Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Yeah I've got a couple of those. One came home to a pair of manifolds in the stove and an intake in the dish washer..... Well how else was I going to cure the paint or clean the intake??????? She ws not amused


And I think I read how to do that in "Hints from Heloise"

Don

PROGRESS REPORT # 2

Went over to the shop today and began working on the front spring perch for the $ 3K Bucket. The frame I got on Ebay isn't a Total Perfomance, as advertised, but I am still OK with it. The side rails are fine, and are actually 2 X 3 heavy wall tubing instead of the more common 1.5 X 3 thin 1/8 inch stuff. This is 3/16" so it is a little heavier.

Problem is the front and rear perches are ugly, and I want the car to sit super low, so I have to modify the front by reworking the existing perch, and I am going to Z the rear portion of the frame to drop it about 12 inches there.

To get the front low, I decided to mount the front end suicide style, with the cross spring mounted to early Ford wishbones, so that the axle, a 4 inch dropped SuperBell I beam will stick out in front of the frame by about 10 inches or so. And, to get the front even lower, I am going to mount the spring to the top of the perch, rather than the more common method of putting it under the perch. I think it will also give it somewhat of an early Lakes car look.

The first picture shows the perch as I got the frame. I decided it was way too long, so I shortened it by about 2 inches. I wanted a neat cut, so I put a cut off blade in my circular saw, and cut the snout off. The area with blue tape on it.

Once that was done, I reshaped the sides of the perch to give it a little better profile, and cut the bottom of the perch out for access to the nuts I am going to put on the new perch bolts. To reinforce the top of the perch, I made as 1/4 thick steel plate and slipped it into the underside of the top plate, and will weld this to the sides of the perch for additional strength.

I then made a new top plate to hold the spring down to the perch, and am going to add some little gussets to it, with holes drilled in them for looks. I will use grade 8 bolts on everything on the suspension.

Tomorrow I am going to order the correct length front spring from Speedway (31 inches eye to eye) and when that comes I will fab up some mounts and gussets for the lower part of the wishbone, which will also act as a mount for the spring and both front shocks.

So far I am still at $ 900.00, because I spent no money today. Just used some pieces of scrap steel from the bin.

I'll post more when the spring shows up, probably later this week.

Don

And finally, this is how it ended up. We are also going to reweld and reinforce every existing weld on the frame. I just don't like the way they did it.

Here is an update on the coupe I mentioned.

All this, new Walker Radiator, SS headlight bar, new saddle tanks, a new set of B-ville fenders(complete kit), sitting on a TCI perimeter frame.

$4k

Ok- quick update on the 50 delivery,
I found a donor frame today at the junkyard- it's a 70 El Camino, and the whole rolling chassis only cost me 150 bucks ! I will have to cut it down a little, and box it in, check the bearings, the bushings, ball joints, tie-rod ends, ect,- but I'm getting excited now.
I pulled up the floor mats on the delivery to get the seat out and found Aluminum sheets zip screwed down on both sides pans...haven't gotten to the back yet to inspect it, but so far I am thinking all I'll need is one sheet of steel, and about 50 lbs. of wire...lol.
Total cost of build to date : 650.00

Will post some pic.'s as soon as I remember to buy the damn batteries for the camara

Will post some pic.'s as soon as I remember to buy the damn batteries for the camara


Yeah, I just robbed every flashlight in the house to keep my camera going. Finally broke down and bought some.

Sounds like your project is going to take a major leap forward with the new chassis. That's really great. Plus, you get modern running gear and brakes and all, and can go to any auto store and fix it. Smart move hambiskit.

Don

PROJECT $3 k TAKES A SLIGHT DETOUR:



For those among us who have young children, let me give you a snapshot ahead into your future. At some point in time, YOU will become the CHILD, and your KIDS will become the PARENT. I'm not talking about when you are in Sunny Hills Old Age Home, and are drooling all over yourself, I'm talking about it happening a lot sooner than that.

What prompts this observation is that my Son has been telling me that he doesn't trust the frame under my low-buck project. The tubing is heavy enough, but he doesn't like the welds. Ok, I told him we would reweld them all. Then he tells me he thinks the front tube crossmember is made of water pipe, not DOM tubing, and he goes on to measure the outside diameter, and confirms it probably is, because it measures differently than tubing would. SO MUCH FOR MY LITTLE EBAY BARGAIN !!!!

So at this point I have to admit he is probably right, and the icing on his arguement is that this car is going to be a gift to my other Son, and we don't want him riding around in an unsafe car. Arguement closed.

Today I ordered 24 feet of new 2 X 3 3/16 wall rec tubing ( $ 86.00) and called Total Performance back and ordered a proper tube front crossmember ($ 25.00), so that we can build a good, new frame for the car. He is good at it, and will whip it out in a couple of days, and will do it on our frame jig, so it will be straight.

