Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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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