I'm going to try this again and hope it goes better than the thread that existed almost a year ago. I've been kind of MIA from the HAMB for awhile and decided to share this build thread again since we are starting to find more time to work on this coupe. The story of this build starts with the 1936 Ford Coupe that we did have. We had this for a year and spent some time working on it here and there but our heart wasn't in it and quickly decided that we didn't have all of the metal working tools necessary to do it justice. We sold it to a guy in CT and I'm pretty sure it's likely still sitting in the warehouse where we dropped it off at, unfortunately. There was no use in keeping it if we truly wern't interested in building it. We have always been fans of the Model A coupe and knew that there was no way we'd ever afford a '32 coupe. Since the budget was limited and the space was limited to do the work on a car it was decided that we'd use the money from the sale of '36 coupe to purchase a Model A that was a solid, running, titled car. We didn't have the money or tools to spend thousands on fixing up a haggard, rusted out body and we'd make some of our money back by selling off the parts on the coupe that we didn't want. I actually put a "wanted" ad out on craigslist and the guy who had this coupe was the first one to reply. We went and looked at it and immediately knew we wanted it. It was all-original, very complete and vitually rust free. It ran, drove, and had a title. It was perfect and it was exactly what we were looking for. It was an old estate car and come to find out; its spent almost it's whole life here in New England. It had close to 70,000 miles on it and yet the body had been rust-free. Someone cared about it in it's lifetime. more to come... (Unfortunately due to firewall restrictions on my computer, I cannot open photobucket. you will have to click the photos to make them larger, Sorry!)
Farmergal, Looks like a good starting place for a rod. Some of the old timers say that if you want to build a nice car start with the best original body you can find. As for photobucket why not just host your pictures on an album here on the HAMB?
We brought the coupe home very early in the winter in 2012. It was 13 degrees outside those first two weeks and with the help of a great friend; everything was adjusted and ready for a drive. We pondered for awhile on whether or not we would keep it stock for awhile or immediately dismantle it and get to work. We drove it about 20 miles that day and decided that in it's current (very) original-state (no tailights, no signal lights, not too speedy, etc) it really wasn't safe to drive on the CT roadways. People around here drive like idiots and the last thing we wanted was for the coupe to get rear ended because someone wasn't paying attention. We also didnt want to spend money on lights, etc to make it safe to drive as a stocker. If it was going to be a hot rod, we might as well get to work... Here's 2 pictures from it's first day back on the road:
.... So we decided to get to work. Piece by Piece was removed and put up for sale. Parts went to every corner of this country and a quite a few went to a guy reviving a fire-victim Model A here in CT. If anything; we can rest easy knowing the parts went to people who are trying bring other cars back to life while ours is finding a new life of it's own. All of the parts went to HAMBers or Ford Barn members. We kept the frame and the engine for Vin# reasons. Someday we want to revive an old doodlebug "A" to display at the country fairs with our old tractors and thats what those 2 items will be used for. The interior was all-original and was very carefully removed piece by piece. We'll use it as template when making the new interior.
The running boards and fenders were an absolute nightmare to remove. They were stuck to the frame and under-side of the body with the old original welting. It took a few nights to get them off of the car. We debated on running fenders and running boards on the car but ultimately decided that what we really wanted was a mildly chopped A coupe sitting on a fenderless '32 frame, buggy spring rear, etc. We wanted to keep it classy without being too over-done. We found a junk Riviera on craigslist for scrap price. It has a running 425 Nailhead in it with the transmission. Be bought it and decided that the 425 Buick Nailhead would be the engine of choice for this coupe. It wasn't so much a decision of big-power but more a decision regarding nostalgia AND reliability. This engine had both. We had the heads rebuilt and the engine was already bored 40 over. The frame was built by Blackboard Hot Rods in California. If anyone is looking for a top-notch '32 frame for their car at a very reasonable price; we'd highly recommend it! The car will be running a Ford 9 inch rear, buggy spring, buick drums on the front with a dropped axle set-up that was also a craigslist find. Be built a rolling wooden frame to put the body on. It works great and we can roll the body outside to make more room in the one-car garage to work on the chassis when need-be. The nieghbors are very helpful in donating extra manpower to lift the body on and off the frame when needed
Glad to see youre back on with sharing the progress. I remember when you got it. Awesome, Awesome Awesome.
the 425 Nailhead ended up having some rust in one cylinder due to neglect and prolonged sitting and rotting and will ultimately need the work of a skilled engine guy and some pocket change to fix. we're going to use it as a mock-up engine for the frame and then sell it to someone who wants to spend the money to get it going. We found a 401 that we are going to use instead.
