Projects SURVIVOR;Working on my hotrod 28A from 1959,rebuild

Thanks,yup the oil filter will be covered by britely polished alum. like I did the starter,and my new blue shocks will get highgloss black on them like the frame and body will have,but may try to chrome the front shocks just for extra bling now,I had a lot of stuff that shined,but really not very much chromed ,cuz I enjoyed polishing and it only cost me time.

 

Now that I'm boxing my frame,and also welding up all the unused holes were we still got some old frame becuz this way it will all be stronger then Ford built them,I had not given much thought to how many holes Ford had in a frame WOW. There is a lot cuz it fit many body styles. Taking longer then I planed. Been building a lot of rods and race cars over the years but mostly box tube frames,so this is a step that reminds me why I started using box tubes. ,in fact much of the fun on this rebuild is the remembering the things I did do way back

 

The rear 1928A spring was tired from old age, had lost too much arch,so I need to add it back,this is my way,there are other ways but I did it this way on my race cars in the 60/70's;
Tech of Arching Leaf Springs Cold.
In photos you see drawing on floor so I can tell what I'm doing to each leaf, and my homemade jackbox that I use for more then just this,but a reguler press would work pritty much same way.
This done wrong can hurt you ,so it's a be super careful thing .
I've seen it done with a big F*#@%*^ hammer ,but I use a 8ton bottle jack,6ton would work OK I think.

I use my homemade jack/press box,that I also used to press other stuff like piston pins,axle bearing etc. with 8ton jack;
Before you take old spring apart,lay it down sideways on floor and draw a chauk line close around it,so you know the shape it was and can lay your re-arched spring down there a see the change. This also done with each leaf,but I like taking the size from the leaf from tip to tip,after you re-arch[ it has more arch and will get shorter from tip to tip size,this I think is a good way to be sure your getting a match to left and right leaf if doing parale leafs and also a good way to see how much it has gained in arch=some like to check height of arch/that's fine but length is most accurate.
Clamp the hole spring with two strong "C" clamps each side of center bolt before dissembling .
One leaf at a time is then laid across "C" and the jack press pushes it between the blocks with Angle welded on top of jack. Pressure is applied slow and care-full across each leaf at a 90-degree angle to places along the length to get bend into or out of spring=it can snap spring if you go to much and that is big danger.

This is done along the leaf mostly in the already bent area. Pressure is applied about every in. or so until the entire length of the leaf looks about as even a it did before but now a little more bend=it will be shorter/like if it was 36in. from tip to tip,it could be 35in, now. You get a feel of pressure on the leaf’s surface and try and use same amount each place. Applying too much pressure will break a leaf.
The 1 & 2 photos are of my "A" rear spring getting arch added.

Front spring was lost many years back,so had to make up a new one.
The last photo is my front spring all done,it's actuly made up from parts of two def front springs to get the rate/hight I needed. When I had the rod together,I was able to stack it a few times for testing how many and what size leaf it took to hold the right ride hight under the load.

 

A real deal life long hot rodder! Ride on, brother!

 

Looking good, Dana.

 

Yes , great tale of your hot rod and a true rodder.and love the glimpses of your sketches and way of thinking.im like that too,see a cup and think hmmm.

 

Tagging to follow this thread. Very awesome!

 

After building boxing and some new brackets,mock up fits and all that stuff on and off over and over,the frame was finely ready for the shiny,so here's a look. Didn't worry about fixing the pitted stuff that was not bad enough for strangth loss an is fully covered by the body,but tryed to get the parts that show fairly good,I think it may look a little better now then Ford did it.

 

This whole story is awesome. I love the fact that you actually used the '29 radiator shell.

 

Working on clean, new paint for rearend and front axle,maybe can have frame rolling on it's own wheels again by this weekend

 

Good job, keep at it..

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Dana,
The frame, and the re-arch of the spring pics are great!
Nice to see a rod from earlier times come back to life.
Pitman

 

Man, that re-arching of leafs could've been a Tech Week contender.

What a great write-up.

 

Very cool.

Both my parents graduated Miami High in '40s, all my cousins graduated Palmetto Sr. in '60s, I am a Miami native and still love Miami. And I love your hotrod story Dana, and the keg story.

 

Thanks 4 in put guys, I have more pics,post later.
Got a lot done , Got it to roll again on it's own wheels. Even hooked up shocks and brake lines.
But 2 steps foreword and one back. I had rebuilt my front brakes about two and hafe years ago,but they just sat this hole time and have already turned back to rusted crap,what I get for moving slow I guess,so had to order new front brake clys. Most of the rest is shaping up again. I ran brake lines and was thinking I could bleed them before finding the rusted cly.,so when hiding cly rust, shit hit fan by leaking out the drum,so redo.

 

Looking GREAT Dana!!!!

 

Thanks,
Few more pics. detail shot, and one of my designed front motor mount made so oilpan can be removed if needed with out pulling motor up.

