I'm gonna build an altered.

[donsrods]

Hey, Ron, I have three questions:

1) Dan wants to know the thickness of the front axle so he can weld those spring perches on correctly.

2) Do you carry just one 4 bar front mount or more than one ? I need to get two sides from you so I can make my kickup the right height. I am basically putting a straight 90 degree kickup on the frame because you mentioned it is best to have the 4 bar mount welded directly in line with the frame. So I need to know if you have different lengths or just one standard one.

3) It looks like my 4 bars can not be any longer than 10 inches. Can you make them that short (rod end hole to rod end hole overall length) ?

Today I cut the frame rails to 90 degrees (45 degrees on both parts) so that the kickup will be a straight wall. The first thing I did was put both frame rails on the the bandsaw and clamped them together. I ran the front round crossmember down through the holes on both so that when I cut it both pieces would be exactly the same length.






Then I put the rails under the body to see how it would look, and propped up the front and rear tires to get the overall picture.






Since I am now putting the coil overs directly under the frame rails (instead of my original plan to put the outboard of the frame) I can now move my slicks way inside. It should handle better and I like the look even more.










Don

 

[Skip]

Lookin' good, Don.

Your build is very distracting! I keep wanting to stop in the house garage and play with my new toy rather than going on out to the shop to work on the '38.

 

[donsrods]

Haha, Skip. I understand only too well. It is just so easy to sit here and push buttons on this keyboard rather than doing actual work on my project. But I better make hay while it is cool in Florida...........before long it will be a hundred degrees in the shop again with 100% humidity !

Don

 

[RPM]

Hey, Ron, I have three questions:

1) Dan wants to know the thickness of the front axle so he can weld those spring perches on correctly.

2) Do you carry just one 4 bar front mount or more than one ? I need to get two sides from you so I can make my kickup the right height. I am basically putting a straight 90 degree kickup on the frame because you mentioned it is best to have the 4 bar mount welded directly in line with the frame. So I need to know if you have different lengths or just one standard one.

3) It looks like my 4 bars can not be any longer than 10 inches. Can you make them that short (rod end hole to rod end hole overall length) ?

The wall on the axle is .250"

I have several patterns for the 4 link set up and we can draw and make what ever you might need. So build your frame to what fits the body and give me the dimensions and we will make it happen. You can even draw what you need then fax or email it to me and I can copy it and make it.

 

[donsrods]

Ron, Dan thought it was.250, good. As for the kickup, I am thinking the backside wall (where the brackets will weld) will be about 6 inches from the bottom of the bottom frame rail to the underside of the top rail. So if the brackets you sell are 8 to 10 inches long, that would leave them hanging down below 2 - 4 inches.

I am actually going to need them to hang down that far because my bottom frame rail is slightly above the centerline of the rear axle, so I need that drop down so that the lower 4 bar can be parallel to the ground when mounted.

Hope that is clear. I guess the main question is, your normal frame bracket is how long ? I know you said you can make whatever, but I would like to get a baseline figure to start working with in my head. Plus, I might be able to use one off of the shelf instead of having you custom cut it.

Thanks, Ron.

Don

Ron, here is a crude drawing of what I am going to do:

 

[05snopro440]

RPU is on hold until this one gets done. The Olds motor is still in the machine shop being remachined, I told him not to hurry. Every time I see it just sitting in the shop I feel bad, but it's time will come.

Yeah, I noticed the threaded holes too and I ordered studs from them to go with them (3 inch long drag studs). As I remember, from the ones we put on the front of my Son's T bucket, the studs are grade 8 bolts threaded all the way up, and you screw them in from the backside so the studs are sticking out. I think I remember red locktiting the studs on my Sons, and that is what I will probably do here too.

Thanks for asking about the rpu, I'll let it know people were asking about it.

Don

Well if the RPU gets lonely, I can give it a nice caring home for a while [cl

Thanks for the explanation on the hubs/studs!

That front end and framework looks great, I can't wait to see it together!

