Hot Rods Started spec'ing out parts

Spent a little quality time with a cutoff wheel to get the floor ready for the seat reinforcements and new flat floor panels.
First up, #3 panel


20 minutes later after grinding off the rivet heads....

Panels are on their way from Howell's, and it's off to Schorr for 3/4 x 2" tube.......

 

Quick update. The floor section under the seat came out waiting for the Howell panels. Came across a killer deal on a pair of new king bee lights that couldn't be passed up.
The comparison between the King Bee on the left and the original on the right.


With both King Bees...... much better proportions that'll look even better with the dropped headlight bar

 

Made the trip to lovely Dolan Springs, Az in the rain to pick up the 9". Why? Well, I really wanted an early rounded housing, so here it is........

What REALLY made the roadtrip worth it? Hehehehehehe...... complete for $150.......

 

I've been reading everything I can to try to ID this before a teardown, but have a few gaps. This is out of an early truck (round housing with perches on top and large wheel bolt circle) and an "N" housing. It also appears to be a big bearing housing as the retainer nuts are 3/4" hex. The axle hubs are 3 hole which may or may not indicate 31 spline. The nodular case may or may not be an Equa Lok.
Anyone have any insight into what may lurking inside with what's known?

 

Looks like another nice build in progress.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I ran a 46" axle with 35 Ford wire wheels on my avatar and the back of the tire rubbed on the inside of the fenders at full turn.

 

Trial fitted the floor panels. Real pleased the rear panel.... fits perfect. The font panel, not so much. Woulda been nice if Howells didn't make it a 1/4" too wide. Finalized the seat track/reinforcement location, so since I can't find 2 x 3/4 tubing, I'll have to make do with 1-1/2 x 3/4.

 

Yanked an axle and started counting splines. Bummer is it's a 28 spline rear which means new axles after narrowing. I guess the good news is that I can go with a wider brake assy with new axles. Not as big a deal is it's likely not a traction lok either.

 

There's been this nagging feeling I've had since I first figured what rear end width I'd need (the reason I've stated I have to remove the banjo, mock up the tire location, and physically measure it). Last night was like one of those cheesy B movies where you wake up in the middle of the night with an "Ah HAH moment" (3am to be exact). Laying there in the dark, I redid the math for about an hour. "43" wide body, 2" gap per wheel, 1-1/2" sidewall, 3.5" backspacing........" Holy crap! I need a 57" wide rear! Thanks to those that told me that previously since that's what helped me to go back to square one and re-figure it. The rear I have is 61-1/4", so there's enough to cut 3" on the right side to center the housing (and an inch on the left).
Bad enough I dream about cars, but now I have nightmares about housing width.......

 

I was wondering about that because an S10 rear is 52 or 54, depending on the model, and those are really narrow. 57 makes more sense. Don't be too afraid of those 28 spline axles, I have abused the ones in my 27 for over 25 years, sometimes with slicks, and they still are holding up fine.

Your coupe is coming along nicely.

Don

 

I ran 28 spline axles on a '68 S code with 450 horse, and a locker with ladders. This will not be overbuilt, so a cruiser it will be.

 

The next issue will be narrowing the rear and welding the brackets on without an engine and trans in the chassis. I'm thinking that the ladder brackets should be with the housing 3* up and adjusting the ladder bars to fine tune the actual pinion angle later. Or do the ladders have enough adjustability to zero the brackets and adjust it up later?

 

Made it to Schorr and picked up the rectangular tube and 1/4" plate. Here's the seat mocked up..... just need to get 220 in the garage for the mig and this can get finished. The body will come off next to start boxing the frame.

 

Next puzzle piece came home today. '90 302 roller that's looking for a short tailshaft C4 to mate with......

Had a set of SBF MT's laying around and thought I'd throw 'em on. I have a carb'ed intake coming for it as well. Geezus, it's starting again.....

 

Got the mounts from Butch's and am doing more research on water pump options to figure where this engine will wind up being located. I'm looking at everything from Snow White, to Ford Motorsport, to electric and remote water pumps. No rush......

