Another Build Thread - My '32

[J. Robinson]

Hi Steve. No, I used my 4 1/2 inch grinders. I have one with the 4 1/2 inch cut-off wheel and one with a grinding wheel. (The reason I have one of each is so I don't have to keep changing the wheels back and forth.) I rough-cut the shape with the cut-off wheel and finish-grind to shape with the grinding wheel. I discovered about a year ago that it's much faster this way than cutting with a torch or plasma cutter and then spending hours grinding the ragged edges. I buy the wheels in 10-packs at Harbor Freight (one of the grinders came from there also).

[stovens]

Looking good Jim, must be excited to get the body soon!

[40FordDeluxe]

Very nice work! I have been using the death wheels a lot the last few years. I need to get another grinder so I can have a flap wheel/grinding disc on one and a death wheel on the other. It does get old switching over. I think the biggest reason I started using these over my plasma cutter most times is because it's less stuff to drag out. But it is hard to cut round corners etc with the cut off discs.

[J. Robinson]

Thanks, Steve. Yes, I'm looking forward to finally getting the body so I can finish the fabrication work. There are some things ya just can't do without the body (steering column, rear frame horn modifications, mounting the fuel cell, etc, etc.). Supposed to go pick it up September 24th or 25th.

Death wheels? Ryan, are you using your cutoff wheels without the scatter guard on your grinder? Actually, I think it was you who put me onto these things. Using them has probably cut my fabrication time by at least 20 - 25%. Agreed on the round corners and curved contours; just get 'em close and resort to the grinder. It's still less time consuming than dragging out the torch or plasma cutter and then grinding.., and grinding.., and grinding... For my final finish work on edges I use a little angle die-grinder with 3" Roloc 60 grit disc.

[J. Robinson]

OK, getting back to the shock/headlight mounts... The last pieces of the puzzle are the brackets for the top of the shocks. The shocks I'm using are '76 Ford Pinto front shocks. I've used these on my '31 Coupe, my son's '31 Sedan, and on my Track-T (that I just sold). They aren't available in chrome, but they are short and have a built in rubber snubber. These are gas-filled Monroes. They have a tube through the bottom eye and a stud top. In the pic below, the top shock is as it comes out of the box; the bottom one has the tube trimmed for mounting as I use them.

The second pic is the brackets for the stud mount. They are made from 1/4 inch plate cut to 1 3/4 inch wide (to fit inside the stanchions) and 3 1/2 inches long. The hole is 5/8 inch.

The first step to installing everything is welding the little crescent shaped brackets (see earlier post) to the front axle. For now I just welded them on the front side. When I blow the car apart for finishing I will weld the back side and grind the front side smooth.

[J. Robinson]

With the axle brackets welded in place, I bolted the bottoms of the shocks to them and mocked up the stanchions and brackets. I jacked the front of the frame up 1 1/2 inches with the wheels on the floor so I could locate the top brackets inside the stanchions. This allows the shocks to be compressed slightly when everything is done. I used a measuring tape to locate the stanchions on the frame and held them in place with my welding magnets. I used a Sharpie to mark their location on the frame.

With everything in place, I was able to mark the bracket location inside the stanchion. Then I took everything apart so I could weld the top shock bracket inside the stanchion. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the markings because I couldn't get the camera in a position to show it.

After welding the top brackets, I put the stanchions back in place according to the marks made earlier. I used an angle finder to check them both directions to make sure they are straight and level. When everything checked out, I tack-welded one corner of each. Then I re-checked all the measurements and put welds on all four corners of each stanchion. I will weld these solid when I take everything apart for finishing. For now I can call it done.

[stovens]

nicely done you make it look simple!

[J. Robinson]

OK, I've been incommunicado for a while because I frankly didn't have anything worth telling. I've been gathering some parts, but not really doing much on the Deuce. My body got delayed (3 times!) which has taught me a valuable lesson, but no use whining about it. While searching for goodies for the Deuce I ran across an exceptional deal on a set of lakester headers for my Model A. I bought them and took advantage of this down time to install them. I'll post up a new avatar soon as I no longer have the track roadster and the coupe looks decidedly different with the new polished stainless headers.

