Thread: 1929 Essex Highboy

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Well Bobby D, that sounds like it would be a great happening, BUT--We'd probably kill each other Cause he'd want to build EVERYTHING, and alll I'd think about is run to the store and buy it! In truth, man would I ever love to have a chance to work with him for even a few days! I tell you, I've seen his coupe and the in progress Track T, and he is one talented man. Easy to see why he's a teacher. Wish they'd had one of him up here when I was in school.

And Larry H, man, I can't imagine COLD, DARK, WINTER DAYS in Kansas. Come to Maine for the winter, we'll show you COLD DARK WINTER, days and nights. And I got extra SNOW SHOVELS. haaahaaaaa

Thanks you guys for following along and for the support with nice words and such. Gives one a real morale boost. Perley

You folks probably think I"m some kinda WIZ-BANG or such, seeing this come together in such a few posts and so quick. BUT........we've been well over a year now on it, and at the rate I'm going now and (like everyone else) having holes in my pocket book, it'll still be awhile before it hits the streets.
But in the meantime, I got plenty of pics on my 'puter of what we've done so far. AND---------I got plenty of pics of our OTHER project too.
Our in progress '47 Ford effie pick-em-up truck sitting on a chevy S10 chassis with a SBC 350 and 700R4 tranny from my old work van. I've stalled on this one, but still sits there, waiting for me to come back. Steve?? He's for whatever will hit the street the soonest. Man, wish I was eighteen again. haahaaaa

So--------Here are some more pictures. Frame back up in garage where the welder isn't..........and axles under it with most of the suspension parts in/on and the motor/tranny sitting in place. I mentioned before that the motor was sitting kinda low, like hitting the top of an ant?????? So, I got a piece of 1 x 3 square tube, cut it to fit, drilled holes, then sat it on top of the existing mounts and tack welded them in. Gives me anther inch clearance under, and still doesn't protrude up through the floor into passenger area. I have made up a U shaped section of 2 x 2 tubing and some pieces of flat plate for hanging it from the K members and to mount the rubber vibration isolator on. The ears for the disconnect bolts are now tack welded in. Some day when we next remove the cab, pull the engine and such, I'll turn the chassis up on it's side and finish welding these ears. I don't do so good upside down welding.

And pics showing the tight fit of the spring shackles, nuts, and the tie rod. Like, I'd have to have a loooonnnngg straight highway, 'cause I couldn't turn the wheels but VERY little. haahaa. And a picture of my 'new' twenty dollar tires, this will please TO-QWK.
Just need to get the old ones off and mount the new(er) ones. And a shot of the panhard bar assembly. I used a piece of 1 x 2 square tube sticking up off the axle tube with a notch cut in the top edge to allow the panhard and the rod end to sit inside and a bolt through. The other end is hung on a brackett on the inside of the frame directly over the axle. It's as long as I could make it because of the coil spring/radius rod hanger already attached to the axle. This was made just like the front radius rods. 1/2 x 20 coupling nuts ground down, inserted into the ends of a piece of 1/2 inch black pipe that had holes cross drilled, then welded through the holes (plug welded?) and around the very end. Again, better protect those threads------

I've always called them a rosette weld, but I reckon plug weld works too.

Hey, that sounds like a name I've heard before! heeheee. Thanks TechInspector1. Hope you're enjoying the build and thanks for following along. Perley

Here are some more pictures of the front. I've seen in some builds where people have put various shapes of metal in between the members of the radius rods, probably for support to tie them together. After a brain hiccup I came up with this, SX, sort of short for Essex. So I cut one in forward relief and one in reverse and welded them in. Kind of gives them some character.

And (drum roll) at long last, we have 220 volt power up at the garage. After only two years! haahaaaa. November 15th, a day that will live in Infamy (in my mind)
Here is a shot of the power panel. Given me by a friend electrician. It's old, outdated, Pushmatic brand, but works just fine. We ran a 100 amp line up from the house with an aerial cable. A picture of the compressor we've had for almost exactly a year. Bought from Home Depot. Think it's still on Warranty? A shot of our Lincoln 225 Ac/Dc welder. A shot of the driver side motor mount, if you look hard you can see (barely) the short pipe spacer on the bolt where the nub was shorter than the other two. And a shot of the 1 inch thick riser added to the motor mounts to give us some additional clearance under the oil pan and tranny.

