Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Really nice frame Brian, and it doesn't look like it will ever break.

Made just a little progress today on the frame. I went over to the shop about 1 am the other morning and worked until about 5. It was nice and cool (if there is such a thing as cool in SW Florida) But at least I got the front part of the frame cut out for the tubing crossmember. There are several ways to do it, but I have always liked the method of punching an appropriately sized hole saw through the inner wall of the frame, and then leaving material on the outside in the shape of the tubing. I think it gives you more to weld to, and a stronger joint.

Here are a couple pictures showing that joint. After it is welded, we will bend down the flaps in the front around the tube, and weld the entire assembly together.

Don

Today I worked on the kickup portion in the rear. I had previously cut out little backing plates made of 1 1/4" x 1/8" flat stock, and today I mig welded them into place, to hold them until the final joints are completely welded. I learned a few things today:

1) In addition to all my other bodily functions starting to go away, my math skills are also not so hot. I labored over making 16 backing plates last week, and today I discovered I only needed 8. How I did that I will never know.

2) Self darkening welding helmets shut off after a few minutes. I flashed myself pretty good when I struck the 2nd arc and the mask didn't darken. Still seeing little yellow spots in front of my eyes. May have to use that potato in the eye trick someone suggested in another post, if it gets worse tonight.

3) The 1/4 inch holes I drilled to do my plug welding through were too small to get good penetration into the backer plates. This doesn't have to be a super strong weld, but they shouldn't just fall off like my first attempt did.

The pictures down below give some idea of the concept of the backers. They form a tongue and groove sort of affair, and when you slip them inside the other tube it allows you to leave a bigger gap to weld. This, coupled with the extra metal of the backer allow you to crank up the welder and get a deep, but flush weld joint.

None of this is new to most of you, but I thought it would be helpful to those just beginning to do this stuff.

My Kid is out of town for the weekend, but when he gets back we plan to clamp the rails to the jig and start final welding. Hope none of this is boring any of you, hopefully when the frame gets welded we will really begin to move along.

Thanks for looking,


Don

For you younguns out there, drilling a hole and welding through it is called a rosette.

Thanks for the ongoing progress reports Don....nice work

FRAME IS FINALLY ALL WELDED.


It's about 12:30 AM, and Dan and I just put in a 12 hour day getting the frame for project $ 3K finished. Well, almost finished........there are still a zillion things to do, like build a front perch, hang the radius rods, etc. but at least the entire main frame is all welded, thanks to my Son, who gave up his only day off this week to spend it welding it for me. Thanks Dan. He says it is an early Fathers Day present, and I like it.

First of all, we got all the final grinding done so that the weld joints would be beveled. He didn't like the way I did them last week, so he had me regrind the angles a little sharper to give him a better area to weld. Trouble with perfectionists like him is that they are usually right, so I couldn't argue.

After that we clamped the side rails to his welding table and finished the kick up portions. When that was done, we clamped both rails to the frame jig and trued it all up, and triangulated it. For the rear I wanted to use a Model A rear crossmember, so we cut off the ends and slipped the remaining piece into the rear of the frame, and welded it all together. We are going to add some gussets and two tubular crossmembers right at the kickup, so we punched some holes in there to slip the tubes into.

Now I can start channelling the body and getting it into its final position, and if I feel up to it tomorrow I will start on that. But right now I am totally wiped out from the heat and lifting steel tubing all day, so there is a hot shower and a cold screwdriver in my very immediate future. (the drink, not the tool )

Here are some pix of what we did today.


Don

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You can only post 5 pix at one time, so here are a couple more. The last one is the body kind of mocked up with the slicks off of my '39. I kind of like the look, so I'll have to see if those are the ones I will be using.


Don

DID SOME BODY CHANNELING TODAY.


This morning I was looking for the license number on the truck that ran over me yesterday (We spent 12 hours lifting steel and welding ) I haven't been this tired and sore for a while. But finally this PM I managed to get the strength to go back to the shop and clean up the mess we left last night.

After that we decided to channel the body over the frame to see how it was going to sit. I want this thing on the ground, so the frame is going to have 5 inches clearance in the front and 6 in the rear. We took a whopping 17 inches out of the rear so the body could slip back over the kickup and hide it somewhat, and we took 3 out of the front. (I forgot what fiberglass does to you when you are sweating and it sticks to your skin. ) I'll probably be itching tonight when I try to sleep.

Finally, we mocked it up with the wheels and tires to get an idea of how it was going to look, and I think I am going to keep the slicks on the rear. It will change my $ 3000.00 budget a little (wheels and tires cost me $ 750.00) but I think the look is worth it. On the front I am going to run 5:60 X 15's that I am going to borrow from my '27. It has been sitting unused for 5 years, so it won't mind. So far the look is what I wanted, sort of early lakes modified, but with some modern touches.

Don't think the 3 speed stick idea is going to work though. The engine and trans are going to have to sit so high to clear the ground that there is not a lot of room left for pedals. Plus, the Hurst shifter would be right against my right leg, and be difficult to shift in that position. So I guess I'll win another 350 turbo on Ebay from Jackson Transmissions and put that in there.

Here are some pictures of the mock up we did today after the channel job.


Thanks for looking,


Don

That is coming along great. It has a nice stance. Any idea on color yet?