Building an A on the cheap,planning on Zing the frame in the firewall area to drop the front. This would let me run a stock axle with reversed eye spring and have the frame/body in the WEEDS. other than reduced footroom,what drawbacks do you see. A driveshaft tunnel would be necessary too.Grillshell/radiator would be 4-5 inches shorter to maintain the hood line.Comments?????????
You can hide it in the cowl and it will "look" channeled. The effect on toe room is minimal and not a problem. You could study Doan Spencer's roadster and see some other ways to do this. His front Z is at the front crossmember and you'd be really hard pressed to see it in the pics. However this probably won't get you the silly in the weeds stance you want.
My last A was "Z"d behind the cowl, where it is hidden. It's a deep channeled look but effective. However the radiator and shell do become an issue. Good news is the engine appears to sit higher which is nice for room, pipes, steering etc. but the tranny is that much higher as well, and its sitting next to you... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
in the weeds was a poor choice of words. i want it low,loosing the splash aprons but keeping the running boards and fenders. It would be stepped in the cowl area. Opinions>
Let me ask, why not dropped axle? seems like you would be in it about the same money for an axle vs a modified radiator. unless you can find an off the shelf radiator that works for you. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Why not just lengthen the frame at the firewall and use a 35 and latter front axle. It would give you 6-1/2" more motor room and not change the wheel base. Also wouldn't change the Rad mount. Would need some minor adjustment where the fenders sit on the frame horns and a longer hood. The Wizzard
Lengthened Model A frame with 36-40 front axle. Same as stock wheel base. Motor makes No contact with Firewall, room for Football style dist and a manual fan with Rad mounted as stock as well as stock frame horns. I will also be running full fenders and no splash aprons. Damn strait it's a lot of work. The Wizzard
Kinda did that on my 31 p/u The 4” tube rails kick up at the toe boards and just behind the cab to 3” …. made small aprons to cover w custom boards. Then filled void in front fenders Yes a lot of work and tons easier than a coupe would be The idea was To have it look channeled without loosing space inside … it did for the seat but the trans tunnel had to be so big / wide at the firewall there was no room for a clutch pedal.
Pinched at the firewall to fit inside stock toeboard without any cutting of lower corners of firewall
Holly Crap!!! Looks like your headed for Toon Town. I gotta see more of this as it comes together. The Wizzard
Omg that looks horrable! There is no reasion to ever have to do that evein if you want a very low ride. I would start with a 4in drop axle and reversed eye 2in drop spring and 2in lower cross member. That's a 8 in drop there in front for $490 (for new parts) and it will look right. If that's not low enough then you chanel the body that's another 4 in or so. THEN if that's not low enough z the frame. If you can't afford that now work hard and save your money its worth it.
Ohhh- wee that deep double Z Just Ain't for me I'm tiring to picture the body on there and it's not pretty I see wheels into the windows, a Trans tunnel that's more like a partition. A 8" tall radiator and grill
I see a jack stand under the rear shackle holding frame weight off the spring. Looks to be about 2" between bottom of frame and axle housing. I think you might want to put a C-notch in there before you load the body weight on it. You could end up with some contact there. The Wizzard
found the original thread & yea there's some cool jack stands. I saw this and had a good chuckle, looks like a 8" grille to me
To keep this going and a little perspective the step would be the thickness of a frame rail;about 4 inches, I'm usijng an AA frame and have 13 inches of extra frame length. an AA frame with the extra lenghth and heavy thickness are great..........the frames are everywhere cheap.The bottom of the running boards would be above the scrubline.
My guess is going to be Choppedtudor has a few things figured out already. I've seen plenty of Rad's mounted ahead of the front crossmember between the frame horns. I guess that works for some, just not me. Also being he open drive, no arms and spring behind maybe the jack stand is to keep from rolling the pinyon up. If he is just using a main leaf he just might be marginaly close to being fine. Can't tell from the photo. I'm doing the same axle treatment on my A with closed drive. With a full spring I did a 1" C just to put a 32 style rubber bump stop and have 3" travel loaded. Not ideal but close. Can't wait to see what he hangs over the rails. The Wizzard
If you Z it at the cowl, the body looks low, BUT the frame looks high. Do a sweep, or put the Z just behind the grill shell, so the frame is low too.
The Jalopy Journal
