Hot Rods Project Mattitude: the Beginning

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by Dubbzilla

You know the first pictures you have of it mocked up outdoors on the wire wheels.....

That amount of rake, whatever that angle was, was fucking killer.

I'd be fine tuning that front end to get it close to the rake in those pics.

Looking good man! I'm loving it more everytime I check in!

-Steve W.

Yeah, that's the stance I'm shooting for. The plan of attack is whenever I do anything, take the wheels off and lower the front to where it would be with a dropped axle, mount motor/trans, then play with the spring and try to get it at that rake so that when I order the dropped axle in August, it's a simple axle swap to get to that rake. I love that rake with the wire wheels too.. It's just so right.

Originally Posted by Dubbzilla

Just a side note/thought type thing just popped into my head.

I think your car would look really killer with a pair of custom lakes style headers run the full length of the framerails, exiting in front of the rear tires. The pipes could flow real nice, right under the body, filling in the gap of the unchannelledness.

I'm talking about really slick ones, like the torque tube style, but radiused to match the radius of the subframe.

Elpalacko posted some pics of a similar setup he did on a 32 not that long ago.

Squeak Bell's model a roadster is the perfect example of what I'm talking about, although I don't think they're radiused...and I'm pretty sure his body is chanelled......

His roadster is kickass....but I can dig up any pics.

If anybody has pics...feel free to chime in here

I have a special plan for the exhaust. Not going to reveal it just yet..

Originally Posted by Perrorojo

Have you decided to channel it? I like this look for some reason. I think the channeled cars are awesome so I am not sure what strikes me about it.

I decided against it. Seeing the picture above with the wire wheels made me fall in love with it.. It looks absolutely sinister sitting at that stance and I want to avoid making it look too low. It's pretty funny how at the beginning of the project, I wanted one thing but as it progresses, it "grows up" so to speak.

Out of all the pictures, that one's my favorite too. Just can't wait to lose all of that altitude under the front end however.

Originally Posted by Speedy Canuck

It's looking good dude! I know that there's months of work left to do, but if I were you, I'd be real jazzed.

I think the 3" drop at the front is going to give you a good look... just a touch high in the front right now, eh? haha

Yep! August can't come soon enough! But until then, I'll have to be content with having the weight of the 283 holding it down.

[skatermann]

any updates?

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by skatermann

any updates?

Not much this month.. Small stuff. Planning out what needs to be done next. Took the body off a couple days ago so I can prep the frame to fab up some motor mounts and the homemade K-member.

Started welding up the driver's side door then the welder crapped out. The welder stopped feeding wire while I was tacking on the bottom of the door and I think the rod that the spool sits on may have seized up.. so I can't make any major progress until I fix it which won't be until August. One thing after the other. July's a busy month for me with a couple out of state trips so the funds aren't there right now. Still have plenty of time before school starts again in August however.

[farmer12]

Looking forward to the updates/progress on this great project!

[Koz]

I know what you mean about things changing as you go. Thee things take on a life of their own. Ain't nothin' you can do about it. The car will tell you what it wants as you build.

Looking good! Keep making sparks and I'll see you at the 'Round up this year.

[TexasSpeed]

Small.. Teeny-tiny.. Minor.. Not-at-all-important update:

I spent $600.

On my daily driver. For a new electric fan and a couple other things so it's looking like I won't be able to get the dropped axle until next month but I can pick up some stuff to get the motor/trans together and mocked up on the frame as well as start messing with the front suspension. I'm dedicating tomorrow entirely to this hot rod. My dreams of driving this thing taunt at me and after a little motivation from fixing my DD today, I'm ready to start mucking around out in the garage all day tomorrow.

Of course, I could go on and tell you what I'm going to do but Henry Ford said it best:

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."

So rather than say what I'm going to do.. I'm just going to do whatever I can tomorrow.

[JeffreyJames]

Love the rendering!!! I;ve got chunky flames and baby blue plaint on my "to do" list for my '32.

What axle are you having dropped or buying? I have a friend that I believe has a nice dropped axle but I'm unsure of the year. If you have an idea of what you;re looking for I'll cross reference that with his and let you know. Might be cheaper.

What else do you need to get you going?

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by JeffreyJames

Love the rendering!!! I;ve got chunky flames and baby blue plaint on my "to do" list for my '32.

What axle are you having dropped or buying? I have a friend that I believe has a nice dropped axle but I'm unsure of the year. If you have an idea of what you;re looking for I'll cross reference that with his and let you know. Might be cheaper.

What else do you need to get you going?

Chunky flames are a definite must on this ride. I think I may make them a little chunkier and less "modern" than in this rendering, to emphasize on when flames were beginning to become popular. I didn't have green so I used blue in this rendering, planning on going with a light metallic green, cream white flames, gold wheels, motor, other underpinnings, and chrome accents but paint is the last thing I want to worry about right now. I need this thing driving!

Looking at my options, I'm planning on getting one of Okie Joe's axles. Just a regular old dropped A axle. The one I have right now (stock undropped), I want to save for my next project so I want to get one that's already dropped by a professional rather than send one out to get dropped and shipped back.

Just need to fab up some motor mounts, rear trans mount, start fabbing the K-member around the trans mount, cut the 'bones so they mount on the frame and keep the axle leaned back right. Still up in the air over what I want to do to the ends of the 'bones. Figured out what's wrong with my welder so I may drop by a welding store and get the replacement part for it and get back to burning metal.

Basically, I need to get off my lazy butt and get in the garage. I've spent at least 40 hours driving on road trips alone this month so I've been too worn out to even think about going in the garage.

Ah.. One of these days, when I'm old and I look back, I'm going to go "Dang. I was lazy back then."