 

Yup,thanks, it is paint on the axle,but it is over a very smoothed out 1948 Ford car axle ,so cleaning it back up was petty EZ for new paint again.
There was no way in hell I could of aforded a real chromed axle back then or now;
My front axle I thought always looked good,but it did take me a lot of smoothing polishing time plus drilling in high school shop class 1960. I got it smooth enough so silver paint looks nice for as long as it held color and shine,but the older silver then didn't last but a few months before repaint was needed back then,I gave up after time and gloss blacked it around 1963. Always had great luck with Rust-oleum paints over the years,my frame was painted with it and even laying around for near 50 years still had a few small spots were it was there.
Now I'm going back to silver,cuz I think the NEW paints will last longer[hope]
This time I used Rust-oleum 7271 silver metallic,liked what i see and over coated it with Rust-oleum Cystal Clear.
New brakes parts should be here this weekend,so can redo backing plates and stuff then.

 

This is the fun part,I get to bolt stuff back on for the last time.

 

Super cool.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Thanks gang,
I was asked about front rims being so close to drums;
Brakes are 1948 Ford car brakes [12in. ID brake drums ],those rims are 14in.x5in. Slots front and rears 15in.x12in Slots that my buddy Ed Silva[RIP] gave me a few years back cuz he though I would of had Slots If I could of, in the 1960's,so I'm using them vs my all 15in.steelys ,at lest tell I wear the tires out.
They clear by about a sheet of paper,as u can see I could not put any Buick Finned drums on with those rims up front anyway,and although I had gotten the Buick's a long time ago for my racecar in the early 70s,I never did fit them up,Buick's have layed in the corner for a long time or trade them off some day.
I like the Slots cuz Ed give them to me,he was a really good old frenid I lost too early

 

Dana, From one Old Fart to another Old Fart...... Looking Good !!! It is great to see you rebuilding a car from the 60's and doing it like you did it in the 60's.
I guess I need to get to the garage and work on my Chevy Axle. That silver paint (cleared) looks pretty Darn Good. Stay at It !!! Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff.
I got to put some parts back on that I'm hoping is the last time,adjusted the front end to what I've always run that worked great,90* on and to center line of frame,7* caster and 1/8in. tow in.. Got brakes bleed with good pedal. Added motor ,tranny and drive shaft,hooked up clutch link and works/after adding body I'll adjust clutch and brake pedals to be even. Still got to get a one wire alt./just a ford alt on it right now to hold belt.

 

O-ya,about the oil filter "Mashed" ask about,here is the old oil filter homemade alum cover polished up again and inplace on it,no fugly Fram color OJ showing . I know they make new cast jobs ya can get at Speedway and other's,but I like my old homemade stuff still. I also have a shiny cover made the same way by me on the starter. I don't have a 4100,Ford 4bbl to rebuilt yet/a froze up is OK from laying around too long.,so 4 now I'm going to get running with 2bbl temperarly,I know it kind works=had it on a buddys old race car a few mouths ago..

 

opps,messed up what i was trying 4

 

Checking as I go,just got new bat. too, Got to readd fuel line next.

 

A tip;
sooner or later a bad battery will happen.
I was working along today on making my new battery cables and ground strap*. I remembered I had not noted about them on this thread and may help some one.;
I know it's all nice and neat to make bat cables as short as you can cuz it looks clean,but don't do them so short that they will not reach the both + or - battery post if you ever have to put in a battery with the post revrist. on down the road.
You are after all smart enough to put them +to+ and -to-,right?

 

I was at a car show a few weeks ago,was talking to young guy,who informed me that old Ford Y-blocks must of not been good motors for hotrods! After some more talk I find out he thinks Y-block was the early name for Mustang 5.0,
I guess this also is why we have the rat crap cars now,but letting that slide some and slowly trying to fill him in on the real facts nicely,I got the old album out and showed him a few real Y-block power rods. The one he like best was not my 1928 roadster,but Steve's 1930 A sedan,a rod I helped my buddy Steve build,being a sedan not chaneled it had enough room for a good size gang of us to ride in at the same time,so we used it on group outings.

I didn't have any new photos this week of my rod,so enjoy a trip back in time with my old photos.

 

Slash pines, saw palms, styrofoam cooler, folding cot, girl friend, rod & reel, skeeters, bullfrogs, snapping turtles, homemade trailer, snook, model A . . . digging it, Dana.

 

Thanks Brerhair,good you enjoyed that.
Had to redo my water temp sending unit bung,so I could put mec. fitting into it,drill and retap to bigger size. I had forgot it was a press in head bung-thinking it was screwed in .,so it came out when I tryed to tap it,but stayed in place long enough to drill . Darn,at lest it opened up so I could suck out with vac filings[add of a small hose adtachmint]. Ended up making a new bong and adding fitting before pressing back in.

I'm looking for older 4100 4bbl carb to rebuild,its OK if its locked up,I can fix that,don't need chock stuff at all. thanks