Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

Tweet

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

I

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?

As you probably know, final color is the toughest decision to make when doing a car. I am bouncing around between all red undercarriage and engine, with a dark blue body. and red interior, or........maybe all semi black undercarriage and bronze body and frame ( I like some of the new bronze colors on cars like the 350 Z's)

Usually I have no idea until I actually walk into the paint store and buy it. I understand there are ways to do a computer color workup on a car to give you some options, but I am not the smartest computer person in the world.

But I am kind of partial to red wheels and wide whites, so I probably will go with that. Besides I don't feel like dismounting the slicks and painting the rear wheels again.

Thanks for the encouragement.


Don

Every time I see wide whites I can't help remembering when I worked in a Standard service station some 40+ years ago. I had to mount 4 tires with the white wall falses I don't think I ever got them to seal right. I had to go out to the coustomers house jack up the car bring back the flat remount and bring it back and install it. About 5 times. I HATED THOSE THINGS. That was the only set I had trouble with but it was bad enough to remember all this time.