['Mo]

Originally Posted by TexasSpeed

Ah.. One of these days, when I'm old and I look back, I'm going to go "Dang. I was lazy back then."

More probably, you'll look back and say, "Dang. I sure have gotten lazy in my old age."

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by 'Mo

More probably, you'll look back and say, "Dang. I sure have gotten lazy in my old age."

To make sure I can say that when I'm older.. I did some work yesterday and today. The good news? The motor is sitting on the frame! The bad news? It's sitting on a couple bars of tube steel for until I make the mounts. But, hey, now it's starting to look more and more like a hot rod. I got a chuckle out of how massive a Model A frame makes a small block Chevy look.

First off, the Offy adapter I bought off here got drilled out and tapped one size too large for the bolts to be able to pull it against the '39 Ford transmission so I worked on getting some heli-coils in. I do have to admit they're pretty cool, especially since this is the first time I'd worked with them.




And while I managed to get the adapter to bolt up to the transmission with some bolts that just feel a little too short but they were able to get partially into the holes. Before I bolt everything down for the last time, I'll get some longer ones to replace these just to be cautious. Then after scrubbing the grime off which I decided to put off, it turns out the transmission was painted red at one point in its life then one of the PO painted over the red with a dark blue. Safe to say it might have some history..



(in the above picture, the bolts were too long on purpose just to hold the adapter in place)

I still haven't brought the '57 283 over since my brother-in-law is in the middle of a big move and I didn't want to be a burden just yet. I decided I could just put one of the SBCs in my garage to good use as a mock-up motor. This is the 350 that came out of my dad's '72 GMC long-bed that was involved in the accident. The 350 itself wasn't in the accident as he had replaced it 5 or 6 years prior with a crate 350 so it sat over in the corner. He assumed one of the cam lobes had gone bad but taking it apart to appease my curiosity, one of the pushrods end was smashed in. The Hurst motor mount is bolted to it and the Corvette intake is sitting on top of it but this isn't the motor I'm using.. Just for the heck of it.



Anyways, with it taking up space, I figured it would be better off taking up space on my frame instead of precious garage space so I took it off its stand today and worked on mating the transmission to it. Of course, all the grade bolts I have are too long so I took the shortest of them and some flat washers and went to town..



Then jacked it all up and set it on the frame. The tie rod on the '46 spindles wouldn't clear the cherry picker so I took it off and rolled it straight then once it was where it should be, turned the wheels in so it can't roll back. This is only temporary. There are some wood blocks behind the back tires as well.



One of the things I want to do is raise the motor to fill in the engine space visually. While this is probably a little too high since it's just sitting on a piece of tube steel, this is the general idea of what I want to do in comparison to the grille shell.



Ah.. Progress.

[Cody Walls]

glad to see your making progress , its looking good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by Cody Walls

glad to see your making progress , its looking good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!! Yours looks waaay better though!!

[general gow]

the chassis looks like a shy, ding-toed, nerdy girl with a judas priest t-shirt standing in the back of chem class.

i like it.

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by general gow

the chassis looks like a shy, ding-toed, nerdy girl with a judas priest t-shirt standing in the back of chem class.

i like it.

Ha! Good comparison. Thanks.

Just fixed the welder a while ago.. Now I can really get cranking.

[JeffreyJames]

Sucks I bought a Set of WEIAND BLOCK LETTER VC's for a Staggered Bolt a couple weeks ago. Those would look nice on this build!!!!

There is something so damn sexy about a SBC with a early Ford V8 trans behind it. I'll be looking for a '57 Block and heads a little down the road because I want to build another for my '32 one day. So awesome!!!

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by JeffreyJames

Sucks I bought a Set of WEIAND BLOCK LETTER VC's for a Staggered Bolt a couple weeks ago. Those would look nice on this build!!!!

Just know this. I hate you.

Originally Posted by JeffreyJames

There is something so damn sexy about a SBC with a early Ford V8 trans behind it. I'll be looking for a '57 Block and heads a little down the road because I want to build another for my '32 one day. So awesome!!!

I agree! Well, sexy until the guts get blown out all over the asphalt. Plans for this one are gold motor with chrome stamped script covers ("Chevrolet"), some other chrome parts. No finned covers or anything like that.. Just a nice simple "prettied up" early Chevy. Although they're great motors, I'd like for this to be the only hot rod I build with a Chevy motor for a while as I want to venture into the others.

[JeffreyJames]

Sell out.

Put the engine that you WANT to have in there. This thing is going to take a little time to get together so if you want a HEMI put a damn hemi in there....or whatever you really want in there. And I'll be a good dude and take that '57 283 off your hands.

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by JeffreyJames

Sell out.

Put the engine that you WANT to have in there. This thing is going to take a little time to get together so if you want a HEMI put a damn hemi in there....or whatever you really want in there. And I'll be a good dude and take that '57 283 off your hands.

If you've got a rebuilt Hemi or even a Caddy, then I'll do you better and offer a straight swap! Just gotta deliver it over here and I'll treat you to some good local food.

I have somewhat a knowledge and a buttload of books on Chevy motors as my dad was a SBC nut so I've got all the tools I need right here for them as well as parts. I'm making this one easy for me to tweak with. I've got an early '60's 283 that's going in the '48 Chevy truck later as well. It's more of a street rod though..

[JJK]

[QUOTE=TexasSpeed;8035259]If you've got a rebuilt Hemi or even a Caddy, then I'll do you better and offer a straight swap! Just gotta deliver it over here and I'll treat you to some good local food.


You mean Donut Stop and a huge steak right?

[TexasSpeed]

Originally Posted by JJK

You mean Donut Stop and a huge steak right?

Exactly. Donut Stop and that 72oz steak dinner. Just don't tell him about the one hour rule, he doesn't need to know until after.