Projects The "Under Pressure" 1930 Coupe build..!!

I didnt really want to post about this because I have seen so many builds done about coupes but nick28 and dreddybear..(Paul,where the hell are you??...LOL..) said I should.I always wondered why guys named there builds but when this came along I KNEW I had the perfect build name for it..."Under Pressure.." It fit perfect.The reason behind the name.? Through several years I have had quite a few builds come and go.Most didnt get finished because someone saw it and had money and wanted to buy them half finished..( and being poor at the time,it helped..) and who was I to turn down someone who I knew wouldnt finish it either..LOL.I always wanted to do a coupe build and seeing several on here..dreddybear,nick28 and chopperman I figured it was time to jump in.I have never been so nervous because I never gone this route and built anything like this.I had been searching for a body for quite a few weeks and couldnt find anything local.I hit across an ad on here for a 1930 model a coupe body and jumped on it...WOW,I couldnt believe I finally found one...Hmmm located in Az.THIS is going to be interesting....A call to BEN D..!! Ever meet someone who just knew you were freaked out but kept you calm through the process of shipping..? Thats Ben...MAN this guy rocks.!!We talked several times and he worked up a deal for me.When the day came I took off work just to make sure I was here when he got here...I COULDNT WAIT..!!! Guess I should have waited...When the car got here I was in pure shock at how BAD this body was..! MAN did I get hosed..!!! But what can you do.? NICE legs there Ben..! LOL...Some of you might have seen the post about how to fix the roof problem as this part isnt made by anyone.It still hasnt been fixed as I think i have a fix for it...later on that part.The guy i bought it from said.." Coupe body,Great start,needs a little work" RIGHT...if I was blind it might need a little work.Body has stress cracks all over it,firewall had about 200 holes drill in the sides to remove it from the car,door hinges had been cut in half to remove the doors and the pillars where they bolt to are in terrible shape as I will have to find a way to rebuild them to even try and hang the doors back on.

 

Opps..sorry about the pic with that sign..I made it for the garage.ANYWAY..as I started laying out my plan of attack I have read several builds using the frame form Riley Automotive.I knew there was NO WAY I was going to try and build another frame using my garage floor.I wanted something I wasn't going to worry about,besides I HATE my welder...lousy fricking CLARKE.I paced around for several days thinking about calling and ordering from Eric.You see,money got REALLY tight due to cut backs in my hours work.BUT wtf..LETS do this..!!! I called Eric and all I can say is this is ANOTHER guy who just puts your mind..( whats left of it..) at ease.!!!Man,how cool it was to talk to him.I think He got tired of me whining and said.."ORDER THE DAMN THING.."!! Or was that my GF yelling..?ANYWAY..I took the dive...!! We talked about what kind of frame,after changing my mind twice,and set it all up.I sold a ton of stuff I had laying around on Ebay and made my money for it.

 

Wow, good luck. You can never take peoples word for it when you buy something without seeing it in person. I am sure you can still make something great out of it. People on here have done more with less.

 

Man,I was totally worried about how they were going to drop off my frame because my boss was being a DICK about having something shipped to our place...Morons I work for...anyway..ITS HERE..ITS HERE..One of the others guys called me on my route and told me that the frame had been dropped of and MAN did I fly in.I think I just stood drooling for like 30 minutes looking at it....LOL.DAMN that FUCKER is fine looking..!! I even laid on it nekkid...Not really,but I thought about it.

 

Ok..so I couldnt sleep all night wondering where to start.I stayed up most of the night reading almost everyone builds about coupe..( AGAIN..and again) ..when my Gf came down and just shook her head..." You been up all night.? " Uh..no..I slept while the pages loaded..!! Muhahahahahahha....anyway it time for her to go to work and ME to hit the paint store...I ran in just as they opened and order a quart of epoxy primer.Drove home like I was on FIRE...!Went downstairs and started hauling parts out to the garage.Hmmm...Looks like rain...TUFF..I mixed up what I needed and shot the frame.I started by putting in the front spring....

 

Now I have 3 sets of wishbones,one which is TOTALLY useless,but the other two seem good.Now what I wondering is which set to use..? One set is 35 inches long and the bottom one is 45 inches long.Will it make a difference..? I will wait to hear from someone on this before I go any further.Man..I'm tired....LOL.

 

i don't care how many A build threads i look at, i always have time for looking at one more.

good luck!

 

Use the force.....I mean use the ones that look the best!

