Projects 27 on 32 rails

well. guys, verno30 has given me an opportunity to build a set of 32 rails for his 27. thanks vern. he has made a template of the body of the car and its in the mail. with his input and yours i hope this goes well. if you guys have any advise for me along the way and if there is anything you see that i need to change, by all means fire away. also going to build one for kracker36 . "A" frame bobed in front and back. this should be exciting, hope theres as much interest in these two as there was in my first build thread. that was awsome guys, appreciate it. hopefully verno36 dont mind if i include krackers build in along with his. i plan on meeting vern later on in this to do a fit up with his body and my frame. there will for sure be plenty of pictures posted on that. i probably wont be able to start on it though for another week. my wife is scheduled to deliver next thursday so i will have to spend a little time with her and the new little one. thought i would use this little bit of down time to listen to you guys before i start

 

Congratulations on both accounts!

 

thanks.

 

Congratulations!
27 on 32 rails---I dig it!

 

This should be interesting. I'm hoping it comes out great.

 

Post lots of progress pics.


Posted from a small thing in my hand...........

 

I may have to get one for my 26 T...

 

27 on 32 rails, yes...

 

here's a question.
when i did the 32 rails for the model "A", i flattened them. does this go for the 27 as well.

 

Yeah..........T's ...& A's both have completely flat frames. The cowl area is flat. The rear crossmember arches up for the spring originally. The rear kickup on 32 rails means the subrails have to be cut & floor modified in the trunk area of the body. And the rails have to be narrowed to fit behind the fender wells. If ya dont do this, the rears gonna sit too high after clearing the axle. And flattening at the cowl eliminates doing a mini channel at the cowl(or sticking a fugly board in there)...........So --Yes--- flatten the rails at the cowl.

 

thats what i was kind of thinking. just wanted to make sure.

 

Thats the advantage of using a 32 frame. Obviously strength but also the rear kick allows a lower ride height. Look at a stock model T or A ride height and you will see how a straight flat frame sits.

 

When I built one on a '32 frame I didnt flatten it.

The frame was pinched to match the cowl horizontally, and then I changed the cowl to match the angle of the chassis where it slopes up.

 

Absolutely the way I would do it Metalshapes.

 

seems like in the in the pics metalshapes put on it looks like it gives it some what more rake than sitting level

 

The rake was how the owner wanted it.

And I agreed, I think it needed it.

It was done with the suspension, and the rubber rake ( big & littles ).

But it could have been built with less rake, with the same frame.


My own T had about the same rake on a Model A frame.

 

The 32 frame is flat where the cowl sits so the body will sit on the chassis. The chassis is too wide though and will need to be narrowed quite a bit. It ends up as a taper you will then need to bring the front of the chassis out to match the width of the front dismember and the back of the chassis will need to be made narrower to fit inside the width of the turtle deck. Here is mine...



I also reshaped the rear of the chassis to make the car sit lower and fitted a model A front crossmember. People say they pinch the frame but for a T it's a lot more involved.

Here is a link to my build (27on 32 rails ) it may help. I am also making my body from scratch.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=596032

David

 

so being that the 32 frame is so universal, is the only reason really they flatten them if for grill alignment and my other guess would be if they are running a full hood

 

by "flatten" you are talking about where on the frame?

 

forward of the front body mounting holes

 

Rodders Journal #58 (latest out) page 71 there is a pic of a kid with a 27 on a 32 frame from the late 30's early 40's.

 

On the one I did with the '32 frame I had no trouble lining the height of the grille up with the cowl, because it was a older build that was started in the '50s.
And it was channeled over a Model A chassis.

I did the work for the son of the original builder.
His dad had not completely finished the car, or even got it running, but it came with lots of boxes with NOS Hot Rod parts.

The rad was already sectioned for the channel.

The reason we went with a '32 chassis was that the current owner ( the son ) was a much bigger guy than his dad.

 

No, I think he is talking about the small amount of "sweep" uo ward that a '32 frame has naturally. The whole "flattened" '32 frame was a eighties and ninties aftermarket thing. I'm not aware of being done before aftermarket rails were around. There was a time in the eighties between Deuce Factory stamping them, and when ASC started stamping them again, and that's when only fabricated rails were available. That's where flattening started. It's a subtle thing, but to my eye I can tell when it's been flattened out when I see a car in profile. To me, it screams "AFTERMARKET" or "REPRO"... But maybe that's just me

 

It really kills the gracefull flowing lines a '32 frame has, IMO.

I'd never even considder taking that slope out, and flattening it...

 

I don't think you want to flatten anything front of the fire wall. Thats the beauty of a 32 frame. Grill shell and hood alignment is acheived by chopping the grill shell if need be. just my 2 cents

 

If you flatten everything you are really getting back to something that resembles a 2x4 tubing frame. Please don't ruin what you have already

 

ok. i wont flatten them. its just that alot of the guys that are starting to inquire about a frame are asking me if i am flattening the rails for the 26-27 and the 30-31. just trying to understand why and if that is something i need to be looking into.

 

maybe they are getting "flatten" confused with "pinch" haha

 

wescotts states in one of their prints when building for a 30-31 that the frames are flattened in front http://www.wescottsauto.com/WebCatalog/Tech/FrameDiagram1929Hiboy.pdf

 

I found this one one the internet some time ago, I don't know if its a hamber's. Love it. I have a touring 26 27 body I'm going to start one day, and I would like it to look like this one.
Really like the looks of it.