 

Got the carbed intake in and layed it on to check the pad angle. Comes right in at 4*

 

Pulled the water pump to check the timing cover and looks like I got lucky (it has the standard rotation cover). Ordered the Motorsports short pump and CVF pulley set in preparation for removing the body and mocking up the drivetrain.
Scrubbed the engine squeaky clean to prep it for paint, just need to decide on the color. I'm thinking gloss black as this isn't going to be a show car, and eventually the body will be shot gloss black.
I'm going to go in a different direction as far as trannies, and go with a short tailshaft C4. I like that the short shaft front u-joint will be pretty much directly above the front ladder bar pivot. The downside is that the short shaft has a a bolt-on front yoke that will required a splined driveshaft rather than the traditional slip yoke. With the rear trans mount and ladder bar brackets on the same X-member, this should make a clean install with good geometry.

 

Now the fun continues. Found the short tailshaft C4 I've been looking for (pics after I clean it up this weekend), Motorsport short water pump should be here this afternoon, the CVH short pump pulleys came yesterday, and the 9" is out back. The time is close to unbolting the body and mocking up the drivetrain.

 

Bolted up the pulleys and am impressed with the quality and alignment. Not "traditional", but a great solution to putting a SBF in an A.

 

Needs a good scrubbing, but no big deal. Engine's almost finished too. Body's gotta come of pretty soon.....

 

Things are moving along now. The trans is cleaned up (it won't be painted until after the frame work is done), and I've ordered the correct flexplate and misc fasteners to marry the engine and trans for mock up. The 9" will need to go out for narrowing, so it was time to tear it down and get smelly.
Got it all apart and started counting teeth to find out the ratio. 9 and 35 gives me a 3.89 (open ) but should work well for a little while with a small block. Probably won't appreciate freeway, but I can make changes after I get it assembled (gears, converter, etc).

 

The original rear will be coming out this week to determine the 9" width, then it's off to get narrowed. I feel like a pimp..... the engine and trans will be mating soon.

 

Right on. I like where this is going. Some of us should start a social group. "I know where I'm going, if it takes further to get there, so what?" or something like that. '37 Kid will join...

 

Coming right along Keep whittling at it brother you got it and you know exactly what look your after. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Went past the point of no return tonight and started pulling the old rear end. Next up, mock up the tire placement so they sit just right in the fenders, get my width for the axle, and send it over to Sutton for narrowing.
There are a few unknowns at this point like exactly how much engine setback it'll need, where that will put the trans crossmember (with the frt ladder mounts), how long that'll make the ladders, and after all that, the angle & placement of the ladder brackets on the housing. Pretty sure I'll have to make custom ladder bars, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal.
I told the wife this would be a 5 year project, but it has started taking on a life of it's own. I wish I would stop finding killer deals on the parts I need......

 

Rear's out and I started mocking up the rear tire placement. This is close to where I want it, but first I have new rear tires to buy. There are 26's on it now, but 29's will be going on it. The section width may change a little, but you can get an idea of how the sidewalls will line up with the edge of the fender. As it is now, I would need the rear narrowed to 53-1/2" overall. A leaf may need to come out of the front, but we'll see when the 302's in it.
I'm jazzed, it's so close to the perfect stance (for me)

 

New rear tires being mounted today. Went with 265/70-15's to get a bit more diameter (29.6"). A little more cross section than I'd like, but I should still have about 1-1/4" clearance between the inner sidewall and the body. It'll fill up the fender nicely, and the diameter should help make the 3.89's a bit more streetable.
Axle width measurements tonight and the housing's off to be narrowed next week.

 

Mocked up the new tires and am pleased as hell with how it's coming along.
This tire looks a LOT bigger in real life, but will give a great rubber rake. This also allows me to lift the body an additional inch for a total of 4" of rear tire upward travel. Not bad for a 9" under an A frame. With the tires in position, the rear will need to be 52-1/4" wms to wms.

I expect the front to drop another 1.5" or so with the 302, so the front tire will tuck into the fender nicely.

 

Better shot of the rake. Bobbing? Oh yeah. Just something sexy about a raked A.......

 

Parts keep creeping closer......