Thread: Vega steering box in Model A Ford

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Can someone please post a picture of a stock width model A frame with a Vega steering box mount and a small block Chev engine in it? I am finally getting around to installing the steering box in my 31 roadster pickup with 305 sbc, and though I have done this before, it was quite a while ago. I am running a 4" drop super Bell I-beam axle with parallel 4-bars, and the engine is running rams horn exhaust manifolds. I think I will probably have to trash the current motor mounts and fab new ones, as the engine sets quite low in the chassis, and the current mounts are super ugly anyways. If you have a rod with similar set-up, a picture would really be appreciated.----Thanx

There's a photo (without engine) on Gibbon's site:

http://www.gibbonfiberglass.com/roll...ModelAFord.asp

Mine's a '34 and narrowed, but here's a photo.

Setup is pretty simple. Get a weld-on Vega mount bracket. Super Bell has a good one. With the front axle on the car and at the final ride height, position the Vega box vertically so that the drag link is parallel to the ground, and horizontally so that it is parallel with the tie rod. Clamp and weld.

Henry's given you some good shots. The key thing to do is set it up so that the tie rod and drag link are parallel both vertically and horizontally at ride heighth.

Here's a Vega box in a TCI frame.

Daver.

Thanks for the pictures guys. I went ahead and installed my Vega box and mounting plate this morning, and it went O.K.---I have to do a little creative motor mount work and exhaust tube bending now, but everything appears to be going to fit. I have about a thousand pictures for reference in my "build book" from rods I have built in the past, but wouldn't you know it, none showed this area in detail. Again, thank you vewry much.

Daver,

I just want to say thanks for the look at the front brake lines. I have a Brookville frame and it looks essentially the same. Hey, you went under the frame to the wheel rather than drilling through the frame, that looks easier to me. What holds the tubing underneath, just the same sort of clip along the inside of the rails?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

My SoCal chassis has the same brake set up. Very much like the set up in most production cars. There is a tab with a hole (about 5/8"). The brake hose has a shouldered (or stepped) end that fits in the hole and the hose is secured in place with a clip. A male fitting on the steel brake line threads into the end on the hose. SoCal sells a black brake hose that works in this arrangement. You can also get braided stainless lines with the required end. You can make the tab yourself. But the thickness of the metal is critical. To thick and the clip will not go on. To thin and the clip will fall out. You may be able to order a couple of clips from SoCal or another chassis shop or you might even cut a couple off a salvage car and detail them a bit.

Don....

....just exactly as Bib_Overalls described.

I'll bet you could order a set of clips from TCI.

Daver.