New project underway, but have some question...

So I guess I'm the FNG so before I start picking your brains I'll introduce myself. I'm 26, I've been in the navy for 6 years and I work in the shipfitter shop. I'm a welder by trade. I've only owned older cars (63 lincoln and a 54 chevy 210) but got away from the car thing for a while and started building british choppers and bobbers. I've always wanted to build a "track roadster" style model A, but I like all the model A stuff. I appreciate craftsmanship and inguenity. Bare bones keep it simple hot rods are my personal taste. I firmly believe in the old saying if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it all. I came across a deal I couldn't pass up when I friend of mine was moving and had a 30-31 model A sedan (four door) he needed to get rid of. I traded him an old Lambretta scooter that I was restoring for the model A body, a 3 speed tranny, and 350 bucks. I think I made out like a bandit, but he probably thinks he did too. The body was quartered to fit in his garage and has all the usual model A surface rust and cancer. But I'm fairly confident in my welding and fabrication skills. The area that I'm lacking is experiance. I've had friends that built cars from the ground up, so I know what a huge undertaking it is. So now that my introduction is out of the way :) What I'm thinking is removing the center post (b pillar) and shortening the body by 13 inches, and stretching the doors by combining the front and rear door. So it's what I would call a frankensedan. If you guys are familiar with the Purple People Eater that the guy in the shifters built, it's something similar to that, but not so extreme. I'm 6 feet tall, and thought the extra leg room would be nice, and still have plenty of room in the rear for a gas tank and the rear end. I'm planning on fabricating my own model a frame with a kick up in the rear. So my question is if I take 13 inches out of the body and leave the fire wall stock am I going to have a huge gap in the engine area? I'm not running a hood. I also haven't picked up an engine as of yet, but I'm thinking about running a straight 6 (like a Ford 300 or Chevy 250 or 292). Any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome to CHR Kooksville. I don't have any experience in doing what you want but there are alot of people on this site that will give you many different answers. Sounds like a great street rod your going to be building especially with the straight 6. I would go with the ford 300 as you can do alot with that engine as you have alot of thickness in the cylinders walls and that engine has a hell of alot of torque. I had two of them in a 60's ford truck and with headers and running a small 4 barrel it's like a V-8. Good luck with the project.:D

If you are going to build your own frame, you can do just about anythng that you want, especially if you are not going to run fenders. A good rule of thumb is as follows.---Build the body any way you like, don't worry about wheelbase, or motor size. Get whatever engine you will be running, complete with transmission, waterpump, fan, everything you need clearance for from front to rear. If you want a track roadster style, you will have to determine if you want the body on top of the frame (highboy), or if you want to cut out the floor and lower the body down over the frame for a lower (channeled) look. The oilpan of the engine should never be closer than 6" to the pavement under normal situations. Set the engine up with a 6" spacer under the pan and the top of the intake manifold level, block the body up to whatever ride height you want it to be at, and slide the body up against the back of the engine. If the bell housing or transmission interfere with the firewal or floor, fire up the torch and cut them out (preferably a bit at a time). If you can, you should avoid a recessed firewall, because of the leg room issue. When you have approximately 1" between the firewall and the rear of the engine valve cover (or distributor if it is a rear mount distributor), stop. Allow about 4" from the front of the fan blades to where the front of the radiator will be. If you are using a model A or a 32 grill shell, the rear of the grill shell will fall just about in line with the front of the fan blades. This should also be the line which positions the center of the front axle. The rear axle can be positioned where-ever is estheticaly pleasing to you, but keep in mind that anything less than 104" wheel base will be squirelly to handle. This lets you dummy up the wheelbase and the height at which you want things to be, and the amount of frame kick-up you want over the rear axle.. If you use a 4" dropped I-beam with model A cross spring and stock model a crossmember, the height of the frame at the center of the front axle will be 15 1/2" off the ground (if you are running a small block chev engine and 26" O.D. front tires). There is a lot of layout and calculation involved in creating your own frame from scratch, but people do it every day. Good Luck.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm working under the assumption that I will keep the stock wheel base. If I take a section out of the middle of the body I'll be changing the relationship between the firewall and the front end to keep my rear axle in the stock fenderwell area. But you need more room for a straight six so my fear of a big ugly gap between the rear of the engine. I'm planning on channeling the body, and I have no floor to cut out, so that makes it easier :) Again, thanks, you guys have given me some insight and some things to think over.

remove the grill and shell, mock the engine in there with just a engine stand, measure from the firewall to about 5" in front of the engine, then remove engine, replace grill and shell, then measure from where it would be in relation to the other measurement you took, take that number, that's how much you should cut out of the body to shorten it, everything will remain in stock location, and the engine will fit, without gaps. What you will end up doing is removing from the body inner ( sectioning ) to make it shorter, and in turn, that gives more engine clearence so, you havn't a need to make the car longer.