Projects '23 Ford Roadster build aka The Incredible Hulk

Great solution. Looks good too.

 

rolled my other pumpkins out to take inventory
three second generation cases, two 29 spline one leggers
and one 31 spline limited slip with odd stamped number: 1B 7 and no date code
tooth count makes it a 3.42:1, this will likely be the one that goes in the car

 

Not much to report, scrounged up a tie rod to check clearances, bent the arms a bit to clear.
Started to work on the frame, at this point I will be using rectangular tubing to fab a new frame.. not 100% keen on it, may still use a heavily modified A frame..

 

How about using new steel under the body where it's hidden, and using an original frame out where it will be seen? Old Ford parts have more soul.

 

in the previous post you can see I tapered the 2x4 tubes by taking a pie cut from the center of the side walls to reduce the effect of heat warp.
three quarters of the way through welding up the taper on the tubes I ran out of mig wire, so finished with the tig.
unfortunately supply of filler rod is pathetically low, I only have a couple sticks of 1/16th rod..
I may have to order some to be delivered.

here the ends were drilled with a hole saw on the drill press and trimmed with the cut off wheel in a small grinder to accept a heavy wall tube steel cross member.

Not long ago I put a 1/4" steel plate on the work bench,
the 1/8" steel top was getting a bit abused,
and bolted down a second vice at the other front corner.
One benefit is shown here using two vises to hold one long heavy piece.

tube steel was cut to length with the Evolution chop saw, it makes a nice clean cut with minimal clean up.

clamped the pieces to the frame table to help keep everything flat and square and started tacking things together.
stay tuned.

 

The twin vise idea is brilliant!

Are you building the frame to model A dimensions or just to fit what you have? I keep kinda caking the idea of building a T sedan once my truck is done.

 

seen a few good things come off that welding table. love it!

 

It'll be similar to the A frame from front spring to firewall,
Spring will be hung suicide style off the round tube, taper is per A dimensions and the rails will flair out per A dimensions as far as the firewall, then it will be as needed for T body and turtle deck

 

moved stuff around in the garage to get the body under the hoist
slid the main frame section under the body,
and leaned all the major components roughly in place.
From here I can finish layout and fabrication of the frame and body,
the hoist will make it much easier to tear down and put it back together.
Kinda hard to see the car with all the clutter in the background but it's there

 

kicked it in the rear yesterday.

used the cut off wheel in the grinder to cut the kick
and the cold saw to cut the rear section

careful measure, clamp, tack and weld made it into a perimeter frame.

put the frame back in place to check fit and measure for more work,
cross members, suspension mounts, engine/transmission mounts,
all vertical cuts through frame sides will get gussets or fish plates, on and on the list is long..

 

Ok, two things.

Firstly - something ain't right, your pickup isn't rusting away like mine.

Secondly, man you have "the eye" when it comes to proportions and T's.

Keep on keepin' on!

 

thanks for the kind words man..

trimmed the body front and rear to drop it over the frame 3" leaving an inch of frame exposed
took the wood out of the turtle deck and trimmed it's front panel to drop over the rear frame section covering it completely.

set the body back on the frame
and moved everything around an inch here and a half there
step back and study it's look then move it all again
it's getting close to the look I'm after.
the engine still needs to come down about an inch..
-the headers are just temporary to help fill the void

 

Definitely going to be one bitchen little hotrod. Every day it just gets better!

 

nothing to report,
but this is what it looks like right now,
raised the body a half inch, lowered the engine one inch,
dug out a steering box, ladder bars, headlight stands and headlights..
held them up and visualized...

 

GREAT look just like that.

 

Looks "dialed in" Paul. Great proportions. What is the plan for the gas tank given the small spaces available?

 

Thanks man, the tank will need to be a custom job, going to be tough to get much more than ten gallons in there

 

You up early today fella?

 

My brain woke me up

 

Awesome build!
I love every part of this


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Theres a lot to wake a man's mind up these days but the Garage is actually one of the safest places to be these days ALL by oneself...

Nice Hotrod Paul shaping up @Paul...

 

another little update here,
the dummy engine and transmission served it's purpose, establishing general proportion and configuration of frame, suspension and body.
To better place various components the actual engine and transmission with accessories was wrestled into place.
New front engine mounts were fabbed out of 1/4" plate.

 

I found a pair of rear mounts that could be modified easy enough.
A simple tube steel spacer and a trip to the drill press and they bolted right up.
A crossmember was begun to support them again out of 1/4" plate.
It will get more reinforcement as more components are fitted.

 

A crossmember for the ladders to attach to was fabbed up from scrap bends left over from an old Alston cage and tacked in place.
Spring mount and ladder bar brackets were roughly marked out on the rear housing
and ground clean for welding.
A jig for locating the spring was bolted to the spring brackets and the brackets were tacked to the housing.

 

The ladder bars were about 8" too long so the front bushed ends were cut free,
the upper bar was cut to length,
the lower bars were heated and bent to realign with the new bushing location
and the cleaned up bushing ends were tig welded in their new shorter location.

 

and a couple parting shots as I was closing up last night..

 

continuing on suspension
ladder to cross member brackets, diagonal support tubes for same.
front spring pad.

 

Started working on the four bar brackets for the front axle.

 

Are you going to leave the jam nuts or put the Ford clamps on the bars.
Maybe I missed it; how are you keeping the spring perches square to the axle.

 

Clamps, definitely clamps.
I have a couple ideas on the perch rotation issue,
it will be addressed.