Welder Series Model A Frame

I returned a PM to ya DW..but thanks for seeing where I was going with it...Now get the thing DONE..haha- WE want to see IT on wheels

 

Jeff, really great series and extreme quality work , thanks for the inspiration, , you made me want to get off my butt in front of this computer and go over to the shop and finish my front end install, thanks and have a great new year,,,,,,,

 

Wow thanks Jeff ! I never thougt of myself that way ! DW and I are having a lot of fun building this chassis. We also really appreciate any and all feedback and sugestions. Looking forward to finishing this project. Thanks !

 

Pic 1
One of the nice things about hot rod parts is that they don't know what they do. A rear four bar bracket, for instance, doesn't care that it's on the inside of the rail, on the outside, or in this case, on top of the frame rail. We're using one of our standard Model A rear four link kits with the frame brackets mounted in a bit of an unconventional way.

Pic 2
Since the rails are not parallel at the rear, we supply the kit with 5 degree adjusters so that the axle brackets can mount outside the rails and the bars are aimed towards the bracket. We really only needed to measure the wheelbase - once the bars are assembled and connecting the axle brackets and frame brackets, all you have to do is square up the rear end.

Pic 3
At this point, we decided we wanted the pinion centered. It's also easy to tweak the wheelbase too, by sliding the whole assembly forward or backward along the frame rails. The bars should be horizontal at ride height. We haven't quite determined the width of the rear end, so we're going to leave it for now so we can match it up nicely with the box.

Pic 4
This picture is a bit misleading at first glance... ultimately, we wanted the pinion tipped 'up' about 3 degrees off of vertical. If you haven't already, read Inland Empire Driveline's setup guide. Grant made a neat, simple fixture that looks like a ruler with two holes in it. It picks up the top and bottom pinion studs and has a straight edge between them at pinion centerline. This is really handy for centering the axle brackets.

Pic 5
We have everything tacked in place.

 

Very nice work!

 

Pic 1 & Pic 2
Universal panhard kit.

Pic 3
To see how Grant measured and trimmed the coilover frame brackets, check out the video up a few posts.

Pic 4
You leave a guy over the holidays, and this is what he comes up with. Grant added a bunch of structural tubes and crossmembers - triangulating between the four link frame bracket and the vertical part of the rails, as well as adding a crossmember with triangulation between the frame rails.

Pic 5
He also added gussets between the motor mount frame plates because they stand off the frame so high. The Vega bracket has also been tacked in place.

 

Great post! Other than the wheelbase, are you using demensions of a stock Ä" frame such as found on Wescott's site?

 

Pic 1
We borrowed the mock up axle from my 32 build and sprung it up. Ride height will be up about 2" from this picture. This is a good shot of the front crossmember too - see how it goes right through the rails and becomes the C notch.

Pic 2
Grant trims the bottom of the brake booster/master cylinder/pedal bracket so that the master cylinder will sit as high on the frame rail as possible. We don't want anything hanging below the rail. This bracket has holes for both a master cylinder and a booster... we'll only be using the master cylinder holes.

Pic 3
Wait a minute... something doesn't look quite right here.

Pic 4 & 5
That's better. Grant persuaded the bracket down to the top of the rail. Since the body will probably be channeled a bit anyways, this won't interfere.

 

Thanks for your question. From a plan view, this frame has the same width at the front crossmember as a stock Model A and the same taper as the front section of a stock frame. As you said, the wheelbase is longer, as well as the rails being straight all the way to the rear crossmember (plan view). The Stock Model A frames kinked out a bit at about the halfway point, where ours are straight lengths of tube. I hope this makes sense... let me know if you have any more questions.

 

Pic 1
Brake pedal/ master cylinder mount installed with pedal.

Pic 2
Front axle is mocked up at approximate ride height, ready to build and install the custom hairpins.

Pic 3
Grant is fabricating his own hairpins with a 5/8-18 thread on the back side to use our urethane bushed adjuster. The threaded tube at the back is 1" OD, and the main tubes are 7/8", so 1/16" sheet metal was used to center the main tubes on the rear tube.

Pic 4
A combination of different tubes are used to get the tubes to the correct width apart to match up to our hairpin brackets.

Pic 5
Voila! (That's french for "nice hairpins, eh")

 

Pic 1
To get the correct angle for the bung in the frame rail that will hold the hairpin bolt, we put a carpenter's square along the hairpin, then drew a line along the perpendicular edge on top of the rail. We wanted the bolt to be halfway up the rail, so we measured 1-1/2" down and drew a horizontal line.

Pic 2
A step drill is just about "the" way to drill a hole in frame rails. Easy, time effective, and it drills a round hole.

Pic 3
All mounted!

Pics 4, 5, 6, 7
Fish plates tacked in various joints on the frame.

 

Great Thread. Good to know about those vertical and horizontal bends! Much better looking than straight cuts. The posts are awesome. I like the way you are doing the text and pictures. Keep up the great work. Perley

 

Thanks! Grant just called and said he's about 75% done the finish welding, so there should be pictures of the completed frame this week.

 

...or in a few weeks

I finally got over there to take some pictures, and it looks awesome!

Now all Grant needs to do is find a body, slap it on the frame, and go for a drive!

Something like that...

Thanks for following along - I'll keep updating this thread as the car progresses.

 

All I know is you have some mighty fine parts in your Welder Series Line. My friend Dave just bought a kit from you and it was super nice!! It went in a 33 plymouth and looked great!!

Fine Products...

 

Neat... rear of the frame looks a LOT like a Lotus 7 for some reason... Thanx for all your recent help with parts, Welder series guys! Gary in Tampa

 

Thanks guys! I'm not really sure where the Lotus thing came from... I can't say that I've ever felt 'influenced' by one, at least not for this car. I'll ask Grant and see if he has a thing for Lotii.

 

Thats an awesome build.

 

Great work, supper nice fabrication. Tagging this so I can follow along.

 

Great work, hope to see more!!!!!!!!!! RJ

 

Sold for C$4000 as seen in the last pictures, or about $3280 south-of-the-border bucks!

It should be a great little car when it's done... I'm sure I'll be able to get some pictures of the finished product. Until then, thanks for following along!

Here's how you can contact Grant Schwartz, the builder of this fine frame:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/schwartz.inc
Website: http://schwartzwelding.com/

 

Bump

 

opps OLD BUT good thread......subscribed ......thanks and a bump