leather back build up

well its my first time building a hot rod so....buckle up its gonna be a long ride! i hope ill have it ready for paint in two years!!
heres what i have.
clean '28 five window leatherback coupe body.
pretty clean model A frame.
'42-'8 front end(yes im useing it).
no rear end yet but, im looking for a 9"
'67 327 chevy.
super t-10 4spd.
and lots of little stuff.

heres the plan as of now and, stop me if youve heard this one.
chop it 3-4" keeping the leather top.
use my '42 front end.
kick the rear, dont know how much yet, 9" 4 bar set up with the model A spring.
six twos and, open headers on the 327.
the 4spd is a must!
clean, blast and, paint everything!

i want simple, fast and, fun!
hope you guys enjoy the pics and, my build up.
thanks. kenny

 

well, i started messing with my front springs today because everybody keeps saying that the '42 front spring/axle will look bad. pulled the springs out and cleaned up. im going to need new rubber bushings and, the bushing in the right perch is wore. anybody know the best place for replacement bushings?

put the body back on just to see the ugly wheelbase and, i dont know what all the fuss is about, it looks good to me! just needs to come down 3-4" all around.

 

i love it sitting high but im also not as cool as all the guys slamming everything to the weeds lol. love the car, keep us updated!

 

Looking Good . Thanks for posting pics.

 

ok, i had a little time today to work on the A.
i split the bones and,welded in the bungs it didnt go to bad for my first time.
is there any way to fix bad pitting?
would it be ok to grind smooth the factory weld down the center of the bone? i would like to keep everything smooth

and yeah, i like'em sitting high too.

 

i will never get tired of seeing a model a build!

when you say pitted welds, do you mean your welds? did ya forget to turn on the shielding gas or something?

 

no,no, just very rusty/pitted on the bones themselves and, the weld i want to grind smooth is the factory weld that runs down the top of the bone. i dont think it will hurt anything, just want everything smooth and, clean.

 

There's a bunch of us running this front end setup. I.m running a '39 spring ahead setup on my pickup, ( see my build thread search "Koz's hot rod pickup project"). Scott Reider ran, and still has as built, his '32 1962 winternationals winning gas car with the same setup. We both run suicide mounts and if set up right the car will be as low as any spring over drop axle. Homemadehardtop57's '32 coupe has this setup with a reworked deuce front crossmember built in the early sixties and it still looks cool. Pics are on here of this car, with him you have to get the right car though.

I wouldn't grind the welds on the bones. This makes them notoriously weak and I've seen at least two sets that have failed because of that. In the early sixties they were routinely ground to chrome and failed regularly, not sure from the grinding or hydrogen embrittlememt but falling on your face is no fun so I wouldn't do it.

Other than that, cool project and keep us posted.

 

i have a complete 40 front end on my Hemi T. Its split and rides great.

 

well if grinding the weld on the top of the bone is a no,no. could i build up the weld by welding on both sides and, top then grind smooth? not removing the factory weld at all just hide its uglyness.

 

Nice!

 

You probably could do so but the factory welds were generally so nice they stand on their own. You could obviously just fill the bones in but unless your building a Boydster why would you want to? The real question is if your building a budget rod do you really want it that smooth? I'm not trying to be a know it all, but I do a lot of chassis and suspension work. I always try not to have any filler on any critical suspension component and that includes frames, engine and trans cradles etc. The reason being if you develop a stress crack or fissure you want to see it. If a crack is buried under bondo or something you probably won't catch it until it's too late. This is double important on well rusted 60 year old parts. You can't fill or grind welds on any NHRA certified frames for a reason.

I'm most certainly not trying to be a wise ass or anything, I just don't want to see anybody get hurt or worse yet somebody else get hurt. In reality, how smooth you gonna' get a '48 front end to look anyways?

 

hey koz, thanks for the input thats what im on here for. i just like the look of the smooth bones thats all. i think ill build up the weld then grind it down leaving a small hump there still smooth still safe.

 

Very cool. Keep posting up progress. Check out the thread "Model A sport coupe project for the wife". Thats Hardtops thread for his sporty.

 

As a side note... You might consider doing your filling with either lead or brass. It will stay just fine and be much nicer to finish.

 

yeah ive subscribed to that thread that sport coupe is very nice! ill post more as i go.