Projects Austin Somerset Gasser Build (DragNasty)

So I have three of these cars. One sedan like yours and two convertibles. How bout if I send them out to you for a Gasser convertible build

Too bad mine are too far gone to do anything with ... Lesson: don't cover cars with blue tarps and not check on em for years and years and years =)

Love watching your build, keep up the good work.

 

Or even months! Back in '69 I went in the military and my dad thought he'd do me a favor and cover my pristine '57 Chevy with a tarp. 6 months later when I came home on my first leave I was horrified to find the paint had rusted everywhere the tarp touched the car!

 

Well it has been slow going on the Gasser build for a while. Between having a couple of nice weekends to cruise the Model "A" and a couple stupid cold ones which it seems I got little more than the shop cleaned up, it has been hard to focus.

But I learned something today. As you have seen in previous posts on this build I have a killer old narrowed and strengthened Ford 9" housing. I decided to go ahead and get the measurements to order the axles and rear brake kits today. However while I was doing that, I noticed the housing ends were not big Ford (like I had always assumed they were).

While the bearing was the right size, the housing flanges were not even close to Ford (big or small)! I did a little quick research online and discovered they are LAMB SYMMETRICAL:



While I found out what they were and ordered the axles etc. accordingly, I still can't find out much about them. I heard from Mosier that unlike today, in the early 1970s no one was making axle housing ends. Probably because very few people were narrowing axles. Anyone know more about LAMB SYMMETRICAL housing ends...just wondering from a history stand point?

 

Wow that's is going to be cool Great work

 

You are doing a great job & that is going to be a one of a kind Austin I like it !! keep going !!!!


Trouble

 

What a cool build. Never thought I'd see another one. Here's the one I used to own.





They did make a two door version, but convertible only. And that frame is hell for stout! I've been working on it while it was on 4 jack stands when I bumped one of the stands, it wasn't even touching and the frame didn't flex at all! I almost installed some pos Mazda GLC 4 cylinder anchor into it before I decided to just fix the motor and drive it.

 

I don't think Austin exported nearly as many of these to the States as previous models. In addition, they only built the Somerset for two years.

 

From what I've discovered, I think most of the Austins imported to North America ended up in Canada. Many later found their way to the USA, but I don't think many of them were sent new to US customers.

 

After figuring out the whole "LAMB SYMMETRICAL" housing end gig I did get the Mosier Axles ordered and on the way.





Above is what the real life LAMB housing end looks like...same big Ford bearing 3.50". The overall width of the rear end housing was 34"



Finally, I also ordered the rear brake kits above. I had planned on going with drum brakes from the beginning but to be honest with you after a lot of deliberation, I decided I would rather have this thing STOP then look correct. Beside I already gave up the Traditional "GHOST" on the front with disks anyway. I went with drum brakes on my Model "A" build last year and I have never been happy with the braking...I hope to have the old girl standing on here own sometime next week.

 

Yes and it had the weird 4 speed column shift. Of which the LHD models they didn't even bother to change the shift pattern. It was backwards.

 

I am about to update you guys on the rear end as it is complete and ready to install. Just trying to get the photos all ready for the thread. In the mean time...I have been doing a bit of parts gathering for under the hood:

I said earlier in this thread, the Austin is going to be "corn fed". My E-85 Carbs just showed up. I am really impressed with the workmanship and price. Believe it or not, these Holly 660 E-85s cost me just $350 each. H.A.M.B. is not about advertising but if you want to know where I got them, shoot me a PM.



And yesterday while visiting my local performance parts store, I scored a full set of PRW Roller Rockers for half price. I am really excited. We are just a few parts away from the actual final assembly of the 454.

 

So all the parts are here. Some just arrived this week and some have been hanging around for a long time...



We started by throughly cleaning the 9" housing and prepping it for the center section with a thin bead of black RTV.



Then we dropped the Yukon Nodular third member in place, Yukon Gears, Detroit Locker, Aluminum Daytona Pinion support and Billet Steel 1350 Yoke...350 Gears as planned.

 

We slipped the new Mosier 31 spline axles in place to make sure we did all the calculations correctly (and we did). We were ready for the "C" clips but guess what? That's right. Apparently know one makes them for the LAMB SYMMETRICAL ends (believe me I looked) so time to fab some up.

I started by measuring the axle diameter at the outside of the bearing (just under two inches).



Then I plasma cut two 4" squares out of 3/8" flat steel, found the center point and with a 2" hole saw bored my way through them.



Then I clamped them on the housing ends, marked them and drilled the holes. Finally I picked a side and plasma cut the slip opening.

 

With the axles in, the "C" clips slid right in place and fit perfectly.



