Party Rat Study

[400orbust]

Well, my ridetech shockwaves for the front suspension are on the way so while waiting for those to arrive I decided to starting thinking about the cab. I was researching trying to figure out how the cab pieces connect together I found out that my cab (or at least the top) is from a coachbuilder called Budd that made the first all metal cabs for Ford. Unfortunately the parts connecting the back to the front are missing as are the roof bows and I can't find anyone who repops those parts for the Budd cabs so I'll have to fab those myself. Anyways, I fixed a few holes in the visor and laid out some 'holes' to see what I like. I think I'll go with 8 - 2.5" holes.

 

[ratadixshun44]

Your fabrication skills are outstanding.. With that im mind I was wondering why ya don't just fabricate an intake for the 4 or 6 ---2b; carbs. [cl[P[cl[P[P[P

 

[forbigpicture]

You have my full attention sir.....Build on[P[P

 

[400orbust]

Thanks guys....building my own intake is my fall back plan if I can't find an intake for a reasonable price! I'm realizing as I study the body that I'm going to have a lot of time into getting it where I want it so anywhere I can save some time on this is a bonus.

 

[forbigpicture]

Thanks guys....building my own intake is my fall back plan if I can't find an intake for a reasonable price! I'm realizing as I study the body that I'm going to have a lot of time into getting it where I want it so anywhere I can save some time on this is a bonus.

400........... you might save time....or you might save money
very difficult to do both..... Most things always cost me time
and money.................

 

[400orbust]

Doing the visor holes was a fun little side job as I was waiting for my front shocks to show up. I used a carbide toothed hole saw and a Mittler Brothers flaring die. I'm glad I did 8 holes. I think 9 would've been too busy plus I'm going to install a center visor support so an odd number wouldn't have worked.

 

[400orbust]

And my Shockwaves arrived!

 

[Skip]

Doing the visor holes was a fun little side job as I was waiting for my front shocks to show up. I used a carbide toothed hole saw and a Mittler Brothers flaring die. I'm glad I did 8 holes. I think 9 would've been too busy plus I'm going to install a center visor support so an odd number wouldn't have worked.

What size holes? 2.5? I just looked up those dies. The set is an investment, but individual dies look like they would pay for themselves in short order.

 

[Old Iron]

I like the swedged holes!!!

 

[400orbust]

Yes....2.5" holes. The set is expensive so I just bought the one I needed. Between the die and the carbide cutter I'm at $10 per hole but I figure I can sell them and recoup most of my money once I'm sure I don't have anywhere else for 2.5" hole!

 

[Skip]

Yes....2.5" holes. The set is expensive so I just bought the one I needed. Between the die and the carbide cutter I'm at $10 per hole but I figure I can sell them and recoup most of my money once I'm sure I don't have anywhere else for 2.5" hole!

Sell a tool?! Isn't there some kind of a law against that?

 

[400orbust]

I think there is a law against that Skip...just not sure I'll need them again. Most likely what will happen is I'll put them in my toolbox and 10 years from now find them!

 

[400orbust]

While still waiting on a few pieces to show up to finish the frame I've started thinking about the body. I've put all my thought process into the chassis and just figured the body would be easy but as I start studying things I'm realizing I have A LOT of work to do to it. It is going to be chopped, stretched and sectioned (this was planned for in building the frame). Plus I'm going to replace all the wood pieces with metal. I was really surprised that nobody makes a metal frame kit for model A's. I really thought I'd just be able to buy something. If it is out there it has avoided me finding it.

To start things off I'm going to build some structure in the roof area so it'll hold shape when I chop it. First piece is this roof bow connecting the B-pillars. I don't have a tubing roller so I put an arc in it by heating then hammering. It worked really really well and I was able to get a perfect match to the roof curvature. Pics show what I did..final pic is it installed.

 

[Bonehead]

Great job on the tubing work, maybe you should be the guy who makes the kit.

 

[400orbust]

As an aside....last week I flew with my buddy to L.A. He has been searching for a 4x4 passenger van for awhile and found one down there. 1000 miles back home in 26 hours rolling on 37" nitto mud grapplers...I think I'm still vibrating! Pic doesn't show the true size...I'm 6'2 and my height of eye was the bottom window sill . Fun trip and a pretty sweet van built by Quigley (a 4x4 conversion company) themselves as their show rig.

 

[soltz]

[cl[cl

 

[400orbust]

Looking for a little input here if anyone has some experience in this area....in thinking of my front end suspension I've been planning to do a panhard bar for horizontal axle location. I've never been super thrilled with that because from my reading the geometry is important to combat bump steer and I don't like how the front axle will shift over when the car is laying on the ground. If the axle is centered at ride height then it will have to shift left or right when down...I know it doesn't matter when sitting on the ground but it won't look centered which bothers me.
I like the watts linkages as on my rear suspension and have been trying to figure out how to incorporate it into the front. The problem is the vertical room the crank takes up. Then I thought...how about horizontal?? After searching the 'net I found one example of this as the below pic shows. The difference would be that my center crank would be fixed to the frame at the front crossmember and the ends would be connected to my split wishbones...reversed from normal where the center is connected to the movable axle and the ends are fixed to the frame. So I guess I'd call it a reverse, horizontal watts linkage! I think it would work....any thoughts? Too complicated? Anyone see problems with this? Or is the panhard bar not that big of deal? It will be a lot of work to do but if it works I think it would look slick.

 

[jfg455]

It depends on how long or short your pan hard bar is as to how much it will move side to side. The shorter it is the more pronounced the arc or movement will be. Try to get it as long as possible and level at ride height. With only say 8" of overall suspension travel (1/2 that from ride height +4"/-4" you won't see much side to side movement. It will be there but you won't notice as it will most likely be less than 1/4" total movement.

Try making a wood /paper / string bar at the length you think the bar will be. Then run one end up and down to simulate the suspension travel. From that you can map exactly how much movement you will get without having to actually build the parts

 

[400orbust]

Finally got some work done. The front shock towers are in. They took alot of work to get right because the clearance for my airshocks was very tight. I ended up moving things around at least 3 times before getting it all to fit right. The shock towers are 1/4" plate. I added some bracing to the back that is also 1/4" plate and drilled a hole on the top of each side in case I need to add a top cross member/support bar at a later time.

 

[400orbust]

I also decided on how to locate my front axle. In the previous post you can see the hole in the crossmember which is for my "horizontal, inverse watts link"! I had decided to go with a panhard bar but after getting my shock mounts welded in place the clearance was so tight that I was concerned about the horizontal movement on the panhard bar. As jfg455 said 2 posts before it was only 1/4" but my air shocks were just touching metal and that would be no good.
I did tons of research but could not find any examples of a watts link being done like this before. There are horizontal watts links but they are mounted to the moving part whereas mine is mounted to the stationary part. There are multiple movements involved and I was concerned about it binding with the axle movement but I decided to go for it and...all said and done it works extremely well!
I completed boxed in my front crossmember for strength and added the 'hole' with a piece of DOM tubing welded top and bottom and fitted some bronze bushings in place that supports the linkage system. Super happy with how it came out. It works smoothly with no side to side movement.