Projects Kurt’s Puddle Jumper - 1930 Model A Extended-Cab Pickup Build

Finished the reinforcement of the clamp bar. Truss welded in place and reinforcement angle welded inside. Seems much stiffer. May have to put a truss on the front moving angle as I can see it deflecting now.



Tomorrow back to work on the Model A and use the brake for real.

 

Not much to report and no pics. Was 10 degrees when I got up. Made it to a high of 15. Turned furnace up and 4 hours later was not up to 60 in garage. Got a few pieces of bracing for the drivers side floor cut. Will take a day or 2 off till it warms up a bit to conserve propane.

 

Again, not much to report and no pics. 10-20 degree temps, ice, freezing rain and then snow. I moved 1000 miles south when I retired to avoid that type of weather.

When I finally got out in the garage, Phineas the Perfectionist came to town. That's what the Bionic Woman called me 15 years ago when I was getting our house in MN ready to sell. She said I was trying to make everything too perfect.

I decided the square-ness and fit of the floor framework was not good enough and tore it all out. I found the six vertical pieces varied by up to 5/16 of an inch in length. The result of cutting them with a cutoff wheel in an angle grinder. Resized them all to within 1/32 of an inch and tacked it back together. Much better. One more piece to fit.

 

Great motivational thread! Keep up the good work,we are enjoying your progress!

 

Thanks 4274SPEED and CHYRSLERFAN55 for the encouragement.

 

Good progress today. Got the floor framework all tacked back together and it fits much better. Forgot to turn the gas on twice today and got some awful looking tacks I had to grind back off.


Cutout and bent the first floor panel using jigsaw. I think it made a better cut then I could do with a cutoff wheel.


Installed the first panel including drilling the body mount bolt holes thru it.


Need to bend a downward lip on the front and drill a bunch of mounting holes.

 

Cool project! And you made your own Brake! Nice !

 

Thanks TDOG.
Finished the passenger side and cut and fitted the drivers side.

Bolt head are for body mount bolts. Need to get some round top socket type screws but the one toward the transmission is 5 inches long and I can't find ones that long. The rest is screwed down with stainless screws I have had for over 20 years since I rebuilt the compartments on a MH.
Got templates made for front drivers and passenger side. Hope to work on them tomorrow.

 

Got the drivers side rear floor completed. Really nice weather today, sunny and 70, so had to do a few chores outside. Nice to work in the garage with the doors open and heat off. 68-70 in the garage. Perfect!



Found McMaster Carr has 5 inch Hex Drive Button Head Screws. Got template ready to cut bulkhead center panel tomorrow.

 

Just found your thread and I learned to "Drive" on one when I was 10 or 11 that had a coupe body cut off in the rear for a pickup bed. Yours is in better shape to start with.

 

Looking good "Kurt"
Slow progress is still progress, especially with the weather we have been having!

 

Thanks kidcampbell71 and JRS50. By the way, as I explained early in the thread, my name is not KURT, but I kept it since that what it said on the door when I bought it.

Good day today. Made the bend I built the brake to handle up to 48 inch width.


Cut and fitted center section of bulkhead. First bend was a bit too much, had to bend it back 10 degrees.


Drilled and screwed bulkhead in place. 4 holes remaining on passenger side to drill and tap. Have to figure out how to secure and seal top edge. Don't want to drill thru bead on back of cab. May weld a 1/8 inch strap I can drill and tap.

 

I remember you saying your name wasn't Kurt, that's why I used quotation marks.

 

Is that a Mechanix Illustrated trick aka Hotrodders...Good wood...Good Idea...and surely Traditional...
​

 

Got to get a piece of hardwood 4x4, 1x4 pine won't take the power. Have to figure out how to attach the u-joints to the 4x4.

 

Got 2nd Covid dose. Hurray! Finished the last 4 screws on the bulkhead. Got started on fitting passenger side front floor. Recession about 1.25 inches to gain a bit of foot room.

 

A small bit of progress on passenger side floor. Spent the morning doing chores and changing oil on 2 daily drivers. 77.5 year old body doesn't like rolling around on the floor.

Got the support done for the right side of the floor panel and screwed in place. Still have to weld up the relief cut. Frame rail makes a slight inward turn. So humid I had trouble seeing the line cutting 16 ga sheet.


You can see where I rosette welded the 2 pieces of the support together. Didn't make my brake able to handle 2 reverse bends 1.5 inches apart.

