A nearly stock 331 is not a torque monster, so I think the T-5 from a V-8 Camaro or such is a good way to go. The problem with the V-8 T-5 is the placement of the shifter too far back for a short-cabin Model A. However, there are ways of replacing the tailshaft housing with an S-10 tailshaft housing and shifter. Search the H.A.M.B. for articles on this modification (you will need to shim the shaft to relocate the speedometer gear).
I'm making some progress very slowly. Sand blasting or dipping the car was not within budget, so I decided to just spend the time to grind all the old paint off with an angle grinder and some stripping wheels. After a lot of hours and green dust all up in my lungs (don't worry I had a respirator, but somehow still had green all up in my nose), I've got most of the car to bare metal. The next step is going to be filling in the holes in the body where the turn signals used to be. Also there were two holes in the side of the cowl that were filled with 2 flimsy plugs on the right side. I don't know what's more tedious, getting all the paint off the body or getting all the shit off the engine.
It's a good kind of tedious Just one of those things you do and wish it would go faster because you're so anxious to see the result. I got my new wishbones in from eBay. They were a little rusty and pitted, but I think it'll be fine. I actually like the little bit of texture that the pitting adds to them. I also bought some bungs from Speedway that were a bit small, so I made some sleeves for them with some scrap metal I had laying around. I drilled some holes all around the sleeve to weld it to the bung. After grinding, hopefully they slide into the wishbones nice and snug for final welding. Everything fits together fairly snug; it definitely doesn't jiggle around in there anymore, so I think this will work out. I still have to drill holes in the wishbones for the rosette weld, so more pictures and updates soon. I couldn't get any further because my welding gun died I should have a new gun getting in next week, and I'm pretty excited because I finally hooked up juice for 230v in the garage.
Awesome build, new suspension parts are always a safety priority on these rods. Keep up the good work.
Beeyooteefull start. Diggin' it, Mr. 18 posts. Me thinks you have some style points already for this car gig. That 76' Shovel head was indeed bad ass. I'm looking forward to the end result of this recipe of yours. You have some tasty ingredients cooking. Wishbones almost look hammer toned with the pitting, too. Very cool.
Made a little bit of progress on the frame this past week. Work has been crazy; jammed through 21 straight days of 13 hour days, but that means I finally have some money to order some parts, so hopefully more updates soon. I decided to kick up the rear of the frame 8 inches with a Z made out of 2x4 tubing. I also put a 2" sweep up front. I didn't have a jig or anything, and was really cautious about the frame warping and all that. I really took my time welding and letting the frame cool before welding more to minimize twisting from the heat. After every weld I checked if I was level, and I think everything stayed square and even for the most part. I've never really done anything like this before, so hopefully everything works out haha. I made 9 cuts for the sweep up front and brought the front back down with one pie cut. I'm still working on grinding down and smoothing out the welds on the right side. Left side has been grinded down and in the process of getting smoothed out with a file Not sure if you can tell from these pictures, but for the Z, I cut a few inches out of the wall and left a tab on the top and bottom that would fit into the frame kinda like a puzzle. I'm not sure if this adds any strength or just makes things complicated for no reason, but I went with it anyway. I think things came out pretty square and even, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I didn't box the frame yet, so that I would be able to weld both sides of the pie cuts I made for the sweep and also weld both sides of the Z in the back. Once I weld a few bungs in, I'm going to box it up with 7 gauge and knock out the old crossmember. Also, I'm probably going to gusset the Z on both ends just for extra strength and piece of mind. Also going to fishplate the rear for extra beefiness. Please let me know if you guys see anything that is dumb or potentially really dangerous. This is my first car, so I essentially have no idea what i'm doing, and I'm super open to feedback / criticism. THANKS!
I already know your opinions on frame tracking......being a bike builder. Sure you know how to use a tape measure, too. Frame tables are kick ass when making sure, though......down to the micro measure, with the laser points. Looks great to me, but if in doubt....take it to a frame shop. Hell a talented guy like you.....I am positive you are already connected in that department. Thumbs up either way. This thing is gonna' be great. East coast baby.
Looks great and I wouldn't worry too much about that T5. With those tires you'll likely break traction before breaking anything else.
It's been a while since I've had any progress on the car in a while. My Knucklehead died recently, and I've spent the past couple months rebuilding that motor. For anyone interested, here is the bike: Once the bike got finished, I really turned up the focus on the car. I got a lot done, including the motor mounts, trans mount, k-member, cutting the floor out of the body, etc. I'll post up some more detail / progress pics later this week when we get some nice weather. But for now; this is where I am on the build more soon ...
The Jalopy Journal
