Thread: Project "Left Overs"

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Today it dawned on me that the Good Frame Fairy wasn't going to come down and build the frame for my rpu for me, so I decided to get started. We have a few sticks of 2 x 4 x 3/16 in the shop and that is the size I want for this car. I think it looks more proportional with a body this size than the 2 x 3 we would normally use for a T bucket, and the Olds engine is about 700 lbs, so it needs all the support it can get.

I don't want the frame to look boxy in front, so I am going to cut and taper them from 4 inches at the firewall to just 3 inches at the front perch. We bought a few Total Performance front perches from Mickey before he sold out, so I will be using one of those up there.

I also bought an original 1934 Ford axle on Ebay the other day, and that should be here next week. The original plan was to use the Superbell axle and a set of SoCal hairpin radius rods we have, but instead I am going to use the 34 axle with split early wisbones. I want people to wonder if this car is a current build or a survivor and am going to use as many old parts as possible and disguise the newer stuff to look old. The Superbell and SoCal hairpins would have given it away. I am still going to use the Posies spring, but will probably put one of those leather covers they sell on it to hide the newness of it. I also found a nice Model A rear crossmember on Ebay last week, and I have a Model A rear spring left over from my 27.

Not a lot of progress tonight , but I got the front rails mocked up in place and can now start the tapering process, then move on to making up the rails that go under the main body. This car should go together pretty fast once the frame is done, the hard part, the body, is pretty much done, thanks to Dan once owning it.

Here are the two sections of tubing I cut and then mocked up in place.

Don

Hey Don,if you want everybody guessing about the new "under $3000.00 left over part car" project,you better stop typing now and posting photos or Uncle Bob will know about it and that will be history wrtten for all to see. And I can imagine the photos he will have to back up the history lesson also.
What happened to the break away from cars and the fishing you were looking forward too???? I know,once bitten by the building bug you can't stop.

Whip, I know, Uncle Bob is always lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce.

As for fishing, I actually called about a boat this week and was supposed to meet the guy, but I called him the morning of and told him I was going to wait a while. I have too much on my plate now with the 27 motor to put back together and this latest one. Plus, I know Dan and I will be fishing instead of him getting his rpu done, and he is sooooooooo close. But fishing is in my future sometime this year. I need a break from this car stuff a little, and I think Dan does too.

Don

Glad to see you got started Don, Any reason your using 3/16" wall box ??? I see lots of people using it in the U.S. when 1/8" is fine for the job.

Steve, I just like it better because it only costs a little more than 1/8 and the extra wall thickness allows us to tap threads into it to mount non structural items like brake line clamps, cable clamps, etc. with a little deeper thread than the 1/8 would give. But those sticks are HEAVY! I was very happy yesterday after I wrestled one into the bandsaw and cut the more manageable 45 inch pieces off of them.

Mainly though, we just overbuild everything.

Don

Yup with you on that, I like the lightness myself. more BHP per ton

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Steve, I just like it better because it only costs a little more than 1/8 and the extra wall thickness allows us to tap threads into it to mount non structural items like brake line clamps, cable clamps, etc. with a little deeper thread than the 1/8 would give. But those sticks are HEAVY! I was very happy yesterday after I wrestled one into the bandsaw and cut the more manageable 45 inch pieces off of them.

Mainly though, we just overbuild everything.

Don

The thing that has been holding me back on getting this frame built was the fact I have to taper the front rails from 4 inches to 3 inches in the front. I have been kicking around a lot of ways to cut out a one inch pie shaped piece, 36 inches long, and today I decided the bandsaw would be the easiest.

I spent some time changing to a new blade and truing it up to be square with the table, and built a little jig to hold down the end of the tubing so it would run through the blade straight. Then I clamped a straight piece of steel to the tubing as a guide and started to cut. It took me two hours to cut one side because I fed it through very slowly, trying to keep the cuts as straight as possible to reduce the amount of grinding I have to do to get a good gap for welding. It actually came out pretty well and both sides of the tubing ended up about the same, which was something I worried about since I was cutting through both walls at one time.

I temporarily clamped the bottom wall up to meet the new profile and mocked it into place on the car. It is a subtle change but the new tapered profile looks about the same as the Model A frame under my 27. Tomorrow I am going to cut the second side and then grind a bevel and weld it all up.

Here are a couple of shots of how I marked what was going to be removed and how it looks on the car now. The rest of the frame should be a piece of cake after these two sections are done.

Don