Pics below of my new summer toy, it's been a brutal winter so looking forward to getting into it. I want to lower the front but nothing drastic, thinking of just using a reverse eye but I see mixed reactions on here and most seem unhappy with just an inch or so. The picture at the bottom is a fellow HAMBer RPU and is what I am hoping the end product will look like. She has a stock 4 banger and the long term plan is to replace with a flathead but I will be running her as is this summer and would like some suggestions on some improvements I can make with out breaking the bank or sacrificing reliability/drivability. Any and all suggestions tips are humbly appreciated.
Reversed spring eye up front, 16" '35 wire wheels with 6.00 and 7.10 tires, a floater kit for the mechanical brakes, and an in-driveshaft overdrive. It'll look great, do highway speeds, stop much nicer, and require no cutting of anything original. That's what I'd do. Great looking truck, perfect cantidate for a mild hop-up.
Looks great. I'd do pretty much what Squablow laid out, but if you wanted a little lower in the front, you can do what I did on my phaeton. It involves 32-34 spindles, perches, and a 2 1/2" strech-dropped axle. You can keep your mechanical brakes, and you get lower than just a reverse-eyed spring will get you. As for the engine, you'd be suprized how much fun a hopped-up four-banger can be for little to no hassle. With a simple carb, cam, and head swap you can double the original 40 horsepower and actually improve reliability. With a little more tweeking, you can put out power to rival some healthy flathead V8's out there.
I meant they had a bad reaction to the result of just a reverse eye and thought it would sit lower, not their reaction to my project
That's what I have heard about the four banger, I guess I'm looking for recommendations on what carb? Intake? And again with out spending huge amounts
Rainier is right. I have a Tudor with a stock body. It has a cam, high comp. head and 97 carb. I also have F150 overdrive transmission. I have driven it 19,000 mi all over the country at highway speeds. Usually I run 55 on 2 lane roads. It can be done. John
Thanks John appreciate the feedback. I have found a few sites for parts secrets of speed, and I think it's called weber carb and FS distributor...just reading up on the 4 banger info here on the HAMB
Just reading up on the brakes now and the suggested flathead ted kit, little overwhelming at the moment lol, doubt you will see me over 10 mph untill I get the feel of them
I can't find the pic right now, but I saw a sweet picture on the HAMB of how a guy cut off the back end of two stock A exhaust manifolds, then capped the ends with a MIG welder to make a very clean split exhaust for duals. I believe he also cut the intake tube off and put it on upside-down to mount a downdraft carb. It looked great and would be super low-budget as far as banger speed equipment goes. Wish I could find that pic, it's pretty self-explanitory how it was done once you see it.
Hi very nice looking PU Brakes I would look in to juice brakes if you want to go with V8 later on Mech brakes with floaters will work good but you need to keep them adjusted just right Engine will respond well to Cam, Hi comp Head, good advance Distributor, Down draft Carb and Headers this in the right combo will run as good as most flathead V8s But be careful about doing the above to a old unknown engine 1 inch drop in the front is hard to notice I run 3 inch drop and like Colin
Hand throttle? spark advance? Mixture control/choke..mechanical brakes...officially out of my element..this is going to be a new level for me..
Ive got a Modle A roadster with a "A" banger and It was slow as hell when I first got it. What I did was Lightened it up much as possible. Put a set of 7.50 16 and 5.50 16's on it. Then for the motor I put a 5.5 snyders head on it, A Model B dizzy and I made a header with a single 2 manifold for it with a 97 that has ajustable jets. She rocks now compared to before and I added a columbia 2 speed for the hiway. A little goes along way on the old A's. Cool truck Good LUck Brad
I installed the webber carby kit and FSI distributor on my banger. No need to worry about spark advance, mixture control and choke anymore.