So now for the weld on Caliper brackets. I was surprised just how much of the generic bracket I had to cut off but after several cuts and trials, I took nearly three inches off before the Caliper assumed its position on the rotor.



I don't have photos of the process (sorry) but suffice to say sitting there with the caliper in my hands it was clear there was plenty of room for error in welding the brackets. I mean it could tilt backwards, forwards, side to side or even be askew in any number of directions.

We took long strips of poster board and slid them (equal numbers between the brake pads and the rotor...ensuring the caliper was square with the rotor face. Then we took some thin strips of sheet metal and placed them on the edge of the rotor (on the vented area). We pushed the caliper down until the caliper bolts contacted the strips. After giving it a good "eyeballing" we tacked the brackets in place on the housing.

After everything was removed we welded the bracket solid being very careful to alternate between sides so we didn't warp or pull the bracket out of alignment.

 

With a quick fit of the wheels and slicks, we get a good idea of the over all measurements and can double check for any potential clearance issues. All that is left now is attach the ladder bar system and stick this thing in place.

 

The over all measurement from outside tire to outside tire is 58" and the over width of the car from inner fenderwell to inner fenderwell is 59.75. Sooooo. You may have seen the great debate in the Radius the Fender Wells or not thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=865602

...anyway. For now I am not going to radius them. I really like the swooping bodyline on the Somerset that runs all the way back through the rear quarters.

 

Personally I think it looks pretty wild...I know lots of folks will say it has a confused personality now with a straight axel up front and tubbed and tucked tires out back but I still like it.



I do still plan to radius them out one of these days but for now I am going to get it on the road as is. More to come...hopefully it will be standing on its own this weekend for the first time since October of last year.

 

Is the gearbox mounted on top of the X member? I guess it ran through it on the original car? Any pictures?

 

It does run directly on top of the original x-member. Just enough room between them for a mount of some kind. I will have photos coming up of the mount fabrication etc. in a later post.

 

Ah ok, thanks. I keep wondering about building a Devon, which is very similar but they´re funny about modified chassis these days.

 

Nice build!

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You can kind of see the "X" member there...I am just about ready to start fabbing some kind of mount...

 

Original Somerset gear box is a very short 4 speed and did fit within the x member.

 

So we are ready to stick the wheels and slicks on this morning but no lug nuts. The magwheel accorn style nuts that came with the wheels are not going to work with 3" Mosier studs. I went to my local parts store to see if they had some chrome nuts that would work. They did...$6.99 for 4 in a bubble pack... I know it seems stupid to quivel over $20 at this point but sometimes it is just a matter of principle.



So I needed the style on the right but all I had was the accorns on the left. Actually, they are the same lug nuts. I simply screwed them on to a long bolt, clamped them in my chop saw and zipped the tops off.



I ground them down flush to the shoulder. Polished them up a bit and shot the tops with a bit of clear to keep them from rusting.

 

have done the same thing with lug nuts. Because the local part stores seem to always have everything but what I NEED!

 

So I got the ladder bar system hooked back up and it is all ready to slide back under the car as a unit.



You know several people commented on the fact that tucking the tires was going to make them very difficult to remove or install. I don't know what the big deal is...it only took six or seven 2x6 blocks, 4 jack stands, one floor jack, and a cherry picker...what's the big deal, LOL!!!!!

 

It will be easier once the wheels are on lift the body and roll it in or out.

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Well she is standing on her own tonight...kind of



We installed the wheelie bars to make sure there were no clearance issues etc. We did put the aftermarket overload coil overs on it (as mentioned earlier in the thread) and just as at least one H.A.M.B.er feared, they were not strong enough. We are now going to leave them in place but design a 1/4 eliptic spring set up...more to come.

 

So after the coil overs failed, we had to totally rethink the rear suspension. Originally we had kicked around a 1/4 eliptic spring design so that is what we fell back on. Because there is a lot going on out back with the wheelie bars and shocks not to mention we are going to need room for a fuel cell and battery box as well, it seemed obvious to move to the front of the axel.



After sketching it all out, I am very pleased with this decision as it appears it will really work well with the Ladder bar suspension geometry.

 

So I went out to the scrap pile this morning and dug out one of the Austin's orginal leaf springs and cut it in half.



Plenty of room up there for a cross member and spring perches etc.



We started with .25" plate steel that ran from arch to arch and was 4" wide. We plasma cut an arch out of the center for drive shaft clearance. Then with the same .25" material cut and drilled two spring perch plates. Then we clamped the cross member in place on the frame and held the spring with perch plate clamped on it in place to detemin the exact triangular shape for the legs.



We cut our pattern out of poster board and then test fit again before plasma cutting it out the steel plate. When all the pieces were cut out, we laid it out and for a final "eyeballing" before welding.