started building this car for a guy last february. this guy picked up a super solid 29 sedan. and when i say solid i mean solid. all original wood. no patches. no bondo. all stock. running. driving. four banger. looks like it was painted in the 70s or 80s to stock colors. paint has really nice wear on it. and it's too late to give me flack for "altering" it a bit. they guys told me what he wanted done to it. i changed his mind on a few things, and he said to do what i want. but it does have a difficult recipe- flat head v8- keep the cowl gas tank, stick shift, be able to run the stock hood, try to keep the back seat, and a four inch channel, lowered. And not mess with the paint on the body. if ya think about it, it's a very hard recipe to fill. took alot of figuring an measuring and compromising. really like how its coming along. problem is, i'm building it the way i would, and i'm lovin the car, and its not mine. i went to school for welding and frame building, and i'm not skimping on anything, and the guy that owns the car, came to me from seeing other cars i've done work on. so i figure its time to share this car with you guys. so far- 5 inch magnum axle, new brakes, split and bent bones, pinched the rear of the frame to make the channel alot easier, then added 3 and 3/4 inches to the frame to make it a spring behind axle, 8 inch rear mounted up with ladder bars, motor mounted, clutch linkage made, body mocked up, mock up radiator done.
got a nice rebuilt 49-53 block. with a few goodies in it. aluminum heads and intake painted black with the fins polished. block is high temp almond. flywheel is cut and balanced, clutch is in. rear is in. front end is all in.
ended up not bein that curved. only used three of the four slices. did it to get the caster set and to get to the frame bracket. they don't look that goofy now
got the motor all set in. cut the fire all a bit. suprisingly, the fan and gen brackets all fit and there is plenty of room to the radiator. hood fits. motor is back a bit, but not too much. so the car is pretty much all mocked up. wheel base is stock, front caster is set, got the ride height all dialed in, now just have to work on the new floor. the reason i pinched the rear of the frame is so all i had to do was just cut the three floor stringers out to get the body down. instead of mess with the main body structure. worked out real wel
seen bones sliced before, right by the perch. instead of a big slice, i opted for three little ones. started workin on the front shocks. if i make a new rear shackle plate, i can use the old dog bones. the shocks are just friction arms thar you tighten up inbetween plastic plates. dont' look bad, but the owner wanted them.
i cut em like that because the steering rod runs ontop of the bones instead of the bottom. no way it could run on the bottom. got the steering arms that are made for the five inch drop axle. so if i had done one big slice by the perches, the bones would have hit the steering bar. so i had make it more gradual.
got the steering all done. had to bend the arms quite a bit. did em the right way. instead of bending them down, i decided to flip the tie rod ends upside down, and bend the arms up. this made the arms over an inch longer, and put the steering tie bar right behind the crank pulley. orginially it was right below it, and might hit with a big bump. pedal setup is roughly done, waiting for column so i can finish welding the arms. new floor structure is welded and bolted down. took some playing arounf with shims to get the doors and everything workin right. and got the axle rearancing done on the body. so the body is all channeled and everything, and the only things i cut were the wheel wells, fire wall, and floor braces. no damage or cutting done to the cool old paint.
also made a cool shock setup. the owner wanted the shocks, but i shortened them, and bend the 90 on them. then cut the original shock pivot balls off, welded them to bolts, made some new rear shackle plates, and put the original dog bones on. the shock arms flow right down the middle of the frame rail when the car isn't on jack stands. took some thinkin to figur out how to get the shackle plates just right. gunna weld the lock nut for the shock arms inside the frame. so when you wanna tighten up the friction shocks, all ya gotta do is give the bolt head a little twist.
well, after a year, the owner wanted me to get back on his 29. ran into a few little snags, but it's comin along. with the hard recipe to follow, an inch here or there will mess with other stuff surrounding it. but, its workin. picked up two NOS ford 94s. had a little clearance problem with the carb, and rear of generator housing. so i whipped up two 3/4 spacers that worked perfectly. right now the generator bracket is bottomed out, and the belt is just snug enough, but i now have room to tighten it up if i need to. and i made the linkage from the original linkage sticks, threded em, added a long nut with a tab, and a swivel,and cable jam for the throttle and choke cables. i like how it looks, and is all hand made. the upper column mount is a flathead rod, with a spacer my buddy made for it to grab the colum tight. then i whipped up the bottom mount. gettin close to gettin the wood floor cut and trans tunnel made. [/ATTACH]
Damn!!!! That looks like a killer original car. I'd like to keep the paint also. I hop you and the owner are both happy with the outcome, looks like it's going to be a nice ride when finished.
got the rear shocks done. didnt really have too many places to put them cuz i wann put the battery between the cross member and back of body. so i didnt have room, or wanna see tube shocks behind the rear axle.took stock shocks. cut pivot ball off of the arm. drilled a and tapered a hole through the arm. shortened some 53 buick sway bar links by about two inches and used the tip of another shock arm and welded it to the axle. gunna put a full length bolt through the frame to mount the shock when i get the body off. think it looks pretty cool. workin on brakes and collecting wiring parts now.
got the floor cut. took a while. wanted it real tight. gunna seam then together with plain steel truck bed strips. made a nice tight shadow box to connect the door sill to the new floor. made the brake master cylinder cover. shifter boot cover. started on the trans tunnel skeleton. gunna be tricky makin that. not much room. i bought some 3 dollar belts, cut the D ring buckle off, and suprisingly, the hood side rods slipped right into them. then just srewed the original hold downs into the frame. punched a hole in the belt. and viola- hood straps. she's gettin close to the end of fab.
lookin good kyle. i see you guys got a new shop. is this at your own shop or the GG shop? saw the gaslight anthem video tonight and your chevy with a straight pass fender looks good.
the boot is one i've had layin around for 25 years. my grandpa gave it to me when i was a little little kid. think it was off his race car.
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