28 Model A

[swamp rat]

Sweet!

[Dieselwrencher]

That is a very fine looking chassis! I'm jealous of the whole project.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by COS399

I'm late for the party but I'm here now. I love builds like this where you take something that wasn't designed to work together and cut, shape, and weld it into something different. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work.

Thanks man! Will do

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Sweet!

Right on!

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

That is a very fine looking chassis! I'm jealous of the whole project.

Thanks man! My brother was looking at the frame one day and told me I should put an S10 body on it. Cracked me up it did!

[Desperado454]

Plan was to get the motor running but I didn't want to run it without a radiator, so in the meantime i've been picking away the body. Started by welding in the wheel well patches and then focused on fixing the fronts of the quarters. Of course I didn't get a pic of the ugliness I started with but got one of the patch before i welded it in:



And here's both sides after being welded:





With that wrapped up, i put the body back on the hoist so i could spray the bottom with epoxy and coat all the bare metal spots as well.



This is the frame after i stuck the welting on:



Then it was time to put the body back on the frame. Took a couple pics of the big moment:





Couple pics of it back together:

[Bomp]

Looking like a really cool toy again. This thing is gonna rock.

[Lokin4AReason]

nice build ...

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Looking like a really cool toy again. This thing is gonna rock.

Thanks Bomp! Sure hope so!

Originally Posted by Lokin4AReason

nice build ...

Thanks man!

Getting behind on updates again, but i'll post what I have pics of for now. Next step was to tackle the rust on the cowl parts and finish roughing out the roof. Got a little bit ahead of myself so here's a pic of the cowl side with the rusty piece I cut off laid on top for a before effect:



And here's the after:



Bottom sides of the tank had to be fixed as well but alas, no pics of that.

Here's the quarter window part of the roof finally filled in:



Forget the reason, but ended up outside when I was doing some rough body work on the roof. Turned out to be an awesome day though so it was all good. Pic of the action:



Later that night I sprayed it all down with some epoxy. Here's a pic of everything ready to paint:



And here's a few pics of it all back on the car:







Seemed like the time to reinstall the wood, so I channeled my best Norm Abram and set out to put a finish on the pieces. I was overwhelmed with selection of finishes at home depot, but I knew i wanted something tough so I settled on the can that had the skull and crossbones on it. Went on pretty good:



Installed:



Not sure if I put up a pic but when i bought the headlights they were painted an unfortunate shade of brown. With a bit of paint stripper and some time on the buffer they came up awesome!



This is the last pic I have right now. I was so close to having a custom rad made but I picked this old circle track radiator for nothing. The core is the perfect size but the tanks are way off. Figured I'd try to make it work:



More to come!

[swamp rat]

That is one nice looking ride!

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

That is one nice looking ride!

Appreciate it man! It's so close now!

So despite an iphone failure I managed to resurrect a couple pics to cover the radiator project, it's a bit of a bummer though since I had a bunch. Anyways, here's one after i cut the original tanks off and made one for the bottom:



Here I am getting the top tank figured out:



Now this was a proud moment, had it all welded back together and it actually held and maintained pressure. Unbelievable!



Here it is all done and set in its place:



And after it was painted and installed. Fits so good!



Made an alternator bracket too:



More to come!

[swamp rat]

First time I ever seen anyone make their own radiator tanks, nice work!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice work! The radiator came out awesome! That had to be a great feeling having no leaks!

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

First time I ever seen anyone make their own radiator tanks, nice work!

Thanks again man, sometimes i surprise myself when things like this actually pan out!

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Very nice work! The radiator came out awesome! That had to be a great feeling having no leaks!

Oh man was it ever! So great!

So here's where i'm at:

Ive been mulling over what to do for a rear bulkhead for awhile and was pretty close to just doing a big piece of flat sheet metal with some sort of bulb seal against the quarter, but that always felt like the easy way out of the problem. What i really wanted was a 3 piece solution that not only sealed off the rear, but something that followed the shape of the body and ended at the door posts. Wasn't quite sure i could pull it off but tried anyways, and wouldn't you know it, with some help of the english knee, and the el-cheapo bead roller i just about achieved the original vision:



Then promptly primed those parts along with some pieces from the rear to round out the evening:



Pic of the rear and (the unfortunately blurry pic of) the bulkhead the following evening:





Current focus is getting the wiring done, and it has to be one of the most enjoyable parts of this project for me. Opted for an american autowire highway 15 kit which is awesome, basically a paint by numbers deal, and its quite fulfilling to have this ol ford come to life one feature at a time. Here's some pics of that:

"Step A"



In the midst:





Signs of life!:

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice work! I really like that bulk head you made. I may have to check out the harness you got. I've been trying to decide which I want to get for my 40. I was thinking with going with an EZ wire harness but have heard some complaints about them having poor wire insulation. So IDK yet.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Very nice work! I really like that bulk head you made. I may have to check out the harness you got. I've been trying to decide which I want to get for my 40. I was thinking with going with an EZ wire harness but have heard some complaints about them having poor wire insulation. So IDK yet.

Though its the first wiring harness kit i've ever installed, id say its definitely an option worth considering. Everything was nicely separated into its own bag and each had a great wiring diagram that even a simpleton like myself could follow. Now that i'm pretty much done with the install i'd absolutely get another one for the next project.

