1931 Chevy 4door into pickup.

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
No picture worthy progress to post up today. A buddy has my cherry picker so I decided I'd make the templates for the new motor mount crossmember. I'll get those cut out tomorrow. Fell asleep on the creeper layin under the car for about an hour so I decided I should probably go to bed. 5 hours later I'm wide awake so I went back out to the shop, cleaned a bunch of stuff up, swept the floor under the frame, and decided since I was still functioning I'd go ahead and tie off all the grounds for the air ride system. For whatever reason, the compressors came with 1/8" lugs on the wires so I cut them off and attached 1/4" lugs so I could use the morning bolts for the compressors as grounding points. So Monday, I'll be putting in a big order to speedway for all my brake hoses and adapter fittings and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get my brake lines ran finally. Well, at least the stuff that'll run under the cab. I really hate laying on my back to do that stuff. Bad enough I'll have to do that for the wiring unless I can find a nice enough bus bar or weathertight connector to use.
 
So, today I got 3 out of he four pieces for the engine mount/frame crossmember cut out and welded together. I need to cut off the ends of the bottom portion, grind down some high spots, weld the outside seam, grind it down, fit my mounts into it, weld them in, weld in the top piece, and then weld it all to the frame. I didnt take any pictures yet but as soon as I'm done making it ready to set in place I will.
 
Today I got my crossmember finished, motor mounts relocated onto the crossmember, and welded in place. I still need to weld the inside of it but a buddy had my engine hoist still so I'll have to wait until I get that back to pull the engine and trans. Then I can unbolt my air lines, grind down the inner frame, and weld the inside of the crossmember. So, here are some pics of the progress.















Sorry for the glare and fuzziness. My garage is a little on the dark side with the door closed but even more glare with the door open.
 
Started on the center crossmember today. So far, it feels like it's strengthened up the frame quite a bit. No more lift up on one side and te opposite corner goes down. I've got one more bead to run on the top and weld a piece to the bottom. I ground down some nuts to somewhat round and welded them into the center where the carrier mounts that way I don't have to figure out how to get a wrench or socket into the inside of the crossmember. It's gotten too hot to weld so I'm done for the day.

















 
I've really been lucky the last few days. Just enough of a breeze to still be welding after 10am. I've been calling it quits around 1pm or so. I've gotta get all this stuff done so I can run my brake lines when the rest of the parts come in. Last thing I wanna do is waste brake line by having to pull it all out because I forgot to weld something together. I haven't quite decided if I am going to box in the frame. I think with it being air ride ill want it to give a little bit but I dunno yet.
 
JB, first off, don't think of this question as an insult because I surely do dig the amount of work you're doing on all the holes and welding. Everybody refers to these holes as lightening holes and I could see that if they were just holes thru single planes of metal surfaces. I'm just wondering if anybody has ever taken the time to weigh the parts and pieces involved to see if there is any "lightening" in the final results. If there were just holes cut, I can see the weight being lighter than the metal by itself because you are taking the weight of the pieces that get cut out away from the piece. With pieces of pipe or tubing welded back into the metal, is it really lighter? My mind tells me with the structure added, it is likely much stronger, but lighter? I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm liking it. It looks great and I can appreciate the extra work!
 
Last edited:
smallfoot said:
JB, first off, don't think of this question as an insult because I surely do dig the amount of work you're doing on all the holes and welding. Everybody refers to these holes as lightening holes and I could see that if they were just holes thru single planes of metal surfaces. I'm just wondering if anybody has ever taken the time to weigh the parts and pieces involved to see if there is any "lightening" in the final results. If there were just holes cut, I can see the weight being lighter than the metal by itself because you are taking the weight of the pieces that get cut out away from the piece. With pieces of pipe or tubing welded back into the metal, is it really lighter? My mind tells me with the structure added, it is likely much stronger, but lighter? I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm liking it. It looks great and I can appreciate the extra work!
Click to expand...

By all means Smallfoot, that isn't an insult or a bad question at all. Now, I didn't actually weigh the stuff before or after I cut all the holes and welded the pieces of pipe into it but carrying it from the truck to the shop ten back out to the truck(work has a much nicer drill press than I do and a way nicer welder) I would say it's prolly close to a lb or so lighter than just the cut steel. I wasn't looking at weight reduction though, I was looking more at the wow factor and the added rigidity of the frame. I wanted the "z's" to not be as harsh as I've seen on other cars. With it having to be so drastic to fit the axles under it and still lay 1/4" off the ground when dumped, if I had gone the traditional way of building the frame I would have had to stack 4-5 2x4 pieces of tubing to get it up that high and then fish plate the stack whereas this way, it flows nicely and the frame sides act as their own fish plates. I'm glad you asked the questions cause I'm sure others wondered the same thing.
 
