Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Earlier in the week, brickman asked how I was doing on the $ 3 K budget, so I got together my receipts for new stuff, and the amounts I paid for Ebay and other parts and came up with a total. Here is pretty much where I am so far:

Initial purchase of body/frame on Ebay..........................$ 530.00
(frame ended up getting cut up and turned into a table, it was unusable )

New 2 x 3 , 3/16 wall tubing (20 feet)..........................$ 125.00

20 feet of 1 & 3/4 inch DOM tubing for crossmembers.......$ 85.00

Total Performance front spring perch.............................$ 30.00

" " " tubular front crossmember......................................$ 25.00

Model A rear crossmember (Ebay) .................................$ 50.00

Speedway early Ford biscuit engine mounts.....................$ 20.00

Model A rear spring (Ebay)............................................$ 50.00

Speedway rear spring perches, rear spring mounts, and
new front spring .........................................................$ 145.00

Front wishbones (Ebay)................................................$ 100.00

Superbell front axle (Ebay new)......................................$ 190.00

Chevy Blazer rear axle (junk yard)...................................$ 125.00

Early Ford pickup front shock mounts...............................$ 50.00

2 used chrome front shocks (Ebay)..................................$ 20.00

Chevy 3 speed trans (Ebay)...........................................$ 29.99
Shipping on the above ...........................................$ 90.00
(But it included a brand new Hurst shifter )

Chevy bell housing (Ebay)..............................................$ 32.00
(including UPS)

Chevy tranny mount (Advance Auto)...............................$ 5.00

Total Performance smooth perch pins for front axle..............$ 60.00

So, my total so far is........Drum roll please........................$ 1762.00


Now, on top of that, I am going to use the brand new rear slicks and custom made solid wheels I had built for my '39. The wheels and tires cost me
about $ 750.00, so this puts my total so far at $ 2512.00.

What that means is the car is going to go over the $ 3 K figure, HOWEVER, I still consider it to be sucessful so far, because I have deviated from the original plan to go El Cheapo on everything and just turn out an extremely basic rod with all used parts, cheap tires, etc. The direction the car is taking now is that it will be painted, upholstered, have some flash on it, and (hopefully) come in not too far from the original figure. I'm thinking in the neighborhood of $ 5000.00. But it will be riding on brand new tires, have rebuilt brakes and all new suspension, be painted instead of primered, have a simple upholstered interior, and have some chrome goodies on the rebuilt engine.

Could I have finished it for $ 3K? I think I could have, if I didn't have this November deadline to meet, and if I finished it with fewer costly items. But since this car is going to become my primary cruiser until the '39 is done, I want it to be something I am sort of proud to drive.

In any event, I plan to keep building it and posting updates, and will keep track of the money spent. Hey, even if it comes in at $ 5K , you can't get much for that kind of money these days.

By the way, how are the other guys like hambiskit, Sir Speedy, and the others coming on your low buck projects? Haven't heard much from you lately, how about some updates?


Don

My 29 rpu has had to get sidelined. Basement flooded twice during the May -June monsoon we had here,and since then all hell has broken loose, Water heater,pressure tank,furnace,sump pump. I only wish this could be brought in for 3k. Hank

Last night and tonight I went to the shop after work and actually got quite a bit done. The evenings have been cooler, so it's a lot more pleasant to be there.

Last night I tack welded the engine mounts to the frame and finally got the weight of the engine and transmission sitting on the frame, rather than on a bunch of stacked boards. Then I tack welded the front perch on and mounted the spring and axle to it. When I lowered the weight of everything onto the axle and shimmed it to the actual height the kingpins will ride at, the frame settled down to 6 inches of ground clearance. I want the front to sit about 5 inches off the ground, so I figure the final items I bolt on the front will settle it down that additional one inch. My kingpin inclination is right at 5 degrees, and since early Fords are ok between 4 to 7 degrees, this should end up being ok too.

The engine ended up at a 3 degree angle, which is pretty much ideal. It looks like things are starting to fall into place pretty good. Here are some pictures of the front end with the weight of the engine sitting on it, and with the axles blocked to the exact height they will need to be at with 5:60 x 15 cokers on the front. (I measured my '27 for reference)


Don

Tonight my project was to cut the old spring perches off of the Blazer rear axle, and grind in in preparation for the new spring perches. I am going to use a stock Model A rear spring, and it had 8 leaves originally, but I removed 3 of them to make the ride a lot softer and to drop the car down a little. The perches I am going to use came from Speedway and mount the spring about 6 inches aft of the the axle, and drop it down low in the back. I kind of mocked up everything in the rear, and it looks like the ride height will be fine. If it is too low I will add some shim plates to the top of the spring to raise the car up a little. Have to see where it settles when all the weight is on it.

Some more pix.

Don

Very cool Itoldyouso, I love it. It will be going leaps and bounds now. Great progress so far.
I would agree with you that if a person avoided the bling and stayed simple with alot of good used parts, $3000.00 could be very realistic IMHO. Your car is looking great, and worth every penny too!

Thanks brickman.....I'm starting to get excited now that it is starting to look more like a car. I figure if I can continue tack welding parts on I can keep making progress, and then have my Kid do the final welding some night.

I'm also starting to feel more comfortable with grinders and welders now that I am doing it on a regular basis. I had been away from this stuff for so long I was really rusty.

Don

Thanks to you too, Mike. I know what you mean about all the little bits and pieces you need for your car. Boy, these things are made up of a lot of parts, aren't they?

Good luck with yours.


Don

Hi Don, finally got a chance to catch up on some of my reading tonight, the car is coming along great.

