31 chevy sedan

LOWANDRATY · Nov 22, 2008

Today was the day to get this thing started, after a few months of finding parts, early 30 something chevy sedan body, a 79 caddy, and a few old ford parts, and lets not forget the freindly people at the steel shop, and hours of reading through the builds and questions here on RRR. today my 16 year old son and I set the engine and trany on blocks, set all of our angles and cut the firewall up. I need to know how far most of you are setting the front end from the front crank pulley, I was thinking 12" that would give me 3" for the pipe to mount the spring, 3" for the rad. 3" for the cooling fan, and 3" of space, between the fan and crank pulley, it's funny how space vanishes right before your eyes. THANKS in advance because I know I will have lots of questions that I will need help with over this build. ( KEN )

Bonehead · Nov 22, 2008

looks like a good fit. Allow your self plenty up front. It always seems to take more space than you think.

sgo70 · Nov 23, 2008

That sounds pretty close. I did 8" behind the pipe for the spring mount and it's pretty tight. I got a low profile electric fan which is 3.75" and the rad is 3" with the grill on. I don't have any pictures of my new grill but here is the old one:

Sean

LOWANDRATY · Nov 23, 2008

Today we started cutting steel, my 21 year old son came over and started teaching my 16 year old welding 101, he picked up fast on the mig but I think he needs a little more time with the old stick, he kept getting stuck

I bought this old stick welder at an auction for $ 67.50 works real good, I was kinda scared to plug it in at first

LOWANDRATY · Nov 26, 2008

We got a little more frame work done, I think the welds will hold up fine, going to work on getting the rear end mounted and some fish plates welded in this weekend, will be nice to get it rolling, well 1/2 of it rolling for now, I am still waiting on my front spring mount and the welding shop to get the tube done. let me know if you think I am heading in the right direction.

Gastrick · Nov 26, 2008

It seems like you are doing well to me LOWANDRATY.

It may not help you much because I'm running a different setup in my coupe, but the rear edge of my front crossmember is 6 inches forward of my harmonic balancer. I have a Model A type crossmember with a spring over axle configuration.

LOWANDRATY · Nov 29, 2008

Just a little more work today.

rockb1 · Nov 30, 2008

What rear end are you running?

LOWANDRATY · Nov 30, 2008

I bought an old caddy for $200.00 stripped the running gear from it, and a few other things, scraped the old body, sold the radiator, a/c condensor, and cat. made $157.00 profit. caddy 425 eng. 400 trany, 10 bolt rear. with caddy tilt and tele steering, going to try and finish the Z this week and rear susp. will get more pictures up this week.

Tripper · Nov 30, 2008

Kool!!!

L&R,
Looks really kool so far & u got some nice parts for it... be sure to keep us up to date!!!

BoB

LOWANDRATY · Dec 2, 2008

Well today was a hair pulling day, I took my front spring mount to the reg. guy that our shop has do our fab work and he had no pipe for the front mount, said he would have to buy a full stick and charge me for it, acted like he was not intrested in doing the job, so after quite a few calls, and lots of time, one guy called me back, said he was on a job site and would stop by his supplier on the way home and check for a drop, he called back around 4 and siad they had what i needed and would sell me a drop of 8 feet for $30 and I could pick it up at his shop on wed, I explained what I wanted to do with it and he was very interested, asked me to come by his shop after work to check it out, he would wait on me. HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO HELP ME, this is no small shop, he has a fleet of trucks, stuff everywhere and said his dad started the business in 74, we met and he siad he would do the fab work on wed. for me and even let me dig through his drop pile and get a few things I needed. I think I have foud a new fab guy for our shop stuff, I dont know if it is ok to post a business name here or # so I wont do it, but if anyone is in the roanoke va. area that needs some metal done I will be happy to let anyone know who this guy is, with a # to call him, just pm me, we started on the rear Z also.

LOWANDRATY · Dec 4, 2008

A few more pictures.

