Had the tube axle castor adjusted on my highboy tub with heavy leather between the Dies of the press and it did not even hurt the paint ! Love your Mopar coup body lines ! Glad I did not have to hand make those patch panels !
I've actually decided not to run this tube axle. I decided the car needs to be lower. Looks like a 6" drop tube axle is just what this car needs. It just sits too high, and I'm not getting rid of the original leaf spring design. This axle will drop the front 3 inches, and I'll block the reared the same. I want to fill as much of the rear inner as I can with those tires. And yes a few of those panels had me thinking when it came time to make them. I actually only scrapped one!! Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yesterday I installed the shifter for this automatic. American Shifter Co. appears to have made a pretty nice shifter for these old cars. Directions were less than great, and they dont come with the shifter, you have to download them online but I managed to get it in the car. These are kind of pricey, but I got this one through the classifieds here and saved a bit of cash even though it was new in box. Now I am finally ready to tear it all apart and start the blasting and painting process.
I just wasn't willing to give them up. My sons thought I should go a different direction with the front end, but the designers were ahead of their time as far as I'm concerned.
I owned a 34 Chevy Pu years ago , and I mounted the front axle on top if the springs Using U bolts . If you ditch the factory spring perches and build your own ,in this configuration you should get at least a 4" drop . You will need to posably C- notch the frame And need bottoming snubers .
I really don't have the room to be comfortable setting the axle on top of the springs. I ended up pulling a couple leafs to soften it up. Even with the hemi in there it was very stiff. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I haven't purchased the axle yet. I was planning on a simple plain drop tube from Speedway. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hey bud the floors & toe boards are looking great! I can't wait to see it when your finished with it! Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Been pretty busy the last few days. Its 2 degrees out so I figured I'd post a few progress pics today. I took the centers out of a pair of my steel wheels so they could be put in an 8 inch rim blank for the rear tires. After removal, I cleaned them up and drilled the holes to mount them in the rim blanks. After that I put them in, stuck them on a front spindle and made some adjustments to them so they would spin true. They are now ready to weld. When thats done I'll blast off the remaining old paint, and prime and paint them.
I started to fab up a headlight bar, using the original from the car. I like the look of that bar in front of the grill. This is the first part of this car that's original that I have cut up. It took alot for me to even do this to an original part. There is a specific reason this car won't have a chopped roof. It's because I just can't bring myself to do that. Anyway, this was just a start to see how the headlights would fit. With a 6 inch drop axle, I'll have to raise them a little, and pull them closer to the grill shell, but like I said it's a start.
Having almost everything mocked up I pulled the power train, and the body. I plan to weld up all unnecessary holes in the frame before we begin reassembly. I'm still contemplating frame color. Black or the color I chose for the car? I really like the thought of it being the same as the car. After that my wife actually helped me remove the body, and stand it up so I can clean, prime, and paint the underside. I'm hoping by February to be starting some reassembly.
Busy day today. After cleaning the bottom of the car the last couple days, I primed and painted the underside. The color is a little darker, and a little more blue than I originally planned on but I like it alot. We are going to hit the outer bodywork pretty hard this weekend.
Another busy day today. My oldest son spent the day helping me in the garage. We started taking out the nuts for the rear fender bolts and started welding in the holes. We also finished welding in the driver side lower cowl patch I made last year, and as he welded, I started straightening out the body. This car was in pretty good shape except the lower 2 to 4 inches all the way around, but it's an old car that wasn't built to today's body standards, and I want the paint to look great so every panel has to be completely gone over. this calls for body icing, and quite a bit of it. I also found the rear inner fenders needed some straightening. They were never made to be a noticeable piece of the exterior of these old cars, and running fender-less they are completely exposed for all to see. The body is now about 40% ready. My 6 inch drop tube axle arrived today, so tomorrow we will set the axle castor and weld on the spring perches. I can't spend two whole days straight hand sanding. While today's tool companies make a wealth of power tools for the body man, there isn't anything better than a set of assorted sanding blocks and manual labor to bring an old body back to life. For me it's the satisfaction of doing it literally all on your own. They pics may not look like it but a lot of work went on in my garage today and I'm very happy with the results.. I can't wait to see this new axle under the car!!
Set the drop axle today. After mounting, we set castor to 6 degrees, tacked the perches and pulled the axle back out to properly weld the perches on. Left the camera in the house so all I have is a crappy phone pic but here it is. I like how it sits now. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
For future reference , a 2-3" chop looks great ! A little photo shop work by the guys on the HAMB: Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
If I hadn't already filled the roof in, that may be an option. I like it. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The dropped axle looks good! Any issues with tie rod interference vs the front springs? Which spindles did you use?
I used Ford spindles. They were what I originally had on the wavy tube. Clearance at the leaf springs for the tierod bar is around 3/4 of an inch. That should never change even on a rough road. I was suprised the clearance was that much. I fooled around with my headlight bar some today. Narrowing it 2 1/2 inches, though I still need to lengthen the brackets holding it I think tire clearance will be fine. I'll take a couple better quality pics of the frontend later tonight. I'll make sure to show you the clearance. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Looking good, looking real good! That light blue reminded me of either grabber blue or Petty blue! I can't wait to see it in person. You and Ben do some nice work. Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I completely agree, that would be just enough yet subtle. I only did 3 inch chop on my coupes and it made the entire body proportionate. Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
It's awful tempting to chop it but I have so much work ahead of me yet I think I'll leave it alone. I'll probably chop my 28 Dodge when it goes in the garage next winter. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
It's actually called Deep Aqua. The pics don't do it justice at all. Every pic I took at different angles looked a different shade. It's much nicer in person. I'm not really a blue guy and I still like it. I remember when Ben was a little guy. Not old enough to run a tractor down the pulling track and they let him anyway. Pulling against adults and winning with a tractor he built. It all started right there!! That was a long time ago. Sent from my SM-S920L using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I just came in from the garage. This afternoon, I reset the front axle. I wanted to make sure I had headlight clearance using the original headlight bar. I cut 2 1/2 inches fromt the center and pulled the lights closer to the grill shell. I added a couple 2X2's under the bases to judge height and it's pretty close to where it needs to be for headlight clearance of the tires while turning. I'll check it again after I paint the rims and mount the tires. The 6 inch drop axle fit like a glove with no additional tierod drops. there is almost 7/8" of clearance at the leaf spring. My son dropped of my rear wheels today after welding the centers in and blasting them. Last is a pic of the rear shackle holding my leaf in. This appears to be original equipment. I didn't want to change any of them simply because of how they were originally made being a pain to replace. Still a loooong way to go....
The Jalopy Journal
