Will start a build thread as promised and update as things progress. Off to a good start today. Complete disassembly in 6.5 hours. Frame is out back ready for a new home. Shooting for a traditional 40’s style ride using tried and true recipe of 32 frame with the A body, as my frame has had too many mods over it’s life to suit me. Will keep the sbc to keep cost down . Would love a flathead or hemi but will spend my money on the rolling frame. Maybe later with the flatty???
No, I took the easy way out and bought it off ebay. Saving all my energy for whats to come lol. It worked fantastic. My wife was the only help I had and she worked the hoist.
Tired mouse torn down ready for the machine shop. My guy is ready to start and we’ll do a bench style break-in so I have to start the carb rebuilds now to be ready for him. Check the carbs , car has been sitting for about 14 months….Ethanol gas sucks!! More to come as it happens…. Fast rides y’all!
Wow ... you're not letting any grass grow under your feet. Did you get a rolling chassis from Boling Brothers? .... I love their chassis.
Haha my plan is to move quickly, leave things better than I found it each day in the shop. Probably full roller from RJays Speedshop. Talked to the owner at Austin this year and like what I saw and heard. Talked with Boling brothers, but they told me they didn’t offer what I was looking for.
Standard 32 pinched for the A, nothing special. Boling told me they didn’t have an offshelf “stock” one , and didn’t seem motivated to do a custom, so I moved on. Gave them a lot of consideration if I kept the 31 frame, as I like their work.
Today’s work…media blasted carb bodies, chem dipped and boiled. Man they were cruddy! Polished the accelerator pump wells and venturies. Next up a paint choice to make and then reassembly when the kits arrive. Going to try vht gold as I can’t find a close original color for the 2gs. Plan to media blast the paint off the air horn before assembly, got in a rush and forgot the masking. Ditching the gold and going cerakote light tan , closest I can get.
Waiting on carb parts to finish the refurb, so I dove in on firewall removal and trimming back the channeled floors. Eventually once braced properly whole floor comes out for new subrails, etc. Next up comes the debate over firewall type and mods. Been researching threads on the flip, the 32 , and the recessed 31. May play around with the original and try a recess after I patch the holes lol.
Whomever welded the hinges on this old Bit$& I hope your nuts fall off lol. Haha what a pain in the @ss. It’s ok though I’ll fix it. Apparently someone thought bondo and gorilla weld was a good idea….. digging the mockup of the flipped firewall. Little work but beats hell out of $900 for a 32 firewall.
Quick update .. one carb complete and waiting on parts. Seems All I have done is wait for parts. Frame on order, engine off to the machine shop, new subrails and floors arrived at my shop. Spent Sunday afternoon scraping out the bondo from the repair areas. Good news body is pretty solid other than the drivers 1/4. Test fit one of the panels to get a feel for what I’m in for. Datumed up perfectly except for the wheelwell body line. Maybe a pie cut and shrinking will be the answer to get it lined up? Studying the subrail dimensions from a few old posts here in order to move forward. Trying to get a handle on how to brace and stabilize the body before the old floor cutting begins. Also a new tool showed up today to help with the 1/4 repair. Nothing like a new toy for the shop!
Floor demo day. Old channeled floor disaster is cut and gone. Only original rails left to be removed. Old Girl is fighting me every step of the way. next up set the body on jackstands and start the surgery with the cutoff wheel on remaining subrails. .
First mockup on the passenger subrail and extension. Whew what a task. Plenty room for fit improvement, just wanted to see one clamped in after all afternoon grinding and cutting. Learned with this one , driver’s side should be a little easier. Will dry fit firewall and use it and rear crossmember as subrail datum points then tack or pop rivet rails for temporary fit and confirmation measure. Full spot weld after frame arrives and I confirm subrails to frame is good fit.
You're doing some top notch work, problem is, now the car is dictating to you and you are along for the ride. No worries, we've all been there, have some fun.
This is coming out really well! After seeing that body lift bracket, I went to eBay to search for it. Any tips what words I need to use to locate one? That thing looks like it could be my new best friend!
Very cool project! A couple questions, do you know what color is currently on the car and how much of a haircut was done to it?
It works well but will need to balance / stabilize rear of your car. During the lift My car was a little tail heavy.
The Buckskin Tan gives the car a vintage feel and I thought anything more than a 4” chop was too much. I like!
Short day in this Texas heat wave. 115 in the ole hotrod garage. Dry fit the lower panel and a new rear crossmember. A few pop rivets and screws and it’s good to go for a temporary fit up. Drivers side subrail is next. A little bead roller practice in my spare time practicing for the 1/4 panel work to come
I understand wanting to keep costs down. But keeping the sbctakes it right out of the 40s and into modern day like the majority of modern street rods. If you keep an eye out you should find a good running flathead where someone wants to take a cool old hot rod and turn it into a modern street rod buy fitting a sbc or sbf. Or possibly an early ohv v8 when someone has the poor tast to fit an LS instead.
I understand your point and believe me I’ve ran the numbers to do just that..but Good flatheads are pretty scarce here and by the time I do the machine work and find the original speed parts, I have about 2.5 times the money invested in the flatty and 1/3 the horsepower versus the sbc. This car will be a driver for me so I opted for the lower cost higher horsepower version. It does kinda dampen the traditional hotrod theme, but it’s going to look cool anyway.
The Jalopy Journal
