Projects Project Mattitude: the Beginning

Here's a better shot of the pitting on the axles. The worst one is below.



And my updated parts list.



Thanks.

 

I have a couple sets of those, they're kinda hard to come by. You can't really flip through a 50's Hot Rod mag or little book without seeing them on a car.

 

I think the damage is pretty common on these axles. I know it can be fixed. But it's a little pricey.

 

I need those. PM sent.

Do you know if they absolutely have to be smooth to run fine? I can understand if it's on the spindle part but the thicker diameter part where the brake backing plate slides over it.. Does that have to be fixed as well?


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Yeah the thicker part will need to be fixed. I've heard of guys flipping the bells. But that only works if you don't need the stock spring hanger. I think you can send them out on exchange basis to a company that will fix them, But I'm on a different computer so my favorites aren't on it. I'll keep looking.

 

Your trucking right along, this thing is going to be awesome, I like the the subtle body mods you are doing! Keep up the awesome work!

Murch.

 

I have a '48 Mercury axle in storage that I'll look at this weekend and hopefully the ends of the axles won't need to be repaired. I'm still working on the suspension and will update on that in a few minutes. Let me know what company you're talking about that will fix those problematic areas on the banjos just in case the Merc axle isn't cherry enough. Thanks for all the help you've been giving.

Thanks. The body modifications are at a halt right now.. I really need to get this thing rolling first so I can roll it in and out of the garage as opposed to pushing and pulling it on a dolly. Them little wheels on the dollies don't like the raised step at the front of the garage. Not to mention seeing the body on a frame with the wheels on the ground and the drivetrain bolted in is going to bring a whole lotta motivation.. especially at the stance I have in mind.

 

I've been slowly chipping away at the rear Z, learning as I go.. I had really been struggling with deciding on the suspension aspect as well as the spring location. I decided on putting the spring behind the axle but didn't know about how to attach the spring to the axle. In other words, the art of Z'ing a frame which is an everyday thing to some, is black magic to me. Even though this is my first build and it seems too much for a newcomer, I'm determined to see this thing through. I'm not worried about not finishing this at all because I just have way too much desire to finish this (and more importantly.. Drive it). Granted, it would be much easier if my dad was here but I'm not the kind to sit around and wait for someone to teach me. I did learn a lot today mocking stuff up and wanted to post this up and get your input on my ideas.

I had been brainstorming on how to attach the tube steel to the A frame in a way that doesn't compromise safety. I began by cutting the back end of the frame off, getting that out of the way but not before marking the center of the rear crossmember on the frame jig using this pointed weight attached to a string which is a "plump bob," right?

Then I cut out the end at a 45 degree angle in relation to the ground and left the bottom part for the tube steel to sit on, bent the bottom part to 0 degrees flat and cut out the tube steel with 45 degrees on both ends.




I bolted on the wishbone and quickly realized that the arms would hit the tube steel where I planned to Z it. I was also concerned with how far down the frame the Z would have to be to clear the wishbone arm.




Then I realized what If I took the wishbone off and did the Z there and relocated the end of the wishbone arm inward and downward just a tad more. I could cut the end of the arm off, fabricate a bracket to weld around the axle and bolt the wishbone arm to it and get the clearance it needs while keeping the Z right where I want it.





I would like to know whether it would be best to bolt the wishbones back to the torque tube or to just bolt them to the frame besides where the clamshell is? If I do go with the later route, then would I have to just go ahead and fabricate a new set of arms to use as using split wishbones in the rear in this manner is seemingly frowned upon?

Oh, and I was worried about the width of the rear axle so I put one of the drums back on and a wheel to see how far out the wheel would be. With the body back on and the bulge of the tire, I'm guessing roughly 55 inches wouldn't be too wide?



Just a heads-up; the axle is not in its final spot driveshaft/torque tube wise. The frame is at the desired ride height on the frame jig as is the rear axle. This axle is just being used to mock up the Z and suspension. I plan to rebuild the banjo axle along with 3.54 gears before burning any brackets to it. I plan to leave a little excess tube steel out past the rear axle so when I mount the body back on I can ensure the wheel is centered in the wheel well.
After I finish the Z, I'll mount the motor and transmission in then finish the suspension and weld the brackets to it so the angle of the driveshaft is in its sweet spot.