 

I REALLY didnt want to spend all kinds of hours doing body work BUT you gotta do what ya gotta do.GRAB the cut off wheel and follow me ..!!!!Rear inner fender wells get it first.!! Hmmm..UPS is here..MY INNER fenders parts are here...!!!! After I made me cut I noticed something kinda off when I laid the new ones up there.It seems that the frame on a 30 coupe has a double contour to it....meaning the front of the inner has it and the rear BUT no so on the new ones.A call to Synders and I was told.." Well,thats the way there made and it is for a 30 coupe like you ordered."But its not going to work like that....hmmm...Ok..lets cut something...!!!Frame was in worse shape the I thought so time to make some repairs..! 4 hours later and both sides are fully repaired..!!

 

And this is what we get...after several more hours of trying to make the inners fit.!!!!!!!

 

THATS what was bothering me the WHOLE time I was making this deal...!There isnt anything for sale locally here in Michigan,and what you do find is WAY over priced...The gut who sold it to me took pictures in an interesting way as so not to show how much needed done...BUT..make do...There will be another coupe build..BUT I am going with a 28,29 as parts are MORE available for them then 30s.Cant even find full door skins for a 30 and BEFORE everyone says yes..NO there isnt.I called Macs,who told me to call Synders who told me to call Macs.I also called Mikes Affordables A parts and he doesnt have them either.And NO I wont deal with Howells,hell I cant even get them to answer there PHONE..!!The guy at Macs said.."If Synders say no,then its the truth". I told him I see them online...He said.." Those are 28/29 door skins,you will have to modify them to work..".I called Synders back and he said.."The guy who does the stamping for the 30 door skins isnt doing them anymore and getting out of it and is selling his dies,but wants WAY too much..".Oh well....

 

Your body looks pretty decent. In fact, better than most. Like I said in your roof thread, the top wood will do a ton to help get the shape back. Welcome to hotrooding! This is not "insert tab A into slot B"

 

Well it was time to try and tackle the doors..I dreaded this part.OK...The new inner door bottoms had gotten here a few days ago with the new lower door skins...and off we go..!! I cut the inner door bottoms off first and welded in the new ones..Hmm..nice fit..FOR once...!! Now you see in the pic how the center section of the door has been welded..?? Well the moron who decided to cut off the hinges must have thought that by standing on the center section of the door he could see how stupid he was...The WHOLE section was so crushed in it touched the front of the outer skin.I had to cut the center section out and spent a few hours trying to make it fit back and then re-welded it back inside the door..NOW to the outside skins...!! And looky ma....

 

Ok..someone answer me on those wishbones...! I gotta hit the hardware store..

 

No one knows about which set to use..? I mean using longer ones over the shorter set doesnt make a difference.?

 

Under Pressure?

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance

You wouldn't be a Queen fan................

Good luck on the build, that body is a LONG way away from being that bad!!

Doc.

 

If you can use longer ones, they will have less angle to travel thru when articulated, so less stress on the parts. They may not look right with your overall build though, or where you have to attach them to get the correct axle caster.

 

I've purchased patch panels from Howells recently for my '33. I received them quickly, and they are very nice.

 

x2....But there's more to it than that!

The first worry about length comes from spring travel vs. pivot. The longer the pivot (wishbones in this case), the less caster change when the spring loads and unloads.

Just imagine using a 6" wishbone and then compressing the spring....that'll give you the hyper exaggerated version of what I'm talking about...using shorter wishbones.

With the lengths you showed, it's not going to make that much of a difference. however,

Second thing is steering, if you're using cross steering it's not an issue....but with a push/pull set up, the wishbone pivot point(where it attaches to the frame), combined with the draglink angle have to be considered together. If not set up correctly, when the suspension moves up and down in the front, the wishbones will move differently than your draglink, causing bumpsteer. There are lots of creative ways to make it right on any given build, but you gotta do some homework on steering geometry if you plan on building this thing yourself.

Bottom line is, you can't have the movement of your wishbones binding up with the movement of your draglink when your suspension is going up and down. If it's not set up bind free, If you're holding your steering wheel tight and you go over a big bump, the binding force will turn your wheels because they are free to move.

I don't know if I'm explaining it so that you can understand...let me know if you already know this shit, or if I need to make a drawing! lol

Let me know. This could be important and save you some headaches!
-Steve

 

I would say go with the longer bones as well. The longer they are the better, just like with ladder bars. Good start on the coupe project!!! Keep commin with the updates!!!

 

Yeah I am going. with cross steering.Eric form Riley said the best was using a Vega box.I have a saginaw 525 sitting on the shelf so thats what I will probaly use.I won an auction today for my dropped steering arms and there on there way.I forgot to order my lower shock mounts so off to Speedway to use my credit and they were free too.Got my rear end today from a 1993 Ford Ranger,8.8.DAMN nice and clean.The 66 Mustang one I bought was totaled inside so off to the scrap yard for that one.The guy I got the Ranger rear end from even said 8 inch stuff is getting hard to find and getting expensive.

