Hot Rods fitting a Model A coupe on a 32 frame...my way.

This is one of the projects I have in the works right now between other things.
I never post much about stuff I'm working on....largely because I'm always doing multiple things and will jump back and forth....and I really suck at any kind of self promotion.

Anyway, here's where I'm at...I'll post some more in the future when I move forward.

What we started with was a coupe body that needed a lot of attention...and a really nicely built 32 frame from Gary Maxwell.

I'm a big proponent of starting with the absolute nicest car/body you can find...but the customer has owned this for quite a while and it has some sentimental value,...so I'm making an exception and we're gonna work with what we've got!


I started by trying to get it square before anything else.

I swapped a better door, massaged the hinges (they were tweaked), and aligned and braced the body once I got the doors and body lining up...






I decided to fit the subrails to the frame first. So, I cut off the back of the subrails to clear the 32 kickup. Then after lots of measuring, I located the front of the floor (this is really critical, because this determines everything...including how the rear tire will sit in the wheel well!)

I boxed the underside of the subrails around all mounting points.





a shot of the front boxed area under the front of the door/cowl area...



Then set the body on to see what we've got...



and a lot more pulling/pushing to get everything where it needs to be...

 

I then shaped some cold rolled flat stock to the rear kick up...




made some mounting pads on the underside of the new subrails..

 

Next was to start blending the transition between the factory and new subrail pieces...

I started by widening a factory crosspiece...



Here it is after widening and fitting...





Then welded...and a sleeve added for the mounting bolt to pass through...

 

Then some more pieces to blend it all together...

 

great job, really clean...

 

rear quarter corners...


patch panels always take some massaging...






I cut them into a few pieces to get them to fit properly...



and finish welded...

 

same process for driver side...

 

Very nice job!

 

Excellent Work!!! Pete

 

Nice work, you should post more often...says the guy who is bad about taking the time to take pictures, let alone post them up.

 

Great job! With welds like that this is one project I want to follow. The steel body blocks in place of the stock wood ones is a nice feature.Bob

 

Very nice work and YES we want to see more!! Tim

 

Nice

 

The lower b-pillar on both side was pretty much non existent...so I made pieces to splice in.





I also replaced the factory gusset with one that's more stout...and then reattached the brace to it that goes up to quarter window wood.

 

Excellent-O! Gary

 

the wheel wells were next... and were challenging with little/thin metal to work with...



I'm really happy with the way it all flows from this view...

 

Rear lower support made from tubing...

 

now back to the front...

 

start slicin!





I made little pads to match the profile of the firewall... and welded them to the cowl piece.




I wanted it to have a sorta pronounced "foot":



then boxed the inside edge, and added a plate to the bottom to maintain the defined foot...but still keep stuff solid.

 

and worked my way up the a-pillar...

 

This just keeps on getting better. Bob

 

Such clean work, very nice.

 

Rust repair takes a long time to do right after you make the customer understand that sentimentality costs a lot of money. Great job on the metal work, looks like I did it. please take that as a complement.

 

very nice work. An inspiration as I work on mine!

 

Just in case you were missing it this piece tacked to the subrail allows the cowl panel bottom to be attached to it. Snyders sells them. Bob

 

Very Nice!!!...Will be watching...Thanks for posting.

 

I've never taken on a body with such rust eaten panels, you're a brave man, skilled as well.

 

the hell with the A, I can't stop looking at the 32

 

nice job k he told me it was ruff didn't think it was that bad ----lookin great brother--- the deuce looked sweet too at the bayou round up