Hot Rods 1934 3 Window Ford Glass Driver

The car has been driven less than 100 miles.

 

You've got options.
Fix it.
Sell it .
Store it.

Fixing it will cost you time and money.
Selling it with issues disclosed will probably mean selling at a loss (aka cost you money)
Storing it will cost you the lack of use.

Most anyway you slice it, selling it costs you the least.
But you can fix it easy enough if you have the liquid cash it will take.
Fastest way is to procure another chassis, set it up how ever you like and swap the body on to it. Cheapest way to fix it is to take the car apart and repair what ever you want and put it back together. You'll get your value from enjoyment not a liquid recoup of your investment.

 

Gibbons offered a 34 3 window with a"California Kid" chop. It sure looks like it.

 

I decided I would bite the bullet and fix the chassis. I wanted to use the car as a driver as soon as possible. I do not have a frame table at home or enough time to tackle the project now. I thought I'd try a local shop with experience do the chassis. I bought all Pete and Jakes components through the shop. I wanted them to install the components, box the frame and paint it. Having never hired work out, I guess my expectations were way off on this as far as hours to complete. After 70 billed hours at $70/hr I told them to tack things together and be done. After 15 more hours that was completed. So I have 85 hours or $5,950 labor into this frame and it's nowhere near complete. In hindsight I'd have just bought a brand new chassis and I'd have a few more thousand in my pocket and a ready to use chassis. I just can't win with this piece of shit. I had to set the body back on the frame and tuck it into the corner. I don't have time right now to finish the chassis.



They flattened the original rear crossmember and tacked in a chassis engineering replacement X.


A little hard to see but they welded in a 6-7" patch here on both sides.


Front crossmember tacked in....those are the old boxing plates.

 

That is truly and fully not good. Sorry to hear that you're still fighting the beast, it kinda looks like the builder took the "let the next guy worry about it" approach. 15 hours for "tacking things in?" Wow, that's bogus. Even those tacks look like something I would come up with...

What's worse is that it's sound like you're starting to feel bent-over-and-skewered by this project, which is supposed to be a fun ride that you could enjoy most of the year. Don't let it happen! I'm not gonna get all long-distance analyst on ya, but you still have a good project with good parts and a quality body that deserves to be out having the fun meter stuck on 'flagelation'........um, er, or whatever setting means 'fun and lots of it' to you.....whoo boy.

 

Bummer on the chassis deal... No option but to move on but I think your right someone was dragging their feet

, it takes me about 40 hrs to build a bare frame with new rails... And I work pretty slow , not a well equipped pro shop , just grinders a chop saw and welder , about another 20-30 to setup all the suspension and weld in ,.... But that's 100% welded and rolling

Not trying to kick you while your down ..just warning . I wouldn't spend any more$$ at that shop in the future...

P.s. ... That crossmember looks way to far forward from the pics?... Looks like its right on top the pumpkin almost?

... Upon closer inspection it looks like they straightened it out to use a 40 style spring the( 32-34s were curved to clear banjo with short hangers off the axle )... From the picture I see 10" of wheel travel and 3" from the u-bolts to the pumpkin

 

I agree, I'm worried about the clearance of the rear crossmember and the pumpkin. The spring bolt as it is is just an inch or less away. If the bolt is cut it will be better, but still not good.

 

Sorry man, no way around it... It has to be re-done , this is a fairly extreme c-notch. I did but it illustrates the issue, whoever set that up does not understand simple hotrod stuff without instructions

 

The old gibbons bodies were nice bodies. Too bad they don't make them anymore or do they?

 

Who in the world thought they were a chassis builder with that set-up.

 

Yes I like this set up. The more suspension travel you put into it the better you can tune the ride. I believe Moal likes 7" of rear travel.

 

I'd put the " shop" on BLAST for sure , what they did isnt horrible , but it looks like someone in their garage did it not a "pro" shop .... To send that rear crossmember out the door like that is retarded there is no way that will work. ..

You payed "pro " hourly rate and got an amateur struggling with it ,... That's why it took sooo long

 

Holy crap,

 

Thanks!

I'd say 7" is extreme but it would give you ride change adjustability I try to shoot for 3.5" 4.5"..my old stock chassis roadster has 2.5 " soft spring and houdalie shocks ... Hits all the time ... But looks sooo cool :-/

 

Can't drive a metal model 40 because it will rust.

I probably shouldn't mention this but the reason I do things for myself is that I like it better then redoing things after someone else does it. We see horror stories on here all the time when people buy someone else's headaches.

That said fixed up correctly this will be a fun run around car. Fix it and fly it and don't look back.

 

I agree with thirty two.

It's not right and needs redone.

Pro charge rates and amateurs stumbling and struggling.

That rear spring will ride like a solid bar any way.

