Ha ha ha! This is crazy wild! I love it! You are pure inspiration. Don't let this thread die. I gotta see it to completion.
Joel, your progress and ingenuity are out there. Hopefully the weather will cooperate till you can ge it weather proof.
ok i bolted brackets in and tac welded them together then took it out as one piece sorry for crappy pic i sprayed it white to show how it looks this is not the finished product when i remove the dash for rewiring (coming up soon) i will add more to this bracket by welding a arm forward to the firewall measuring the pedals in my Chevy caprice to get an idea where the pedals should be the old firewall i cut out from the Monty this is where the master cylinder was mounted master cylinder is mounted baby and still holding pressure
Joel, rip out that headliner. We don't want you catching hantavirus from all the dried mouse shit up there. Respirator or not, you are doing a lot of work inside that car and you don't have the respirator on 100% now, do you? Please, Bro.
ok i made half of the steering column bottom mount (dont know what to call it) first i prepped the orig fire wall and reshaped the section i needed. i flanged the edges up to create a surface i could attach metal too then i bolted the steering column in to get the position and welded the montys plate in place then made i cardboard template of the filler plate and finished it off i will do the bottom section tomorrow after work or when i come back from p.a. sunday night i never ever work with out a mask lol i actually wear two think paper with two thin ones in between all the time the only time i have no mask is for pics
ok i cut a section of the toe board from the donor plymouth and filled in the hole i pushed this section of the floor forward about an 1"-1/2 to give pedals more clearance but you really can't tell i placed a clear plastic inside over everything and carefully removed the head liner so that out of the way thanks for worrying about me ok i cut the front rails so the nose can fit better
ok now its time to play with the radiator i first mocked the fenders up with the hood strike plate and radiator bracket and i noticed that if i put the radiator straight it would hit the pulley but if i angle it a little i clear everything i just have to weld a bracket to mount the bottom the bracket is mounted on top to the fender where it should be i cant wait for tomorrow straight angled
You sir are a true hot rodder with a lot of ingenuity!! It's refreshing to see a build like this more than a catalog build!! Nice!!
OK ARE YOU READY FOR A RADIATOR SUPPORT? first i had to line everything up so i used my hood as the starting point i install a 2x4 wood to screw the fenders and hood latch support to hold them in the spot i wanted after many adjustments i was happy next i notched a 2x2" hole into the frame to slide in my new support bar ok now two 1x1" welded together to reach to the radiator plate three major words in my build recycle recycle recycle meet the radiator plate
here's how you should have done it..... Seriously, that car is coming along nicely. i miss mine everyday.
ok i finished the radiator bracket and added a little support under the plate the rad sits on top of shes welded into the frame i will cap off the frame later now its time to see if the inner fender wells fit the pass side fits perfect but the drivers side is to close to the a/c unit now heres my big question and need your help guys this is an 86 chassis i believe this a/c unit cannot be refilled as they don't do r34 if that is the right number i can't remember. now im not going to use a/c right now but planed on adding it in later on, not that big of a deal if i can't use this unit cause its the old stuff will a newer unit with the good stuff bolt up to my motor or i will need new brackets ? cause i can remove everything and just bolt up the inner fender well im sooooo tired from work but i had to ask it been bugging me all day ready for a pic? pass inner fender drivers side just needs a little hammer work to bowl some areas for extra room but really nothing is touching it that cant be nudged out of the way this is a junk inner fender im using to test fit i have to remove the battery tray from the good one and put it on the pass side i will be mounting the cruise control stuff on this side a/c unit too close for comfort
I think you mean R12. There are R12 equivalents that are available today. ALso, there are ways to convert to more modern refrigerants. So don't worry about it - you can have A/C later. You will not need new mounts.
thats great i will rip out the a/c unit tomorrow, install the wiring harness, and relocate the batterie tray i was thinking about vintage air when i was first making all the plans cause i figured they make a/c for cars that never had it so i have guess there units that go on the firewall are small but have never seen or measured any. im going to check there web site now to get an idea. my goal will be to keep the factory 47 heater core/blower and also install the a/c condensor on the firewall and plumb some a/c into the car later on
That'll work. You can cobble up your own A/C from junkyard parts, no need to spend $$$ on Vintage Air. Either use a GM compressor that bolts right up OR go for a Sanden compressor. If you scrounge parts from later model cars - including a GM compressor that will bolt up - you will have no problem using modern refrigerant.