Thanks bob. Excuses they may be and cool it definitely is. I don't think anyone else in this area has ever seen something like this before but maybe they have and are too afraid to tackle it. Anyhow, finished boxing in the crossmember and now the question of boxing in the rest of the frame is on the table.

Pros: Stiffens up the frame which we all know is the foundation for a solid car.
Gives me a place above the frame to run my air lines, brake lines, and electrical.
Makes the frame look cleaner. Even though most folks will never see it.
It's bare right now so now would be the time to do it.
Cons: May stiffen up the frame too much.
A lot more work.
Will have to move a couple of minor brackets.
And again, a lot more work.

So I'm asking the guys who have built more than one or two, what are your thoughts of having a fully boxed frame? Does it make it too stiff? Will it affect the ride quality any if at all? I really have no idea.
 
So obviously this morning after work I finished boxing in the crossmember and I've been debating boxing in the frame, pretty much from the start. Well, I woke up a bit earlier than I anticipated so I got dressed and headed out to the shop. I stared at it for a while and finally pulled the trigger(quite literally because I had to cut the boxing plates out of 10ga and then weld it in.) What was my final decision making factor? If I'm gonna do it, I better do it now before I run all my air lines, brake lines, and wiring. Seeing as my brake parts come in next week, I don't want the boxes just lying around for months on end like they tend to. Now, obviously the frame is gonna be way more stout than this little diesel could ever twist but if I ever decide that it's just not enough gusto, I k ow the frame will support a much larger drive train. Any way, I started with the 24" between the transmission crossmember and the carrier crossmember. Tomorrow, I'll pull the air lines and the mag valve for the horn off and box in the back half. Once I get my cherry picker back, I'll pull the engine, box in that area, and grind everything down all at once. I'm seeing a lot of grinding discs and flap discs in my future.







 
Thanks Dozer. If you're gonna build it, better over build it. Anyhow, got one side finished up. Did I ever mention how much I hate overhead welding with MIG? Yeah, getting wire feed and heat down wasn't in my favor today so I'll really have to grind the bottom edge down. I'll get some pictures up tomorrow after the other side is done. My buddy's supposed to be bringing me back my cherry picker so I'll be able to get the engine out and the front finished up by the time all my brake stuff gets in. Anyhow, y'all have a good night, I'm goin back to bed before work.
 
Endicott, I am surprised. I thought real welders liked overhead welding. All of the rest of us DON'T. I have just finished up welding the cracks in my old, old gravel box sills [to pass inspection], so I know how you feel. [;)[;),[;),:confused:
 
MercuryMac said:
Endicott, I am surprised. I thought real welders liked overhead welding. All of the rest of us DON'T. I have just finished up welding the cracks in my old, old gravel box sills [to pass inspection], so I know how you feel. [;)[;),[;),:confused:
Click to expand...

Well Mac, I'm not a real welder yet. I'm trying to get better and more consistent everyday but when you're using one type of welder at home(mines a Lincoln 140Pro from a welding supply shop), and then about 3 different types at work(we use Millermatic 251s, some really old miller 480stick welders that I wanna say the newest stick is a 1970s, and we have a nice inverter/wire feed also.) welds can tend to be inconsistent from one machine to the other and in different positions. I will however finally be certified in horizontal, so I guess that's level 1 or something like that, in Novemebr. I get the joys of going back to Kansas, $h!tty for two weeks to play with one of those big 480V air over flux welder.
 
Got the engine and tranny pulled out of the frame this evening. So I started on finishing up the frame. Started by drilling the last 3 holes for my air and brake lines. I'll have to cut some holes eventually for the water pipes(remember, I'll be running my radiator in the back.) After drilling the holes I started welding up the left front side of the frame. Got it welded in and decided to grind that side down so the entire left side is done. Moved onto the right side and welded up that piece. Only thing left to do is grind down all te welds on the right side and then I'll move to the front to smooth it all out. That will be this weekends project. Brake parts came in a little earlier than expected, which is cool, but now I need to bust ass and get it all setup to get the parts installed so I don't have boxes just sitting around for weeks on end. Here's some pictures for you guys.









 

Similar threads

M
New guy with a scratch built cab
Replies
10
Views
650
26Troadster
26Troadster
G
My 49 Plymouth coupe build
2
Replies
39
Views
4K
smallfoot
smallfoot
zzrodder
Hercules
33 34 35
Replies
695
Views
59K
smallfoot
smallfoot
G
The Goldcar Story
Replies
8
Views
1K
bob w
bob w
lazarat
Did a hot rod and a chopper disguise a murder?
Replies
2
Views
1K
lazarat
lazarat

Latest posts

Back
Top