Here is a shot of the cable going down to the house from the garage. And a shot looking up at the peak of the garage. And another of the Grandchildren, this one 12 years and next to youngest. Have 5 total, all boys, love em all. In the first picture, standing at garage, shows the back of our house and further down in yard our oldest Daughter's house. This started out to be my garage some 18 years ago, but became a house before I ever got to drive a car into it. At the rear of this building I have a small workshop, mostly for woodworking that I was 'allowed' to keep! Although at this point in time it looks like I'm losing ground on keeping it. This was where the welder has been. Perley

Anyone else here old enough to remember the TV show "Moving On"? Will and Sonny. That was a nice show. Anyways, here are some more pics. I have given a lot of thought to the situation with the tight quarters for the spring ends and tie rod. I thought of all kinds of fixes that involved taking the front end apart again. In the end I just drilled new holes for the spring mounts up in the top ear of the batwind, right next to the top radius rod mount. It will serve for now. I am thinking about making a small plate the size and shape of the hollowed out space below and welding it in, then I can move the hole/spring down a little. Not that I need to drop the front any more, but so it doesn't look like a mistake. Maybe when next we remove the body and engine. Here also is a picture of the steering box set in it's mount with the pitman arm sitting on it. Looks like I may have to cut a segment out of the lower cowl to allow room for the pitman arm to swing to and fro. I thought I had that clearance, but things got moved around a lot during the mock-ups and fitting and moving etc. DARN, well, I need the practice anyways!! Perley

Time now to work on the body some, see about 'pulling it all together'. haaahaaa Here I am starting on the floor sub/structure, 2 x 1 mains with 1 x 1 intermediates. Still got to put in a lot more, but this much enabled us to set the body on the chassis!! Nice! Shot of body sitting about where it will be, unless I take a bad spell and lower it more. NAW.
Shot facing front and shot facing rear. Shows some of the bad places (rust) but not as bad as some I've seen. Perley

OH, guess I better weld the doors to the body before we move it, huh? Here I am fitting plates over the body to door gaps to make it a unified entity (for now). And a shot of one welded on. I put these top and bottom, front and back, both sides, to help hold it together while we moved it. Grandson Steve showed up one night with 5 of his school pals. They picked the body up, swung it around, sat it down on frame!!! Super! Thanks guys. Notice here, the driver side door is the correct one for this year
('29) but the passenger door is from either a '27 or a '28. They had only the small character line. The '30 and '31 both had just the wide character line, where the '29 got both. Weird! I am still looking for a correct passenger door, by the way. And it would be nice to find a better driver door too. Enjoy. Perley

I mentioned before that I had a Model A radiator and grille shell.* I tried this in mock up, but with the rad sitting on the crossmember the grille shell was too high, higher than the cowl.* In an email discussion with my Mentor, I decided to try a radiator from a '65-'66 Mustang.* I finally found one cheap on ebay and now trying it, looks like a winner.* It fits the grille shell rather well, allows the shell to sit a little bit lower than the cowl, and should cool my Inline 6 without any trouble.* Here is a shot of my thinking chair!!* I just perch on this and roll around the project, IMAGINEERING.* ** I bought a few cans of paint at Wally's World here to try for suitability (to my tastes).* Ended up with a Krylon color called Georgia Clay.* Kind of a primer look.* And of course.......GREEN WHEELS, I mean----------** and I think Rustoleum Hammered Silver for the running gear and frame.* All subject to change, painter's perogative!!!!!!! * I pirated the rear wheels from our other project to try, they are American Racing (?) 15 x 9 I think.* I like the width, but might like a 16" wheel. Pics

Not much clearance under the transmission here. I wonder if I need to put that bracing system back in for the T-5 transmission? And another shot of new helper 'Harley', my 4th Grandson of 5. He is 12, youngest is 11, oldest is 18 as I've said before. I guess he's given up on old cars. And a Happy Holiday Season to everyone. Thanks for following along on the build, hope you are enjoying it. Perley

That tranny is not going to ride there..............RIGHT

Originally Posted by to-qwk

That tranny is not going to ride there..............RIGHT

haaahaaaa I hope NOT. I am working (still) on the transmission mount which when done should pick it up about 2 1/2 inches. If that doesn't look like it'll clear the Maine Roads, I'll have to raise the motor mounts and redrill the holes in the tranny mount drop-out. Fingers Crossed!
Perley