Thread: American Graffiti Coupe, My Version

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1. I'm going to mount mine the same way you did. The pictures help a lot.. I have the information on the Ididit unit that I'm going to use. I have a lot more clearance with the Ford motor.

3. When you get a chance I would like the manufacture and size of the front tire, do not make a trip there just for that. I'm trying to find a tire about the same size in a 15 in.

You didn't comment on "2", but I'll offer that you need to have all of your seat and seat belt anchors tied to the same component, meaning that you don't want to anchor your seats to the frame and your belts to the body, or vice versa. In the event of an incident where the body might pull loose from the frame you want your seats & belts to be with one piece or the other, or your body will be the peanut butter squeezed out of the cracker sandwich. OEM's choose to anchor to the body, and don't underestimate the force that's put on those seat & seat belt attachment bolts by your body mass in a crash. If you choose to anchor to the frame then you need to build a basic roll cage for all of your anchor points.

Here's a handy reference that gives you the OD of most available tires, for the look you want - Tire Sizes It came from Ryan (40FordDeluxe) and I've used it often.

Thanks Roger, I value your opinions and have read your posts on seat mounting. I think I'm going to mount everything to the body with metal strips under the car, but I still worry about them pulling thru the body in a crash, not that a fiberglass body would give much protection anyway.
Thanks for the tire chart.

Originally Posted by racerx1699

Thanks Roger, I value your opinions and have read your posts on seat mounting. I think I'm going to mount everything to the body with metal strips under the car, but I still worry about them pulling thru the body in a crash, not that a fiberglass body would give much protection anyway.
Thanks for the tire chart.

Donnie,
I think that it's all but standard practice for the floor to have "core mat" in the floor panel, which is quite stout. N&N says, "We use a core mat in the roof, doors, trunk, and floor." On the '32 roadster I'm working on I've made up four 1/8"x4" panels in various lengths with 3/8" Grade 8 bolts up through the floor, tacked to the bottom side of the plates, each catching two of the eight seat bolts (buckets) - one on each outside pair running front to back, one in front catching those bolts on both seats and another in back catching the two inner back. The plates will be epoxy primed, then stuck to the bottom of the floor with some body filler as "glue", and finished along with the bottom of the body, likely with a bed liner material again as I'm on a gravel road. For a seat to come out it will have to take most, if not all of the floor out with it, which means likely taking the whole body. Another option, even stronger, would be to take a sheet of 1/8" steel that covers the bottom of the floor, and weld your bolts to that, bonding it to the bottom side, but as you say a fiberglass body is going to tend to break up in a severe impact....

Front tires are 175-70R14, Name Brand on tires are Goodride radial sp 06. These are the tires that Timeless shipped on the car. I will eventually change them to something else of better quality.

Graffitifreak
Thanks for the tire information, between what you and Roger sent me I now know which tires I'm getting. Can you tell me what lenght steering column and drop down you used?

Column is Flaming River, 30". FR20001BK tilt, powder coated.
Drop is Flaming River, 4-1/2". FR20104PL polished.

Again, My Body is a Downs Manufactured one. Your dash mount may be located a little different in the Bebops body.

Hey Racer, How's the build going?

Very slow, haven't touched it in a few months. I had surgery in Feb and couldn't do anything for 8 weeks so I'm getting ready to get back to it. I have plenty of parts to keep me busy thru the summer.

Hope you feel better soon. Post some pics of the progress!

Could anyone post pictures of how they mounted the fuse box and ignition box (if they have one). I'm getting ready to start wiring and am looking for great ideas.
Thanks

Are you mounting the fuse block under the dash, behind the seat(s), under the seat bottom on the floor, or somewhere else? If you're using the under dash area I'd recommend that you pick your location with the dash in place with all of the instruments mounted to show you the true space available. I did mine with the dash out, and the layout looked very neat and organized, but having a line of relays up high in the dark was not a good choice for future maintenance. Ditto the in-line fuse holder that's in the Edelbrock harness to the EFI - very hard to get to, and would have been much better about 6" lower, or even more. Think about ease of access, and if you use one of the methods to make the fuse block removable from it's mounting spot (hinge, magnet, velcro) leave enough slack in the big wire bundle to let it move, and consider that the insulation will stiffen as it ages.

P6140390 Parts.JPGP6140394 Driver.JPGP6140396 Pass.JPG
These are the parts I need to mount. I want to mount them under the dash by adding a plate above the two cross bars. I was going to mount the fuse box on the drivers side and the ignition and solenoid on the passenger side.

Originally Posted by racerx1699

Attachment 63865Attachment 63864Attachment 63866
These are the parts I need to mount. I want to mount them under the dash by adding a plate above the two cross bars. I was going to mount the fuse box on the drivers side and the ignition and solenoid on the passenger side.

If I understand your "...plate above the two cross bars" you're saying that they would be horizontal, beneath the cowl? That's the last place I would want them, as you're going to be on your back looking up into the darkest depths of your interior to see anything. I'd glue a piece of plywood or hardwood to the back side of the firewall, and mount them where you can see them clearly by ducking your head beneath the bottom edge of your dash panel, and don't worry too much about having them out of sight line, either. You can fabricate a cover panel, held off of the wood mounting panel by a few pieces of tubing, with long screws into the wood to keep things pristine.

Originally Posted by rspears

If I understand your "...plate above the two cross bars" you're saying that they would be horizontal, beneath the cowl? That's the last place I would want them, as you're going to be on your back looking up into the darkest depths of your interior to see anything. I'd glue a piece of plywood or hardwood to the back side of the firewall, and mount them where you can see them clearly by ducking your head beneath the bottom edge of your dash panel, and don't worry too much about having them out of sight line, either. You can fabricate a cover panel, held off of the wood mounting panel by a few pieces of tubing, with long screws into the wood to keep things pristine.

Tell me about it, Roger! I learned that the hard way. I may have to slightly drop my A/C unit if I blow a fuse. My fuse box, relays, etc. SHOULD have gone behind the seats. For a genuine, certified GS-13 military planner, I sure blew that one.