This is the cut off piece from the middle. Since I've been listening to OCD instead of sound judgment, I decided to try making rear split wishbones. The pipe I used was 1-1/2" that I squashed in my cheapo Harbor Freight press, back and forth, over and over. I then chopped out the angle, hammered off the dross and welded up these homemade wishbones. Was it worth it? Well, I realized once again that metal likes to bend, warp, and flex when you get it hot!! And my welds kept turning out porous unless I went to the old stick welder with DC 7018. Oh, and I made the taper too soon, so the bungs I wanted to use for the rod ends won't fit as well as I originally "planned for." Cool experiment, but now I think I'll bite the bullet and buy a set of '36 rear 'bones from steeljunkiesII. Oh well, it was a learning experience!
That is really neat work. I did a set of splits on the roadster I built, here is what I found. The 36 front bones were .156 wall. Nice and solid. The rears were made from 39 bones, they were much thinner, and I dont remember what the figure was. It was an odd number, like .129? If I were to use them on a late model V8 powered car, I would drill 3/8 holes every six inches along the bottom, and rosette weld anther tube inside for strength. The forged end that bolts to the axle is good metal, I heated and bent it, then boxed it. No problems with the flathead.
A friend extended his dogleg bones which had been cut off short by a previous owner by this method. Works great and looks good too.
Ole Don- thanks for the idea...I actually wanted to use Model A rear 'bones, but they are mighty dangerous. I wonder if I could reinforce them with some strong small tubes inside?
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