I picked up a '46 ford truck chassis over the weekend. The backing plates are 13" instead of the 12". I have read several threads on the brake conversion. Would I be better off to take the whole assembly off the 46' and stick it on the A axle instead of trying to adapt everything to the A spindle? I thought about swaping the rearends as well. Has anyone had any success in trying this? Streetrods maybe driven by Chevy, but hotrods are powered by FORD!
You need to measure the inside of the drum diameter. It's 12". If it was me I would use all the 46 backing plates and hub/drums. Swap out your a spindles and use the 46. This way you don't need to re drill the mount holes. The backs bolt right on with a little grinding on the spring hanger to clear the wheel cylinder. Easy swap.
Also it's a lot more work to swap out the rear since the 46 spring is behind the axle and its a few inches wider too.
Rob, Will the 46' backing plates swap out with the stock A backing plates on the rearend? What king pins would I use on the front? I was thinking it would be way easier to swap everything out. Keith Streetrods maybe driven by Chevy, but hotrods are powered by FORD!
heres a way to put self energizing self adjusting 12"x2" shoes on Model A spindles using 1940 drums Post 16 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6468&showall=1
You use the spindles and kingpins from the 46. Same .813" kingpin diameter as model a. The rear backing plates bolt right on with no mods. Pm me if you need any tips.
Thank you guys for the info. Rob I will contact you by pm if I run into any problems. Streetrods maybe driven by Chevy, but hotrods are powered by FORD!
Ford made the best looking cars and trucks and were preferred because Fords were cheaper and commonly available all the way back to Model Ts. Because of these factors, hop up knowledge and equipment for Fords was more available. This continued until 1955 when the smallblock chevy came out. Hotrodders had tried overhead valve engines in their Fords ever since they were available but the overhead engines in the early 50s were expensive and not as commonly available as the SBC rapidly became. The smallblock chevy was a natural fit for the Fords made before 1955, they were available in large numbers and they were cheap. They also had a lot more horsepower than the lowly flathead V8 Ford engine. The Ford guys were accustomed to Fords being King and took to the SBC right away. In 1962 I saw a SBC in a 1950 Ford Crestliner and knew what it was even though I was only 12 years old. The 'new' traditional hotrod had a small block chevy engine many years before the streetrods began at Peoria in 1971. Hatred of smallblock chevy engines is baffling since it has been used in traditional hotrods for 58 years and has always been the best replacement for the Ford flathead V8. Is there a valid reason for SBC haters to re-write history as something it was not?
That's pretty good Many ! I don't know if you have ever seen this or not. It's Duntov's thoughts in 1953 about how he was going to knock ford off performance throne. It's linked in the first post http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=780285&highlight=duntov
Thank you 31V All that was common knowledge when I was growing up. The print is too small for me to read Duntovs memo
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