Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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FRAME IS FINALLY ALL WELDED.


It's about 12:30 AM, and Dan and I just put in a 12 hour day getting the frame for project $ 3K finished. Well, almost finished........there are still a zillion things to do, like build a front perch, hang the radius rods, etc. but at least the entire main frame is all welded, thanks to my Son, who gave up his only day off this week to spend it welding it for me. Thanks Dan. He says it is an early Fathers Day present, and I like it.

First of all, we got all the final grinding done so that the weld joints would be beveled. He didn't like the way I did them last week, so he had me regrind the angles a little sharper to give him a better area to weld. Trouble with perfectionists like him is that they are usually right, so I couldn't argue.

After that we clamped the side rails to his welding table and finished the kick up portions. When that was done, we clamped both rails to the frame jig and trued it all up, and triangulated it. For the rear I wanted to use a Model A rear crossmember, so we cut off the ends and slipped the remaining piece into the rear of the frame, and welded it all together. We are going to add some gussets and two tubular crossmembers right at the kickup, so we punched some holes in there to slip the tubes into.

Now I can start channelling the body and getting it into its final position, and if I feel up to it tomorrow I will start on that. But right now I am totally wiped out from the heat and lifting steel tubing all day, so there is a hot shower and a cold screwdriver in my very immediate future. (the drink, not the tool )

Here are some pix of what we did today.


Don

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You can only post 5 pix at one time, so here are a couple more. The last one is the body kind of mocked up with the slicks off of my '39. I kind of like the look, so I'll have to see if those are the ones I will be using.


Don

DID SOME BODY CHANNELING TODAY.


This morning I was looking for the license number on the truck that ran over me yesterday (We spent 12 hours lifting steel and welding ) I haven't been this tired and sore for a while. But finally this PM I managed to get the strength to go back to the shop and clean up the mess we left last night.

After that we decided to channel the body over the frame to see how it was going to sit. I want this thing on the ground, so the frame is going to have 5 inches clearance in the front and 6 in the rear. We took a whopping 17 inches out of the rear so the body could slip back over the kickup and hide it somewhat, and we took 3 out of the front. (I forgot what fiberglass does to you when you are sweating and it sticks to your skin. ) I'll probably be itching tonight when I try to sleep.

Finally, we mocked it up with the wheels and tires to get an idea of how it was going to look, and I think I am going to keep the slicks on the rear. It will change my $ 3000.00 budget a little (wheels and tires cost me $ 750.00) but I think the look is worth it. On the front I am going to run 5:60 X 15's that I am going to borrow from my '27. It has been sitting unused for 5 years, so it won't mind. So far the look is what I wanted, sort of early lakes modified, but with some modern touches.

Don't think the 3 speed stick idea is going to work though. The engine and trans are going to have to sit so high to clear the ground that there is not a lot of room left for pedals. Plus, the Hurst shifter would be right against my right leg, and be difficult to shift in that position. So I guess I'll win another 350 turbo on Ebay from Jackson Transmissions and put that in there.

Here are some pictures of the mock up we did today after the channel job.


Thanks for looking,


Don

That is coming along great. It has a nice stance. Any idea on color yet?

As you probably know, final color is the toughest decision to make when doing a car. I am bouncing around between all red undercarriage and engine, with a dark blue body. and red interior, or........maybe all semi black undercarriage and bronze body and frame ( I like some of the new bronze colors on cars like the 350 Z's)

Usually I have no idea until I actually walk into the paint store and buy it. I understand there are ways to do a computer color workup on a car to give you some options, but I am not the smartest computer person in the world.

But I am kind of partial to red wheels and wide whites, so I probably will go with that. Besides I don't feel like dismounting the slicks and painting the rear wheels again.

Thanks for the encouragement.


