Technical Build: The 60's Style T build

today is day, uh...twelve, yeah, day twelve in the modified build.

today I welded up the Studebaker grill shell I sectioned yesterday.

I used a Victor torch with a single ought tip

just like in the fifties, bro..

here's the tacked together shell

 

here we are, welding proceding nicely

 

when I sectioned it I made it 2" narrower by taking the 2" out of the center.

this left a couple high spots where the stock badge attached and at the radiator fill area.

 

I heated these high points to a dull red, set down the lit torch and knocked them down

 

and welded them up

 

in my haste yesterday I left myself a couple gaps that kinda pissed me off,

on this side it was about an eighth inch wide so I just welded it up, slowly

 

the other side was a little wider so I made a patch out of some of the left over scrap from the section

 

and welded it in

 

then ground the high weld material down inside and out, and worked the metal with hammer and dolly to get it relatively smooth

 

and hit it with the sanding disc and checked the work

 

today is day thirteen of my modified build.

I am not convinced today’s fabbing will net optimum results, geometricaly speaking that is.
I built a mount to accept the pivot ball that I removed from the front wishbones and will weld to the rear wishbones.

I cut the socket from a stock '34 K member and fabbed up the rest.

the potential problem is in that I will have to drastically shorten and pull the bones together to make the connection, and the ball ends up being about four inches in front of the front U joint.

here are some in progress pictures..

I think they speak for themselves..

 

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here is day 14 in my modified build series.

today I bit the bullet and hacked the bejeezus out of a real cherry '36 rear wishbone

I shortend them, angled them in and down to attach to the new receiver socket using the pivot ball cut from the split '36 front bone.

I got the driveshaft back today too..

first I got the frame and axles square and level

front;

 

and rear

 

I cut the front pivot to better fit the new bone angle

 

then cut and fit the bones

 

and installed the driveshaft

 

rear cut

 

and front

 

side view showing some pretty drastic angles

 

and one from above

 

It would be nice if this hot rodding stuff was all fun and games but occasionally you run into an unfamiliar territory that becomes somewhat of a challenge.

I will take a more concentrated look at it tomorrow but I think with a few minor adjustments it will work without redoing the whole thing.

Paul

 

this is what it looked like just before the rear bone installment,

 

and here it is with the frame and engine/trans raised an inch each..

 

ok, one last picture before I get back to it,

although the angles are vastly improved as you can see, and I do think will work well,

now the whole car sits a little higher then I originaly intended..

I'll play with it some more before I weld it up, maybe give it a little more rake..

.......

later,

Paul