Tacked Together

The "A" is progressing pretty well. The new rear subrails were shimmed for polyethylene body mounts, strengthened with match arched .083 square tube and all tacked in place. The cowl has been inletted to match the 32' frame arch and fitted with a 12 ga. insert that bolts to the frame. The insert is tacked in place. After all is securely tacked in place, the body goes back on the roller where I can get to the bottom for finish welding.

The stance is not too bad. I would have liked a tad more rake to the body but this frame/body combination will not allow that. If the frame was sized for the "A", or if it was pinched 2 1/2"+ That would have been possible.

Since I will have to purchase a 4' X 10' sheet of 16 ga. cold rolled and have it sheared, I will cut out the firewall and draw up the entire floor/firewall to be sheared at one time.

Lots of hours ahead but it's looking better with every step.

Trial Fit

I have cut and trimmed, and trimmed and measured until I dream about this at night. Prior to changing the blade in the saws all, a trial fit to finalize the cutting is mandatory. Before one proceeds with a project like this, its critical to have a very good plan regarding the handling of the flexible body. 

Since my concept was to roll the chassis under the body and carefully lower the body to the chassis while observing any "issues" the first anxiety driven step was the lift!

I snatched an older than dirt (that's me!!) 500 lb cable pallet jack on Craigslist for the rear and used the engine hoist on the front. The rear on the body is not hard to handle but the front is more than I can lift. I'm the Lone Ranger on this and am not interested in a tragedy.

I did not want to cut up my steel sawhorses but this was too high. Will whack'em of for the next lift. Notice the bow in my carefully engineered laminated support beam???, the front is a little heavy.

Now most of the questions are answered. Yes there are a couple of issues to deal with but they are not going to prevent proceeding with this.

Give me the saws all, a new blade, and the MIG and onward................

Subframe

I have been drivin' the 34' and playing title tag with the challenged at the DMV. Bureaucrats can make you tired.

The first step in replacing the A' subrails is to remove the floor and existing subrails to make way for the 32' curved frame rails. One also needs to trim the lower front cowl mounts to allow for the curve in the front section of the frame. Basically, this is measure 10 times and cut twice. I also cut the small amount of rust out of the wheel wells as this will be trimmed to match the frame. It was interesting to note that the rear 1/2 of the lower body is crimped to the subrail over a fabric strip. Now I understand the body rust on most of these cars. This poor unsealed over lap holds moisture and is wet whenever it rains.

I started the lower subrail with a 12ga 4x1 sheared and broken angle and then using my old Hossfeld bender I match arched the angle material to the frame and bolted in place. This will become the base of the new subrails.

This base extends 8" forward under the original subframe and welds to both sides of the shaped subrail. Everthing adjacent to the cuts has been sandblasted for cleanliness to allow good welding.

You need to hold the body correctly while the cutting is going on since it does want to lose its shape with out the integral support.

After building the cart for the body,
and watching as I cut out the rear floor
and subframes, I found that if you leave the major portions of the wheelwells intact and support the body at the front and at the rear, the body is actually in tension and all stays straight.

Somehow in the past 52 years, I have forgotten just how much work is involved in this. Are we having fun yet?? 

Finally !!

After traveling to Utah, Nevada, and California looking at Model A bodies (rusted out field trash), I located this clean one owner near San Diego. Assured that there was no rust, I picked up Tom and Dick in Southern California on the way and we three old farts headed for 'Diego on the first parts run together in almost 50 years.

I think Bob (Model A owner) didn't know whether to run and hide or run us off when we drug all the parts out on his lawn and rolled it out into the sunlight. To give him credit, he stood his ground and gave up very little on the price. He later confided that he knew it was sold when I drove up from Nevada with the trailer.

After swapping cash for trash, we  backed the A' on the trailer and loaded the inside of the A" and the back of the truck with everything we could find. This one had been in storage for 48 years after being partially disassembled in 1964. Did we get it all?? we think so, but who cares, NO RUST!! Actually, I think the car is 90% complete.

As acting Entertainment Director. I am positive that we three added a great deal of sunlight to ol' Bob's day (the stack of 100's probably helped) even though he appeared to be weeping as we jumped in the truck and left.

I have a few days ahead of sorting the boxes of stuff into keepers and sellers but my social calender is open and time is not a problem. Thanks to Tom and Dick for the assistance!

The only stressful portion of the day was when the original headliner began to disintegrate on the way back. Dick's comment on this with a grin was "don't look back". Chunks of cotton and shredded mohair.........

Parts!!!!

Got up this morning motivated to DO something..... Ah, stimulate the U.S. economy, yes! No, I did not get my 'bama check but throwing caution to the winds, I took the '34 down and ordered a new front carpet to replace the one I cut up when I installed the saginaw 4-speed.

That accomplished, I decided to go look at a Craigslist piece on the way home. Of course the unit is old and used, but so am I!
The seller was very courteous and I procured the unit at a very fair price. I still need pulleys and a service kit but its better to be blown than naturally aspirated (I remember someone telling me that!).
The search for an appropriate body for the '32 is not progressing well at all. I guess that I must be the only one who thinks rusted out field trash is not the jewel of the month. Maybe fiberglass???? not sure yet.

Fun Stuff

A few years back (50???), when we were kids, there was a large chrome plater in East L.A. When we learned of it, we promptly removed everything imaginable from the "A" and took it down to them in a box. We were sent to the back door where they chuckled at us, took the box, and told us to come back in a week. How cool was that??

The chrome fan blade was my pride and joy and I had to have one again. I sent my NOS '54 blade to Tom in L.A. and he had it plated at Superior Plating in Pomona. These people do very fine show quality work. I would not be concerned over their workmanship...ever. The bottom line is that I am now cooler than ever!

The little cheapie Ebay air cleaner that I had was probably adequate but after several cruel comments from friends??? I stepped right up to the plate and upgraded the intake system with a cast aluminum unit that is no doubt worth at least a 0.50 improvement in E.T. One can justify anything.... it simply requires a little thought and too much free time. 

Not being experienced with the cooling characteristics of the 34' Chevy, I can now discuss the summer drive. Summer here is 105 to 115F with asphalt temperatures of 150F+. Considering that the fan is running slower than normal (1.1 times crank speed) I feel that the new radiator core is doing the job. Heavy traffic or long signals result in the engine coming up to 200F but 1/2 mile at 25/35 mph brings it back down to the thermostat (180).
I believe that the addition of the grill retarded the cool down time and sped up the heating at a signal.
I must emphasize that we are able to cool down 700 lbs of cast iron 20F in 1/2 mile. That seems appropriate to me.

Radiators n' Stuff

I was actually amazed that the 77 year old radiator worked as well as it did with the later engine setup. Consider that the 235 has twice the power of the original 207 and then add the supercharger and operate it in the HOT dry desert climate with the water pump/fan slowed 30%...... impressive!

With the Harrison radiator warrantee expired 76 years ago, I guess the leaks that developed in the middle of the core are not an indication of poor quality.
It was time to renew the cooling system.

Reviewing all the options, copper tube/fin, aluminum tube/fin, vertical flow/cross flow, and original V core, I discussed this with a very experienced radiator guy. Hands down, he recommended recoring the original with the most efficient core available which is the V core original design. It worked perfect after 77 years, and it will do the job better than anything else now!

Just a hint, changing the radiator in a 34' is a project. The radiator sits in the shell and the shell is supported by the core support, ugh. Everything comes out at once. 

 
Since most of the bugs are worked out of this car now, it was time to install the grill that required so many hours.

My original grill was painted silver with alternating fins painted black. The grill surround was badly rusted chrome. The grill was uniformly lightly pitted and the chrome shop said it would not polish. The surround was trash.

The grill was media blasted and then powder coated chrome silver with two coats of clear on top. Nice!! I had the surround media blasted and then hand sanded it until all the chrome and copper and most of the pits were gone, then etching and building primer and hours and painted with the grill shell. It actually came out very nice.