Don

Don iot is really looking great. Good progress

Every time I see wide whites I can't help remembering when I worked in a Standard service station some 40+ years ago. I had to mount 4 tires with the white wall falses I don't think I ever got them to seal right. I had to go out to the coustomers house jack up the car bring back the flat remount and bring it back and install it. About 5 times. I HATED THOSE THINGS. That was the only set I had trouble with but it was bad enough to remember all this time.

wow, this thread is awesome! im new to the forum and just wanted to say awesome job so far. I cant wait to see it complete and if it will end up being around budget! cool idea!

Thank you, and welcome. This forum is gaining members daily, and we love it. The more the merrier.

I sometimes worry about posting some dumb little bracket I made for the T, but then I remember how I love looking at other peoples posts of what they are doing. So I guess it is ok.

I know some of the old timers on here (in experience, not years ) probably fall asleep on some of the stuff I have posted on this build, because they have done this and so much more, but I hope some of the younger or just starting out builders can learn something from it. I know I am learning from it, because I haven't built a ground up car it a lot of years, and my approach was always to get 'er done. My work was far from show quality, but the cars generally stayed together and were fun drivers.

Ever since my Kid has gotten involved doing the welding and helping me with this car, it has taken a slightly different directiion. He drives me nuts with his perfectionism, but he has a great eye, and has corrected me on some of my thinking about what this car should end up as. He actually had me nervous the other day as he was watching me cut stuff with the cut off wheel, and he thought I was going crooked. So I try to sneak over the shop like at 1 AM when he isn't around.

But thanks again for the encouragement, and if it gets boring at times, just hit the ignore button.


Don

PS: I stopped over at the shop tonight after work, and he has made a lot of progress on his '30 roadster pickup. I can't wait til that car is done, it is really something beyond what I could ever dream up or build.

FRONT SPRING PERCH GOT BUILT TONIGHT.


After work I went to the shop and started cutting out the pieces of steel for the front perch . I used a section of C channel for the top, and cut off one leg, and then I cut two side pieces that cradle the tubular crossmember. My Son showed up, got involved, helped me prep the parts, and then he did the final welding.

We still have to weld it to the crossmember, but since it is 2 AM and we just got home, that will have to wait until tomorrow night. It looks pretty good, and is really strong, so it should work fine.

Here are a couple of pictures. The first 2 are of the cut out steel pieces, and the other two are shots of the perch mocked up on the crossmember.

Since I get up at 6:15, morning is going to come really early tomorrow, but at least one more step is done on the T.


Don

In my last post, that got wiped out when the forum was down, I mentioned that the front perch we spent a day building ended up setting the car too low. That's rod building, clearances and things change as you go along, so you just have to salvage what you can and move on. So I ordered a front perch from Total Performance because I have one in the shop on a frame, and it looked perfect for what I needed. Plus, I really didn't feel like spending another day building a new one. (Sometimes easier and quicker to buy something off the rack that fits.)

The perch came in, and it is just what I need to get the front low, and yet still put the frame about 5 inches off the ground in the front. I am not going to weld it on until the motor and trans are hanging on mounts, because I want to see how far the frame settles before I commit.

So today I started on the engine mounts and transmission mount. I picked up a 1961 Chevy stick transmission mount at Advanced Auto Parts. They had one in stock (go figure) and it was like $ 4.50. It is exactly what I need for the '61 3 speed trans I am using, and I like to use off the shelf parts when I can, so if I break down 300 miles from home I can get parts easily.

For the transmission mount and also two other rear crossmembers, I am using 1 and 3/4 inch DOM tubing .125 wall. I have two that will reinforce the rear kickup, and one more under the rear of the transmission. I cut some flat plate to use as a perch to weld to the tube and this will be where the trans mount goes.

On the front, I cut 2 triangular shaped plates out of 1/4 inch flat stock, and drilled 3 holes in each of them to bolt to the block. I had a spare 350 empty block that I used to make the mock up. From that, I cut a section out of tubing that is 2 x 3 and will have this welded to the triangular plates. Then I will mount early Ford biscuit type rubber mounts to the ends of that and build a mount from the frame to join the two together. I ordered the rubber mounts from Speedway, and they will be here Tuesday. The engine mounts are nothing special, and have been used on thousands of cars. They are simple and easy to make.

