Projects Dreddybear's Model A Coupe thread - DARTH WALTER

Here we are as of now ish...








Here's the car as of Last year.. I stole this pic from Tom Davidson's Round up thread.




NOTE: VIDEO on page 48 and 68

Build pics are pretty numerous and they stay pretty steady through the last page. So before diving in you might want to grab a coke or a beer. Thanks. Also if you're impatient and just wanna see the car as it sits now go to page 42 for pics and a video of it firing for the first time.

This thread has been a long time coming. Scootermcrad convinced me it was time to post. Basically for the last year or so I've been putting together the parts I need to make myself a Model A. At first I was gonna build a pickup, I had a cool little body to start with anyway, but I always wanted a coupe and it just so happens that my pal Norm came up with a rusty but savable little '29 coupe body. Since he has, I dunno, like 9 32's or something he gave me a call and the next thing I know I'm the proud owner of a bouncing baby model A coupe. Thank you Norm! Here's me making vroom vroom noises while sitting in it in my little apartment garage...





Some more all around pics...








Now the right side isn't so bad, it's actually kinda straight. But the drivers side, oh boy, it's gone! Here's the only pic I saved.





Needless to say the only usable thing on the drivers side is the subrail. The quarter was nowhere to be found, and whoever last had it had tried to make a quarter panel from scratch. Badly. Door too. Luckily Hamb'er Michael Malice had what I needed in the form of A and B pillars, Left and Right doors, a nice tank, and some other brackets I'm sure will come in handy. Here are some photos I took prior to getting in a buttload of trouble for putting these on the living room carpet. "It's not rust honey, It's Patina..."​

Sometimes the sun will shine down on you in the form of parts. In this case it was a quarter panel that was, what I am guessing, mislisted on ebay. I got it way too cheap. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that now what once was the good quarter panel don't look so great.





So now that I've got what constitutes a pretty solid body, with the exception of the drivers side roof piece (anyone? Please?) , I can move on to getting some sort of a rolling frame-thing to hook it all up to. Well I can't do this in my apartment! I need some sort of shop or something. So the hunt starts, cause there's no way I can build this thing here:​

 

So, though I'm looking for a permanent shop, I gotta start doing something. The next few weeks I find myself hanging out at my buddy Mark's shop (MR. FORD on the Hamb) quite frequently. I take the opportunity to work on some stuff. Here I'm drilling out some wishbones. Bones are stock Model A, cut right at the weld with 11/16" speedway bungs welded in:









You didn't think I was gonna leave them like that did ya? The holesaw was 1 3/16". Steel pipe OD is 1 1/8". ID is 1". This way I could tack in all the sleeves and slightly move them a little so they all line up. Fill it in, grind it down and...voila!









I went ahead and drilled my axle too. 1 inch holes. So now there are 7 holes in each bone, and 7 holes on each side of the axle. Looks even all the way around.

Before:


After:




Aww hell, with all these holes in my axle I can't just leave the backing plates Bare!! Get out the drill press Baby!!

 

Because I'm so impatient, I went ahead and mocked it up on the "garage" floor...



As you can see, I'm using 47/48 spindles. Gonna have to bend these babies later on. But for now I need some hubs and drums. Quick call to Riley Auto (VAPHEAD) and some hubs ready for buick drums are on the way. They went on smooth as butter!





I had already bought my wheels a while back- mid 30's Plymouth I believe. They're 16 x 4". A call to Coker and a brand new set of Firestone wide whites were on their way. I saved a ton because of my Alliance membership. So if you're on the fence about that, DO IT! You won't regret it. I'm on my second year. Anyway fronts are 600 x 16's and rears are 750 x 16's. I went ahead and leaned them up against the body, you know, just to see what it would look like...

Vroom vroom noises ensued...



Well, I gotta get a frame going here! Called up JimA at SoCal and a Model A crossmember was on it's way. I had picked up some boxed frame rails and a stock Model A rear crossmember, so as soon as I do some measuring we're on our way to framedom.





I'm a big fan of the Bleed sweep. Props to Bob. So here's my take, instead of one pie cut, it's ten small slices. Close together at first, then a little farther apart towards the front of the frame. Makes for a smooth transition that looks sexy. I was grinding for a LONG time. Yes the front was brought back down with one pie cut. Plans call for some strategic fish plates and gusseting.

