Howdy, all. Today I finally dragged my '21 T Touring body into the shop, along with the '30 Model A frame it will sit on. It wasn't quite a year ago I picked these up from an older gentleman with a backyard packed full of cars, trucks, and whatnotall. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel on this build, just putting together a fun rod to cruise around town in. The plan (or whatever we should call this mania which drives me ) is this: '21 T Touring body placed upon the '30 A frame, powered by a newer Ford 302 sb with a BW T5 manual turning a 9 inch out back. Suicide the front axle, and hook up all 4 corners with juice brakes. I still haven't decided what up front to achieve the juice with, so any thoughts are welcome. This isn't my first rodeo building a car from the ground up, but this is the first pre-war rig I've built for myself. Should be fun! Here are some pics to start, and I'll update as often as I can.
Great start for a hotrod! That looks like some year of Dodge/Mopar body by the way, not a T. Not a Ford T anyway.. They make fine looking rods too!
I thought that too. A T has a shorter cowl section than yours (less footroom). Also, a T has a smaller rear passenger area.
Good to know. LOL It's titled as a 21 T Touring, but it also sat in the old guy's backyard for who knows how long.
Since you are using that '30(?) Ford frame with Ford seriel # on the top of the left rail right between the cowl mounts. Yes, its hidden under the body just back of the firewall when the body is bolted on. It should be a five pointed star, the letter A , and te numbers then another five pointed star. You should title this '30 Ford frame as a '30 Ford touring and go from there. There are records telling which serials were done in which years to properly ID your frame year too. First January 1930 # was * A2742696* last December 1930 # was *A4237500* example:
Thanks for the tip, DrJ, but those numbers are long gone. LOL This frame is solid, but surface rusted. I'll be sandblasting it to clean metal this week so I can begin narrowing it a touch, building motor mounts, and boxing it in. Any thoughts on the narrowing, folks? My plan is to unbolt the rear cross member and just drill new mounting holes, then trim the ends of the cross member. The front is more involved, of course, as it welds into the rails. Is it better to section from the middle of the front cross member, or could I just shorten the ends and weld new tabs in place? The other thought is to just lose it entirely and replace it with straight tube. The spring perch is not an issue, as I'll be building a new one to move the axle forward of the frame. Thanks, all.
Don't narrow the frame and then find out your radiator won't fit between them... Don't cut X members in the middle. All frames twist, and may twist your welds in two. I posted a picture of a serial # above. If that's rusted away on your frame you don't have much frame left...
Good point on the twist, DrJ. As to how much frame is left, we shall see after blasting. I got it cheap, and if worse comes to worst it will make a good template for a tube frame. I'm not opposed to chucking garbage, even if I paid for it.
Howdy, y'all. A bit of puttering today ended with a sawzall. I started by setting the tub up on the frame to see how it all set together. The good news today was that the front will only have to come in about an inch, and the rear just needs a small tweak as well. After surveying the corrosion damage to the body I decided that as cool as a touring would be, it would also be far more work than I want to put into this body. Weighing my choices, I realized it will be less work to build a pickup box for the T than it would be to rebuild the bottom half of my tub. A couple snips and this was the result: Judicious use of the torch and a hammer popped the hinge pins loose for the rear doors. I was glad not to have to chisel the old hinges apart. I'm getting closer to a real plan with the rig, too. I'm not going to channel the tub over the frame so as to retain room for my size 11's (more to avoid an overly large trans tunnel). I'm shooting for 9 inches of ground clearance below the frame, which will give me 7 inches of clearance below the oil pan. The engine will be riding a bit high, but not too high, I feel. The output shaft will be centered vertically with the tops of the frame rails, which is in my opinion the best compromise between ground clearance, minimizing trans intrusion into the cab, and keeping the center of balance low. *Anything at all resembling a plan is subject to change based upon rational thought, necessary compromises, which side of the bed I woke up on, whatever tickles my fancy at that particular moment, and if the wind is blowing.*
Sounds like a typical hotrod build to me. Yes, it does look like a 24-up Dodge, because of the metal inners and inner door design. 24 up has the straight down cowl sides like that one, 23 down is curled under. Maybe sell the remains if you can verify the make of it for sure.
Just a little researchin' tonight leads me to believe this tub started life as a '27 Dodge touring car. The extended cowl which is even with the sides (doesn't slope or curve in), the rounded-bottom doors without outer handles, and the windshield mounts seem to match that of a 1927 Dodge Bros. car. Can anyone confirm that/agree with my findings? Just curious.
Howdy, y'all, Insomnia led to a discovery this morning about 4 am. LOL Another HAMBer, KylePaul, listed a '22 Willy's Phaeton for sale and I noticed his tub was dang near an exact match to mine. Google turned up some pics of the '22 Willy's Overland Traveler. To my tired eyes, the tub I'm using is that car. I don't want to post someone else's pics here, but could anyone confirm what I'm seeing? Thanks.
A bit more was accomplished today. I finished sandblasting the frame last weekend and fixed anything wrong. There were a couple small cracks at stock bolt holes that got drilled and welded, but nothing seriously wrong. All in all, the frame is usable, but it would have been faster to just build a new one out of 2x4 box steel. That'll be the plan for the next one. [/url][/IMG] The frame did clean up decently. When all my x's, motor-mounts, and crossmembers are built, and it's all boxed in this will be a very solid frame. [/url][/IMG] Ah, the joy of mock-up! [/url][/IMG] [/url][/IMG] The frame is sitting at 9" of clearance underneath, and that's where I want the ride height to be. Puts me at 7" below the oil pan. That should get me over most anything surprising on the road, and still look kinda low. (I don't feel the need to have my butt dragging on the ground, though. LOL) [/url][/IMG] I'm thinking I'll hang the axle out front of the frame and mount the spring to the 'bones. I've always loved that look. The rear is going to get bobbed about 4 or 5 inches to put the rear axle approximately where the crossmember is now, but I need a bit more clearance. The front and rear axle mounts are next in line. She's gotta roll before I start mounting the engine. Thanks all for your input and opinions. Happy Easter!
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