Thread: Project "Left Overs" is back alive !

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I started this project at the end of last year, and shelved it for a while so we could concentrate on getting my Son Dan's car done for Billetproof in April. We made that deadline, but some additional work on his car has kept us busy a little longer than we thought. Finally today we got back on my project and got some of the frame welded up.

To recap what I am shooting for with this car, I am using the 29 Murray Ford body that Dan originally had on his rpu, before he decided to go with a new Brookville body. Dan did a lot of work to the body before I inherited it and pretty much all that needs done to it is to build some floor panels and bolt it down.

I want this car to look like it has been around for a long time, so it will have some bumps and bruises left on it to age it a little. I had one a lot like it in the early 70's and want to kind of build this one along the same lines. I am using a 394 Olds that I rebuilt about 5 years ago, but have never started. For the transmission I am using a TH350 with a Bendtsens adapter kit, and an S10 rear with 3:70 gears in it.

The frame we are building is made out of 2 x 4 x 3/16 rectangular tubing, with a 4 inch kickup in the front and a 16 inch kickup in the rear. Front end is going to be a 34 Ford undropped axle with Speedway wishbones. I may go suicide or not, that is yet to be determined. The rear may use a model a crossmember and model t spring, or coilovers. Still haven't decided on that yet.

I am pretty sure I am going to mount the radiator in the bed and leave the model a grille shell empty, with only a Moon tank up front. I would like to build this one like a 50's A/Altered drag car, but with concessions to make it streetable. I already bought the front tires, 5:60 x 15's and the rear slicks 8:00 x 15's, and have those mounted on new wheels I got from Coker Tire.

So, today Dan welded up the two side rails for me ...........thank you Dan ! Tomorrow we are going to cap the openings in the tubing and start figuring out the front crossmember. Here are a couple of pictures. The first one is how it looked on the first frame we built for it (sold that one as it didn't fit this body exactly) and the second and third photos are where we ended up tonight on the new frame side rails.

(Well, the pictures loaded in a different sequence, but you will get the idea)

Don

that is cool Don and I'm coming along for the ride as I so enjoyed your last build thread about your high dollar Bucket with cats and other side shows,this will be just as exciting. Oh how did the fishing go and when do those large fillets arrive on my door step???

I first thought that Whiplash23T had pulled up an old thread and was nudging you with it, Don, but then looked back and saw the post date/time!! I agree, looking forward to another build thread, and it's off to a great start!!

The fishing was great, but the catching wasn't worth a darned. It's actually been a while since I have gone fishing, but I keep threatening to do that one of these days. Trouble is, it is so hot down here (and I guess a lot of other places too) that I really only feel like sitting in front of this screen and shooting the breeze with you guys.

It did rain like mad yesterday..............I mean like TORRENTIAL rain all day and it kept the temps in the 70's and low 80's, which was why Dan and I felt like working on my frame. We haven't built a frame for maybe 4 years and forgot how heavy those steel pieces become as you tack more and more of them together. I'm feeling it now and I'm sure it won't be any better once we have a complete frame together and have to flip it around on the jig.

Don

Don I'll tag along for the ride with Whip. Always fun watching one of your builds, and educational. Here is a dumb question, but how else do I learn ,"Front end is going to be a 34 Ford undropped axle with Speedway wishbones. I may go suicide or not, that is yet to be determined." What is suicide and why is it called that? Thanks

About time this resurfaced old fella I shall have a closer look in a couple of months, better be a beer waiting though

Steve its called suicide as if the spring breaks the car will dig in the ground

Yep, Steve, Steve is right! :D Ford cars in the early days had the spring mounted directly over the axle and the story goes that if a spring broke you had some protection because the weight of the car would drop down onto the axle, not the ground. You've seen the suicide style, most commonly used on cars like T buckets, where the spring mounts behind the axle. It gets the car lower but there is the "potential" of the spring digging into the ground if it ever broke. I've never seen that happen, so who knows if the concern is warranted.

UK Steve, Don tells me you and Sue are coming Stateside in Sept or thereabouts. Fantastic.:) Looking forward to seeing both of you. BTW, you know that English Pub we took you guys to? It went out of business, but recently reopened as a new ENGLISH PUB!!!!!!!!! :LOL: We drove by it the other day and commented we needed to take you and Sue there for lunch when you come.:LOL: I'm sure you two never get authentic English fare.

Don

Yep we are a coming, not sure of exact dates yet Don but will let you know as soon as we do.