I too think you could have done it at your $3K target and still have had a VERY presentable, safe, and neat car.

Looking over your pictures one thing that really hit home to me is that you need to be congratulated for building a very high quality car on a "rat rod" budget (if that offends anybody my apologies for being blunt). A LOT of the work and time has very obviously been spent paying attention to details and taking the extra TIME required to make the components look "finished".

The major point is all this time consuming, dirty, aggravating, even boring work only really takes the time and willingness to do, not actually a lot of dollars (heck even though nice big tools make it go easier and quicker to do the vast majority could have been done by anyone with the desire and much simpler hand tools).

As far as my budget 64 Ford, it's still back burner until late winter early spring, but it's a good chance to keep an eye out for a radiator, distributor and a couple of other little pieces I'll need to finish it.

Don,looks real nice.Wish I could be working on mine,but someday I'll have these plans and materials list done so I can get a building permit,then all I have left is the building part.[trying to add a bathroom upstairs,a 10 x36 deck with a roof over it]Keep up the good work,Hank

Not a problem Don, you are a great inspiration for myself and I am sure others that don't do this on an everyday basis.

The car is looking good and is really coming along nicely. Still hoping to see it and you at the Turkey Run!



Bob

Thanks again guys for the nice words and encouragement. And yes Bob, I want to meet you in Daytona in November. I hope a lot of the folks from here are there. It would be nice to shake each of your hands and be able to put faces with the typed words.

Now I think I'll head to the local scrap yard to see what kind of steel plates they have today. Sometimes they have nothing good and other times I can find some nice steel plate sections to make brackets and stuff out of. The price is usually pennies on the dollar too. Then I am going to head to the shop and try to get the rear axle hung.

Talk to you later.


Don

Went to the scrap yard, and they had absolutely nothing worth buying. There must be a high price being paid for steel right now, because everything there was crushed and bundled . The one piece I managed to find was a 3/8 inch thick piece of large angle iron, and I will be able to cut several of the brackets I need out of it. At least it was cheap, $ 6.83 for a 25 lb piece.

My goal today was to get started on the rear axle assembly, and I actually got further than I thought. By the end of the day the rear perches were permanently welded on and the spring main leaf hung off of it. I am using Speedways rear spring perch kits that are designed for Fords from 1932 to something or other. They mount the spring behind the axle about 6 inches, and drop the spring down pretty low, compared to mounting it on top, like a Model A does.

The brackets were designed for a 3 inch diameter axle housing, but the S10 type I am using is only 2 and 5/8 inches, so I had to pie cut the perches to reshape the part that welds onto the axle housing. After I did this I rewelded the cut sections and ground them smooth. I then tack welded the perches to the axle, and just about then my Kid showed up and I conned him into welding them on for good. We made a jig to hold the rear axle and perches in alignment to minimize warpage, and he kept moving from side to side to keep the heat down. They turned out real strong, and when I put the Model A main leaf back on it everything lined up great.

Tomorrow I am going to hang the rear radius rods and then the rear will be up on wheels pretty much. I also ordered the front axle kingpins from Speedway, and they should be here early next week. Then I can hang the spindles and set this thing up on wheels for the first time.

Here are some pix of the rear perches before welding, after welding, and then after they were welded to the rear axle.


Don

Today I started to wrap up the rear suspension. The only things left are to mount the radius rods and shocks. Last night we found out we had a little problem. The front rod end on the radius rods wound up dead smack in the middle of the tube crossmember for the transmission. We had wanted to pass a 3/4 OD DOM tube through both sides of the frame side rail and weld it in place, but that was not going to happen with the crossmember sitting right there.

My Son and I sat down and thought about various ways to solve the problem, and after a few minutes he said "We're thinking exactly backwards on this. Why don't we just drill a hole dead center on the crossmember and put a grade 8 bolt (5/8 inch diameter) out through the hole. We can weld it on the inside and put a plate around it on the outside to spread the load."

It was the perfect solution, because now the radius rod mounts to the strongest part of the frame (right where the transmission mount is) and by reinforcing it with a piece of 3/8 thick flat stock it will be very strong. Luckily, we hadn't welded the transmission crossmember in yet. We are waiting to see if we need to rotate it up or down to get the engine angle at 3 degrees once the car is sitting on wheels.

So today I drilled a 5/8 hole in the side frame rail and removed the crossmember and slid the bolt from the inside out. I then made up a 2 inch x 6 inch flat piece of steel, 3/8 thick. I punched a 7/8 inch hole in the center so that we can run a bead all around the bolt. The plate will be fully welded around its circumferance, making the radius rod mount thick in that area.

The radius rods I am using are aftermarket ones I bought on Ebay about a year ago. They are PSI, I think, and chromed. That is my dilemma, they are so nicely chromed that I really don't want to sandblast them so I can paint them the same as the front set, and yet I don't want to chrome the front ones. I'll have to figure this one out. As for cost of the radius rods, I don't know what to claim for that. I waited up until 2:30 when these closed on Ebay one night, and won them and a whole bunch of other stuff the guy had for $ 200.00. I sold of the Vega steering box for $ 130.00, and used the Spal fan on my Jeep, and gave the chrome shocks to my Son for his '29, so I guess I have $ 70.00 in them.

I had to quit for today because I need to pick up some 3/8 steel plate to mount the rear of the radius rods to the axle. The piece I bought yesterday at the scrap yard just isn't going to work.

Here are a couple of pictures of the rear mounts I did today.

Thanks for looking.


Don

i see he/ she carries nice designer luggage, matching too