Another pic of some wiring success:



Finally made a shifter too!:



Lots more to come!

[LBJ]

Very cool project. Nice work, especially all the welding.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice! The shifter looks great.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by LBJ

Very cool project. Nice work, especially all the welding.

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Very nice! The shifter looks great.

Thanks man, I think it turned out decent!

Next up was to finish out my rear panel with the exhaust bezels. Machined these up to match the tail lights and put a groove in them for some reverse lights:



Used some led halos for the reverse lights, here's the idea before I epoxied the lights in:



On the car with the exhaust tips i also machined:



Was surprised at how bright these things are:



With the lights out at night:



Needed an overflow tank so made this one out of aluminum. The ends are some 3 dollar cake pans.



Downside of the cheapo cake pans was that they were a little thin. Didn't think it would be a problem until the buffer ripped the tank out of my hands and slammed it cake pan end first into the concrete. Bummer. Ah well, here it is after the buffer, dent and all:



And where it fits on the car:



While I had the thing on jackstands, i figured it was time to sketch up the liquor bag shortlist so i could finish up all the loose ends before it was back on the wheels for the eventual road test:



Couple trademark "pics in the midst":





While i was ticking off items on the liquor bag, I also dealt with the windshield frame. The one that came with the body was a little rotten but even more troublesome was the fact it was an inch too short. Adding the length seemed like a pain so the plan was to find a replacement. In the end frugalness trumped simplicity as i just couldn't toss what i had without at least trying to fix it. I dedicated a day to fixing it up and here it is 1" longer and much less rustier:



Which led to another milestone, things got a frickin windshield now!



Still more to come!

[Dieselwrencher]

Man, so much awesomeness in those posts. The exhaust, and the trim rings with lights is genius! That looks awesome. I really dig the exhaust routing. I may have to steal that idea. I will have limited room too like you had on the LH side. The overflow tank is awesome! Too bad about the dent. Cake pans huh? That is rad. It turned out great.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Man, so much awesomeness in those posts. The exhaust, and the trim rings with lights is genius! That looks awesome. I really dig the exhaust routing. I may have to steal that idea. I will have limited room too like you had on the LH side. The overflow tank is awesome! Too bad about the dent. Cake pans huh? That is rad. It turned out great.

Thanks man! Pretty happy how the exhaust turned out, wasn't sure id be able to pull off those bezels but sometimes I surprise myself! Only downside of having the exhaust tucked up like that is the floor gets pretty hot right above where the muffler is, going to have to try and deal with that

After I got the front windshield done I figured I might as well get the back and side glass cut while i was on a roll:




Its coming down to the final stretch so now I'm just trying to add everything I can think of the pass the vehicle inspection so i can register it. So started by making up a rear bumper:





All done:



Even added a license plate light!:



Read somewhere that door panels are needed here, so i made up some quick temporary ones with some tan material i had laying around:



Picked up my new tires, they are firestone 7.50-16's for the rear and 6.00-16's for the front. Things look frickin awesome! Couple pics of the rears:





And I ended getting these for the wheels, 16x6 for the back and 16x4.5 on the front:



Hopefully be able to get them mounted early this week, just waiting on the tubes and lugnuts to show up. Couldn't help myself, had to set the bare rim on just to see how its going to look:



Been doing a couple test drives in the meantime, and surprisingly its been pretty solid. Only issue was my little flex fan wasn't moving much air so i put an electric one on the front for the meantime. It never boiled over with the flex fan but it would hit 230 and keep climbing steadily before i just shut it off. With the electric it hovers right around 180. Other than that its just been minor stuff like the hot exhaust floor and a couple small leaks. Pic of it driven out under its own power!



Warming it up before i went out for another test putt:

1928 Model A Hot Rod walkaround - YouTube

So close, more to come!

[swamp rat]

Nice ride!

[dug224]

Beautiful work!!

[Dieselwrencher]

Awesome work! You've came along ways on it for sure. Isn't it sad how long all the final details take to get one on the road? I had the same issues with a flex fan on my SBC in my 40. Ditched it and put a single electric on there and never looked back.

[Bomp]

Been awhile since I've checked in.
Wow, you're killing it. Metal skills, cool factor all the way.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Nice ride!

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by dug224

Beautiful work!!

Appreciate it!

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Awesome work! You've came along ways on it for sure. Isn't it sad how long all the final details take to get one on the road? I had the same issues with a flex fan on my SBC in my 40. Ditched it and put a single electric on there and never looked back.

Been a fun project no doubt, but yeah that final push to make sure all my I's were dotted and T's were crossed for the big inspection was a little grueling. Took a chance on a flex-a-lite fan and have had good results with it over the derale i had, not as good as the electric but at least the grille fits now!

Originally Posted by Bomp

Been awhile since I've checked in.
Wow, you're killing it. Metal skills, cool factor all the way.

Nice of you to say Bomp! Been such a fun project

Well, after the rest of the wheels and tubes showed up I proceeded to mount them up. Seeing as I don't have a balancer I loaded them up with 4oz of balancing beads per tire and it seems to have worked out alright. First one went alright and the next 3 did too! Pic on the car when it was still on the stands as well:

[Desperado454]

After making sure everything was going to be kosher I took it off the stands and drove it outside to see how it was going to look and took some pics: