laying out the dash. How does this look?



I layed it out with 5/8 inches between gauges. Is there a standard?

You can see I screwed up on one of the gauges on the left. Another question, is there any standard for gauge order?

I'm thinking left to right Volts, Oil Pressure, Tach, Speed, Water Temp, and Gas Level.

I need to notch out part of the brake pedal mount behind the dash or try to straddle the verticle 1/4 inch bracket between the left 2 gauges.

 

Last fall in post 209 I asked what the capacitor looking thing was on the left.

Finally removed it while wiring the distributor. Found it had a part number gm 14020025. Looked it up and found it is a Tach filter.

 

A few more items on the "to start" list checked off. Installed the sparkplug wires. Got the brake pedal brace trimmed behind the dash. Now have 2.5 inch clearance between the dash and the brace.

Worked some more on the hardboard dash template.


Cleaned up the dash rail, ready for paint if it ever warms back up. Package arrived with my gauges. Plan is to completely install everything with the hardboard template before cutting the metal panel. Hardboard will work for startup.

Now if only my hole saws would show up.

 

Way easier to fab exhaust with the body off! Just saying.

 

Gauges arrived. Hole saws due tomorrow.



2.5 inches clearance is just enough. Turns out the speedometer is the tightest fit. Got the template secured to the lower framework.

 

Hole saws arrived yesterday but had to run errands for the bionic woman. Spent all morning laying out another mockup of dash. Decided to try another mockup so I don't screw it up and to make sure there was clearance behind the gauges. I think it looks pretty good. 2 1/16 hole saw in hardboard was too small. Had to use a sanding drum to enlarge all the holes.



This cold weather and getting old don't mix well. Takes 2-3 hours in morning to get the garage warm enough to work and then in 4-5 hours my energy is exhausted so limits my progress.