Thread: Project "Left Overs" is back alive !

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I had forgotten about the 39 Merc..Those things are as rare as chickens lips down here..NZ never did get a lot,,and there arent many left..There is a nice example down here,owned by a local rodder,,who has sheds like that,,but he knows where everything is,,and no,,no cameras allowed..I better hassle Moonman again,,,he was going to send down the rear side window reveals from his koop,so I could take molds off them..Could ya stir him up please whip??ta mate..

I will get Steve to mention that to Moonman for you Robin as Steve told me that Moonman is getting impatient for his car. Although there is no rushing Stevie boy. Do you remember the Lincoln or Mercury Steve has that was parked outside under a large turp, I think the same as Lifestylz, well it has rusted away to the stage that it is worth absolutely nothing now and apart from some small bits and pieces,the rest will be dump material sadly.

Now that my frame is essentially done, we can move on to getting the rear axle assembly installed. I pretty much knew where I wanted it to sit but we thought it would be best if we had the bed in place first so we could see how far fore and aft it should sit to look right. So today we bought a sheet of masonite to build a mock up bed.

We are using 4 1935 Ford stake pockets, one on each corner of the bed, and they were too tall for the height of the bed we thought looked good, so we sectioned one as a test, removing 4 inches, and Dan welded it back together and got it to look about right. Then we cut pieces of the masonite and made two bed sides and one tailgate and screwed it all together. I wanted this bed to be VERY short so that it didn't extend beyond the rear slicks. This car is going to look somewhat like an old drag altered, so the bed only needs to be big enough for my fuel cell and battery.

I like the way the mockup bed looks, so now we can start mounting the four bar setup , coil overs, and panhard bar. I am probably going to run a totally louvered tonneau cover that will hide it all, and may also get the tailgate section louvered to match. Once the rear end is hung we can start bending sheet metal for the bed sides and tailgate.

Here are some pictures from tonight of the mockup bed.

Don

Yup,that does the job..Looks good,,in proportion..this is gunna look mean on the road..

I really like the way you did the mockup bed, the proportions look dead on.

Thanks Robin and Mike. I ordered some rod ends I needed for my four bar setup and those should be here by the end of next week. In the meantime Dan and I are going to start cutting out the brackets for the axle mounts and shortening the four bars to fit my setup. I would like to have the car as a roller by the end of September, then we can wheel it outside and get a good look at how the mockup bed looks. It's hard to tell inside the garage and sometimes they look different when you get them outside.

Don

Now that looks just right Don. Nice job.
Did you get my pm with hotel address ???

Thanks Steve, I did get your address. I'm starting to research the cheapest way to get these two boxes to you.........they are HUGE ! I'm going to take them to the local UPS store today for a quote, but I think it will be $$$$$$$$$. The two boxes just fit in the backseat of Dan's pickup.

I'll keep you posted.

Don

Don I can't see it with the car together but is yourlower rear frame cross member going to be a problem???? I thought you were maybe going to put a loop there??? Just looks close to drive shaft height, with rearend movement up & down?? Feel free to tell me to shut up

AW, SHUT UP !!!!!! (Just kidding, Charlie ) It is a little close, but I think it will clear. It would only be an issue on the car bouncing up, not down, and if we find the shaft is too close we can put a half round piece in there to give it a little more room. We already thought about that issue and almost couldn't see it coming until it was welded in place and the frame blocked at (sort of) ride height.

Dan has lots of practice with a sawzall, so if need be we can chop out a section and put a loop in there. Sometimes you plan things out and clearances still change as the build goes on. For example, I have to clearance the trans tunnell a little. When Dan built the body he was planning for a TH350, but the long bellhousing of my 394 shoves it back 4 inches more, plus an inch for the adapter, so we will have to deal with that too.

Thanks for mentioning though.

Don

I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to use the Autoweld four link setup Dan had left over from his rpu build (he went with polished SS in the end) but when we sat down to look at it today we realized the 3 link setup we have from Suicide Doors would actually work better and eliminate some parts, like a panhard bar.

The problem was that Dan originally ordered these for his Fordor project and had them custom made a little longer than the usual ones Suicide Doors sells. Because of how short I want my back they were about 4 inches too long, so we decided to cut them up and reweld them 4 inches shorter.

Suicide Doors really overbuilds these bars, they are 1.5 inches OD with a 1/4 inch wall thickness. So once we cut them up we found some solid round stock in the shop that was 1 inch in diameter which slipped tightly inside the cut portions. We cut the round stock in 8 inch pieces and inserted them into the tubes before welding. Dan rosette welded them in place first of all, then he fully welded the two halves back together. If anything it is stronger than the original uncut bars.

That is how far we got today, which leaves us needing to build brackets to mount them to the frame and rear axle. The 3 bar setup will take a little bit of the room I had planned for a gas tank, but I still have room for maybe a custom made one or I might find a fuel cell the right size to tuck inside the bed.

Here are some pictures of the 3 link setup during and after welding. Also, there is a picture of one of the 4 inch sections we cut out so you can see how thick these things are.

Don

Steve, I sent you a PM about your boxes of parts.


Don

Don nice bed mockup. The three link should make for a nice ride. Looks like you guys are making lots of progress.

Thanks, Steve. Yep, it seems to be coming along pretty well. I feel bad because I have gotten Dan more deeply involved with this one than I planned on doing, but his welding skills have been a great help. The other night he said " I should have kept this body for my next project." I told him " You DID get this body for your next project, you just didn't know how soon that would happen !" But he is pretty good about giving me his days off. Don has been practicing with his new welder and is getting pretty good. I want to get him to weld some stuff on the car for me too.

Today I am going to head to the shop and start cutting out the bracket pieces to mount the 3 link to the rear axle. I also have to cut the old mounting pads off of the rear housing and will get to use my favorite foot burning tool, the plasma cutter.

We figure a couple more weekends and we can have the car up on all fours.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I also... will get to use my favorite foot burning tool, the plasma cutter.
Don

Cutting and welding has taught me several fast & fancy dance steps plus a whole new vocabulary. Neither is suitable for mixed company, though!.. Don, can you say "high-top shoes"?