Ok, the cat is out of the bag!!!

[falconvan]

That's really quality work, Don. That's great that a young guy shows such a high level of patience and craftsmanship.

 

[Gastrick]

Beautiful work Don. I've got a question though. How are you guys keeping that chassis from surface rusting here in Fla. If I even leave mine over night, it's covered with surface rust the next day.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks guys. What do you mean Bill, we don't have any humidity in FLORIDA! Well, not over 100 percent anyway. We've been using that Picklik(spelling) stuff that came out of Navy shipbuilding. Not cheap, about $100 a gallon, but it goes really far. You can weld over it too and improved penetration. If you get surface rust on something, a scotchbrite pad with some on it makes it all go away. Once you apply a coating it won't rust for months and months.

We are also careful to wear cotton gloves when handling the parts. Dan gets real antsy when I come over to help him hold or lift something and don't have my gloves on.

Don

 

[scottaus]

cant see your photos any more

Hi Don,

Please please please dont start putting your photos in "photobucket" my work blocks photobucket and I cant see your photos any more which i look forward to seeing and reading every time you post.
If you can keep posting as you have in the past it would be great ;-)

Thanks Scott (Australia)

Thanks guys. I am getting better about keeping it clean, Dan accuses me of behaving like him now, I sweep up about 3 or 4 times during the night. Grinding dust is the worst, so I try to get it up before it tracks everywhere.

You are right about Californians being more apt to spend money on their cars. When I lived there I saw why all the cars I saw in magazines from California were so trick........the people who live there just don't mind spending big bucks on these things. Even their daily drivers tend to be high end cars in many cases. The average income there is also a little higher than most places, so that helps too.

While I'm posting I'll bring you all up to date on where Dan is on his rod. He has the rear crossmembers all cut and slipped into the frame holes, but not welded in yet. He decided after punching a couple of lightning holes in the crossmember and sleeving it with tubing that it was gonna take him weeks just to do the 21 holes, so he abandoned that idea. I think they look fine as it is. He also got his panhard bar made and mocked up, so the rear is pretty well done as far as fabrication goes. Now it just needs welded up.

He is also forming 32 Ford style front frame horns to weld onto the front stubs of the frame. He is going to make a spreader bar and have that chromed when he is done.

Here are some pictures of the rear crossmembers........I'll have some of the horns when we get further along.

Don


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x4/donsrods/tools013.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x4/donsrods/tools014.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x4/donsrods/tools015.jpg

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Scott, I tried something new to get big pictures and it didn't work out. Here, these are just for you.

Don

 

[scottaus]

Thanks Don really appreciate it

Scott

 

[donsrods]

You're welcome Scott. I tried to move into the 21st Century and post big pictures like everybody else, but once again I found out how computer challanged I am.

Don

 

[donsrods]

Dan had today off so he worked on building his front frame horns all day. They came out really well, I think. Here is how he built them out of flat steel stock.

Don

 

[donsrods]

He left that big gap so that when welded he could grind it to get a rounded edge to match the frame contour. Here is how it ended up when tack welded to the frame.

He still has to make up a round spreader bar and have it chromed.

Don

 

[IAM-LDS-2]

Nice pics Mr Don, what will the suspension be,bags,coils , ?

 

[bob w]

Superior craftsmanship on the whole project. The frame horns compliment the look of the front a lot.

 

[donsrods]

Nice pics Mr Don, what will the suspension be,bags,coils , ?

No, he is using a Posies single cross spring up front, and two Posies quarter eliptic ones on the back. His first version was airbagged, but he changed his mind on that and went this more traditional route this time.

Don

 

[rahatawa]

Don;
The whole project looks great. i was showing it to a buddy of mine who asked, "If he ditched the first body and first frame, doesn't he have enough for a second car just sitting around?"

so my question to you is, besides the parts that you and his brother have scored, what happened to the "second car"?

 

[donsrods]

Dan laughingly refers to his first frame as the "worlds most expensive engine stand." He took a sawzall to it and cut it up. All that remains is the front clip and he is using that as a temporary engine stand for the Olds engine until the new frame is painted and all. The back half resides in my pickup truck, waiting for me to take a load to the scrap yard.

The body is still the same one he made from the fordor sedan, that he kept. I inherited his old bed and louvered tonneau cover because he bought a Brookville Model A bed this time around. Everytime he cut something off of the car Don and I were there with a handtruck to grab the leftovers.

He does have a second car waiting in the wings that he is collecting parts for. It is a model A tudor sedan that he is going to build absolutely traditional........'32 frame, flathead, banjo rear, etc. He even wants to use an original '32 heavy axle so I get the one under his roadster pickup as soon as he is done mocking it up.

Don

 

[donsrods]

Dan has to play all weekend, so last night was the only night he had to go to the shop so I tagged along. He was tired of heavy fab work and just wanted to do something fun for a change, so we decided to bend up a rear nerf bar for the car.

We used some solid 3/4 inch bar instead of hollow tubing so we could bend it round a tight bend without kinking. First we made a jig to hold it while we heated the steel with a torch. We didn't have anything 4 inches in diameter to bend it around, but we found an old holesaw blade that we reinforced by slipping an old pulley inside and welding the two together.

Once the jig was made we bent up two pieces into a U shape, and laid out the size we wanted. We cut two straight pieces of steel to fill in the center of both legs of the U, and made another jig to hold them in line while welding them up.

We did the welding a little different this time. I preheated each joint cherry red with my torch then Dan migged it while it was red hot. The weld sunk down in nice and flat and deep that way. Made for a prettier weld too.

Then we cut some flat stock and made the brackets to go to the rear frame. Finally, he made up two little tabs to put his license light and plate onto. All he has to do now is send it off to the chrome shop and bolt it on.

It took us about 10-12 hours to do, but was fun. I bailed out at 5:30 because I had to be back to the shop at 10 to help Don paint his wheel for his T, but Dan stayed until about 9 this morning.

Here are some pictures of how we did it.

Don

 

[donsrods]

and some more...........

 

[donsrods]

and finally................

 

[Gastrick]

That nerf bar came out nice Don. It looks really good on the car. Sometimes it just feels good to take a break from the heavy fab work and build a fun little project like that. Instant gratification.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Bill. What was the name and address of the chrome shop that did your nerf? Were you happy with the work? Were they expensive or pretty reasonable?

Don

 

[chop509]

I saw the tech tread for this over on the HAMB.
Didn't realize it was your work.
Turned out great.