This will set the build back a week or so, but it will give us the advantages of having the right kickup built in right from the start, without the need to modify anything. Bright side, the spring and other stuff I ordered from Speedway showed up today,(those folks are really ok to deal with) so I can keep moving ahead on the front end suspension. Saturday, I am going to the wrecking yard to start measuring for an 8 inch or 9 inch rear.

I will take pictures as we start building the frame, to help anyone who may not have ever done it and who is curious.


I'm not sure when the Kids get smarter than us, but beleive me, it happens.





Don

Great Thread Guys...I love to sit back and listen to you guys work through this stuff...it's awesome! Don, Good Luck with the build...I hope that it's a ton of fun for you. I know what you mean when you say the kids start parenting us...I used an innapropriate descriptive word the other day and my daughter said "Mom, you don't have to swear to make a point"...uh...yeah, I do

Speedway rocks ...............

And Hell Yeah Jerilynne, I agree descriptive adjectives are often required to get the young peoples' attention As if they don't use them outside of our ear shot ...............

Kitz

Speedway DOES rock. You know, some places may have slightly higher quality on some things, but generally, I feel they really give a decent product at a very fair price. And, their shipping is unreal. I ordered my stuff on Monday, Thursday the UPS guy drops it off. I've used them for years, and have very few complaints.


Went to the shop today, and got a little more done. The Speedway front spring came in, so I wanted to get the brackets made to hang them on the wishbones. I don't remember this being done in the '50's, but currently, it is popular to mount the spring perch right to the wishbone, suicide style. Some people drill a hole in the wishbone for the perch, some people weld a tube to the wishbone to mount the spring shackle from, but I chose to mount the perch to a 3/8 inch gusset that we are going to weld to the bottom of the wishbone.

By doing this, it will drop the front end even lower, and also will reinforce the wishbone, which was never actually intended to take this load. I am using a '37 wishbone, as it is heavier and longer than the ones from a Model A.

The first picture is of the front of the unmodified wishbone.

The second picture is a blue template I made out of poster board.

The third picture is of the gusset I cut out of 2 inch wide X 3/8 inch thick flat stock, and a piece of that metal before cutting.

The fourth picture shows one finished gusset in place, with the perch (the chrome piece) in place. I drilled some holes to add a little detail to the piece, rather than leaving it plain.

The fifth picture shows the same thing from a different angle.

And, the 6th picture shows the mocked up front end, with the new, wider spring I got from Speedway.

Didn't get a whole lot done today, it was 95 degrees in the shop, but at least now my Son can weld the gussets to the wishbones, and I can get the front suspension started.

We won't be using this frame, but it will work ok for the mock up, because the new one we build will pretty much have the same dimensions.


How are some of you others coming on your budget cars?? We'd love to see some shots of those too.


Don

Woops. You can only post 5 pictures on one try, so here is picture number 6.


Also, we have burned up every 1 inch hole saw we own, so I am going to pick up a couple so I can punch the front axle full of holes. Maybe like 6 or 7 per side.


Don

Coming along there Don, and I found a motor today for mine- a "rebuildable" 350 from a friends kid for 100.00 bucks, I'll pick it up tomorrow.
I got batteries for the camara- it's broke- won't work and after 45 min.'s trying to explain to the little lady that it won't work, along with multiple demonstrations, we dug out the old 35mm, and guess what....it needs batteries- only a different kind than the ones in the digital ( which are new).
So pic.'s are coming- I got a scanner.
I am down to the ripping it all out stage of mine- I have removed the interior, and floormats. The front pans are gone so I measured up and went to find one complete with tunnel (a deeper tunnel) that would mate up with the 50. Found one in a S-10 that will work. Got it for hauling it and the bed off. I will cut it out tomorrow from the S-10 and set it aside. I have to get the el-camino chassis over to the shop so that I can do all the final measurements so that I can get it cut and sectioned. After that I will decide on channeling the body down over the frame- or just leaving it set stock ride height. (you know I'm going to do it). The rocker boxes are rotted away on the 50 so I will have to crossbrace the inner cabin before I can try to move it because it might collaspe- THEN I have to fix the rotten bead around the rear section where the factory clipped it on to keep the roof on it when I raise it.
I just want to ready the frame first before I pull it completely apart so that I can double check myself on the frame fit for core support, and firewall position.
More tomorrow........

Total to date 750.00

Amazing the free stuff that you can get, if you just ask, sometimes. You may have scored pretty good. S10 beds are a little pricey sometimes. The guys who bag them are always looking for new beds. (not sure why, but they are)

Delivery's are great as drivers. Lots of room to carry stuff that us roadster guys only dream about.

Anxious to see your pix.


Don

Yeah, you KNOW you are going to channel it. Another nice thing is that SB Chevy parts to rebuild are cheap, compared to the Fords that I play around with.

OK-what a pain in the butt here's some pic.'s :

and more from the crypt.....