The black art of channeling a car properly...

That´s about it. Hope you get something out of the pics.
Sorry i´m not so good in english that i could make a book out of this.
Special thanks to my buddy Timppa for sharing this channeling experience with me.

 

Thanks for this post, I did not channel my A mainly because I did not understand how to. The chop was not easy but straight forward just making sure things line up. I would still like to lower the coupe but haven't atempted it because I don't want to screw it up. I am slow but still don't understand. Maybe I will by the end of this discussion. Keep them coming.

 

My sedan that i chaneled the same way. 5"

 

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This may sound like a ridiculous question to those that have done it, but are any of you mounting the body directly to the frame, without a rubber mount? I could see that getting the channel a couple of inches lower, but I think it would also rattle the teeth right outta your head..

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unfriendly (sorry that's what is says in your profile),

I've been doing it for somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 years (give or take) and I've built a few without body insulators. As a mater of fact I did a Camero for a guy in the 70s (later became a magazine car and he said he did it, go figure ) and all we did was loose the bisquits between the front sub and the body, make some minor changes to the steering colum/dash and dropped it 2".

Very bad idea. I at the very least put some thin urathane rubber between the frame and the body. Most I go to the extreme to make pockets and bisquit mount the body. That's the way my '53 is done.

My deal has always been channel and section. I haven't chopped a car for myself in probably over 20 years.

Dropped floor is a very good idea on a smaller car like an A or some such. We always called it putting in foot wells. it becomes more important as you get older and discover that you just can't ride with your legs striaght out in front of you for any length of time.

The Hudson Step Down Coupe from the late 40s early 50s is a good example of a channel job done right.

But bigger cars or trucks with tall roofs will do just fine with a flat floor.

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Why doesn't someone on the HAMB that has writing and publishing experience take on this project and give us the definitive chaneling handbook. (HINT,HINT)

Frank



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Frank,
I know someone in the publishing business. If everyone will get me good high res photos of their work (bob? anyone else?) I'll see what my friend can do about getting a channeling HAMB Book printed up. It will probably cost a bundle but be well worth it I guess. Unless someone on here is a printer and willing to print on the cheap.

 

On my car the car has good cross support but the floor is made from 20 GA sheet... I Know most people prefer to use thicker steel but the car is very stiff. Currently it is on four adjustable stands off the frame and I have to have the stands within about 1/4 of a turn of each other or the car will lift off one of the stands. So it is strong. More pics also.

 

pic toewards the rear

 

Sorry about the shitty pics.
Finally...

 

one more, of the trunk with battery box , fuel cell caps. Since I have cut the hole bigger in the floor and raised the fuel cell and battery box about 3" up becuause I didnt like how low they sat in the frame.

 

Here is another pic of mine that shows a little more contrast underneath the cab. You can visualise plopping it back down over the frame. I use rubber hay baler belting that you get at farm and fleet for the cushon between the body. It is thin, tough and keeps the squeeks away. you cans see it on the frame. Little pieces are easier to position around the body bolts instad of one long piece that you can never get to line up.

 

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I use rubber hay baler belting that you get at farm and fleet for the cushon between the body. It is thin, tough and keeps the squeeks away. you cans see it on the frame. Little pieces are easier to position around the body bolts instad of one long piece that you can never get to line up.

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That's a good idea!!!!!!

 

I could manufacture a Model A channeling kit. Would there be any interest?

 

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unfriendly (sorry that's what is says in your profile),

[/ QUOTE ]It's okay bud, I am unfriendly. Thank you for the response, that's kinda what I figured.

And GREAT idea on the thin isolator strips!

 

Unfriendly,

I got FTW inked on my arm kind of cryptic I know. One of my buddies (long time gone I'm afraid) had HATE EVERYBODY inked on his. he was a little more blatant than me.
If you need rubber there's a place here in town that has all that stuff usually pretty cheap. Just drop me a note.

 

One of Albert Drake's how it used to be books had an excellent description of how it was done by teenagers with no knowledge and no fear, improvising all the way and driving it to school Monday.
He says it was viewed as the easiest radical modification, as it could be pulled off with way less knowledge and toolage than chopping, and the way to go so people would know you had a hot rod and not just a jalopy.

 

I do not have much wisdom to add to what is here...My dads delivery we did much like everyone has suggested. The floor was gone so when we did the chassis we just set the body down and decided where it would needed to be. The only thing we were afraid of is the looks of opening the door and seeing the step. It turned out much better than we thought.
We did use the plasma cutter to notch the fire wall and move the body down where it needed to be. I wanted to build my touring to looking low but the side of the body is so short it likely will not work very well without adding on to the body - like a bellypan.
Also for body mounts another thing that works pretty good is mud flaps from semis. Fairly dense material much like using polyurethane bushings.
Plowboy great explanations!!

