Hi guys, my son and I are starting a Model A pick up build and wanted to share it here. I have been following several of your builds and have seen some really cool cars and have bought stuff from several of you and met some great people. Basically what we are building is a 1930 Model A pickup with a 4 inch chop, a Z'd frame and a 1955 Dodge 270 'Baby Hemi'. We have been finding parts for a year and now we're ready to start. Don't worry, we're not butchering a nice truck, most of what we're starting with was in a barn from a Kansas farm and the barn collapsed on it. When we're done, we want to have a good driver, something fun to take to local shows, but to have fun driving, more of a hot rod than a rat rod, and not a racecar. I appreciate all the ideas and parts we have gotten from you guys. Here is step one, the frame. Original 1930 Model A front frame rails, boxed, and tube frame from there back.
Yup, we sure will, we are locating the rear axle in the frame and will get some photos uploaded this weekend. Thanks 392
We're using a 8.8 Ford rear end (3:70 posi) we have to build a truss to go over the pumpkin, we just made the template
Awesome! I'm building a 31 pickup right now. I'm basically at the same place you're at. Do you have pictures of the cab?
We put the dash together over the Christmas break. Gauges are 1936 - 1938 Chevy pickup, oil pressure gauge is a 1950's NOS from Chicago
Hi Mike, I do have ton's of pictures of the cab, when I got it, it was missing the rear of the cab, both rear door posts and left door. I searched the web for pix so I could get it back together right. What do you need?
I was wondering how you attached the pieces above the door. Mine are just tacked right now and I was wanting to weld them up completely. Looks great so far! Also it looks like you have an early 31 cab by the fire wall and open roof. Unless the firewall isn't the original.
The indented firewall came in july of '31 when Henry felt it was safer to have the fuel shut off on the outside. Streetrods are driven by Chevy, Hotrods are powered by FORD!
You are correct, the firewall is a late 31 'teardrop'. The cab was pretty well crushed when we got it, so I found this one to put in. Since we're Z'ing the frame I didn't want to cut up a cherry firewall so I found this one that someone had cut the lower 'legs' out of it.
Pretty productive day, got the truss built and welded onto the rear end, 4 link looks good. We also got the rear lower cab patch panels installed. The rear lower of the cab had some rust through, so we wanted to make sure it was solid before straightening the dents in the back panel of the cab. Still have a little work to do in the corners, but we want to have a good foundation before moving up the cab.
We got the truss welded onto the differential which gives us a good platform for the upper diagonal links. Now that the truss is done we can remove the rear end from the truck and do all the finish welding and have it all blasted and painted before putting it back in.
We got the rear cab patches installed. The lower section had some rust through so we tied it up nice and solid. The back of the cab had been cut in half before (right up the middle) so we're going to have to clean that up next.
Spent a few hours today with a dolly and hammer addressing the back of the cab, all those little dents really add up, time well spent. There was a few spots that had been filled before without straightening so we had to grind out really old filler that was like cement. My son is a junior in high school and in 3 year of auto shop he said they haven't done anything with a dolly and hammer, just replace parts, I guess fixing things is a lost art, they just teach to replace parts. We also pulled the rear end out and did the finish welding.
Channeled the grill shell today to match the Z, then we located the grill shell on the front cross member and installed the hood to locate the cab on the new frame section, then tacked the cab mounts to the frame. We ordered a bunch of parts today also, rear coil overs, master cylinder/pedal assembly, and some other parts to get the rear suspension finished. Now I need to save up for the front suspension.
The doors look to be from a fordor with the double recess around the windows, so the cab maybe a bit shorter than an original cab. At the door belt line the width should be 29 1/8".
Could be, the doors are a little over 28". When we got the cab it only had the right door so we picked up the left one to match. The cab came with the floor rails and it all seems to line up, although it was missing the back of the cab, both rear door posts, both curved panels above the doors, and the left door. 80 years on a Kansas farm, who knows what they did. When it's all done, it will definitely be 'custom'. Thanks for the info
Hi Mike, There is a flat piece that attaches to the front header corner brace and goes along the top of the door frame and connects to the rear door post (B-post). It nails up into the wood along the bottom edge of the curved panel above the door. I found mine used on eBay from Howell's sheetmetal in Texas. let me know if you need pix.
Coilovers came in, got them installed and now the rear end is on the ground. Also got the rear brake hose tab welded on the frame. We ordered a Wilcap adapter to mount a 700R4 to the Hemi, we need that to locate the engine and transmission before mounting the master cylinder mount to the frame. One step at a time.
Hi guys, sorry I've been offline for a while, but my son just finished his senior year on the varsity football team and the season is now over and time to get back to the Model A. I have been stocking up on some parts so hopefully we can get rolling. Tonight we set the engine in place and made the motor mounts and got them tacked in place. Next we'll trim the firewall and bolt the tranny up.
Had a good weekend, got the transmission adapter mounted and the transmission and starter installed. The engine and trans will both need to be rebuilt, but we want to get all the mounts and brake brackets installed first, so we're getting everything mocked up.
Well we had another great weekend, we got the steering box installed in the frame and it fits great. It's a F1 box that we got from Corndog on The Hamb. Had to notch the boxing plates on the inside of the frame, it turned out pretty good. We've got some patches to make to fill the holes. Now we'll get the master cylinder mounted.
We worked on getting the steering column put together and installed today, we still have to restore the steering wheel. Also we got the brake pedal mount installed and got the brake pedal arm bent to clear everything. Tight fit.
So, I've been doing some research on something I wanted to do on the truck and found an answer. I never liked the way the doors over lapped the cab at the back of the door and wanted to find a clean way to create a body line gap. I found Terry Johnson (johnsont963 here on the Hamb) on Youtube who had a great way to do it. He has a whole series of videos documenting his build, how cool. I went to Homedepot and found some really nice 1/2" stamped steel angle, I think that will give a nice finish.
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