 

I'm not sure that those bolt on lower shock mounts are gonna work for you with those bigger wishbones. If I'm correct, they're the same ones that I'm using....37-41. The aftermarket perch pins weren't long enough for me to use the bolt on things... I ended up fabricating mounts on the inside of the bones, about 4 inches back from the axle.

Just mentioning it...you might be fine!
-Steve

 

HOLY CRAP..you guys are right..I CANT use those thicker wishbones DAMN IT.!! I checked it out after reading what you guys said and yepper...Perch bolts arent long enough.Hmmm....Dubbzilla..got a pick of how or what you made for shock mounts...?

 

I don't, but I'll take one for you. I hacked some welder series brackets...used the top parts for the frame mount and the bottom parts for the lower shock mounts. Here's a pic of the brackets in the mean time. It's actually a 4 link batwing axle brackety thing. But I like the look better than their actual shock mount brackets.

I'll get you pics later this week of how I did it. Let your imagination run wild till then! haha

 

Off to a good start dude! The best is yet to come!

 

PAUL !!!!!!!!!!.Whats up..?? I called Austin Speed a few weeks ago and the guy who answered said you left,said the LAW was after you..JUST KIDDING,he was REALLY cool though.Said you moved to Dallas.He said he would take a while before you got settled so dont worry if he doesnt answer right away.OK..So back from a 3 days trip for work and I couldnt wait to get back at it.I tore the Ranger rear end down and took the rear cover off JUST to make sure of no surprises were in store for me.Looked clean so I started by taking out the pinion shaft bolt and as you can guess..SNAP,broke off in the housing.When will I learn....TIGHTEN before attempting to loosen.Oh well,got what was left of the bolt out and now its too late to hit the parts store for the brake build part.I have decided to go with the long wishbones and will decide how to attach shock mounts later.A local guy said.."Just drill holes in your axle and fit it with shock mounts.." Uh..NO drilling of my axle...!!! I will be ordering my tires tomorrow too....600-16 for the front and 750-16 for the rear.I REALLY wanted artillery rims for this build BUT it aint in the budget right now so I will use the 16 inch Ford F1 smoothy rims I have sitting here.I did find a place that sells Coker tires cheaper then Coker does..HUH..?? WTH is with that..?Performance Plus tire center..

 

Man,what a shitty weekend to do work on the Coupe.That broken bolt in the pinion shaft turned out worse then I thought.I had to take it to a local rear end shop to have the shaft and the bolt cut out.I didnt have the balls to try it and f*ck up a good rear end.Rear wheel cylinders were wrong so back to the parts store,axle seals wrong,back to the parts store..AGAIN..!!Thats all I did all weekend was run around in circles..!!!Ok,peace and quite for Saturday night..close the garage door and start putting things together.Dig out my spindles,hubs,wheels cylinders,backing plates etc for the front.Start on the drivers side...Hmm..everything is going TOO well..king pins in,check tolerence between top of axle boss and spindle..not too bad... .008 clearance.Head over to the passenger side...YIKES,major problem,035 clearance.Ok,dig out some shims.Make it to about .010 with the shims.Slide king pin in..uh..rut ro..wont slide in.Pull it apart and re-check everything.Hmmm...try it again,goes in but WOW it turns like CRAP.Feels like everything is binding.Take apart again,check it again.Find another king pin from a new kit and try that,same problem but not as bad.Pull all apart again.Looks like the honing wasnt done right.This has to be whats causing my problems.Ok..put the wheel cylinders on but I notice where the brake hose enters HAS to face forward..I dont remember back far enough if this was the way I took it apart...LOL.Ok..lets figure out what steering arms I need to order.I check through Speedways catalog and realize I cant use the ones I was going to order.The '37 to '48 will hit the wishbone.I measured for both...1 3/4 drop and the 3 3/4 drop..hmm..neither will work.Now I will need the flat plate steering arms and you can only use spherical rod ends on them.I have heard BAD stories about using them over a tie rod end.Has anyone heard more about using them from what I have read..?

 

You got one hell of a start on that car. Keep at it.

 

I used Magnum deep drop, forged steering arms, made to take a tie-rod end. Puts the tie-rod under your wishbones, should work for your application no problem at all!

I got the photos of the shock mounts I made up using those tabs. As you can see, the way I cut the tabs, I ended up with a bit of a gap to weld up on a small portion of the lower shock mounts. Not a big deal.

Everything is still tacked, and I plan on adding a small gusset to the top and bottom mounts. You can do whatever you like. I like how the bracket has that little notch that sits so nice on the top of the framerail.

-Steve

 

ps. those are Pete n Jakes short shocks.