All I have to do now is get Dan to weld the pieces onto the frame, and I can finally get the engine supported without all those concrete blocks and pieces of wood.

Here are some pictures of what I did today.


Don

Once I had the triangular plated bolted to the dummy block, I needed to cut the arms that come off of them to hold the Ford mounts. To get the correct angle, I put a piece of flat stock across the machined surface where the oil pan goes, and then used an angle finder to plot the angle. I then put it into the bandsaw and cut some 2 x 3 rectangular tubing to that angle. I then cut the outside part of that piece a little rounded to give it some detail. The first picture is of the flat stock to give me a straight edge. The second is of the bandsaw being set up, and the third is of the finished mounts.

Don

And finally, here is a picture of the 3 tube crossmembers I built out of 1 and 3/4 inch DOM tubing. When these are welded into place, the frame should be really rigid. I considered making the trans crossmember a drop out, but decided I would never pull the trans that way, but would pull the entire engine, like I do in my '27. So we will weld it in solid, just like the other 2. I used a 1 and 3/4 inch holesaw, and put holes right through the inside of the frame in all 3 places. The tubes are slightly longer and pass into the frame.


Don

I also got one of those "freebie, nada, zilch" items like Jesse James gets all the time on Monster Garage. Dan bought me a set of Cal Custom finned aluminum valve covers for my Birthday a couple of weeks ago, and they just came in. These things are really nice, and will give the Vortec the look of an older Chevy engine. Cal Custom is making these now, and they even come with some trick little nuts to go on the four studs that hold the cover on.

So I guess since it was a gift, I don't have to claim it in the $ 3 K figure ?? My other Son gave me a couple of gift certificates from Advance Auto Parts, so I can get some of the other parts I need to get the car running.


Here are a couple of shots of them. I hated to put them on the grungy engine that hasn't been to the machine shop yet, but you know how it is when you get some new chrome goodie...........you just have to put it on.


Don

Sort of made some pretty good progress this weekend. My Son left for an out of town gig this weekend, but before he left on Friday he welded up the transmission crossmember for me. For now, we have left it loose to rotate in the 1 and 3/4 inch holes I punched in the frame, we will weld it up after the front mounts are holding the weight of the engine and we can angle it perfectly to match that final angle.

Yesterday I went over and started fabricating the bottom parts of the engine mounts. The engine sits really high because the frame is going to be so low, consequently the lower mounts had to be about 6 inched tall. With that much height I didn't want any flex, so I made them out of 1/4 inch flat stock, and made a 3 sided box out of this. For a little detail I shaped the back portion slightly rounded, and angled the outside portion so it wasn't straight up and down. I also punched 6 holes in the 3 sides to break up the slab sidedness a little. They aren't the prettiest things, but strength was the most important thing to me in building them.

Since Dan wasn't here to weld them for me I decided to do the welding myself. I have done some arc welding in the past, and my welds aren't pretty, but none have ever broken, so I thought WTH, a mig can't be that hard to use. I jigged everything up and clamped it so nothing would distort, and fired up the mig. Let me say I won't be welding any of the suspension pieces on the car, but the mounts actually came out ok, and I know I got good penetration because I could see the back side before I fully welded it on that side. A little grinding and some body filler to make it pretty, and I will be able to paint them.

I AM going to have Dan weld the lower mounts to the frame, however, as I want these to not only be strong, but pretty, and his welds are good to go without any filler. I actually only got one lower mount done (man these things take time ) but the second one should go faster now that I have one under my belt, plus I have most of the pieces already cut out and ready to weld.

I also found out something else I had forgotten. If you weld without a long sleeved shirt on you will get a bad sunburn on the left side of your body. I had NO shirt on, so I am half red and stinging a little bit. But at least I wore a shirt today because I didn't want sunburn on top of sunburn.


Here are some pictures of the rear crossmember and also the one front mount I have done. My goal is to have the car sitting on wheels by 8/15. Otherwise , I won't be done in time for Turkey Run at Thanksgiving.

Don