 

Just found your thread.. love what your doing... I've got a similar project. Really like your frame

 

Welcome HOTROD33, thanks for the encouragement. Gee, I thought my rear zee was deep. Yours look a couple of inches more.

Short day today. Made cardboard templates for 2 more floor pieces. Not worth a picture.

 

I thought I was the only one that had to sit by the transmission tunnel.....lol

 

Got the 2 pieces of floor cut and fitted from the templates I made yesterday. Still need to attach them together and to the firewall.



Had to layout where to drill the 3 holes in these pieces. I knew trying to measure and mark would end up off a 1/16th or so. Made a homemade "marking point" by cutting the head of a 3/8 bolt and grinding a point.


Tap the piece in place to mark the spot to drill. A little hard to see, marker rolled a 1/4 inch before pic.

Made a Mark II modification to the marking point by cutting a slot to use a screwdriver to remove. Was not enough sticking out to grab. Cut the slot to the side to leave the point.

I'm sure you can buy these somewhere.

Taking longer to cut these pieces out with the sabers then I expected. The straight cuts would go much faster with a shear.

 

Pause! Will be offline for a few weeks. Have to help my youngest daughter move. I will be planning my next moves while doing a lot of driving.

 

HotRod33
Member
from St. Louis No. Do you still have a title for a Essex?

 

No I don't have it anymore.....

Looking forward to updates when you get back working on the pickup

 

Been home a week since helping my youngest daughter move. Getting too old to be a pack mule. Have had to mow grass twice this week and other spring chores, so not much done on the A. Spent one day just cleaning the garage and putting away tools. Did cleanup some flash rust that appeared in 3 weeks on the bulkhead. Should have, could have, Gibbs it before. Cleaned up a couple of patch panels as well that showed developing rust. Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs ...

Knocked together an engine cart to roll the generator out of the MH that shares the garage with the A. Hard to believe you have to pull the gen out and turn it upside down to replace the belt that connects the engine to the gen. Will use the cart for the Vette engine when I pull it back out.

 

Not much to report. Invested some stimulus $ in a gas tank and fuel pump. Started measuring for support framework.



OT, but got the gen out of the MH and apart. Needs belt and coupler.

 

I like it! Carry on fine Sir. I'll be watching.

 

Well I got the generator back together and reinstalled, but then had a bunch of Spring chores before I could get back to work on the A.

BEGIN RANT: I can't believe how difficult fixing the generator was. I don't think they thought about ever having to service it either when it was designed or when it was installed in the MH. It either had to be dropped down 6-8 inches before it could be moved sideways to remove it or you had to cut the compartment framing (as I did) to slide it out level. You could not drop it even if you had a trans jack because the full width mudflap frame was WELDED in place about 4 inches below the generator. I had to remove the mudflap to have room for my cart. Bolted it back on.

Oh well, it went 17 years without ever being removed. It ended up to be the rubber coupler on the engine pulley. The belt was worn but intact, but I replaced it while apart. END RANT!



Got to work on the fuel tank mount. Decided to adjust the rear spring mount to raise the back end about 1.5 inches. Gives it a better stance and made more clearance under the tank. I had made the mount adjustable when I build it, but had it a the lowest setting. Sorry, no picture yet of the improved stance.








I had to cleanup a bunch of rust on the bed mounting frame. I guess I forgot to Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs three years ago when I mounted the bed. Also didn't think I would not have torn it apart and painted everything by now.

Got the tank mounted and hold down straps fitted. Next up is a battery box beside the tank and mounting the fuel pump.

 

Got diverted. Leaning over the pickup bed working on the gas tank, I decided I needed to put some support brackets to hold the sides of the bed. Fabricated some and even painted them. Weather was so perfect yesterday for painting. Low 70s, low wind, and low humidity.



Got a battery box/pan bent up on the brake and fabbed mount for it as well as the fuel pump. Fuel pump is hiding at the bottom right.





Put the battery from the donor Vette in. Wish it was good for other then a core charge. Have to finish welding the mount and fab a hold down.

 

Finished the fuel tank, fuel pump, and battery mounts including making some battery hold downs. Had another low humidity day and got the mounts all painted. A storm came up 20 minutes after I moved all the pieces back into the garage.



Planning on routing the rear brake lines while working in the backend before resuming work on the floor.