See guys,that didn't take long before we are all talking everything but about the car project. Don,do you guys have that dark warm stout beer over in Florida?? All I can say is ,you can have it.
Cheers Whip. Bottoms up chaps!!!

I am gunna be watching this one,too,as always..The F100 is for sale,,as we need to finish Lyndas Customline,so I can start another project or two..One is an open car,,not saying what yet,cos there are a couple of things need finalising,but I can say,that I have a Y block and 3sp sitting here for it,and I want to get onto my 60 Galaxie 4dr h/top as well..
So,plenty of pix,please Don,, need to get immersed in this...I want an open car before Im too old to enjoy it...(No smart cracks,whiplash)

Not sure about that beer, Whip, my beer of choice is Corona with a lime but I mostly drink Miller Lite because that is what my Sons drink and what is generally in the fridge at the shop. I like any beer that is free.

Lamin8r, a Y block would be perfect for a hot rod, they have become popular again and look so cool anyways. Hope you do a build, I'd love to see it.

Today I consumed Dans day off again and we got a lot more done on my frame. The pictures below may look just like the ones from yesterday, but they aren't. We capped the tubes in four places where they were open before. Dan cut some 2 inch wide steel and welded them onto the ends of the tubing. We must have gone through 15 grinding discs smoothing the welds down.

There is still a lot more grinding and smoothing to do, but this will at least make it possible for us to put the frame rails on the jig and start making the front and rear crossmembers. Every muscle in my body aches from grinding and I only did about a 10th of the work Dan did. I kept finding excuses to take my 27 out for a spin, like going for more bottled water and picking up more grinding discs. I think he caught on after a while though, but I really owe him big time for the hard work he put in today and yesterday.

Don

Hey Don! Maybe this will be the 3K build, eh? After all, you got all that stuff for FREE, right? What about the pickup roadster project? Good luck, keep it coming.

If you haven't bought the Speedway bones yet you might want to take a look at Fatman. He makes a similar product with steel front yokes. He puts a longer leg down into the tube (about 2 1/2" if I remember) to have solid material to hang a spring perch through. Not sure the Speedways do that.

As for this being one of Pop's build threads and going off topic, it wouldn't be right if we didn't post up some cat pictures...................

I've used the Speedway bones Bob and they are good and have a suicide spring fitting already installed.

Oldrodder43, I think I actually might make it for under the $ 3K figure on this one, you are right, I got all the major stuff for free. I have most of the major components already, like the body, frame material, front axle, spindles, backing plates, steering arm, tie rods, spring..........plus the engine is done and I even prebought the carb kits, tune up stuff. The Bendtsens adapter and TH350 are sitting there, as is the S10 rear. I even have a set of lakes headers I bought off of Ebay about 10 years ago.

The one major hit I had financially was that a while back I bought the front tires, rear slicks, and wheels from Coker (a little over $ 1,000 with my HAMB Alliance membership discount) ..............and it did cost me about $ 3000 in machining and parts when I rebuilt the Olds engine about 5 years ago...................Ok, maybe I will have more than $ 3K in it, but the free stuff I borrowed from my Kids sides of the shop sure will help keep the costs down. Every time Dan would change his mind on some part he had bought and didn't want to use I was right there ready to scoop it up and put it in my stash.

Bob, where have you been.............I was just thinking you must be in Vegas or something because if you have been around I must have been missing your posts.

As for the wishbones, I already bought the Speedway ones some time back, and have to say they really are nice pieces. Sounds like those FatMan ones are nice though. I have a set of 46 bones that I was going to split and use, but I kept looking at the ones Speedway sells and wanted to try them out. They do have the suicide threaded hole placed in the forged front yoke section so they are strong in that respect. The only modification I am going to make is to drill out the 1/2 inch threads they use and retap them for 3/4 inch threads so I can use SoCal angled perch bolts in there. The half inch holes just seem a little small to me to be real strong.

Hehe, thanks for the cat picture, he/she is a good looking little guy. Seems to like cars too. You should see the tribe of strays we have at the shop these days. Every night about 9 or 10 of them show up when I go over to feed them. Other people in the industrial park must put food out during the week because even though they come by to grab a bite with us they aren't real hungry, but on Saturday and Sunday night it is a different deal altogether. I can't get the food down fast enough as they are starved. I guess since no one works on the weekends they get no handouts.

Don

Steve, you were posting while I was typing. I remember you said you had used those Speedway one. They are so close to looking like original Ford pieces that it is hard to tell the difference IMO. I like them too and glad I bought them.