45 years of Custom Auto Chassis Eng.

[cripple-pete]

Thanks for that,
I know the seats would be a problem but thought that drop axles have been available forever so should be allowed..
I'm surprised at the fuel tank mod's as it is a commercial vehicle and there were alot of variations .
Are there limits on the tyre sizes ?.
Pete..

[Oldcol]

G'day Pete , pretty sure the resto guys and the rego guys too would take the view that "stock" means as it came from the factory , there is a little bit of leeway but I doubt it'd stretch to aftermarket dropped axles......and as well,right at the moment things are in a state of change and uncertainty with regard to rego matters in both NSW and VIC ,so more than ever it's important to go directly to the people in charge to get their perspective on things, rather than rely on guesswork from us on here. What might have been acceptable last year may not be relevant or even legal this year...or next. I reckon Mark would probably agree with all that...?

[StreetRodBob]

I'd suggest the rego mobs may be far more amenable to mods on a historic vehicle to accommodate a person with disabilities than for a normal hotrod. It may be worth approaching the clubs on the same basis. btw in Vic the asrf will do historic reg for members, maybe they will do the same in other states.

[Mark Saunders]

G'day Pete , pretty sure the resto guys and the rego guys too would take the view that "stock" means as it came from the factory , there is a little bit of leeway but I doubt it'd stretch to aftermarket dropped axles......and as well,right at the moment things are in a state of change and uncertainty with regard to rego matters in both NSW and VIC ,so more than ever it's important to go directly to the people in charge to get their perspective on things, rather than rely on guesswork from us on here. What might have been acceptable last year may not be relevant or even legal this year...or next. I reckon Mark would probably agree with all that...?

Yep, I would agree with that, in fact I think I already did

I might even point out that I AM one of the people in charge, at least for ACT clubs wanting to access NSW Historic
however the rules are the same as for any other club = STANDARD vehicles with PERIOD ACCESSORIES only

[cripple-pete]

Thanks all,
any idea who I should talk to at the RTA or would the blue slip blokes know ?..
Pete..
PS: Col, hows that roadster ute going, any updates ?..

[Dave]

PS: Col, hows that roadster ute going, any updates ?..

We are ALL waiting for updates! (with pictures )

[Oldcol]

PS: Col, hows that roadster ute going, any updates ?..

We are ALL waiting for updates! (with pictures )

.....nothing to see here...... ....nah,the R/U is down at Brendans paint palace......he's been finessing door gaps and dents ,etc... I also had to chase up a better bonnet in the quest for a tighter fit around the cowl, and I managed to get one off Ebay which has since been cut and shut to make it all a much more exact fit than they ever were from the factory. So it'll be there a while yet before it gets some paint on it......and Darren from WA who owns it has just bought into a big mutha truck to transport mining machinery and spent all his pocket money doing it , so he's fine with it if takes a bit longer anyway......

....but if'n it's pics you need, there's some in P-bucket that I'll get on today or tonite......ciao for now......

[Mark Saunders]

Thanks all,
any idea who I should talk to at the RTA or would the blue slip blokes know ?..
Pete..
PS: Col, hows that roadster ute going, any updates ?..

as I said in my post at the bottom of the previous page, if you want historic rego, join a local club and then talk to the registrar

The club list for historic is here:
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... policy.pdf

You will see the list is broken into three sections City, Country and ACT area

The Registrar of the ACT Council of Motoring Clubs control the list for the ACT area, that would be me, and if any registrar for any of those clubs has questions/issues he comes to me

The city and country lists are loosly controlled by two other organisation (CMC and CHMC)
However some clubs on those two lists were added directly by the RTA and are not under CMC or CHMC

So talk to the registrar(s) of your local club(s) and see how you go

If you still have questions, I can hook you up with the relevant organisations registrar

If all else fails, I am happy to call the NSW RMS historic rego coordinator and discuss your case .........but first you need to discuss it with me, and that is best done outside this thread
pm me or call on 0421 052 341. Happy to Help

[Oldcol]

G'day ,seems a while since any pics of Panhead Pete's '33 Coupe...so without further ado.....( health warning.....if Flathead stuff gives you heartburn ,you might want to go watch TV for a bit ).....



.....in the last instalment of the Coupes rebuild , we had just straightened up the radius rods and slipped in the axle.....here we see the '48 stubs fitted after having their original steering arms clipped off and deep dropped arms installed. Not a bolt on , nothing ever is .....had to mill about 1/4" off the mounting legs to move the arms closer in around the kingpin boss to give some clearance between the axle and the arms. It's still pretty snug in there even after dressing all the lumps and bumps off the axle beam itself , but now it works....which is good




....later on I'll have the polisher dress off the buff marks so there's no chance of stress cracks developing down the track.....



