Just acquired an early Halibrand and thing about putting it in my 32 coupe , car presently has a Columbia 2 speed rear . I know I need a Model A rear spring , crossmember and a 35 or 36 Ford rear end . Was told to buy a repo fuel tank instead of cutting my original . I also believe I will have to cut a slot in floor for cross member . Stories and suggestion appreciated .
I am really fond of the Columbia in my 32. Good pickup around town out of od and nice rpm on the freeway in od. With a QC and a stock gas tank there are two drawbacks. The first is the reduction in volume and the second is the fact that you can hardly see the QC. If you drive your car a lot my opinion is to stick with the Columbia.
I think you have it pretty well summed up as to what is involved. I've got a Champ QC in my 32 and had to cut the floor for clearance for that as well as the A crossmember ( they are real BIG) Also cut the tank for clearance with the QC and A crossmember then found that my chassis builder was 3/4" out with its location plus it needed to go forward an extra 1/2" to get the wheels right in relation to the wheel well. That was 1 1/4" I didn't need to cut out of the tank and its flange. It was a repo though. Early Halibrand is a lot smaller so may be less work involved. Is car hiboy or fendered?
Damn. I like Halibrands, but I love Columbias. Pieces of banjo, and Halibrand in my garage. You can have alllll' of that shit, I'll take your Columbia please.
Tend to agree with V8RPU. A 32 coupe with overdrive is the ultimate combo. A QC is a backward step unless you only drive in town. Also what engine are you running? If its a flathead then you need O.D but if its a SBC then they need to rev so it would be OK.
Though I would like to have one, I never had a full fender '32 and don't know how what the body panel fitment in the back is, but on a high boy '32 you can add the quick change without cutting the floor and gas tank. Its been done many times and good friend has a '32 with a quick change mated with a Columbia overdrive. This way you can have best of both worlds. He still runs the stock floor and a uncut stock gas tank.
You know I never thought about combining the Columbia with the early Halibrand [Culver City] quick change unit . I don't get my quick change for a couple of weeks , its coming from Virginia , have to check if the splines on the axil are the same but it is an interesting idea , thanks !
I believe the winter's QC is short enough to allow no gas tank modification, but I believe the halibrand style requires tank mods. I'll try to attach a few pics I've collected from the H.A.M.B. on nicely thought out quickchange installs using minimal floorpan modification. I've got a roadster that I am putting a halibrand into and always keep my eyes peeled for good ideas!
My friends have done their cars very similar to the above pictures. First they pulled a guide line over the frame and cross member. This is the maximum height they can go without running into the floor then they grafted the center of the model A cross member to the '32 cross member (from my memory its just past the u bolts, so its not that large of piece) so it sits just a little below the guide line on the frame. You also have to shift the tank and rear spreader bar back. When the tank moves back it opens a small gap between the bottom rear panel and the tank. If you can live it its no big deal. But on my friends red roadster he added some spacers to lift the tank back up to close the gap. To hide the spacers he added a ninety degree flange to the side of the tank flange (see the red pictures). The rear spreader bar needs to move back and the last holes on the frame ends up in the middle of the bar. You will need fabricate a extended forward inside flange to have a nut to run the last frame bolt into and take the other spreader bar bolt. My friends '32 3-window has a Cook quick change with a Colombia mated to it and the inside trunk picture you can see his extra gas tank (sitting low in the trunk) which would not be possible if his floor was cut. It can be done!
I have seen a Cyclone quickie (referred to as a "cook's" in the post above) clear a stock 32 tank in its stock location. Maybe @Cyclone Kevin will advise us accordingly
Happy Thanksgiving guys! For years I’ve seen 32 rear floors cut and tanks notched, I always thought, why don’t ya just move the tank back a bit???? That was with a V8 Halibrand style rear center section. When I starred the build on our 32 for the company, I decided to do something similar to what I saw years before under a coupe, that being the Pierson Bros 2D 34. I’m not a big channeled car kinda of fan in riding in them, but I admire their looks from a sleek standpoint. At that point I’ve always looked the cars in the Montgomery, Smith and Drake’s books. They are collectively ones base for hot rod inspiration. So having a 32 Chassis and access to a rear A crossmember, I decided to have Lynn Bird set that frame is his jig and the work was done. Almost word for word by $umFun in his description but in So-Cal. The cross member arch never went above the highest point of the rivets on the side rail. This allowed me to mount a A rear spring on a set of 41 Axle housings with our Cyclone Quick Change in the Center. Next came the mounting of the gas tank. I recalled that some pioneer Hot Rodders would oblong the mounting holes and get that tank back as far as they could. I didn’t exact do that.... I noticed that with the A center that the tank would not clear it. I studied my dilemma and realized that the seam of the tank just had to be moved just a little and all would be fine. With body on, testing the spring fully bottomed out, the QC has just enough clearance. So together went the whole spring pack and no floor cut or notching of a tank required. People sometimes refer to our Cyclone QC as a COOK’S rear end, but COOK’S MACHINE WORKS is a machine shop and CYCLONE RACING EQUIPMENT are products that originated @ 4845 Telegraph Rd. L.A. 22, CALIF. That shop is the only shop from the beginning of Hot Rodding that is still in its “Original Location with their Original Ph#” albeit an area code and a 3 rd digit was added to the exchange sometime in the 50’s I’m glad that we just keep the parts out there. Jim Palmer who owns that beautiful 32 Red Roadster above once had our Clem Waske Roadster, we were lucky to get it and retrieve its history. The Blue one with the plumbing, I don’t ever recall seeing???? Nice work!!!! Great post guys!!!!!!!
Thanks again ,when My Culver City quick change arrives I am going to check if the Columbia will work along with the fuel tank clearance issue I am anxious to try everything ! At the same time I have a 1937 Hudson steering box to install .
This is how they did it on this survivor coupe I saw at pendine sands last summer. (not my car) Sent from my PIC-LX9 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Looks like Model A spring in OG 32 rear crossmember. Might solve the problem but not keen on the fender/tire clearance/ aggressive rake which is the end result.
Just a pic of a quickchange in a Columbia , I can't even remember where I got the pic let alone anything about the car ...
Why do you want to add a quick change?? Is it to change gears for racing and in town driving, or is it just a point of pride?? Seems ignorant to give up a Columbia and fuck a bunch of shit up just so you can tell all your buddies it's got a quick change. But ultimately it's your car and your decision.
This is great news. I too was torn with cutting the original floor in my roadster to install a Model A cross member to fit a Halibrand QC. I just couldn't do it. So I found a Columbia 2-sp which has yet to be installed. Now I'm thinking I can have both witout cutting the floor.. Modifying the 32 rear cross member does't bother me, it's already been cut by the previous owner to mount shocks.
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