29 Model A Sedan...The New Ride

[RAT FINK]

Well it was a busy summer and I didn"t have a lot of time to do much for building or driving hot rods but winter is approaching and it's time for a new ride..I sold my little 32 pickup in the spring and then sold my 65 Riv after that and then sold my 49 chevy pickup which left me without anything cool left to drive that was finished except for my harley which I did put some miles on....I figure I can do up this model A over the winter and have a cool ride for next year....I have most of my vision complete in my head ...just have to build it....I liked a lot of the things I had on the 32 pickup so I might duplicate some of them into the sedan...the little pickup was cool but leg room was tight which should make the sedan alot better...looking forward to the build....The A is fairly solid and should make a good start...going to run a small block chevy, turbo 350, with a chevy astro van rear with 373 gears, chopped 5",channelled 4", custom chassis, suicide front end with 4" drop axle, air ride on rear and some other goodies that I collected over the past year...should be fun.[[[

 

[endicott_jb]

Looks like you're off to a good start. Hopefully I'll be at the same point with my 33 Chevy next spring. Hell, if you're ever down in Havre, MT you'll prolly see me driving it maybe.

 

[Snake Farm]

[S Nothing cool to drive Then what d'ya call that parked by the garage door? The Model A looks like a cool project, looking forward to the build.

[P[P[P

 

[Neverdone]

[S Nothing cool to drive Then what d'ya call that parked by the garage door? The Model A looks like a cool project, looking forward to the build.

[P[P[P

Bar Stool Racers are awesome!!!! I have one with a dirtbike motor on it!!! LOL

So the only thing I want to know is where do all you guys find all of these A's??? How can I get one??

 

[CORPO]

..... [P

 

[RAT FINK]

Bar Stool Racers are awesome!!!! I have one with a dirtbike motor on it!!! LOL

So the only thing I want to know is where do all you guys find all of these A's??? How can I get one??

I clicked on your vid of your barstool....pretty wicked!!!...The A's are getting harder to find for a decent price...they range from almost free to $6500 plus depending on who owns it and what they think it's worth....I looked at several over the last year and hauled a trailer back empty for several different reasons...mostly because I was looking for a certain patina but didn't want to have to weld up a bunch of patches to ruin the look...The 29 I got for $500 Bucks and the guy delivered it...Great Score!!! and it's not all rusted out...I am trying to work out a deal on a barn find 32 sedan but not sure how it's going to play out...and it's going to cost me a lot more than $5oo bucks also but they are really hard to come by...here is a couple of pics of my bar stool...not as fast as some but just as scary to drive...70cc kids quad modified into a stool.

 

[RAT FINK]

Frame Build

Well it has started...I hooked up with a friend of mine, JP from Lowwest Hot Rods and we built a frame from his design for the rear section and my design for the front which I used on the 32 and we put a frame together for the Model A...He had a frame jig set up for it so I had him weld up the perimeter frame then I took it home and started setting it up for mounts and suspension...He started putting mounts in but he had the motor sitting to low so I cut them off and made new motor mounts and remounted the tranny crossmember. I changed up the motor mounts from the 32 for I have a build theme in mind for this one and they would suit it better...still have to make gussetts and want to built a crossmember yet but I have the motor and trans in place and bolted in and llokin good.[

 

[RAT FINK]

Here's a few more pics of the motor and tranny sitting in the frame...I'll get the gussetts done in a couple of days and get them welded in place

 

[sawzall]

Looks great! keep the pics coming very interesting rear axle bracket.

 

[Dirtyrat]

The frame work looks pretty cool, this style always reminds me of an erector set!

 

[earthman]

Wow! Lookit' that frame.

 

[RAT FINK]

Thanks for the comments guys, I am trying to put as much detail in the front half of the frame as I can for the back half you won't even see...got the gussets in for the motor mounts and am working on a under motor cross member but not sure if I like it yet,,,[S I will sleep on it for tonight and take another look at it in the morning maybe once all the holes are polished up I will like it better

 

[RAT FINK]

Well I didn't much care for it in the morning either so I started building a new one...what a pain in the a$$...20 pieces in all to make one crossmember and I'm still not done...hopefully I like it when it's done...but It's still fun[

 

[sawzall]

Do you really think you need that? the rest of your frame work is GREAT! I think the cross member takes away from the look. JMHO....

 

[RAT FINK]

Do you really think you need that? the rest of your frame work is GREAT! I think the cross member takes away from the look. JMHO....

I probably don't need it but until I get it finished and held up in place so I can take a visual so I can see if I like it ...The second one at least matches the flow of the frame...once the motor is in you don't really see much of it but I have put these in before and they do add cosmetic appearance if nothing else...anyway I have to get the hole count up

 

[31chevrod]

Hey man that's a awesome frame, I met JP at the swap meet in Red Deer and he's a great guy. He builds some sick stuff. Mike

 

[RAT FINK]

scrapped the crossmember idea...it looked to busy...so hopefully onto more productive progress[....yea jp's a pretty good guy...

 

[RAT FINK]

I capped off the motor mounts and finished welding up the gussetts,smoothed out some welds and moved to the rear...starting to set up the 4 bar which is set up for air ride...going to run parralel bars and a panhard bar...frame should sit on the ground once lowered...might put in a stopper to keep it up a bit

 

[RAT FINK]

rear end offset

[SNot sure if this is going to be a problem or not I am using a rearend from a chevy astro van for the width was what I needed but the offset is quite large and with a short drive shaft I don't know if this going to be an issue...if there is some Wisdom out there that can shed some light on this that would be great...Anything that I have read on this forum tells me it should be fine...just looking for a second or third opinion

 

[endicott_jb]

Take a string and go from a bolt hole on one yoke to the by hole on the other or if you are using a slip in tranny, go from center to center and find the degree. Anything over 4* and you will definitely get vibration and real bad u joint wear. If the astro rear doesn't work out, try to find one out of a 2wd s-10 or even a ford ranger or exploder.