yea i know i can't afford them they cost as much as my donor car lol i want to steal ideas one of the airbag for the front has a leak when i get a new one il install them and drop the front i can't wait
My 47 chevy sits on a 76 Monte Carlo chassis, the original builder made a new riser at the rear seat truck area to clear the coil springs. The bumper horns were cut back front and rear and the old brackets were fited to the frame. The body really fit well on the frame and some spacers were made to fill the gaps. We have been redoing it and fixed a lot of the poorly made body mounts at the front with ones more substancial. I always liked the ride and can't wait to see how much better it handles. Very little of the old body was cut to made it fit. when people find out its on a newer frame they can't believe it.
i know there are people that hate us with these swaps and i hope they stay off this thread so ryan doesn't close me down but its the direction alot of guys are going to take when its becomes the normal thing to do, every old modification to make a hotrod was new at one time and someone back then said don't do that its not right at one point in time. its sad that when anyone now thinks outside the box they are outcast as the village idiot but someone famous does it they are considered wile e. coyote super genius i would love to see you post some detailed pic to show everyone how things where done good or bad on your car. i didn't have to do such a major chop in the trunk i could have gotten away with the simple trunk but i think i added cubic space by reshaping to conform with the new chassis and once its carpeted its should look badass. i have to thank ryan for letting post this so far i know its not the norm but i am learning from this and can't wait to build a traditonal hotrod in the near future
Well said, Joel. I don't have a problem with what you are doing - it is well known that the post-war MoPar chassis were very weak in the steering, suspension, emergency brake, u-joint and brakes categories. You are addressing those issues; everyone with one of these cars including me faces the shortcomings of the stock design and we all deal with it in our own way. The larger issue is that you are working with what you have on hand to work with, you are solving the problems using your own brain, you are fabricating the parts with your own hands, and you are doing this in your own driveway without the benefit of some $$$$ shop (or paying someone to do it for you). That to me is as traditional as you can get.
Converting to R134 is merely a matter of installing the fittings and purging the systerm. The kit includes R134 servicing fittings that screw onto the original R12 Fittings. Then do a complete pump down, and service with R134 along with a compatable lubricant. You can use the existing compressor and mounts. Adapt new hoses and even Mix/match the rest of the components. My system is composed of salvaged parts, total cost less than $200, the major cost is for crimping of new fittings to new hoses.
the haters can kiss off. my 48 plymouth didnt look no where near as bad as yours did and i didnt get no where near as far as you have. keep up the great work!!
VERY INTERESTING i think im going to have to mount my cruise control equipment somewhere else now so that i leave room for the a/c unit i will mock the compressor up to make room for it but leave out the belt for now
Joel my car is pretty similar to yours. I drove it just about everyday for 13 yrs before I decided to make it better. The old cobbled up stuff was beginning to wear. The gas pedal was the first thing I attacked it never was comfortable. We lengthen the rod a couple of inches and now ah...no more sore ankle. I found the front body mounts were not the greatest and my neighbor (hot rodder) made some new ones. I guess that noise was them banging on the frame. I used the GM tilt column like yours in fact I got a new one from Steering columns Galore in Brewster N.Y. It was cheap enough to swap the old one for a new rebuilt one. He even painted it to match. http://www.columnsgalore.com/index.htm We made several fitments to the column which uses the old dash hook now (eliminates another banging noise) and intergrates the column to the floor, body and dash. I think I could sit on it with no problem now. I didn't use a column drop since the previous mount put the column level with the bottom of the dash. We used rubber bushings to dampen the vibrations. I put headers on my engine and we had to re-adjust the column position. I did it by changing the mounting position on the floor, it worked great to get the spare inch. I'm up in the hudson Valley near Newburgh, my car was done by some guy out in PA. years ago. My intention was to make the car better, since I plan on driving the wheels off.
IIRC, converting from R12 to R134 requires flushing all the components (different oil), replacing the oil, new seals throughout (oil thing again, plus they leak) and hoses. The molecules of 134 are smaller and leak out of R12 hoses and seals. You might find someone that can do R12, but they are far and few, and you will end up converting anyway. By now there are enough cars in the yards with the R134 parts that it may be easier to just get all the newer stuff to install. 1996 was the cutoff, some earlier ones had it too. It would probably work better, since the newer system is designed for the R134 rather than a R12 system that almost always didn't cool as well after it was converted... For those that think that A/C is not trad, they also use it for defrosting (it cools/dries the air, then heats it), so it is a safety upgrade. Beats the one-handed drive while wiping the glass.
so if i grab one out of let say a 98 chevy will it bolt up to my 86 brackets if so that would be sweet i would grab everything hoses and all then i just have to figure what small car has a unit that is not so big ( the part that mounts on the firewall??) i didn't remove the one from the monte cause it was huge i dont know what every component is called a/c compressor - duh radiator thing in front of radiator - big thing mounted on firewall- condenser?
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