Thread: 1931 model a street rod

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Hello: I would like some advice. It would seem that I am $5000 ahead if I can purchase this rolling 31 chassis, dropped spindle, gm disc, 4 bar link, boxed and z'ed, 8" rear, coilovers , a rebuildable 350, tr700, driveshaft, jeep steering colmn and wheels and tires for $2500.

I would need a body and all the accessories. The car looks like it is done in a reasonable manner, a racing type shop did this and then decided to spend more time on racing cars.

I know that m-II fronts are might better, but how does a dropped spindle ride at 70mph on the highway? It seems like a good start in the street rod area. I currently own a 71 mach 1. Thanks Glenn

Mine does just fine, certainly not a road racer but it'll cruise the highway & byways all day long at 70. I've got the mono leaf up front and carrera coil overs on the rear with 200 lb springs but I think I'll try 150 pounders when I get her back together...
And besides a coupe's just gotta have a dropped straight axle to look right... Maybe thats just the GEEZER in me.

Hey great, two Model-A guys in the same place. I found it interesting to hear of the Jeep steering column. I would like to know if the column is mounted and is the correct length. Can you tell me the wheel and tires sizes? Also I am just mounting Carerra coilovers on the rear of a Brookville A-frame and there are adjustment settings as well as the three holes in the mount. At this point with no body on the frame I would just use the middle bolt hole and the midrange setting as a happy medium for the beginning, but perhaps you could tell me why you want a softer ride in the coupe. As I recall the stock Model As had a very weak flat spring for the A-roadster with heavier springs for the closed cars, so if you want a softer ride with a coupe body I guess I should set the spring rate very low for the roadster?? It sounds like a very good deal if the frame is boxed and the brackets are already there. A frame with kickup and all brackets cost me about $1300 and then there is the 4" dropped axle, disk brake kit, spring and four bar kits front and rear so I guess I have at least $2500 in the chassis so far and yet need a steering column and wheels with tires, so the price is fair since wheels alone are a minimum of $200, tires another $200 and Carerra coilovers about $400. With a 4" dropped axle I am assuming that the handling should be quite good with a cross steer and a Vega box which is what I have as recommended by the MAgoo '29 roadster. I have seen the direct drag link steering setup but as I recall from actually driving a "31 Fordor without cross steering and also a '47 Ford with cross steering, the difference is like night and day. I would think you are right to be concerned about the direct steering as being quite exciting at speed, but the cross steer setup was used on stock Fords from '35 on for good reason and I expect to have pleasureable steering with the Vega box and cross steering.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Just to keep the Model A discussion going I will mention that today I installed my coilover shocks. They are Alden Eagles, not Carreras, but they have six settings and I set the setting at "3" for the initial guess. Once again as with other TCI chassis parts I have installed, the Nyloc nuts only leave about three threads exposed which is kind of short for me, but I paid for the special chrome plated bolts from TCI for the coilover kit so I hate to use plain bolts. I guess I will have to nick the threads with a cold chisel as with the four bar links as protection against the bolts backing off. I also picked up my rebuilt short block this morning and it looks great with the block painted Chevy Orange and some chrome tinware. I have tried to build a torque motor with a Crane Street cam (194/205 @0.050"), Edelbrock Performer and 1 5/8" headers, but I only have the stock 882 heads with a three angle valve job shaved to 75 ccs. Thus I guess I will only get about 250 H.P. at 4200 rpm where the cam starts to sign off, but I hope to get well over 300 ft. lb. of torque in the 2300 rpm range where I will be cruising with a 2.79:1 ratio rear gear. Tell me more about the Jeep steering column and wheel sizes.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder