Projects Truck into a coupe- My next pet project

How hard is it to install a breathalyzer on my key board, i was referring to the amount to take out of the axle tube,as you can see i dummies up to the bar with my bad grammar.I got too big for the desks ,they gave this thing called a diploma and said you gad-e-ated your good to go, a good lmao a day keeps the doc. away

 

Batwings all roughed out.
Torch cut by hand between the holes

 

8.8 prepped for surgery

 

Surgery complete.

Axelectomy and 3" tube reduction.

 

Loving this build!

 

Me too! This one is a lot of fun for some reason


Welding finished - it's no "brown dog welding" picture.
But the weld is about 0.010 proud of the tube and staying like that, no grinding.
3 passes with a cap, total of 4. Root pass was no filler sweating in the inner sleeve.
Maybe ill post the entire narrowing process for tech week along with the gear/carrier change too. It's really simple and I didn't use any fancy tools besides a tig welder.

 

Bending the ford steering arms
Got this one before my phone went dead.

 

did you use a tubing cutter?

 

No, that tube had about a 1/4" wall thickness.
Used a pipe wrap and scribe, center punched the line about the circumference, made a short sawzall blade and cut it

 

Dodge tube axle mocked up.
It's 3" wider total, 1.5 each side, than the chrome SB but for some reason it looks like its a foot wider on each side. Damn!

Comparing this pic to pic in post 26.

I have an idea I'm going to play with some today while I have silence and babysitting the washer and dryer. Lol

 

Slipped the rear end in for a test fit.
Damn near perfect fit if you ask me



Edit: if you are seeing this for the first time, you'll like what happens with that crooked ass tail Pan in a few months. This gets a lot better as it goes on. I get to the tail pan around post 319

 

Springs and ladder bars figuring on deck

 

Hairpin mock up
the axle is 3.5" forward from spring behind set up.
There was a big discussion here about the looks of a flat crossmember & moving cross member forward. The Spring behind dropped me about 1-1/2 before engine weight. Now I need to watch the axle to frame clearance, gonna be close I think.

 

Going to fix the rear rails a bit.
Made the rear ladder bar brackets too.

 

Fire wall surgery.

 

New fire wall flange going in.
Lots to do to get to this point.
Plenty of old brass work removed
Remove some mud word over dents
Dolly the dents out
Make both exist in symmetry - ahh feel the bliss!!!
Fab a new inner flange to hold the new fire wall.

 

Here's the Masonite template.
This is going to be a flat firewall backing mostly for structural.
Ill add the wing returns to it, probably out of stainless.

 

Heard from all my NEO friends and family, that you guys were gettin' hammered with snow. Perfect opportunity, to hang out in the garage and build something. Bitchin' little Coupe, love the spindle mounts.

Just tore down a TH400 myself. Only this one going in a '64 394 Olds 98. Just gutted it and sent it to Goatroper to machine for new bellhousing adapter. Can't beat the durability of those GM trans'. Should be overkill for your Hot Rod. Thanks for sharing.

JT

 

Oh yeah - better than any snow globe !

Perfect days for mind numbing tedious tasks that take forever with nothing to show for it. For example these hinge bolts. Might as well fix the loose hinge while the firewall is out. I've been trying to do this without burning the paint off of the cowl but I'm not getting any where. Been thru a hand full of nuts doing the "weld nut to broken bolt trick". Now I have the bolt broken too deep to risk that any more. So it's time to drill it out. Been farting around with it for 3 days off and on.

 

Saved and then Modified a 33 frame

 

Plugged about 209 holes.

 

Needed a little 2" step in at rear to make room for the big rear tires.
2" rise at the rear crossmember to take "some" of the chassis rake out. It's at 4* now.

 

Got the hemi placement & firewall mods figured out.
None of the stock 392 stuff worked unless I shoved the engine back another 3 inches. So went with the BBC water pump conversion and everything fit nicely with a tolerable firewall setback.

 

Finish up the rear crossmember.
A modified 1940 unit. It's narrowed 2-1/2 inches and raised 2 inches or pancaked some call it.
Left to right - stock 33/34, modified 40, stock 35-40.

 

The stock 33/34 center was too making the car either ride too high or the spring hangers too low.

Then the rear kick up was altered by raising it to reduce some chassis rake.
That then made the 33/34 too high. Ugggh. But the stock 40 was too low. So I modified a 40 to sit right where I wanted it with a 1940 front spring at the back. I'm using a 40 front spring because the rear end is narrowed.
What a dance !

 

Here's a good start to the rear spring hangers.

 

Here's the transmission, ready for the buffer.
This was all done with time that's normally just waisted.
2 mins here, 15 mins there, few mins everyday almost.

 

Got a good jump on the hemi engine mounts.
Have some speed holes to put in. Ill probably sleeve the holes and loose the cap.
I'm not sure yet.

 

I like it.
Thanks Bass.

 

All nice and shiney & no one will ever see it....