Depending on what the 401 cost you, or if you have to go thru the 401 before using it, did you consider sleeving the one cylinder of the 425? Just sleeving one cylinder wouldn't be too expensive. just a thought..............
We considered it but wern't sure how reliable it would be at that point and the heads still need some work and it needs to be baked; etc. Our plans for this coupe were to drive, drive and drive it some more. We didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a motor and then have a potential problem. We have a line on a nailhead that is running and driving and ready to go. For now; the 425 will be used to get the ball rolling on motor mounts and then the decision will be made depending on the price of the 401.
Nice starting with a clean car. Going to be a nice hot rod! Nice to see you back. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Farmergal, welcome back and thanks for sharing. Your build is close to me as I started out with a 322 nailhead for my '31 A build. I decided to just keep it a bit simpler and use a 302 Ford that was rebuilt. Don't make this look too easy and make me regret using the Ford! Good luck on the build, it will be worth it.
thanks guys . In-time it will be finished. It's going to run a 401 nailhead. We've just begun work on the chassis again. Right now its figuring out rear end, buggy spring, wishbones, etc.
quick little update: We have been hard at work recently and the frame is practically a roller! We picked up a nice 1963 Buick Riveria in Eastern Mass. Pulled the motor and transmission to use in the coupe. Also pulled the rear end with the finned drums. We were originally going to use a Ford 9 inch but this rear is extremely similar, looks cool, and will work great for this car. So, we set the 9 inch aside and now the Buick rear end is siting under it! The front end is currently sitting on tires with the buick finned drums and the 4 inch dropped axle is looking like it might sit a little too low for our liking. Time will tell; we might opt to sell it for something with a little less drop. The challenges remain in figuring out how to attach everything in the rear and the buggy spring. Keep in mind; this is the first time we've ever built anything like this so there is a bit of a learning curve. All in all; work has progressed and we're ready to see it rolling! I will share photos on Monday when I have some time.
I'm back with photos: It was great to have a long weekend AND a heated garage to finally catch up on lost time with this build. A lot of time was spent getting to this point over the weekend. Let's start with the Riviera. A few weeks ago we found this Riviera on craigslist. We made the trip and bought it. Because of the rusty cylinder in our 425; we decided to put a running, driving engine in the '30 Coupe. Due to fund constraints right now; the 425 was put aside and maybe, if we don't sell it, we will fix it and build it a few years down the road. The Riviera was in running order and we could drive it around so we decided to go this route. The 401 was pulled from it, the front drums, and the rear axle. The only thing left of the Riviera now is the body. In order to get it back off the lift; a junk crashed (but running car) was hanging around so things got inventive and the Riviera body was lowered onto and driven to it's storage space until it finds a new life doing something else. We were originally planning on using a Ford 9 inch...but everybody does that. We measured the axle in the Riv and it was the perfect width. We're going to use it with the original Buick drums. It looks great and it's a bit different. For now the chassis is sitting on the wheels and tires off he Riviera; it'll have to do for now. Yesterday the 401 was brought home. Things get a little cramped in the one car garage so we put it in the chassis with the cherry-picker and now things are really starting to come together!