 

Just going to bump this back up..


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Zzz...




iPhone - TJJ app

 

ZZZ! Zzzzzz..



Gotta make fishplates for where the Z meets the A frame and gotta find a K-member or X-member.

Plan of attack is to find a center crossmember and a Hurst motor mount then mock up the motor/transmission to see where the end of the transmission is, center the crossmember there, burn it in, fishplate the upsweep, reset the angle of the front crossmember and then finally start on figuring out the front axle set-up. I also need to put the body on to ensure the rear axle is centered, burn in the rear crossmember, and then go from there..

Fellas.. Progress feels great.


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Looks good Matt!!!!

 

Progressing right along, wish I could help with your rear axle issue, I seem to recall reading something in a thread on here about if you split the rear bones from the torque tube, you need some kind of third member added close to the torque tube, I believe the reasoning behind it is under acceleration the split bones aren't strong enough or flex too much to cope with the axle wrap and that puts stress on the torque tube? There was some debate about it, just figured if said something someone smart would chime in and confirm it, or call me an idiot, and address it. Just trying to help, if you already figured it out or someone addressed it already I will edit this post.

Murch.

 

That's what I believe too. I think I'll probably keep the wishbones attached to the torque tube and run a panhard bar on the Banjo.

I'll be relocating the ends of the wishbones inward from the ends of the axles to clear the Z but I'll do that after I get the front end done, the drivetrain set in, and rebuild the banjo.

I just need to know if that will be sufficient.


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Just found this thread Matt...had no idea this was your build. It looks like you're doing great for a first timer. Glad you could use my old '39 tranny, but I'm still missing my pet brown recluse spider you found in it....

 

This is still one awesome build Matt! Great work!

 

Thanks! The funny part is over in this part of Texas, the two spiders you want to watch out for are the black widows and the brown recluses. When I first moved the A into the garage, a black widow made one of the A-posts her home.. So hopefully I made an example out of both those spiders to their respective species. Sorry if I sound insensitive about your pet.

Thanks! I've been keeping up with yours as well. I do have to admit, I'm glad I don't have to deal with garnish moldings just yet..


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Just wait, you'll love it!

 

I think as long as you don't move them inboard too far you should be fine, but it will probably push your axle back the same distance they are moved inboard, just something to account for when you get to that point. Keep at it you'll figure it all out, great job!

Murch.

 

In the pictures above, you can just make out where they would be. It's just mocked up but you can get the general idea in where they will be in relation to the frame and on the axle.

They'll only be moved inward and downward a minimal distance so the arms clear the frame as they ride up and down. There will still be a lot of triangulation in the wishbone. I plan to cut the ends of the wishbone off and fabricate some brackets to weld around the axle and the ends of the wishbones so they bolt together. I think I can probably get the torque tube ends of the 'bones hot enough to move a little more so I don't end up cutting them off and welding them back on. I definitely think I'm up for that challenge. This will take care of the moving the axle back dilemma as well.

Thanks for the input.. It's making me think that the way I have typed down here will work out just fine.

 

Sounds like a plan to me, keep it coming!

Murch.

 

I'm hooked, subscribed.

 

Haven't gotten anything done lately.. Been busy with school and helping out Vermillion Editions Limited with their new annual Ink Slingers event. It was a blast and there were some amazing stuff going down from our guest artists.

I did manage to get my Offenhauser adapter fixed up in the two problem areas where one bolt hole on the transmission side of the adapter cracked and another one on the same side cracked then chipped away.. Both of those have been taken care of.

I also scored this sweet '54 Chrysler gauge cluster.



I'm nowhere close to getting this fit in my A but I already have the dash planned out. I just need to get the dashboard I have in mind to match this. Let's play a guessing game on what you think would match the Chrysler cluster. (Hint: it has an insert much like the cluster does..)

