1934 Chevrolet 4dr sedan build

I'm posting my full build thread that I've got on the HAMB here too, as I promised in my introduction thread. Once I'm up to date I'll post any new work to keep you guys updated. Enjoy!

Finally found a 30's body

2007-07-10

I've been looking for an early 30's sedan body for a while now. One day when I was at Phillip Cronje's place I asked if he had something like that. Well, he actually had 3 1934 Chevy bodies, all 4 door, of which one apparently was already sold. Of the other 2 this white one was in slightly better shape with most of it's wood still there although it's already badly rotted out. That's no problem though as I'm gonna replace it with steel anyway.

At least the body panels itself doesn’t have any major rust which is a plus. Here is where it rested on the back of a ’48 GMC pick-up. The guys Phillip got it from apparently lifted the body at the front only while it still rest on the rear end. That caused the rear bottom end to fold a bit as can be seen in the last pic.

Loaded and ready to go home

2007-07-10
Because Phillip only stays about 5km from me he offered to bring it home for me on his trailer. Here it’s loaded ready for the trip behind his old Datsun pickup.

On dolly at home

2007-07-10

Before I could bring it home I had to make something to put the body on so it’s movable too. I didn’t want it sitting ‘dead’ on the ground, unable to be moved. I took some spare angle-iron I got from my father-in-law. The angle-iron once was part of a palisade fence. I quickly put this dolly frame together for the ’34. After these photos were taken I actually added castor wheels to enable me to easily move it around.

In the first pic, to the right, you can see the end of my 6m deep by 16m long carport I built in the back-yard. The roof has since been completed too and the body is now safely under it. In the last pic you can get a better idea of where the bottom of the tail end was damaged.

I have already got quite a few of the major component for the car like an early 70’s 350 Chev V8 with TH350 ‘box, a 1956 Chev 10-bolt rear end, 1938 Ford front suspension and even the steel tubing for the chassis.

The Ford front suspension won’t be used as is though. The transverse spring will be moved behind the I-beam axle, the wishbone will be split and the Ford drums will make way for Chev discs. This suspension will then be mounted in a suicide style, very similar to what is done on T-buckets.

Chassis building part 1

2007-07-15

I finally managed to get started on the chassis. Last weekend I only cut a few pieces but this weekend was very productive. I finished cutting all the pieces on Friday and yesterday I started tack welding everything together. For a first time I'm quite happy with the outcome. These pics are just to show the layout of the various pieces.

Chassis building part 2

2007-07-15

Some more showing the layout. The cross-member you see in the K member is actually the trans mount but it still needs to get the cut-out to clear the trans. The reason why the K-member is extended back so far is because the 4-link will mount to the back-end of it.

Chassis building part 3

2007-07-15

In the 1st pic are the 2 side "box" sections of the K member. They are held together by 2 pieces of angle iron to keep them parallel and correctly spaced.

In the 2nd pic the rear halve is tacked together with a 10.1" kick-up.

Chassis building part 4

2007-07-15

These 2 show the front frame rails tacked on and the front pieces of the K member just put in place. I must first do a complete weld and grind of the leading corners of the box section before I can weld the angled pieces in otherwise I won't get enough penetration on those corners. Most of the cutting has been done on the transmission's cut-out in the cross-member apart from the top. I'm leaving that for now as it will give some extra rigidity while I have to move the chassis around. Once the cut-out is done I will close it up with some flat bar. The lip channel you see across the front is also to keep the front rails correctly aligned until I can eventually weld the front round tube cross-member in place.

Chassis building part 5

2007-07-15

The 1st pic shows the frame horns which give a slight kickup (I don't like the look of a Z) and I cut them to taper from 100mm at the back to 76mm at the front where the tube sits.

The last 2 pics shows the tube cross-member sitting in place but I can't tack it just yet. I'm waiting on a job order from a local profiling company amongst which is the front spring perch and headlight stands. The tube sticks out past the frame rails by 60 mm and the reason for that is that the headlights stands will be mounted there. I'll close up the ends of the tube with domed post covers.