I finally did get something done on the Deuce just the last couple of days. I am using a '57 Ford 9" rear end that I got for hauling it away. It had been lying outdoors, upside down, for years and was missing the brake drums. You can see it and all the fabrication on it in previous posts. The real quandary came in trying to find brake drums - they are non-existent. I looked all over the internet, at my local NAPA store, Autozone, Advance, O'Reilley's, and all the nearby salvage yard - Zero, nada, nope, nothing. What I did find was that brand new drums are readily available for 1957 - 59 Mercury and Edsel. Should be the same, right? So I ordered a pair. Wrong! As it turns out Mercury and Edsel drums ae 1/2 inch wider. Slapped one of those suckers on my rear axle and it hit the backing plate. Crap! It lacked a half inch of going on all the way. Hmmmmm…. OK, just get some Mercury or Edsel backing plates, right? Those are just as scarce as the '57 Ford drums... No problem, just a little inconvenience; I've never seen this done before, but I will make a pair of offset backing plates out of the ones I have.

I began by using my 4 1/2 inch grinder with a cut-off wheel to slice out the center of the backing plate. Next, I cut a piece of 1/8 x 1/2 inch flat steel (got at ACE Hardware) to the appropriate length (17 3/8") and started tack welding it on edge to the backing plate, bending it into place and tacking as I went. After it was shaped and tacked all the way around, I welded it solid. After a little "corrective hammer work", I tacked the center piece back in place and then welded it solid.

[J. Robinson]

After finish welding and some new spray paint, I reassembled everything and the drums fit fine. Problem solved. If you compare the first pic in the previous post with the second one here, you can see the difference.

[Mike P]

Very nice solution Jim.

I know exactly what you mean about the availability of those brake drums. I'm running a 57-9 Ford wagon 9" in my El Camino. Fortunately it came with a good pair of drums and I have a pair of turnable ones sitting on the shelf....with luck I'm good for as long as I own it.

I always figured if push come to shove I could probably adapt it to disc, but never really looked it to it.



.

[40FordDeluxe]

I just sold my 58 Ford 9" that was in my 40. I heard brake parts were getting hard to get for them. I guess they weren't just rumors. Nice fix you did there.

[Driver50x]

I love it!
To me, doing stuff like that is what hot rodding is all about.

[J. Robinson]

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything here because I was pretty much "dead in the water" without the body. I originally ordered my body back on July 16th. It was supposed to be 4 weeks... It has turned out to be 21 weeks!! Five months I have ended up waiting. It's a long story full of delays and setbacks that I won't bore you all with, but FINALLY I have the body. With one of my closest friends, we left here Monday morning (Dec.3rd) at 2:00 AM and made a "banzai run" to northern Georgia and back to pick up my body. Twenty hours and 1122 miles later we were back home at 10:00 PM with the body. This morning we got it off my truck, transferred it to a trailer that would fit under my garage door, and lifted it onto my frame for its first trial fit. I couldn't resist rolling it outside for a couple of pics.

[J. Robinson]

A big "Thank You" to Roger Spears. About a year ago he sent me some dimensions for locating the engine mounts. I used those measurements and the firewall clears the engine perfectly with room for the HEI distributor. Without his help I would have had to wait until I got the body to mount the engine and trans and the exhaust system. This puts me several days ahead of where I would have been. Thanks Roger.

The car sits with a pretty cool stance and the 31 inch tall rear tires fit the wheel wells nicely. I can now bob the rear frame horns And tweak them upward so the spreader bar fits just under the rear lip of the body. I can also now mount the steering column and finish connecting the steering shaft. Progress may be a little slow until after Christmas (family obligations, you know) but now I can make some real progress!

[40FordDeluxe]

Congrats on getting your body and it looks so cool!