 

Right about this point I find out that there's a building just a couple spaces down from Mark's shop. So we go take a look. Second pic is MR. FORD doin the electric slide. Or was it the Hammer dance? Anyway, I got a SHOP!





Move in time!









Now that I'm getting settled in, time to put some Z on this guy. I'm gonna run spring over, and I want the MAXIMUM amount of room in the car. The body will be channeled only the height of the frame rails and no further. The way I measured, the x-member will be right up underneath the deck lid.







At this point I can't wait and go ahead and bolt some stuff on...









The drums peek out just enough...



UPDATE: NO HEMI, NOW CADDY!!!

That's about it for now. I'll report in as this guy progresses. I'm shootin for an outside shot at making Round Up '09. Fingers crossed. Oh, and when we moved into the new shop, I found where someone had written "WALTER" in banner font on the wall. The name stuck. But since I am an admittedly proud Star Wars nerd, and Hemi powered Model A's are MEAN. I present to you the start of DARTH WALTER.

JUMP TO PAGE 3 to CONTINUE

 

HELL YES!!!! Lookin' good man!!! Thanks for the update!!!! You better post some video of that Hemi one of these days also!

BTW... speaking of hemis... I dig those lakes headers! Did you kit those or scratch build those?? I was thinking of picking up Speedways BBC kit (since it's basically the same as the hemi but half the price) and modifying it to work.

OH! And what better place is there to assemble your front end than in the living room?!!! HAHA! Awesome!

 

Thanks for the kind words sir! I find myself a leetle nervous given the badass talent on the Hamb...

Headers came from lakeheaders.com and I gotta say, that dude is spot on! He made the intake too.

 

Ahhh yes. I like his stuff a lot and from talking to him in the past he seemed way cool. Right on!

There really is some great talent on here. I feel the same way. There are so many people that I look up to as builders here and can only DREAM of being as good as they are someday, but I look at it as a way for the people with all that good talent to tell me what I'm doing wrong so I can improve. I've learned a lot by going public. Gotten tips and made changes along the way. Welding and metal prep have been the biggest thing, but general motivation has been huge as well. Knowing you're on the right track is important.

Keep the updates coming man!

 

Damn, no wonder you've been looking for a roof.... j/k man that looks nice - looking forward to seeing it at LSR '09 hopefully mine will be ready to cruise as well. Keep the updates coming!

 

Not bad..............from one bike geek to another!

 

Well sir, it looks like you have got your self the beginnings of a fucking rad hot rod! Awesome, Engine, Awesome Intake, Awesome Headers, Awesome car, Awesome Shop! I am bookmarking this son of a bitch!

 

Great job on the frame and wishbones. another great car from Austin.Keep us posted on you new shop,like a b.b.q. or open house or just commin by to shoot the shit lol.........

Endsville Franco............................

 

really like the way you did the frame sweeps, gonna be real nice!congrats on a bitchin shop too!

 

Thanks for the kind words guys. Franco there will definitely be a Bbq coming up soon. Maybe a pre-Hamb drags get together? It's in the works

 

Nice job, can't wait to check it out next year, when I come to Austin again for the round-up.
Damn, those Hemi's look great.

 

Groovy man, where's the pics of the body thrown up on the chassis? Have Mark flex those beer muscles and halp you get it on there!

 

Nice!

 

MMMMMMM HEMI! Looks great dreddybear!

 

Frame mods are out of sight, man. Hemi Hemi Hemi with a log ram...killer.

 

lookin good!

 

Killer!!!! love the intake. this is going to be a bitchin ride

 

What a fucking death trap! Ha ha ha ha ha.
Really though man, looks like Darth Walter is coming along just fine. Kick ass indeed!

 

Ok so maybe that's why nobody was at the old shop when I stopped by the other day! Great work man, looking nice.

 

Really a fine job. The frame sweep is cool!

 

damn you do some fine fabricating , that hemi could hypnotize ya right to a spot , beauty of an engine , please post more pics

 

Looks sexy

 

very cool

 

Holy smokes, I had no idea you were building this. Gonna be a killer one! Awesome....
Kevin

Looks like Mark is bowling in that one pic! HA! Way better than me!

 

Dammit man! Looking great. I need to drop by and eyeball it up close.

 

Wow...nice start to a build, I like your getter done attitude.
nice shop!