 

[donsrods]

Thanks. As for those hubs, I just got the invoice from Wilwood. The studs were $7.50 each X 10 = $ 75.00 ! Wish I would have known that before ordering, bet I could find some cheaper somewhere else.

Don

 

[05snopro440]

Thanks. As for those hubs, I just got the invoice from Wilwood. The studs were $7.50 each X 10 = $ 75.00 ! Wish I would have known that before ordering, bet I could find some cheaper somewhere else.

Don

Are they self-torquing?

 

[sc5080]

Thanks. As for those hubs, I just got the invoice from Wilwood. The studs were $7.50 each X 10 = $ 75.00 ! Wish I would have known that before ordering, bet I could find some cheaper somewhere else.

Don

And you'll likely need 10 more for the rear axles I know I need "thread in" studs for the 35 spline rear axles I'm using in the "Sheets and Giggles" altered and am hoping I can find some in an old set of axles that got twisted in the dragster. (if I can remember where I put them when I went to the 40 spline ones)

 

[Skip]

Boy oh boy. This little project sure has evolved since its inception. [clI like it!

 

[donsrods]

Boy oh boy. This little project sure has evolved since its inception. [clI like it!

Thanks, Skip. Yeah, it has been evolving and getting more complicated every day. What I thought was going to be a simple solid mounted rear has morphed into first a coil over setup, and now something else altogether.

Today my Sons and I were off work for Christmas and we went to the shop to brainstorm on the rear end setup. For Christmas they basically gave me this rear end setup from Autoweld:



And while I really love the gift, it has thrown a couple of wrenches into my plans. For example, that rear comes complete as shown, so I have to use their 4 bar setup to articulate correctly with the mounts they put on them. I was going to simply have RPM make up my 4 bar mounts, but now I have got to use theirs to insure it will all work together. Autoweld already has their money, so I can't back out of that now.

So, instead of me designing the 4 bar setup to fit the frame I was going to build, I am now going to have to wait till I have the rear end and 4 bar setup to build the rest of the frame, and built it to match what Autoweld sends me.

Today we decided to just suspend doing anything more until the rear end and 4 bar setup arrives, then we can slide it under the car and design a frame to make that work. Street driven cars are SO much easier to build !

Don

 

[soltz]

You have some really nice kids [cl
And their dad is pretty cool too

 

[Skip]

Wow. Just wow!


Note to self-- Try to refrain from reading this thread. It just gets me worked up and distracted from the project at hand.


Yea, Right! That's gonna' happen! [dr

 

[Bamamav]

Hummmmm, that rear looks like it would support a fuel Hemi! Maybe another change of plans? [ddd

 

[bob w]

Yep, that's a 7 second rear end. Nice piece.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, guys. I actually teared up when I opened up the one envelope and saw what they had done. They take pretty good care of the old man............even my Ex Wife got me some nice stuff, and I have to admit she was lookin' pretty good ! (she and I get along great, just not in the same house )

My original plans were to buy a bare housing from Autoweld, have Dan weld on brackets that I was going to get from Ron, and that was that. But they have convinced me that it is best to let Autoweld do all the welding on their jig to my specs and then ship the final product to me. That way it will be jig straight and not have any warpage from welding.

Since I am doing that I have to get their 4 link kit too so the holes for the bars are in the same arc and all that good stuff. Dan has used 3 of their back half kits so far, two under S10 trucks he built and one under the rpu he has now, and they really do nice work, so I guess he is right.

But I will sure use RPM for lots of stuff in the future..........I keep looking at the front end he built for me and it is top notch.

Don

 

[sc5080]

That axle housing will certainly handle anything you want to throw at it. Beautiful.

 

[forbigpicture]

Hey man, BIG THUMBS UP ,on the kid's and on the the rearend
man that thing looks stout.

 

[sgtpontiac]

yeah, kids can do the darn-est things...lol.

Very nice gift....even if you have to change directions a bit....[cl [P

 

[Skip]

See now, you appreciate a nice thoughtful and useful gift.

Why didn't my first wife appreciate the mag wheels for her 66 Nova? Go figure...