 

Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like the perches are welded to narrow also, looks like a posies spring... I believe they make a stock and 2" narrow one if its a stock width spring the hangers should be set close to 48" on CL 46" for narrow

I can't say on the ride of a posies , they always looked stout to me but a stock 40 with every other leaf out (approx 7) and lots of grease ride really well..

 

You're right it's hard to say exactly how far off it is- but its easy to see its WAY off.

First here's the shackle.
The spring has no preload


The bars look to be P&J brand, they come with an instruction sheet that say they go at 38 ish. Lets assume they got that right. That means this spring is about the same. Maybe its 8" off maybe its 10" off.


Then let's say they even tried to get the hagers right, well that puts the spring into the pumpkin because the hangers aren't far enough from the center of the axle. And then, they are way too low for the ride height.


All jacked up ! !

Fortress, get your money back

 

My assumption is the car retained the stock crossmember with the parallel leafs, then the mouth breather doing the fab work thought he could slice and dice the crossmember and as long as he didnt mess with the rivit location all was good or perhaps they used short 34 perches cause it is a 34 and a 40 spring... Cause that's what they were told to do and perhaps the perches were welded so close together to give the spring such a high arch to try and compensate for the pumpkin hitting the crossmember...

Whatever the case is .....it's amateur hour at best , .... and pretty embarassing work...it's not functional, or safe, or what you paid for in good faith ... Let them make it right by giving your money back, let them keep the rails if that is an issue or somehow make it right .... but if they say screw off , do a write up on the hamb and write a letter to the editor of the MSRA

 

By the way whats going on here? is that a big twist in the frame between the motor mount and front cross?

Also ... See those three rivit holes that crossmember if it were a stock one would be centered on those .. You could argue that it was pushed forward to compensate for caster in the drop axle and wheelbase change , but it is also moving your radiator mount tabs forward also

 

The spring is PNJ 3058 32-34 ford straight and narrow

 

I looked it up I don't know how you have a straight 32-34 spring unless by narrow they mean narrowed to fit the curved pocket and if its a straight spring the hangers should be long like a 35-48 ,...

regardless they changed some geometry when they flattened the crossmember and eliminated pumpkin clearance maybe to make the straight spring work with short spring hangers

 

Brother I feel your pain! I wanted to drive my car for a while before rebuilding it too.
The chassis that was under my car was so cobbled up, I sold it and started over new.
This is what I did for my 34 3W. It is a Pete & Jake rear cross member and T spring.
This setup works very nice and to me, looks right.

 

Thank you everyone for your opinions and input. I put the pictures on here to get opinions as it seemed like something was wrong about the rear crossmember. Also for the number of hours and the rate charged the work didn't seem up to par.

 

Maybe start a new thread " chassis guys what do you think?" Then after it goes a few pages show this amateur shop and say hey ....

Do whats right ,, give me my money back or I will let everyone know what shitty shop did this sub par work, and tell them they should quit working on chassis or buy a fuckin book!

 

You know, it takes someone who really knows what's going on to fix another's fuck up.
It's one thing to get it fresh and build it, but almost completely different finding and correcting. These guys didn't even know the first thing about what they've done.

Even if it was completely perfect at that $ amount, they should have (would have) know that starting over would be cheaper and better for you. But since it's in the shape it's in now, there's no way that kind of charge is acceptable. 6 grand could get you 2 frames. It's not up to you to pay for the shops education at 70.00 an hour.

 

Absoulutly agree with you Vicky , I do chassis for myself or friends or custom stuff but something like that , even though I am capable it doesn't make sense , I can get a brand new jig built frame from kiwi konnection for 1,800 and they are nice!.. tig welded and rear crossmember of my choice... And always tell someone that's the better way to start Pete and jakes are 2500 I think?... Still hard to compete

What are his options ? Small claims? Would a judge understand whats right or fucked up?... Doesn't look like the shop has a concious ... They sent that out the door

 

At the very least they should have fixed and worked on it till it was a useable piece and learn from it ... How do you tell a customer here's some tack welds for 5k?

 

Another not so funny way of looking at it ... I know that area of Minnesota low wages and not much overhead if the expert employee was getting 15 an hr he would be lucky lets just say 20... So we will say 35.00With overhead and benifits ect that means that shop profited 3k off of a non functional frame... Pretty sad

 

Options ?
Depends I guess.
Might depend on IF the shop has a reputation, likely they've earned it good or bad.
Might be they have produced plenty of good products in the past and they were without key personnel ? Maybe they rotate assholes thru there.
Maybe they just don't work with 80 year old stuff and theory and build lawn mowers, I mean late models.

I really like the idea of starting a new thread and showing it to the shop owner.

For a second or two, take the emotion out of it and try to see some guy trying to get the parts to work without knowing that they need modified and moved. It's Easy to see many hours waisted in flipping them every which way but loose. Not fortress's responsibility to pay that, but that's the key. Either they knew they didn't know or they actually think that they do know.