Hey Kevin, any more fab work on this 55'? I need to steal more ideas from you! I will get some photos of the chunk of $#!t I bought soon... Jason -how's your gasser?
Congrats, excellent workmanship. Would love to be able to weld like that! May be a dumb Question, but why do they all run the fixed shackle at the rear of the spring? Wouldn't the axle be more laterally stable anchored at the front? Hope you can help me understand why they do it this way. once again, fine work.
sweet looking build how did you attach the hood to the mesh and the hood hinges ... i think you can see small hardware in the front on one of the pictures 2 on each side of the front????
Nice seeing this thread. I'm just about to start a '60 Pontiac Catalina gasser and have questions that you guys have probably encountered over the years. I too wonder about the rear solid axle mount versus the solid front mount and why, or is there little difference? I see almost every build with the rear solid so I assume that's the way to go. If not answered then I'll follow the others. I owned a '63 Catalina Ventura that I tilted the front end on, using the stock front metal. I took the hood hinges, inverted them and I think swapped side for side, mounting the hood flange on top of the frame horns under the rad core support. This configuration allowed the front to rise up when tilting which allowed the front lower grill/bumper apron to lift over the bumper and then the hinge would start it's forward tilt. I just stumbled on to it and it worked great. By leaving the hood spring on the hinge it also helped with the lifting of the front end. Not sure it will work for every hinge configuration but it did for the '63. Again, not an engineer but I stumbled on to it by just putting the hinge on and trying it out. I felt that it should work somehow if done right. I cut the lower front fenders at the body line so the front end did not have to go around the cowl. I could unpin the frontend. Walk to the front and with one hand lift and then tilt the metal forward with ease. I wished I had taken pictures of it but I was young and too dumb to think of posterity. I'm going to see if I can do it with this '60 when I start on it. Mark L
Kev - do you have an ironworker for punching all those holes, or are you going el manuel? Also, have anymore info on the hood braces - are these burned with a plasma and cleaned up or are they lazer cut? They look fantastic.
When it comes to the shackles, they can be at the front or the rear of the spring. Factories have mounted them both ways. If you do a search you will find huge discussioins on the subject but the bottom line is you will never notice the difference, especially with cross steering. I don't have an ironworker so all the holes you see are drilled (drill bits or hole saws) or larger ones are cut with a torch as are the plates themselves. I have a plasma cutter but hardly ever use it. I pretty much use a cutting torch all the time. If you know how to use a torch properly there should be no problems, basically use the correct size tip and keep it clean. It has a reputation as a butchers tool because people don't use it right. A verticlal metal cutting bandsaw is a good way to cut those plates also, I didn't have one back then. Here are a few recent shots showing the rearend in place with old style lift bars made from 3x2x.120 wall tubing (tapered at front with urethane bushings), we also installed floaters to prevent suspension bind. Vic has also installed the master cyl' and line loc. Roll cage is in the works.
Kev do you have pics of the steering box mounted? What steering arm did you use? By the way I am ready for the updates on the Willys, it is a great looking car.... Love the fab work!! Clyde
This is just too awesome. 1) When you took the axle out of the truck, did it "work" well with the car---i mean no narrowing? Just left everything stock? 2) If you have a shop (i'm wasn't sure from just reading this thread), how much do you charge to do a conversion? Just the frame, axle install and functional steering? i can do everything else ( i think?).
I'll shoot some pics this weekend of the steering box. Can't remember what steering arm I used, probably the one that came with the box (GM 525) which I bought at a swap meet. Kev's coming by this weekend to do more welding - if it don't rain... Vic
1) It is a stock axle which someone converted to disc brakes already remove from the truck. Only thing I did was have the springs rearched. Kev made the conversion to cross steering. 2) Not speaking for Kev but he can do that and will have to answer this question on price. I'm fortunate to have a good friend like Kev who can still lay down some nice welds and a great fabricator. I'm just getting lazy in my old age... Vic
Just went over this whole thread again. Looked at it a couple years ago before I did mine. It didn't all compute for me then but it DOES now. Great Stuff here.
uwonamos, I went and checked out your build - man, what a nice job and you move fast! You must be younger than me with lots of energy - or time, or money... You do nice work, hope to see your ride sometime - hope to get mine done. Vic
As expected, beautiful work! Just like the 34 chop. Looks like the Chevy truck axle worked out nicely, and the holes you knocked in it give it "the look" Car sits just right TUFF John
Excuse my ignorance....but what is the bracket in the between the arm and the leaf spring clamp? The one with three holes and it appears to be a pad on the bottom?
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