Laser cut parts

2007-07-29

I picked up all my laser cut parts from General Profiling. One piece was missing which was a stainless steel radiator cover for my motorcycle. They said they'll have it recut on Monday.

Pic 1: The suicide front end's spring perch.
Pic 2: The engine mounting components.
Pic 3: The 4-link rear suspension components.

Laser cut parts pt. 2

2007-07-29

Pic 1: The grill shell's front and bottom panels and the support crossmember that gets bolted between the frame rails.
Pic 2: Aluminium parts for the coil cover. I must still do 10mm spacers that go between the rings.
Pic 3: The headlight stands.

Further chassis welding

2007-07-30

I worked on the chassis all day yesterday although you might not thinks so. That is if you didn't know the chassis was only tack welded. I managed to get all the welding done except for 2 edges. I also got most of it ground smooth. I've calculated that I'm 84% done with the welding and grinding of the welds that can be ground.

What is noticable though is that I welded in the front round tube cross member with the spring perch plates sitting in place. They still need to be squared and leveled etc. before they can be welded and obviously the spring mounting plate must also be welded in. Why 3 uprights and not 2? Just to be different.

I also tacked the rear 4-link chassis mounts in place. I've sourced a 1.5" OD, .156 wall tube from a local supplier which I must pick up tomorrow. With that I'll be making the 4-link arms so that I can mount the rear axle.

A few parts collected

EDIT:
Something went wrong with this post as it suddenly appeared before posts I did a few minutes ago and shows I did it an hour earlier. I can only assume there was a time change on the server which caused it to be saved with an earlier posting time. I'll redo this post later to get it in the correct order.

"Home made" ignition coil cover

2007-08-05

The first pic shows the 12 rings and top plate I had laser cut from 3mm aluminium. 2 of the 12 have extra tabs on to mount it to the firewall. All of these pieces however have to be spaced 10mm apart.

The second pic shows the 48 spacers I cut using 8mm OD fuel tubing and a little pipe cutter.

The third pic shows the 4 pieces of 6mm threaded rod I cut to hold the whole story together.

"Home made" ignition coil cover pt2

2007-08-05

The first pic shows it being assembled. There you can see the use of the spacers between the pieces.

The second pic shows it together with the Accel Super Coil I'll be using. This is the point where the coil must be inserted into the cover. The main body of the coil just fits through the holes in the plates.

The third pic shows the coil inside the cover. Here you can also see the top lip of the coil sitting on top of the plate.

"Home made" ignition coil cover pt3

2007-08-05

In the first pic the next plate was installed and you can see how it cover the lip of the coil.

In the second pic you can see the minute gap between the coil's lip and the upper plate. There is a similar small gap at the bottom of the coil. I'll use some sort of gasket material to take up that play and stop it from rattling.

"Home made" ignition coil cover pt4

2007-08-05

Here is the assembled coil cover with the coil now inside it.

The first pic shows the cover in the upright position with the coil upside down inside it.

In the second pic you can see that the coil's still quite accessible from the bottom.

In the third pic I just wanted to show what you see from the side.

This is NOT the final look of it though. The edges of the aluminium will be nicely polished while the rest of it will be painted black. I'll most probably paint the coil red for accent.

That is going to be one interesting frame when done.I see quite a few built,But have never seen one with that type of front crossmember done that way.Keep up the progress pics.

A few parts collected

2007-09-25

Here are just a few small items I collected for this project.

The first is a pewter belt buckle. I'm going to cut off the buckle attachments on the back side and use it as a mascot on the front of the grill shell.

The second is a banjo style steering which aparently is from a Morris Minor. As you can see it will need some covering on the ring as all the stock stuff has disintegrated over the years. Here I've got one of two options of which one is to make a mold for the ring and cast a new ring using resin or to do it with wood.

The third is a set of semaphores / trafficators. As luck would have it they are also from a Morris Minor. These will be fitted into the sides of the grill shell and used as front turn signals. I'll make a slight change to the wiring to allow the bulbs to flash when opened instead of a static glow.

35Mastr said:

That is going to be one interesting frame when done.I see quite a few built,But have never seen one with that type of front crossmember done that way.Keep up the progress pics.

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Thanks George. That's just me always wanting to be different.