Myself and a friend are about ready to start on our Model A frames. Neither of us have Z-ed a frame before. We are probably looking to Z them in the front and back to get the correct body height. Is there any books out there that we can buy to give us a good idea where to start and how to figure out the right amount to drop the rails?? I have never seen one but maybe one of you guys have. We want to do it ourselves if we can.
How to build a traditonal Ford Hot Rod has a good section on a small Z There were some great ones just the other day on here....let me see if I can find them..
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83232 60's Style said he'd post when he does the rear... there's another one that was about a month ago.....just a basic rear Z like in the book mentioned above...
Ya need to double it, or your ass will be high in the sky. This is a before pic, where it was Zed they way the book shows. Ended up double Zing it. Got the butt down where it should be.
still waiting on parts... ordered the rear spring and ladders over a week ago, won't know for sure exactly how much or where to make the cut till it's mocked up. also although I do believe the front step there should be plenty strong, with the tube ends boxed and gusseted top, bottom and sides, I still may add a section of plate to lap over the entire area at the sides. the rear step will look a little different, I may use a section of tube lapped top and bottom with both lap and roset (sp?) welds. and will be more like six or eight inches..
Thanks guys. I've got the book by AV8 but I was looking for a little more in depth info. Not much in the archives...Thats the reason I posted. I'll keep an eye on what 60's style is doing. May just do the trial and error method. Of course we will do his frame first!!
Thanks afx. I don't know how I missed that thread but I saved it so we can use it later. Pretty good info there guys.
Thanks sheepdogg...saved that one too. Now if we can get the total frame length figured out and the cut angles we'll get started. Thanks guys...appreciate the info.
I did one like the book shows but I made the boxing plate a Z shape so that it was a continuous piece through the whole area where the frame was cut and rewelded. I thought this would make it a little stronger. If you want to get the car really low, you will need to look at more Z and some other suspension options.
Thanks John. Yeah we want 'em pretty low so it looks like trial and error time. I'm pretty sure we can figure it out with some of the threads I've saved. If we run into trouble there are several guys here in Indy that can give us some advice. We just want to do it ourselves to get some experience.