Thanks to the fellow HAMBers for their help with the assembly.It's been giving us it's fair share of troubles;especially with the rear axle, radius rods, etc. It's actually sitting on it's own 4 wheels right now; everything stayed together and it's starting to look "right". Nothing like 24-36 hours of trial and error over the last week. Here are some photos to share of how it currently sits
We put the body on the frame over the weekend. It was quite the project in a tiny garage with a frame that two people can barely steer and push around;but we got it done and if I dont say so myself; it looks pretty darn cool. Once we got the body on; as you can see from the pics it was sitting too far back. Since the nailhead is such a long engine; we decided to make the firewall cut and put the body on the frame properly We needed to get an idea of where everything was going to sit so we could start engine mounts, etc. We still have some cleaning up to do on the cut but this will do until we're ready to finish it Now we can see just how the body looks on the frame. THIS IS ONE BIG TEASE!! Unfortunately the car is sitting much too low in the rear still. It's very frustrating and we don't really know what to do at this point. As you can see from the pics; the shackles are not sitting anywhere near 45 degrees with the body on, the frame is bottomed out on the axle right now, the entire rear of the frame has no height to it. we've been doing a lot of brainstorming with no solutions yet. Everything looks "right" that we've done so far but it's not giving us the desired result. Weknow the frame needs a C-notch but thatis irrelevant considering how it's currently looking
Quick little update. been busy building the engine mounts. Long process but it's coming along pretty nice. Doing the final welds on those today and then cleaning them up
Did you guys consider flipping the firewall? Just wondering if it was a option Looks good progress is progress
another picture of the motor mounts.We did consider flipping the firewall but we don't like the look of it. Tonight; the Nailhead will be sitting,on it's own, on the mounts. very exciting. Rear spring still needs adjustmentbut that isn't a high priority right now. Not sure what the next step is. Out of all the wood in the car; there is only onesmall rotted part on the wood behind the visor. It will be replaced and the rest of the wood will remain original as it was originally installed. The rear wheel wells need to be replaced...that's going to be the biggest part of this project. Still need to set up shocks, figure out what to do for brakes on the front end, set up radiator and grill shell, figure out what we're going to do for steering, finish the floors and re-build the subrails in the back, finish the firewall, decide what to do with the dash, and the list goes on and on...and on. We wantto get the frame entirely set up and ready to go..then it can go for powdercoat and we can fix the wood issues, finish the firwall, and work on the dash, etc. At this rate it'll be done 3 years from now
Quick update; sorry I dont have have any new pictures to share but I will in a day or two... The subrails for the rear of the car have been re-built and they look GREAT! Took awhile but after hours of work; they are ready to be put in the car permanently. Before we can do that; the rear inner fender wheel well's need some work. They have some rot on the bottom which needs repair. We are going to save the original wheel-well metal because we purchased new sheet metal for this and did not like the quality; it did not look original to the body. The original metal is not perfect in terms of straightness but it will give the car some character for it's age and it will keep it's originality; at least for the body. Repairs have begun and it's looking great. once those are done (on both sides) we can permanently attach the new subrails and then finish the rear floor pans! This is the only rot on the body and once those items are finished in the coming weeks; the body will be set aside until it's time to chop the top and paint it! It's nice to be working with such an old body that is so clean. The little things that it does need is fun work; nothing too stressful which makes it that much easier to go out to the freezing garage every evening and keep plugging along Then it's back to the chassis work to get it going! Will have photos on the new progress in the next few days-
Have thought about it but the frame is set up to use that spring. The Model A spring or the T Spring would be too tall ;unfortunately for what we want.
As promised;I have at least 1 photo to share. Been working on the body;specifically the rear inner fender-wells so that we can permanently attach the newly made rear subrails and then make rear floors. The passenger side fender-well was in pretty decent shape. Needed some minor rust repair along the bottom so that got patched up. Surprisingly they are pretty solid on this car (as you can see). You're probably wondering why we didnt just purchase new ones and put those on. The answer is: wedon't want this area of the car looking like brand new stamped metal; it wasn't ever like that (just look at the original fender-well pirctured below). We still want the car to retain some of its old character that was original to it. The downfall here is that the driver's side fender-well has rotted between the subrail and the fender-well piece itself. You could not see it from the outside but after cutting away a piece at the bottom; the bottom 3 inches will need to be replaced to prevent further rust damage. Here's the problem: new rear-wells never looks the same as the originals and the biggest issue we've seen so far is the bead not matching the original bead..which would make welding on only the bottom 3 inches of a new panel, quite difficult.Apparently its lmost impossible to get apatch panel of this type that is of decent quality. Does anyone have any suggestions? We dont want to replace the entire rear-well if we dont have to; the rest of it is in excellent shape.
I dont know if you figured out your rear suspension yet but it looks to me as if the spring perches that you attached to the rear end are to close together. This prevents the spring from getting the proper preload to make the shackles sit at the angle you want with weight in it. If you want more height besides that you might have to add alittle riser block to you inbetween you crossmember and spring. I hope that helps. Good luck with your build. Ken
Thanks Ken A family member actually owns a machine shop so hemade a riser block for us.We have not fixed the rearspring issueyet; wanted to get the body solid and the rear subrails squared away before we take it back off the frame; taking iton andoff isn't exactly practical and we dont want to inflict any unexpected damage by moving it too many times Thanks much!
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