1928 FORD MODEL A SEDAN- belly pan.

Amazed mate you have some skills!

Gav

more things ticked off the list today.

i finish welded and smooth back the next-to-rear crossmember (the one with the U-shaped prop loop in it), and whist i was there welded on the upper centre suspension mount id made quite a while ago, that goes on the top of the prop loop. i added some misalignment spacers/tapers washers in there before i did though- not to deal with any misalignment, cos there wont be any, but because if they're there, it makes the brackets wide enough apart to spin the rose joint between them. so if i need to adjust it i can just remove the bolt and spacers and spin it in the gap rather than having to remove the wishbone.
here is is fitted-


once that was on, i had the chassis mount there, incuding the threaded bar on the rose joint that would be forming part of the wishbone, and both alxe mounts on there with the appropriate bushings for the wishbone already fitted in them too. so it made sense to crack on and get the upper half of my triangulated 3-link suspension made.

id actually moved the axle brackets since i first fitted them, to make the wishbone a more sensible shape (not as wide). it how sits in much closer to the diff pumpkin. i still needed the 2 bars that make up the legs of the Y to have a bend in the end though, so they weld onto the axle bushes striaght, but also for bracket/diff clearance as well.
the tube i planned to use was a recycled pop browns ladder bar that came with the A when i bought it. they're 3 foot long with two tubes in each, so one was plenty to make the full setup of upper and lower arms. they're 7/8" CDS with a 1/4" wall thickness, so very heavy and totally overkill!

amazingly, i managed to bend it with one of these, just! it was groaning and flexing a bit, but i did have it bolted down to the floor and have a 6 foot scaffold pole on it as a cheater bar!


i bent the 3' length of tube directly in the middle, to about 120 degress, then cut it through the apex of the bend, giving me two even lengths with a tight 60deg bend at the end-


they were then trimmed down and mitred in to fit the bushings and the 1" or so tube the 3/4" rose joint is fitted to, and tracked in once all set up even, square and level-






once i was happy with that, i knocked up a pair of gusset in 1/4" plate, boshed some holes in them to jazz em up a bit, and tacked those in too-


i then removed it, and welded it carefully on the bench, heavy tacking first, alternating sides to minimise distortion. then i buzzed it all up good and proper. each side pulled in about 1mm when i did this, easily rectified by clamping it in the vice and leaning on it a little.

after a little cleanup, it was then ready to go back on. still got to get a 3/4" jamb nut for the rose joint.




and refitted-






ive needed to order some bits to do the bottom straight links, i thought id got some 5/8" unf LH taps, but i havent, id only bought RH ones for some reason. ive got some 5/8" LH thread rod ends waiting, and 5/8" RH thread rose joints, so they will be adjustable in-situ. a little trip to the fasteners supplier tomorrow to get everything else i need to finish off back here, and thats all thats stopping me having it rolling at both ends

Effective and pretty. Very nice Dez.

thats exactly the look I'm going for tony- i don't want it to look 'new', or mass produced. i want the old-timey look.

other tony/qwerty- cheers

only a small update, I'm getting impatient waiting for the taps ive ordered to finish the bottom links to turn up!

i have spoken to the very helpful ian at hauser racing though, who has supplied me with this lot-

rear hub seals, pinion seal, and 2x non-square UJs, to adapt my gearbox yoke to the prop with the slider i have, then the prop to the axle yoke. £67 delivered, which i don't think is too bad, given the amount of time he had to put in investigating/speccing the parts. proper customer service
so I'm all ready to rebuild/paint once the brackety is seam welded.
i also bought these to jazz up the diff housing a bit, UNF+stainless=pricey. worth it though i recon.


lastly, ive bought some 5/8"UNF bolts, and made the brackets for the front of the lower links, in anticipation of the taps i need arriving-

Glad you're sticking with this, really enjoy your updates!

Beautiful, inspirational stuff.

well, I'm going for a gold star this week it seems


even crossed a couple off the back too.

This is a thing of beauty.

That's looking great, Dez - a standard of work and forward planning I can only dream of.

I find lists useful - although I hate admitting it - and I find re-writing a list frequently surprisingly useful: there's always something you forgot first time round that suddenly dawns on you when re-writing it. At least, that's how it works for me.



If you have friends with interesting cars locally, go and visit them, and chat about cars for a bit. Does wonders for the mojo - especially if you can drive out to them in something that's not your daily.

Great stuff! Keep up the good work, Dez. You're an inspiration to all of us.