Greetings from England! I'm about 8 months into building the car and thought this would be a good place to make a build-up thread of what I've been doing, I'll try to keep it updated as I go along. Any feedback or tips would be great! I've had the itch for a gasser that really needed scratching since I was a spotty 14 year old, and after having the chance to crew with a couple of the guys that race in the Gasser Circus here in the UK, I decided to scratch the itch. So I put my Phaeton up for sale, and with that sold I was able to search for a suitable Model A. This is me with the new owner as the car set off to Ireland (I'm on the left) Within a few weeks I located a Murray-made 5 door Model A Town Car that the guy had started building years ago and never got it past what you see here... The guy had welded up the rear doors, cut out the rear window pillars and welded in a panel to make it a Sedan Delivery. All of this needs re-doing eventually as its a bit rough. He also welded an in-fill panel in the roof and a super heavy roof frame which also is to be replaced. Quick mock-up when I got it back home, it helped me justify in my mind why Id just spent nearly all the money from the sale of the old car
First task was to make a straight axle for the front, so I bought a length of 2" O.D. x 1/4" wall CDS tube and set to machining the ends for the kingpin bosses and holes for the spring perch. The car came with a superbell axle and I intended to use all of the hardware that came with the axle, so I copied all of the geometries into the new axle. Once I'd machined up all the bits, I set to welding it all together. Whilst i was deciding to do with the chassis, a TCI chassis popped up and I snapped it up for a good price. The original chassis is pretty rough and would have needed a lot of work to save so having a new chassis gave me one less thing to worry about. As soon as I got back I fitted the new front axle into it and a Jaguar Mk2 axle on the back to get it rolling (Jaguar axle to be replaced with 9")
Next I sat the mock up engine and box in (307 SBC & Powerglide) After buying a Vega Steering box I made up a drag link to connect the box to the hub, using 1" CDS tube and I machined up some 11/16" UNF bungs for the rod ends. As I needed to put the steering arms at the top of the spindles, I had to make a tapered cutting tool to cut a taper in the top side of the steering arms. Also made up a panhard rod from 22mm x 3mm wall tube (bit overkill, but its what I had at the time, and I machined up some 9/16" UNF bungs for the ends. Now I had it rolling, steering and with the motor mounted, I could start to look at sitting the body on for the first time. Heres a few snaps of just a coupe of the many problem areas of the body. After rounding up a few guys from work during a lunchtime, we lifted the body onto the new chassis. The body, being the Murray Town Car, originally had a wooden subframe which was no good for use. So I set to bracing the body and removing the wooden subframe, ready to make up a new steel subframe. The roof was going to be cut out at some point, and it was starting to get in the way, so out it came. I didnt think that the guy would use such heavy-section box section in the roof frame, so I thought Id be able to simply cut it out and lift it out of the car by myself. So... after cutting through most of it, I got to the last few cuts and only then did I realise exactly how heavy the roof was, when it came falling in on me and leaving me in a pretty awkward position trying to lift it off of me and out of the car. A few choice words later and it was out!
With the roof out and the old wooden subframe out, I started on making the new frame... As with any box section that I bolt through, I always put something in to make sure the bolt never tries to crush the box-section. Usually I weld in a piece of tube, but for this I wanted to hide the bolt head into the box section. So I made some cups to sit into the box section. I used 1" tubes and welded a washer to one end. I then drilled the box section with a 1" hole in the top and a 3/8" hole at the bottom, then dropped the cup into the hole, clamped the bolt up and welded around the top of the cup to the box. I wasn't happy with the engine mounts that came with the new chassis and I wanted to move the engine back a few inches, so I cut them off, made them look a little neater and then welded them back in. With the body frame nearly done, I could start to look at the seating position. I managed to find some really nice old aluminium bucket seats believed to be from a 50's Alfa Romeo race car. They sat directly on the floor in the original car, so I had to make a pair of seat frames. I decided to fit them on runners so I could play with the seating position a bit. To fit the seats I turned up a load of bungs and drilled the box frame to accept the bungs from underneath, then welded them in.
