Here are some shots of my coupe a few days off the trailer from Knoxville, Tn; just about two years ago. This car was purchased from the original builder who was in high school at the time. When he went away to college in 1968, he put the car away and never did anything else to it. i don't think it was ever driven much because the nubs were still on the slicks and the engine had issues. It is already to go just waiting out the weather and finish up a few details. will post more pictures of what was done to it the past couple of years. Kept it as a "Styled" banger rod from the '60's and tried to use most all parts from that era.
Hey.....Thats a cool ride! Knoxville is only about 1- 1/2 hours from me. I race there ALOT through the summer. I really like the slots on it. Definately period correct to my eye... I have a 31' closed cab pickup that I will be starting on soon, but its very rough and has a LONG way to go! I am new to A's but have gone crazy about them pretty quick.
The car came with a reversed Corvair box with an extension threaded on the end , out thru the frame to the stock arm. Was really bad and unsafe. Looked for a good F-100 box but not much luck, used a '67 Camaro manual box. Blew it apart and reversed it with just some minor machining. the box is held inplace with a collar that presses over the output housing and welded to a piece of plate. Tab welded off the bottom of the frame and a link off the top cap of the box. Not going anywhere. The pitman arm has the joint removed and a Ford tapered bung welded in from the back. the drag link is a CJ jeep ( same 11/16 thread as Ford) cut down, sleeved internally, pinned and welded. Steer ratio seems about right.
Greg, I like the look with the slot mags! Can't wait to you get the car on the road in the spring. Can't wait to go for a ride.
Pedals were chromed years ago so wanted to keep them. They only give approx. 4:1 ratio so used a bellcrank, to change the motion from pull to push and went to a 3/4 bore mater cyl. All bolts up to the t-5 trans. F-100's up front and '40's out back. Nice firm pedal with minimum pedal effort to stop.
What bell housing did you use to mate the t-5 to the banger? Sent from my HTC One X using H.A.M.B. mobile app
The engine that came in the car was bad so bought the engine with the 5 speed from a friend from a running car; so knew it all worked. The bellhousing is a stock one, and the kit someone used I would not recommend. There is an extension pressed on the input shaft of the trans and the spline only goes into the clutch disc halfway. Not what I would do if I was to start over. I believe the AA truck is the one to use. Greg
Dropped the Bar: Make a fixture using one you know fits your fenders. I used 2 inch angle iron. Bolt it up and with the fixture squared up; measure the angle of the cups ( mine were approx 23 degrees) and how much it bows out. You will need these later after you cut the center out. Bend both ends and get them as close to being the same as you can. I cut mine right next to the cups and put them back in the fixture and heated them to get them exact. Now the bar is narrower from being bent so you need a couple of filler pieces welded in. This wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be; a little tricky to get it right. Gave me a drop of 2 1/4 inches and just clears the bigger '32 lights.
Thought I would try to keep the license plate from shaking off the front bumper with some different mounts:
Exhaust: The car came equipped with a vintage header which i wanted to keep, but the flange was thin and wavy only 1/4; I ground the weld out of each tube and made a new flange of 3/8 material. The muffler came new in the trunk of the; big yellow glasspack from the '60's the owner never installed. added some flanges and a megaphone tip out the side. The flanges are homemade with a machined groove on the mating surfaces where I put a thin bead of red RTV that acts like an o-ring. No leaks.
Decided to only use the top of the hood held down with leather straps so I needed to make some brackets for the hood hinge to line up with the stock hood latches. Of course only the front one lines up ok but the rear one falls on one of the rod hinges. So used some 3/8 ss tubing and 3/16 ss round stock and built a jig to hold all those little parts for welding. Also a couple of shots of the adjustment buckles. Waiting on a couple more leather parts to arrive; then will post completed straps.
Steer column: Upper portion is '65 Mustang so i could use the signal switch; 2 1/4 x 2inch exhaust reducer, 2" exhaust pipe, Gm 3/4 double D inner to a 3/4 flanged ball bearing at the bottom. Cut the center out of the Mustang steering wheel and enlarged the od to accept the old Grant wheel. Pedals were chromed back in the '60's. Gas pedal was new EElco in the wrapper came with the car. Rewired the starter internally to make it 12v with external solonoid to use key start. Built small panel for the amp and temp gauges plus indicator lites.
Finished up the hood straps: The $7.00 Harbor freight punch works real well for the price. Used the brass Chicago screws to secure the leather loops together and the buckles shown previously to make the the adjustment. At first I was not going to make them adjustable but got to thinking if the leather stretched I would have to repunch and be left with holes not used. Put 4 coats of Needsfoot oil on them to soften them up and also darkened the color; still could be a bit darker but good enough for now. Couple more weeks the salt will be gone off the roads and time for the maiden voyage.
The Jalopy Journal