Gastrick · Dec 4, 2008

Good progress LOWANDRATY. It's okay to post the info of a business who helped you out. I'm not in that area, but I for one always like to throw business toward the way of good folks like that.

chop32chev · Dec 6, 2008

LOWANDRATY said:
Today was the day to get this thing started, after a few months of finding parts, early 30 something chevy sedan body, a 79 caddy, and a few old ford parts, and lets not forget the freindly people at the steel shop, and hours of reading through the builds and questions here on RRR. today my 16 year old son and I set the engine and trany on blocks, set all of our angles and cut the firewall up. I need to know how far most of you are setting the front end from the front crank pulley, I was thinking 12" that would give me 3" for the pipe to mount the spring, 3" for the rad. 3" for the cooling fan, and 3" of space, between the fan and crank pulley, it's funny how space vanishes right before your eyes. THANKS in advance because I know I will have lots of questions that I will need help with over this build. ( KEN )

Project is lookin good..what you have is a 1932 cowl..You can tell by the vent ,posts and header panel..Hope this helps and keep up the progress:

LOWANDRATY · Dec 6, 2008

Thanks for the info chop32chevy, the guy I bought it from said it was a 31, but I think the cowl is diff. from the rest of the body, when you put the doors up to the cowl, and set the rear of the body up to the doors, the bodys roof is longer than it should be, will take some cutting to make it all work togeather, who knows what it will be when I'm done, kinda frankenstein ' ish, but thats what I want, low, mean, and nasty, the kinda car people say what the h##l is that, Then they say look's too scary to drive. THATS ME.

one of the mechanics at our shop has been telling me of a freind's gradfather that has some old cars and wanted to sale some of them, been trying to go see these cars for some time, everytime there was something else going on, WELL we made it there today, and walked through the woods for a few hours, with the temp at 30 it was a very good day, first thing the old man said was nothing is for sale, after walking and hearing every story behind every car, and how he was going to fix it up, or how he is going to use some of the parts for his resto on another car, and after looking at everything he is working on, standing by the woodstove he said he would sell me a few pickup cabs, just wait untill it warms up before we come to get them please. I took lots of pictures and you can see them at http://WWW.MYSPACE.COM\LOWANDRATTY

Oldrodder43 · Dec 7, 2008

WOW, what a treasure trove! I'd have loved to have been there with you to look at all that vintage metal. Your build is looking good. Perley

chop32chev · Dec 7, 2008

LOWANDRATY said:
Thanks for the info chop32chevy, the guy I bought it from said it was a 31, but I think the cowl is diff. from the rest of the body, when you put the doors up to the cowl, and set the rear of the body up to the doors, the bodys roof is longer than it should be, will take some cutting to make it all work togeather, who knows what it will be when I'm done, kinda frankenstein ' ish, but thats what I want, low, mean, and nasty, the kinda car people say what the h##l is that, Then they say look's too scary to drive. THATS ME.
one of the mechanics at our shop has been telling me of a freind's gradfather that has some old cars and wanted to sale some of them, been trying to go see these cars for some time, everytime there was something else going on, WELL we made it there today, and walked through the woods for a few hours, with the temp at 30 it was a very good day, first thing the old man said was nothing is for sale, after walking and hearing every story behind every car, and how he was going to fix it up, or how he is going to use some of the parts for his resto on another car, and after looking at everything he is working on, standing by the woodstove he said he would sell me a few pickup cabs, just wait untill it warms up before we come to get them please. I took lots of pictures and you can see them at http://WWW.MYSPACE.COM\LOWANDRATTY

Yes the rest of the car is probably 31..the31 roofs went right to the header panel which bolted between the 2 posts and the 32's stopped and curved around like the 32 cowl that you have..But it sounds like you know what to do..Good luck man

35Mastr · Dec 7, 2008

Wow,What a slide show.That guy has some very nice cars.I would love to have the Ford coupe,the Chevy coupe and the Ford truck that is next to both of them.Its all going to continue to just rot away though.He will never get to all of those cars.

LOWANDRATY · Dec 7, 2008

Yea the guy is in his late 70's and he will never finish the cars, and his kids could care less about them, they call it "his junk yard", it's a crying shame.

LOWANDRATY · Dec 7, 2008

We got the front tube welded in today, it's starting to look like some kinda hot rod frame

31 chevy sedan

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

Well-known member

Attachments

Skull Master

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

One of the Dirty Dozen!

Well-known member

Attachments

Built For Speed!

Well-known member

Older and more rusted every day!

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Attachments

One of the Dirty Dozen!

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Mastr Blastr

Well-known member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!