 

I will try to post the artical, on Channeling, from Hop Up, June 1952.

 

Page one, of three, did not turn out very good. I will try to re-post the artical later, if I can make it ledgable. Sorry!

 

TRY channeling a damn pickup truck!!! Here is a shot of the bottom of the cab. We just cut the entire floor out,and started builing a new sub-floor out of 1x1 tubing. We reskinned it top and bottom(we want it to be purdy on the BOTTOM!)
Here is a shot of the bed,done the same way. Chop out the floor,make a new subframe out of 1x1 and skin it top and bottom. We made the bed floor drop in the rear so we could keep a normal height tailgate on it.

Sort of a shot of the floor again..

As it sets today.........Final assmbly just about completed. NO rubber between the body and frame!

 

Grimlok,
I get what your asking, but I think youll only find an answer for each specific car, its so dependant on how the body and rails sit, and the original floor structure.
Ive got a feeling that rand man has the answer, hes just not saying much.
heres some shots of my 31 RPU, channeled about 4 inches. I agree with plowboy about not building a frame under the floor, only loses another inch or more of room in the car, which gets pretty critical if your channeling 4 inches or more, I didnt want to be sitting ON my car.
sheet steel once it has a brake in it, over the small distance in an A ,is plenty strong.
Its a wierd thing channeling, I found it really hard to commit to a method, as its all so kinda abstract.. all the original mountsing points and subrails become redundant, and you wonder about attaching things to areas not designed for it. In the end its just gotta be strong i guess.
I started with 1 1/2" square tube that is welded to the rear panel,B pillar, A pillar and the remnants of the firewall 'foot' .This tube sits below the floor level and outside the chassis rails, and is the 'Floor frame' of the body.
the Tunnel has angle running down either side and this connects the floors and the tunnel sheets.
mounts are under the floor sheets, and are rubber mounted onto tabs off the chassis rails, the black bolts with big washers are the mounts.
havent figured out the front mount points yet, maybe off the X member front rails.
Once the trans cover is welded in and to the firewall, this will all be hella stiff, a lot stiffer than an original A body, which may cause craking probs long term, but Ill deal with that when it happens!
hope these shots are legible.

 

here the section of subrail that came out, left the rest there, to give something to attach to.

 

the B pillar area, blue tube is 40mmx40mmx2mm RHS
will put a filler to go down to the bottom of door next

 

wish i had a bead roller!
this thread should head tech o matic

 

My 31,think I used alot of what all of you did in mine.
Subrail,floor etc.,

 

I didn't know what the hell to do with the trunk area....
This was someone else's idea.(I'll admit it! ).
I think it works.

 

Inside shot,notice round tubing below back window,plan on going across inside of roof also then covering it.
Wanted a little more structure to the body in case it rolls!

 

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TRY channeling a damn pickup truck!!! Here is a shot of the bottom of the cab. We just cut the entire floor out,and started builing a new sub-floor out of 1x1 tubing. We reskinned it top and bottom(we want it to be purdy on the BOTTOM!)
Here is a shot of the bed,done the same way. Chop out the floor,make a new subframe out of 1x1 and skin it top and bottom. We made the bed floor drop in the rear so we could keep a normal height tailgate on it.

Sort of a shot of the floor again..

As it sets today.........Final assmbly just about completed. NO rubber between the body and frame!



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What a sweet ride. Having a difficult time keeping back the drool. Great stance.

 

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I could manufacture a Model A channeling kit. Would there be any interest?

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I'd be interested, would it be for A frames or A bodies on'32's as well? I have an old channeled '30 roadster body, that I think should be redone as a channeled car.

 

Anything's possible. Early car bodies are mounted through the use of a set of sub rails. I posted a photo of a stock set in this thread. My plan is to design a new set with a built-in drop. You could order a four, six, eight inch drop or whatever. The subrails are tied together by cross channels as I have posted here. It can be a bolt-in process.

 

z-ing the frame keeps the interior space the same, allows for a larger chop, especially if the cab or body space is limited,

thats the only way I could fit into my 35 with a 7 5/8" chop

my frame is z'ed front and rear

jobcorp

 

I'm NOT a pro so I usually depend on the KISS principle I find a peice of Channel Iron that fits over the frame rails set the body on top of the Iron and notch it till I'm satisfied with the hight. Then I worry about attaching body and floor to the Channel Iron. Works for me. BTW The black art of channeling a car properly... Is the Perfect name for the book!