Give a brother a hand

Hello, I’m new to this site and, this is my first post. I found out about this site from the K B site that I visited quite a bit. I had a car I was working on last year but had to move and sold the car “ at a yard sale “. Went back to the K B but, found that all the people that were there at that time had moved on. It’s good to find some names I know from the K B here. Anyhow, I am back in the house that I moved out of and, have started a ground up build. I have the frame rails complete (2 x4 3/16 wall and, its time to put them together. I want to use a spring behind front with a buggy spring rear. The frame has a 116” wheel base with a 16” “Z” at the back. What I would like to know is how wide I should set the rails apart. I’m thinking 24” outside at the front and, ???? at the rear. Please give a brother a hand. Hope to post some pic’s soon. Pappy mike

Call me stupid but, wouldn't you need to know the width of the rearend your going to use? And wouldn't you need to know the body width?

heres some frame dimensions , maybe this will help you out. http://www.wescottsauto.com/pdf2/FR-2.pdf http://www.wescottsauto.com/pdf2/FR-1.pdf

No, call me stupiddd. 9" ford 54", Ford 302 power plant and, may build the body myself. I'm thinking around 30" at the fire wall, 55" from the wall to the back with a nice tapper back to a 45" wide rear. sides around 22". just have to work with it as I go.

You really need to have your body before you can tell that. For example, a T bucket frame is narrower in the back than one for a later car, like a Model A. Generally you are right about the 24 inch dimension in front though.

If you think about it, a T firewall is very narrow compared to a Model A firewall, so the frame would look odd if it were so far inset. As an example, my T measures 24 in front tapering back to 27 inches. My Son's A RPU measures about 36 wide at the rear. The body dictates it more than the rear axle actually.

Don

Pappy i am building my first hot rod from scratch. I went with a 40 cab, located the mounting holes for the cab and built the frame from that point. I am not sure if this is the right way, but it made since when I started. things are going well for me with this approach. I am not sure what you are using for a body, but i think that would be the place to start. i stood parts up next to mine several times and took photos to make sure that the lines flowed and did not look stupid. good luck and post photos as you go.

Pablo

Mine runs straight through at 24 in. OD, but I am running a narrowed 9 in the back with spring pads that are 24 in OD.
Set it up for the rear suspension, or the body mounts or both. If you need to build outriggers off the frame to catch body holes or to mount the suspension, that works too. It really depends on how you want to build it.

Welcome to the site by the way.

kinda of ditto on what bonehead said,mine are 26" od and i'm making my brackets for the 4 link to match the frame to the rear end,if youre going to build your body from scratch you can do pretty much what you want to

A lot of unknowns here. As I mentioned above, it is really important to know what body you are going to use. To me it makes sense to have the body, engine and tranny, and the wheels and tires you are going to use first, then you can design a frame around that. Otherwise how do you know if you have allowed enough room for engine clearance, and how the frame will ultimately sit?

The way you usually do this is by blocking the body up at the ride height you want, sliding the engine and tranny into place, propping up some wheels and tires, then sit back and look at what you have. From there you can shuffle things around to get the look you want. Once you are happy with that you can start figuring out what the frame needs to look like to make that happen.

To just blindly start welding up a frame and hope it turns out ok is not the way to approach frame building. For example, you cite a 16 inch kick up........that is pretty arbitrary and radical. My T is only 14 inches and it sits 6 inches off the ground in the rear. Not saying 16 would be wrong, but how do you know without checking it out thoroughly first.

One thing you have done right is the selection of tubing.......I like 2 x 3 and 2 x 4 with 3/16 wall myself. I just don't want to see you use $ 200 worth of tubing and then have to start over. Do it right the first time and you won't run that risk.

So the big question is, what body are you going to use?


Don

Chances are that if you build the frame without the body you will most likely be cutting it up and doing things twice.(IMO)

That is my thinking George, and have you looked at steel prices lately!!!

Right now Dan and I are laying up the new frame for his '29 and we have had the body on and off 10 times so far just to make sure it is going right, and we have done a few frames before this. I just see no other way to do it right the first time.

Don

donsrods said:

That is my thinking George, and have you looked at steel prices lately!!!

Right now Dan and I are laying up the new frame for his '29 and we have had the body on and off 10 times so far just to make sure it is going right, and we have done a few frames before this. I just see no other way to do it right the first time.

Don

Click to expand...

When are you going to expose that new frame for the RPU??You are killen me.

When are you guys going to jump on the 39 Dodge again??

I'm still banned from taking pictures. I shot a couple last night but he made me promise to not post them. He wants to do it himself I guess, and I can understand that , it's his car. But the minute he posts some on the HAMB I'll put some up here. All I can say is that it is coming really well. We have the entire front half done and are installing the X member now. Then we have to cut down and install the backhalf kit. Still a lot to do, but we are hoping by this time next week it will be a roller. Thing is getting VERY heavy. It is also different than any frame we've done before......no box tubing this time, he had steel bent up into a C shape and tapered in the front, and he is going to box it like SoCal does it with the boxing plates inset somewhat. It will give the car a totally different look than the other way he had it.

As for my '39, I moved it around in the shop and dusted it off. Starting to think about what to do next. I spent a little time working on my '23 last night, I figured out a way to get my steering arms behind the axle for better ackermann, now I just have to raise my headlights up about an inch and a half to clear the tie rod in it's new position. Thanks for asking.

Don

Thanks for the update..

Here`s a trick I learned from an old hot rodder, if your going to build your car highboy style , set the body on your shop floor , trace around it with chalk , then you can bend the rails to match the out line of the body......`24

Most full body Gm s are 34 inches between the rails with the motor at 17 inches on center. I would think 22-24 inch would be cool between the rails. As far as the body goes. It doesnt matter too much. Your problably going to cut the floor out of it anyway. Watch the placement of your zees, that could really mess up your cabin space. I have a pretty cool frame in the garage. Its got a full taper front to rear with a 4 inch front zee and a 15 inch rear zee. If you would like I could draw some some crude plans and give all the demensions. Is that more like what you were looking for?

24dodge said:

Here`s a trick I learned from an old hot rodder, if your going to build your car highboy style , set the body on your shop floor , trace around it with chalk , then you can bend the rails to match the out line of the body......`24

Click to expand...

Now thats an Idea.
Thanks 24

worked for me...

Or place the body on a piece of ply wood and trace the shape.