Body on frame! Well, it's just sitting there not fully attached or with any brackets or bolts, but this is where it will live.
The floor will build off that 1x1 square tube to span the width of the body. The 1" round tube hangs down over the outside edge of the frame, covering all but the lower 2" or so like I envisioned.
The upper cross-member with the holes originally supported the truck bed, so that's another good support area for the body. The bulkhead between trunk and interior will probably be there too.
I am not quite sure about the rear of the frame. It juts out too far from the rear of the body. I will probably lop it off just past the rear leaf spring hanger. There is obviously some body missing that I will need to build up, but I don't think it will extend naturally that far out. If you follow the curve of the trunk it will end near the front of the spring hanger. I may have to get creative with some kind of bumper to tie it all in. I would like to keep the leaf springs just for simplicity instead of fabricating a 3 or 4 link setup. They seem very well-designed, with plastic spacers between each leaf to allow free sliding and movement without binding, even with just my body weight jumping up and down on them.
But overall I like the stance so far. I think it's going to look good, especially once the suspension squats down.
The Challenge budget as it currently sits is $852, including $350+ in truck part-out and a pieced-together turbo kit on the shelf. Most of the remaining budget is big raw materials like the roll bar tubing, sheetmetal, windshield/door glass and/or plexigass. Plus all the little bits that add up to make a car run and drive. I saved a ton of useful parts off the truck, such as steering column and wheel, gauge cluster, ECU, seats, seat belts, and even cut the floor out of the truck bed to use for patching. It will be tight, but Challenge budget turbo hot rod is still looking possible.
Good cutter trigonometry, that fits amazingly well!
I thought of you when I saw Calvin's latest video featuring the 5-cylinder motor!
In reply to dyintorace :
I would be very satisfied with 4/5ths of that kind of power!
Perhaps you could whip up some sort of rumble seat to absorb the excess rear frame?
Motojunky said:
Perhaps you could whip up some sort of rumble seat to absorb the excess rear frame?
Or keep it and add a tow ball.
Hitch is a great idea, especially if this becomes a drag and drive car.
Or add a beer can gas tank hanging out of the trunk and mounts to add weight for more drag traction (or wheelies).
This may not be in the challenge budget but can you lop the frame off closer to the end of the body and switch to a truck arm or 4 link suspension set up?
I have never shortened a frame, but I have watched one shortened on You Tube.
Find the straightest part of the frame under the car and cut a section out. Kiwi's Classics and Customs did something like this recently and it was fascinating to watch.
Fake gas tank would hide the fact that the frame comes out past the body (this may be what hobiercr was saying).
swap over to IRS? Now would be the time to do it.
Love this build BTW!
I reckon triangulated 4 link would be the way to go, not super difficult to set up and looks like theres plenty of space, or if going parrrel 4-link a chromed up watts link and finned diff cover might look cool hanging below the back
While IRS or custom links would be sweet, this Challenge car will have a hard time staying under budget as it is and every dollar will count. A major part of my $2000 Challenge strategy for this build is using all I can from the parts car.
Integrating a bumper/hitch might be my best bet, but here's some other fun ideas.
Fender cars have a "swoop" down and rearward that might cover the frame, but it looks weird without fenders.
Here's a fenderless coupe with a bumper. That would probably come close to covering the frame, and doesn't look too ugly.
Another idea...dagmar / bullet style bumper covers only over the frame protrusions. Could even integrate the tailights with a conical lens? Might be sweet.
Really dumb Challenge car idea... massive diffuser that follows the leaf spring curve, with integrated lip spoiler, using that part of the frame as structure.
Of course for now I'll just leave it exposed
You could move the upper shackle mount on the frame forward some so you can shorten the frame, the shackles would be at an angle but I don't think that would hurt anything depending on how much the suspension travels? May have to lengthen the shackles?
I like the bullets and bumper idea.. simple and I think it'd look reasonable. Loving what you're doing so far!
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
This picture didn't load for me earlier and I like that a lot
+1 on rumble seat.
Alternately, it's begging to become a Ute with a simple steel frame (wrapped with some discarded laundry machine bodywork). That wouldn't even require you to use the shrinker/stretcher.
dyintorace said:
I thought of you when I saw Calvin's latest video featuring the 5-cylinder motor!
Gosh, those 5 cylinders sound so good! I want one now...
So today I learned this has been done plenty of times before and it's called a "deuce" or '32 style gas tank. Ford Model A ('31 and earlier) folks do the "deuce gas tank" conversion because those were originally mounted under the cowl behind the dashboard and the deuce tank clears up space for custom hot rod stuff. Plus it just looks awesome. They even make kits for it, which I should know already, as the former owner/builder of a '31 Ford.
It may not be common with the Chevy's like mine, but I can definitely make this work. 33/34 Chevy's have the gas tank in the same place, but slightly forward so the rear bodywork and trunk fully covers it up. I'm not crazy about the safety aspect of an exposed gas tank, but really, how safe is hot rod anyway. I can still put a crossbar behind it to act as a rear bumper, perhaps integrating a small 1-1/4" trailer hitch receiver. Plus it helps with weight distribution being that far back.
You could also just make a fake gas tank there for appearances sake, and have the real one stashed in the trunk or somewhere else.
Could make it a tank for something else too, methanol injection, etc
Love to see the progress!
