Back ground on the 22 Dodge rebuild...
In response to a couple of inquires from rustbucket49 and RUMBLON, and seeing
as there are a lot of new members that were not on KillBillet when this site started, I
will answer these questions and give a little back ground on the car...
Thanks Ken, very nice.
So you junked the touring frame and started w/ a different Ford frame?
I guess you could have z'd the touring frame??
I see you didn't box the frame - any problems w/ that?
Also, how is the front end set up to get the drop?
Did you channel the body over the frame?
I bought the car in its basic form from a fellow in Fresno, CA about 7 years ago.
It had been on eBay, but didn’t sell. I contacted the seller a week after the auction
and struck a very reasonable deal. I drove to Fresno, checked it out and took a ride.
It was licensed, registered, drivable (barely), needed a lot of work, but I liked the
combination of parts and overall stance. The fellow I bought it from offered to deliver
it to me, for $50.00 gas money, in La Mirada, Ca (by Disneyland).
The car had at least 3 previous owners, builders before I got it, as there were 3 distinct
welding styles on the car and different “quality of work” areas..
Very professional, OK, and “what the heck, you have to be kidding me”.
So, to answer the above question, the car came as it sits, basically, but with a lot
of issues to deal with. In the first week, I recored the radiator, changed the hose
locations to suit the car and replaced the hoses, fixed some braking issues, and rewired
the car ( a 3 foot wire made from 3 pieces with crimp connecters just doesn’t work for
me, drives you nuts when it pulls loose, and really is just a stupid thing to do), had a
baffle made for the exhaust and replaced a bent front rim, and the rear 7:50 x 16, 8 ply,
flat spotted, hard as rock, truck rear tires.
Now we could drive it and sort out the bigger issues, of which there turned out to be a few.
After a month, it was torn down and the rebuild was started.
Many things, like rear radius rod frame mount that broke loose, rear boxing plates
for the frame that were there, but with two 1/8 inch tack welds holding them in place,
a brake system that needed to be completely rebuilt, a gas tank with a 3” square piece
cut out and rewelded that leaked, etc. etc.
And all of the grease and dirt from 1949 till now was still on the engine.
I can handle rust, but have a real problem with grease, dirt and leaking oil issues on a car.
It is progressing, close to driving again. Just a lack of garage time.
I work overseas, recently moved to Nevada, just need to put together the time to wrap things up and
I have promised the boss that we will be driving in the late spring.
Couple of other questions:
1. What are the tire and wheel sizes front and rear?
Where did you get your rear wheels?
The front wheels are stock 16” x 4” with 5.00 x 16 Coker Firestone ribbed fronts.
The rear wheels are modified stock wheels, the front lip was cut off, a 4” wide piece
was welded on to make a 16” x 7” wheel. I bought them from a fellow in Colorado
for $250.00 off of eBay. They were done correctly and are true.
The rear tires are 16 x 8.90 Coker Firestone dirt track tires.
Nate Jones in Signal Hill, Ca., did all the mounting, balancing, shaving the tread,
and checking those rear rims for trueness.
2. Did you consider installing a pick-up bed on the touring frame instead of the modified
you did (which is amazingly awesome! )??
Briefly, but like the modified look and ended up changing the leaking model T tank
for the rectangular one which I bought from (you guessed it) eBay for $35.00.
3. How did you go about narrowing the frame @ the firewall?
I presume you did this to accomplish channeling the body over the frame?
It was already done when I got the car, but the frame rails were cut top and bottom
and pulled towards each other ( with a little heat) until they were in the correct location,
then the resulting pie gap was filled and welded.
Yes, it was done to get the frame inside the firewall opening for the channel.
Thanks for the inquires, questions, and complements.
Any other questions, just ask..
Hopefully, my next post will be driving videos...
Below, are 2 of the eBay photos that had me driving to Fresno and purchasing,
what has been a fun and rewarding project.
I’ll post some comparison photos for before and after. ‘22