Projects Turning a pile of parts into a woodie.

Haven't had much time to work on this thing lately, but I picked up a compressor last weekend. Today I filled up the tires and pushed it out of the garage for the first time. Overall I'm pretty happy so far. I feel like I the roofline captures the attitude is was going for in my sketches. At this point I really need to move my rear axle forward to get the look right. I picked up another rear crossmember on craiglist, and I have a line on an early 9" rear, but I need to trade the guy some welding labor for it.


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I spent the afternoon cleaning up two very rusty frame horns, but ran out of welding gas so I couldn't tack them on. I picked up a Guide headlight for $40 at a local antique store, now I just have to keep my eye out for another one.


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Got the frame horns welded on, and started mocking up a headlight bar, but spent most of the day grinding off rust.


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Greetings again Stinky!...I gotta hand it to you for working on your project today, I would rather sweat than shiver but DAMN it was soupy here in Cumberland county NJ today. Where about in Jersey are you located?

 

I'm way up it Warren County, on the PA border. It was hot as hell, but I need to make some serious progress on this thing.


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More progress despite oppressive heat. This week I finished welding up the headlight bar. I sprayed it with a coat of primer because everything Is flash rusting! It's really humid. I also trimmed the radiator shell to clear the front cross member. I made some brackets to mount the steel shell to the cheapo eBay aluminum radiator. Because of course the mounting holes are nowhere close to correct, plus there are only two holes, some cobbling together was necessary. Now the radiator stands nice and straight and should look pretty good with the radiator sprayed black and some kind of mesh filling the hole.

It's a little hot in the garage, even hotter when you factor in the leather welding gloves and a helmet. I promised myself I'd go inside when it hits 100 in there.


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Glad to see this one pop back up. Progress is looking good.

 

So I pulled the body again to give the frame some much needed attention. I added some bracing and plates to reinforce the rear Z. I also moved the rear axle forward to shorten up the wheel base. I have another rear cross member that I will weld in, then I'll just cut out the current one.


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I plan on getting a different rear end soon, because I need to get something wider to clear the body. Plus, I want to top mount the spring to lift the back up a bit, and the axle I have isn't wide enough for the brackets. In the mean time I am going to use the rear I have to get the rear suspension set up. I tack welded some 3" exhaust clamps to my ladder bar brackets so I can can hold things in place without welding to a rear I plan on scrapping. I want to do a little more measuring before I install the ladder bar cross member into the frame, but I'm using the directions for a Pete and Jakes ladder bar setup as a guide. It seems to be working out well so far.


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Good idea on those muffler clamps!

 

I finally got around to making a good trans mount. All I had before was a couple pieces of angle iron tacked to the rails. I think this should be strong and removable for service.


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that should handle the job, nice work.

 

I made this bracket so I could use a c10 slave cylinder with the stove bolt. The easiest way would have been to buy a bell housing for a c10 with a stove bolt,but I'm working with what I already have. My dad gave me a bunch of 1/4" plate a while ago, so I cut it up and it didn't cost me a dime.


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Making the most of this whole "social distancing" thing. I finally changed my rear suspension and axle. The new axle is out of a 56 Ford truck, and will give me the extra width I need to clear the body. I also moved it forward about a foot to shorten up the wheel base. I mounted the spring over the axle this time around. Over all I like how everything came together. I need to get new wheels, the original A wheels won't fit on the 56 drums. All though my job is technically considered "essential" by the state during the quarantine, I have been forced to take 2 weeks vacation because we have no work. So I'm going to keep rocking and rolling on this thing for at least another 2 weeks.


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Looks like you are having fun.

 

Finished up framing out the lower quarter panels areas today. I have hinges coming, so then I can start building the doors. I still have to add a strip of metal down the sides to continue the cowl body line around the car (once I start the wood work). This is getting really exciting, maybe pretty soon I can put down the grinder and pick up the wood tools for a bit. Then it will look like something other than a metal box!


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This week I made some more progress, i would like to have made more but my local tractor supply ran out of shielding gas. After three days of calling them and getting the same answer I bit the bullet and went to the welding supply store, who charged me twice as much! I got 3 sets of speedway "budget hinges" in the mail. I just couldn't afford proper 'A' hinges (new or used), they are pretty nice and look similar to the real thing. I welded up a drivers door, hopefully I can finish up the other side this weekend.


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I hope you are going to weld those diamond shaped brackets that hold your radius rods. The bolts you picture are "in shear", meaning one good bump and you will probably shear them right off.

 

Here is another wood crafted Model A. This guy seems to run around all over LA. It very fun looking. And it has open exhaust or something. Keep going with it.

 

Yes I have to weld them, but I am going to move ,so they are just held in with 1/4-20 screws.


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I like that car, I have pictures of it from when it was for sale at some point. It looks like the wood was redone since them.


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I finished up the other door, and even had enough time to make a rear hatch. I found some nice looking hinges at Home Depot that will do the job just fine


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Is it the angle of the pic, or does the rear of the car sit low? To me raising the rear an inch or two would look better....give it a hot rod rake.

 

Here is some inspiration. Pile of parts...front part Model A...rear part fab job!

 

It did sit lower in the rear, but now the spring is over the rear and that raised it up a few inches. Plus my driveway has a weird slope to it, so it looks even lower.


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Interesting build. I appreciate your determination and drive. Have you given much thought to the wooden part of the woodie? What I mean is factory woodies have a frame structure of wood, thick timbers that take up space and are integral parts of the structure of the car. Are you going to just trim it out in wood? Anyways best of luck with the build. I will be watching.