Thread: My new purchase - 1936 Ford Tudor Sedan (rat rod)

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I have been a fan of rat rods for some time now and recently came across something that I thought I could play with. Body modifications will come at a later date. (lots of ideas to make it look more cool) My main concern is the chassis. A section of the frame is rotted out. She has mechanical brakes and 6V system. (Darn car still has her original flathead V8/ 3sp manual tranny and rearend) and Would like to find some type of more modern frame that she can sit on to. Mechanical safety is #1 on my current list. I know lots about bodywork and can fab and fix anything needed for body and interior. Frames and chassis are an area of inexperience. I have a buddy that seems to know a lot about chassis. He has built many winning circle track racers. To me "rat rod" also means "tight wad" which means do not pay anyone else for what you can do yourself with a little time (sometimes lots) and labor. I have a Sprint OHC ST6 out of a 67 Firebird for a possible engine w 2sp tranny and a 1970 GTO rearend.

This is a LOW BUDGET build. Many thanks, Robert

You can still go low budget with using a lot of bolt on conversions, Like Chassis Engineering set up, use your frame new mounts for new parallel leaf springs in the rear, and disc brake kits for the front, anything you want...
http://www.chassisengineeringinc.com/page30.html

Welcome Robert,

You have a nice car to start this project with. I am one of those tight wads you referred to but I don't consider my car a rat rod, although some high end builders might. When I started my build 44 years ago (see pic of "finished" project below) I did it myself because of lack of $$$. When I "finished" the build I had aprox. $1200 in it total. I am re-doing it now (see my post "34 3 window re-build" in the Hot Rod Talk section of this forum) with a little more knowledge and much better equipment but I am still doing it myself. Mostly to save $$ but also because I am a die hard DIYSer and like to tell people I did it myself.

406RICH is right about buying what you can and when safety is involved, don't take shortcuts. You can still assemble the finished project and say you did it yourself.

Jack.

some consider mine a rat but I don't. I just consider it a budget built rod. I did a lot of chassis work and stuff you don't get to see. now I'm working on the body

Do yourself a favor and stick with your stock frame. It is much easier to modify it then to try and make a frame from something else work. I learned the hard way. I took a frame out of a 2002 Ford explorer because I like the independent rear suspension and narrowed it. Then I put a mustang II front end on it. Then I had to build a floor from scratch with a support frame between it and the explorer frame. I will have over $30,000 in this car when I am done and I am doing everything but the interior myself. Of course putting a 2006 5.7 hemi in it didn't help with the cost at all.

Glad to see this thread restarted. Robert, what progress have you made? Remember, we need pics.

Jack.

Stick with the stock frame if possible. I'm building a 36 myself bought a complete front susp ension & rear spring kit from Yogi's . It came with front boxing plates.