Last week I posted up about my Model A chop. Ive had a lot of pressure to start a build thread, so here goes. A couple weeks ago I bought a nice solid Model A. I bought it from a guy Ive dealt with before. He bought if from someone who was planning on building a hot rod. It was in a garage for several years, untouched. The car is solid, someone patched the lower cowl, rear wheelwells and behind rear doors and butchered the body lines. It looks like they used a fiberglass looking filler, so that will have to be addressed. they also filled a couple body lines and seems and drip rails with the crap. I'll dig it out and see what we have. The frame and suspension is in immaculate condition. Not a single pit on the frame or even the axle! Heres the car when I picked it up. I've been searching for a car in this condition for quite some time now and have built this thing 100 times in my head. Im going for an early 40's AV8 style. Heres my list of parts, I already have most of this: -1938 24 stud Flathead -1938 Trans -Edmunds 2x2 Intake -'35 wire wheels -5" chop -7.50 Firestone rear tires, 5.00 Firestone ribbed front tires -'33 front axle -'33 bones -posies reverse eye front spring -brassworks radiator -Late '31 grille shell -Full hood -Guide headlights -juice brakes I started out with the fun part, the chop! i took 5" out of her. Heres a time lapse video if you didnt see my other thread from last week At this point the chop is all tacked in. I tackled the drivers side A pillar the other night. Many pie cuts and welding it was all lined up perfect. Sorry, I didnt take many pictures, I will take more when I do the passenger side. I also found some previous damage at the top of the pillar that was filled with body filler. I'll have to dig that out and see what Im working with. I plan on working on it more this weekend. Still working on my old mans Model A as well, so I need to take a nice balance between the 2 of them. Heres the build thread for dads coupe.
Heres what I have for parts lined up for this car 1938 24 Stud Edmunds 2x2 Guide headlights and another intake I picked up from my buddy And my tires came in today from Coker! Firestone 7.50's for the rear and Firestone Ribbed 5.00's for the front I ordered my raidiator from Brassworks the other day. They are about a month out so will be a while before I see that! Heres a quick mock up pic
Sounds like it is going to be very cool! I'll be watching. Here is a 2dr. I took 4 1/2" out of back in the 70's
I'll be watchin this one Josh. Looks good so far. Goin to Amherst next week? If you are shoot me a PM. Rob
Thanks for the kind words guys! Ted - I get on a roll when working and forget to take pics sometimes. Im going to try my best at remembering to take pics! ct1932ford - Nice Tudor! Rob - I will be at Amherst. Sent you a PM Ok, time for an update! I had a little time to work on the coupe this weekend. I got the passenger side A pillar most of the way welded and finished. Narrowed the header by about 3/8" so everything lined up. I also banged away on the passenger rear of the chop. Nothing too interesting. I got tired of welding and hammering so I decided to get out the D/A and see what I was up against in the drip rail area. The previous owner body filled the lip of the drip rail and it really didnt look good at all. Of course, I forgot to take a pic of the passenger side before I dug all the bondo out, but heres a pic of the drivers side to see what it looked like. As you can see, it was pretty ugly. Here is the passenger side after digging out all the bondo. Much better. Thats about all I got done this weekend. I was hoping to get a little more done but life got in the way.
More progress on the chop. Nothing too exciting to look at, just welding and hammering. I picked up a nice banger and chassis from a local hamber (Mentalstates). Im going to put my body on that chassis and bomb it around for the year. It is already converted to juice brakes and the banger runs mint. In the meantime, I will get my other chassis all set up with the V8, step the rear, set up the suspension and box the chassis.
I locked myself in the garage for the last 4 days. Ive been thrashing to get the banger squared away and hopefully be able to take it to the Kingpins show on Sunday. I still have a little more work to do, but I made some great progress and have come a long way. Unfortunately, I didnt really remember to take pictures along the way. Friday after work I swapped my coupe body onto the banger chassis (with a little help from my dad and toredorxlt). The banger chassis did not have a rear spring in it, so I grabbed the spring from my other chassis. I took out 4 leafs and installed it into the banger chassis with new bushings and shackles. The Amherst swap meet was on Sunday morning, so we headed over there to sell some parts. I picked up some parts too. Hamber ABONES hooked me up with a set of 39 pedals, bought some 35 hub caps, and some repop 39 tail lights to get the car on the road, I wanted original style lenses but all they had were blue dots (I have a lead on some originals to swap out later). I installed the tail lights when I got home Sunday. Also picked off a few more punch list items like hood rods, mount carb, chasing tapped holes, and sizing things up. Dont mind the mess. Monday and tuesday were very productive. Knocked off most of my list. steering connected, header panel installed, roof wood installed and nailed (that oak is tough to nail brad nails in to!), trunk mounted, wiring, seat mounted, ect. I also dropped my wheels and tires off to be mounted and made it to the glass shop to get a windshield cut. And the worst part, I got to the DMV to register and get my vanity plates. I got the plate "BANGER" Heres where Im at So i still have quite a bit of work to get it on the road, but I think I can make the show. Big things left are exhaust, shocks, and finish wiring.
I bought the seat from an old hot rodder in MA. He said it came out of a 60's mustang, its a back seat. Fits well in the A.
Thanks guys! White64, I really like your AV8 coupe, looks like a nice project! Im excited to get working on my AV8 chassis again once the banger is together!
Well, after a 18 hour day in the garage on Saturday, and much appreciated help from my father and toradorexlt, I was able to make it to the Kingpins show on Sunday! The trip was the cars maiden voyage, and we were a little late due to finishing the car on Sunday morning! The trip went well, but I am having minor motor issues. I first thought maybe a timing or electrical issue, but last night I reset the points and retimed it and it was right in there. Im thinking it needs to be jetted down as it backfires and falls flat on its face under any hard acceleration and higher rpm driving. Idles great and low rpm driving is fine. Im going to drop the jet sizes a couple points and maybe swap out the power valve. Current jets are 52's and the power valve is a 75. Anyway, heres a few pics from Sunday I'll post some more pics when I upload them from my phone
I havent Ted, I dont have one yet. Might be a good excuse to add one to my tool collection. I was thinking maybe a stuck valve too
Haha, chicken sandwich! I have a compression tester, will running a compression test help me with diagnosing a sticky or burnt valve?
The build thread has just begun! Now that I whipped up the banger and have something to drive for the summer, I will start building my chassis for the flathead! Stay tuned for updates! The body from the banger will come off in the fall and be stripped, repaired where needed and put onto the V8 chassis
The Jalopy Journal