Making a steering column came next, I used thin-wall Stainless tube and a tapered piece welded to the end for the surround and 1" OD x 1/8" wall CDS tube for the shaft. I then machined up some nylon bushes and a double-D end to weld into the tube. Ill be using a quick-release steering wheel hub as the seating position and roll cage will make it a tight squeeze around the steering to get in. I'll get this mounted once I finish the bulkhead recess. So, because I wanted to bring the engine back in the car, this meant that I had to recess the bulkhead. After I cut the centre of the old bulkhead out, I made a piece of wood to the same arched-profile as the top of the cut-out. I then heated up a length of 5/8" 16SWG tube and pulled it over the former, then I cut out 1/4 section of the tube and welded it in to give me a nice radiused return. I used the same kinda method for the sides and made a cardboard template for the recess. Ive got the metal version made now, but I need to find someone with a deep-throat roller to push some beads into it. Like I mentioned early-on, the jaguar axle I had fitted wasn't actually going to be used, I managed to get hold of a 9" Torino style axle and set to cutting it into pieces as I needed it a lot shorter. I turned up some reducers so I could use 3" axle tubes. When I sat the axle under the car, got the rear arches on and sat some wheels in rough place, I noticed that I only had 1/2-ish clearance between the axle and the chassis, so I cut the rear X-member off and moved it up by 3". I had to also kick the body frame up by the same amount.
Next was to start finishing the axle off, ready to measure up for new halfshafts And the last few photos were taken today when I put gusset plates onto the sides of the engine mounts as I didnt like the support on the underneath of the mounts. After I fitted the motor back in, I used the engine crane to pick the rear of the body up as it sagged slightly when I cut the body-frame for the chassis kick-up. Thats it for now!
This is some 'fancy fabbin'... Planning is evident, bracketry is precise. Welds are 'surgical', this chassis is getting the 'King's Operation'. In this country it would be beyond our new...healthcare. Light years beyond. Great afterlife for a Murray, glad to be aboard. (I use a lot of tube and washer for 'sinking' bolts, love the technique) The axle was a 'lesson in degrees'...neatly executed, but I would like to have seen the tongue and lap method of attaching the kink pin bosses. (I predict some wheelstands/'mild-to-harsh landings') Can't get over your welds!
Thanks for the comments guys! I appreciate it! Thanks, but Im not sure what you mean by a tongue and lap method? Maybe we call it something different in the UK... I just machined the end of the axle tube to wrap around the kingpin boss and TIG welded the joint once at 170 amps using 312 rod.
My hat is off to your fab skills, keep up the outstanding work. Any plans reinforcing the frame with some X? I think you should.
really impressive skills and great work. great idea turning a four door into a sedan delivery, look fantastic!
Thanks for the nice comments chaps! KiwiJeff, the 4 bar rear set-up came fitted to the chassis so gave me a quick way to get it rolling, with a view to run ladder bars. Ive just finished making a pair and I'm just about to start mounting them to the chassis, along with some extra framework to beef-up the chassis a bit. FinnishFireball, I wont be using an X in the frame, but I will be adding some more framework and running a cage. I'm happy it'll be plenty strong enough. Been a while since I've been on here so thought Id drop in and give a quick update! Here's some pictures of the ladder bars, just got to do the framework to hold them to the chassis and make the fail-safe strap (See threaded bosses welded onto the side of the ladder bars) The straps will have slotted holes where they bolt to the threaded bosses to allow for joint adjustment, and will attach to the bolt holding the joint to the bracket (theres a bit more to it than that, but Ill show pictures when they're done, as they'll explain better than I can) Stock cut to length, ready for machining and bending Bottom tube bent and mounted to the milling machine for fishmouth to be cut After machining the fishmouths, turning up the bungs for the rod ends and welding the bungs into the ends of the tubes, I made a crude jig and got the bottom tube welded to the top. Having bought the ladder bars home, I bolted them onto the axle and started on making the cross-piece and gusset Thats it for now. I'll aim to get the ladder bars mounted to the chassis in the next few weeks, then save for some half-shafts and get the car rolling again!
Bit of an update on the Delivery... Got the bulkhead made and nearly finished welding it in, I was gonna do a bit of bead rolling in it but Ive decided against that now and keeping it smooth... Also got the ladder bars powdercoated...
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