 

Nice work, good to see another one back from the dead. subcribed.

 

Cool cluster, keep plugging away!

Murch.

 

Yeah man, I'm into it! haha. hard to a find a decent roadster nowadays...might as well make your own

I really like the idea of sectioning those door pillars. Does that mean you'll have to narrow/modify the body at the rear section to match the new door angle?

I'm just curious on the plan, because I've actually played this out in my head quite a bit before I ever saw this thread.

Keep up the good work, keep us posted.
Steve W.

 

Nevermind...just went back and read in more detail...haha. You're gonna make up the difference in the door itself.

I was thinking about sectioning the whole rear of the body down the middle of the trunklid, and squeezing everything back together to the same proportions that the A pillars were sectioned. (that'd be alot of work) haha

I like your idea better. Doors should still flow nicely into the rear quarters

 

Wow. What an awesome build. Keep up the great work!

 

Thanks guys! Been trying to squeeze in a few hours here and there with my busy college schedule and all.

Yeah. The doors will get narrowed but behind the doors will remain just like it is. I plan on putting modern (at least.. something that would have been used before '59) latches in there so the B-post pillar will probably get a little cut off the end of it to blend in with the narrowed door since the stock latches aren't going to be used. But it's going to look much better than having a stock door just capped. Those are waayyy too thick for my taste!

I need to get cracking on figuring out what latch to get though. Any ideas, guys?

 

I bet you guys got sick of looking at my iPhone pictures. I was getting sick of the quality and decided to start using my Canon Rebel to take pictures from this point on. I was willing to use my iPhone as I didn't want to get the Canon dirty but the photographic quality issue wore me down.

Today after doing some business, I took a little time to sit down and contemplate how to tackle the rear crossmember. You guys know that I decided on a spring-behind set up to save room in the trunk. (well, hopefully) I cleaned up the rear crossmember by taking out all the rivets and grinding the top and sides down to bare metal. I made a template of the crossmember using a small piece of cardboard cut out and used that to mark my frame rails. You'll also notice, I tacked together a couple tube steel pieces to make a brace for the top of the Z.

I measured and remeasured the frame rails, crossing from one rail to the other to make sure it was all square. So far, I'm gold. I marked onto the frame rail using my template and an old marker. Again, I measured and remeasured to make sure that the marks were square and even.




I then cut those out, stopping at the bottom of the tube steel. The plan is to clamp the crossmember and use it to mark the bottom as well as line up the outside of the tube steel where the crossmember should come through. I lined up the rear axle to the frame but I won't be burning the crossmember in just yet.







The plan is to cut the rear subrails out of the body and slide the body over the frame and cut out where the axle will come through the wheel-wells on the quarters. Those wheel wells will get cut out and replaced with new patch panels that I have so I'll be using these old ones to make the template for the new ones. With the body on it, I'll center the rear axle in the wheel-well and square it up with the frame then tack the crossmember in after I'm sure it's in the right spot.

While mocking up the crossmember, I noticed that the spring perches on the stock Ford axle lined up with where I wanted the crossmember to be and thought that I could run the shackles off those perches onto the A spring. I'll have to do some more research on that.




In the above pictures, the axle is lined up and should be where it's supposed to be. Putting the body on will ensure it is. The crossmember is just clamped on and hasn't been aligned or anything so don't freak out over that just yet.

I'm thinking after I get the rear axle bolted on with the spring, I can tack the torque tube back to the flange (after cutting it, of course) and tie it to the A crossmember for now. That will then make the back end a roller. I need to ship the front axle off to 296 V8 to get a 3 inch drop. That should get it low enough and if not, then I'll tweak the spring some, then pie cut and flatten the front crossmember some, notch the frame so the spring has some clearance if it has to come to that. The front frame horns are staying.

Oh, and ignore the filth on my garage floor. It's a challenge to sweep up the floor with that frame jig and the body on it's dolly and tools and parts spread out all over the floor. I'll clean it up after I get the body on it.



So here's where I left off for today..