By a copy of the owners manual. It will help you understand how to properly operate the truck. All the model A vendors sell them cheap Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Just a note if anyone is selling any parts that would help me with my project let me know, wheels, 4 banger improvements, front drop axel etc I'm in New Brunswick Canda will pay shipping
You don't need to change the whole front if all you want to do is intall a dropped axle, but there are some details you need to pay attention to, and you need to decide what your goal is going to be. To avoid doing things over and over, you need to decide whether you want to keep the stock suspension and brakes, or go the hot rod route. If you'll be installing hydraulic brakes, are you going to change rear ends and drive train, and do you want to keep drum brakes on the front, or go to disc brakes? Lots to consider. If all you want to do is get a lower front stance, a dropped axle will do it. Pay attention to the width of your stock axle because you want to keep the front wheels properly centered under the fenders, if you're running them. If you're not running fenders, then axle width isn't as much of a problem, although to me, a narrow axle looks better. The kingpins and spindles will interchange, no problem, but measure the thickness of the axle where the spring perch bolt attaches: it'll be 2" or 2 1/4", and you need to make sure to get an axle with the thickness that matches your wishbones or the "batwings" for the hair pins or four bar that you'll be using. Also, depending on which axle you buy, you need to measure the distance between spring perch bolt mounts and make sure that jives with the spring you'll be using. If none of this makes sense, get hold of a catalog from Pete & Jake's, and study the introductory section in front carefully, because it lays out all this stuff in good detail. If you decide to hot rod your truck, call Pete & Jake's, or any of the other companies that make or sell components, and ask them for info, and definitely, go to every hot rod event you can that features cars like you want to build. Look closely at what others have done, and ask questions.
I am going the traditional hot rod route just can't afford to do it all at once. all I want is a start to enjoy this summer and continue the project as I can. Thought I would start with wheels and suspension as the rpu is completely stock 19's and all. I thought to keep the stock mech brakes as I will be running the 4 banger for the foreseeable future and then once I switch it out to flathead V8 go in to the breaks, drive train etc. For now I was thinking change the wheels 16 x4.5 front 16 x 6 back, bias tires. www.lakeheaders.com has a cool lake pipe updraft carb combo. Run. 9 super 7. Reverse eye spring but had the feeling the drop wouldn't be sufficient so commit to the drop axel...
I spoke a little too quickly when I said a dropped axle will bolt right in...the steering arms will put the tie rod on a collision course with your stock wishbones, so to work, the steering arms will have to be heated and bent. Also, the mechanical brake linkage won't work. A reversed eye spring will bolt right in, provided it's length is the same as the stocker, and at least in theory, the reversed eye spring shouyld drop the front about 2" Like most hot rod stuff, one change be-gets a whole bunch of other changes.
I thought I read one of the superbell axels was positioned at a certain angle so it wouldn't interfere with the steering arm? Has anyone out there been able to lower with a drop axel without having to redo the entire front end? Or should I just get a full front end kit?
The -BIG- problem you are going to run into with a drop axle is your brakes. Here are the options you have if you want a drop-axle and want to keep your mechanicals: 1) 2 1/2" Stretch-Dropped Axle, 1932-34 Ford Spindles, 1932-34 Spring Perches, Model A Kingpins and everything else. This is what I did, and I can tell you that every thing just bolts together with no modifications or non-sense. However, the perches and spindles are getting hard to find. 2) Same as above but with an original 1934-34 axle. This will net you about 2" of drop before your reverse-eye spring, and you have the satisfaction of having all original Ford parts that will pretty much fall together. But, like the perches and spindles, the axles aren't getting any easier to find. 3) Same as Option 1, but with a Stretch Dropped axle of your choice, and some sort of a spacer between the brake actuators and perches. I think guys on here have gone up to a 4" drop axle, maybe with a little reshaping of the steering arms. 4) Model A everything, except Stretch-Dropped Axle of your choice. You will need to heat up and bend, or otherwise reshape your steering arms for correct geometry and clearance. And you will have to make some sort of spacer between the Spring Perch and the Brake Actuator. Gonna be lots of trial and error with this option. The one big thing to note is that any drop axle MUST be of the stretch-dropped type to maintain the original perch-to-spindle measurement for you brake actuators to work. No new aftermarket axles that I know of are this way, since most street rodders aren't building things with mechanical brakes. All that said, the 2 1/2" that I lowered my front end is noticeable and the brakes work just fine. They will lock up all four if I want them to, and as long as I keep them adjusted, they don't fade bad either, these cars are really light. You can't just slam the pedal like in a modern car, you actually have to drive these things. ...oh and you can substitute 35-36 Spindles for the 32-34 ones but they have no integral steering arm like the earlier ones. This is either a blessing or a curse, since you will have to make one, but you can make whatever shape you need.
As far as my engine goes, I'm running an original 'B' police head that is further shaved to about 5.5:1 compression, a single Stromberg 48 Carb on a downdraft manifold, a model B centrifugal-advance distributor, and an H&H "Super Touring" cam. Haven't had it on a dyno, nor will I, but the guys down at H&H figure that my motor should be turning about 80HP. That's enough to put a grin on your passenger's faces...
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