I decided in the begining that the "Kid's Coupe" is going to ride on a set of '32 Ford frame rails. To me it's just hard to beat a chopt Model A Coupe on deuce rails. I found lots of threads on the HAMB that detail how to pinch a '32 frame at the cowl so you can do the "mini channel" and get rid of the gap, but I couldn't find a single thread that showed how to pinch the rear of the frame where the raised section slips so gracefully inside of the wheelwell. This ain't the only way to pinch the rear of a '32 Ford frame to fit a Model A, but this is how I did it. I managed to pick up a set of JW Rod Garage frame rails from Riley Automotive and it soon became apparent that I was going to need something more than jackstands to hold the rails in position while I pinched my hiney... Well, It started out with me ordering a set of repo deuce rails from Riley Automotive... They are manufactured by JW Rod Garage and come with the c-notches over the rear axle already stamped in... I had had them freighted to my brother's shop but the guys had to refuse the first set of rails because they looked like they had prolly fell off the fork truck and then been run over. Second time's a charm but they're still gonna require a little tweakin'... Here's the front crossmember that also came from JW Rod Garage... It's made to trim both ends and weld between the boxing plates... I read some articles where guys modify 'em to fit between the rails and burn 'em in before boxing the rails... Note how the rails are notched at the front frame horns to accept the boxing plates... Would've worked fine except the plates that came with the rails are cut to fit inside the rails so you can do one of those "step boxed" frames that are currently so popular... The rear crossmember was finally delivered via the big brown truck after two weeks on the road. Somebody in Columbus kept sendin' it to Ravenswood, Illinois, then back to Indy, then back to Columbus. It went 'round and 'round so many times it thought it was a race car. I had ordered it back in August and it hadn't been shipped until Sept. It was packaged in the material that you see in the pic... parts of a cracker box and lots of cling wrap. I managed to find one of the two dog bones that was supposed to come with it as it was taped to the crossmember with some packing tape??? The other one is probably sliding around on the floor of a big brown truck somewhere... The boxing plates from JW Rod Garage... I got these from Riley Automotive also... They're cut so they fit on the inside of the rails... I had been trying to decide if I should step box the frame or not, I'm going to have to use something to back up the plates anyway... I thought really hard about gettin' out the ol' hole saw and makin' some holes but decided not to... As soon as I got the deuce rails bolted together with the spreader bars and sittin' up on jackstands in the garage, I knew why you've gotta' secure these rails in a jig... they're so damn flimsy that when the rails are supported at the front and rear, the wide area of the frame in the middle sags way down!!! Well, I finally gave up on the idea of pilfering my buddy's scrap pile and bought some 1 1/2"X1 1/2"X1/4" angle. I used the dim's on the Wescott Dwg. to fab up some fixtures and built me a frame table... With the rails bolted together with just the spreader bars and spacers, you can see how narrow the center part of the frame really is. I had to jack the rails out about 3/4" each side (that's an 1 1/2" total) to get 'em where I thought they should be. I don't think that you can bend 'em that much and get 'em right without some kind of a jig... I used the 4ft.X8ft. wooden cart that I had made for the body to bolt my steel jig fixtures to. I had to scab on a little extra in the front to pick up the front crossmember location... Here's the Wescott dwg. that I used to get the dim's. for the Model A body to fit on a deuce frame. It shows the turn up in the rear pinched to 42" so the frame will fit inside the sheet metal of the rear wheelwells... I didn't pinch the frame at the cowl, but left it at the stock dim. of 32"... I was first going to pinch it at the cowl and do the mini channel like Rolf, Chris Casny, Grits and so many of the great builds here on the HAMB but after seeing what Bass did to Bubba's Coupe and Rob Paul's coupe with the horizontal pie cut, I decided to go with the latter... Here's the layout for the rear pinch. Everyone talks about the pinch at the cowl when setting a Model A on deuce rails, but I've never found a thread on here where they showed how to pinch the rear... Note that the wide point on the rails is 1 1/2" wider than the pinch... Thats 3/4" each side... My rails set right down in the jig so I saw right away That I would have to spread the rails to pinch the rear... I ended up getting my son to help and we pulled the frame outta the jig and flipped it over so I could cut the bottom flange... I used the 4 1/2' angle grinder and cut a bunch of slots in the top and bottom rail flanges about a half inch apart... I used the jigs that I made up for the frame table and a couple c-clamps to reshape the rails. That's a pretty shapley curve for the ol' girl if I do say so myself... I made a spreader bar outta a piece of 1/2" pipe and a couple of 1/2" bolts with nuts. I used a couple pieces of 2X4 on the ends of the bolts to help spread the load out... Here's the other side. you can see the spreader bar that I used to shove out the rails. At this time I had the next fixture of the jig located forward to the B pillar location. I ended up making another fixture to hold the 43 1/2" dim while I spread the center part on the frame to the dim's. shown on the dwg... This shows how I used the homemade spreader bar and the c-clamps to pull the sides of the frame out to match the dim's on the Wescott dwg. This shows the pinch on the drivers side after she was all welded up and then ground down smooth. I ended up welding both the inside and the outside of the flanges. And here's the pinch on the other side. More of the same... After I got the rear end pinched, I noticed that the rails still had some issues. They were way too straight and didn't have that swoopy curve like shown on the Wescott dwg. so I built another fixture for my frame table (check out the one with the c-clamps) and relocated the fixture that I had at the B pillar back to the front of the pinch... I went ahead and made some saw cuts with the angle grinder and the cut-off wheel and spread the sides of the frame to match the Wescott Dwg. and welded 'er up... Check out them shapely curves!!! Here's the deuce frame all reshaped for the Model A coupe body. It's been pinched, cut, spread apart, reshaped, clamped and welded and the rear crossmember tacked in place. It's now ready for the front boxing plates and front crossmember to be installed...
Thanks for including all the little aggravating details that most guys gloss over - shipping screwups, boxing plates wrong for the frame etcetera. A really well written tech article. Ralph
x4 How many hours of measuring, cutting, welding & grinding do you have in that beautiful frame? Thanks, Gary
I want to thank everybody for the kind words. I never kept track of how many hours I've got in the frame so far, but I'm sure it's several. I'm still hoping to have a roller by spring...
Bookmarked in my Yahoo A-V8 file for future use. Thanks for sharing the mods and thanks for sharing the trials and tribulations of getting the pieces.
I just want to thank everybody who voted for my tech. I was excited when my tech was closen to be in the final eleven but when it finished the final voting in 3rd. Place, I was blown away. With all the talent that exists on the HAMB, I didn't imagine that I stood much of a chance going up against a couple pro's. I hope this tech. might give someone who's planning to put a Model A on deuce rails a little insight into what they might expect...
This thread just made my day. I have been searching high and low for info on pinching the rear of the frame rails. Damn, this is such a relief haha. Btw, the coupe is looking awesome! Thank you chopt top kid!!!
I've been puttin' everything on the other thread in case anyone might want to keep this for a tech thread??? Also have commentary in the albums on my page...
The Jalopy Journal