...deep as those arms are, they're not dropped enough to clear the stock radius rods , so some amount of time was spent figuring out how to get the tierod ends and tierod to join both sides together. Eventually settled on some Cusso inner tierods that drop things down a whisker more , and then making up a short tierod from a longer '37 rod to join 'em up. Plan A was the '37 Willys t/r ends you can see on the trestle , but they didn't quite get there......

...and finally the spring turned up......



...so in it went.....



....had a play with a couple of later Ford steering boxes with a view to fitting cross link steering , but exhaust clearance and a few other compromises saw that idea shelved in favour of a '34 box. Tracked one down eventually and stripped it down to check it out,cleaned it up and slipped it in it's hole. It'll need a bit of a birthday , but that can wait until everything is fitted up and worked out.



...moved on to cleaning and prep of some of the brake and suspension parts.....lotta crud to chisel off 60to 70 year old car parts



....some of the brake internal bits.....thought it might interest anyone who's never dealt with Flatty stuff to see what's inside....



....and after a quick trip the the blasters and a bit of etch primer.....



....and some more internal stuff......



..who can spot the Chevy part?......above pic....



....wheel cylinders rebuilt and a few assorted seals tracked down for the reassembly effort.....



....here's the cruddy but highly prized steering box and r/h/drive pedals.....



...front drums skimmed and ready to use again......and now we're getting set to move to the back part of the suspension area in preparation for re-assembling the diff, first thing up is fitting the shackles while the housings are loose.....



....this here's the gennie Ford tool for installing the shackles , just in case you were wondering how the hell you're supposed to fit 'em without squashing the ends out......



....ends up looking like this......



...next thing to fit is these little seals , they fit inside the housing in roughly the spot I've got this one balancing......idea is to keep the diff oil in the diff and not in the hub bearing ,which you will see presently.....





...the seal fits onto the machined boss ,the tapered boss comes off and the whole lot is dropped down the inside of the housing.....



....then the tapered piece is used to center the whole arrangement , and doing the nut up will pull the seal into place...... the same seal is used in the front of the torque tube , slightly different method used to fit it all together though......we'll get to that ....




...just in case you're wondering what goes where.....the big roller bearing is what sits on that machined boss in the previous pic , but it's fitted inside the brake drum hub and runs on a hardened surface in the drum ,then the big seal goes on and all is secured by a big circlip. The tapered shaft is the axle end and it holds everything in place with a large nut on the end. It's a pretty good arrangement , the axle doesn't take the weight of the car , that's all taken on the roller race and housing end spigot.....the only time problems develop is when you get wear on the spigot or the bearing surfaces.......then the drum will tend not to sit straight under the load of the car ,so every time the wheel goes around ,you get a bit of a twisting effect on the axle end and it eventually fatigues and falls off.....and there goes your wheel and brakes......



...what's happening here is the diff center housing is being fitted up to the r/hand axle bell , it's all sitting on a Flathead gearbox case which works a treat as an assembly stand and keeps the whole deal all Ford...... ...the white gaskets do double duty as shims to set the bearing preload on the side carries bearings , which are in the axle bell ends.....




...see.... .....someone's going to say "where's all the detail on fitting the pinion into the housing?"....and I'm going to say " I forgot to take the pics" ..... they're a bit different to normal cars ,there's a straddle mounted pinion bearing just like a 9" has , but up front there's a pair of opposed tapered rollers that run on a double ended 1 piece race or bearing shell. Preload is set out of the housing by the tension on the locknuts at the front , then the housing is gently heated to expand it and the pinion assembly is simply dropped in. If you don't get it hot enough and it jams part way in you're stuffed and you have to start over. Getting the pinion out is unpleasant too , so you tend to be real careful about the whole op.,and that's part of the reason I wasn't going to fool around taking pics.......



....this is what the inside of the actual diff looks like , 4 pinion diff is pretty tough , the axle has the integral gear on it's end and the diff housing is a 2 piece affair......



....and the crown wheel bolts to the housing and also forms one side of the housing too...... all this stuff is NOS gennie Ford , but it's the last of it.......



...then the assembled crown wheel with diff and axles fitted simply drops in from the l/h/side and the axle bell is bolted up and then you go about checking the preload and mesh. The tricky thing with these things is you cannot see any of the internals , you have to it all by "feel".....takes some getting used to.....and if it isn't up to spec ,you have to change the shim gaskets until you end up with the right combination to give the right preload.



.....and then you have to lift it up and out of the gearbox housing .....bit heavy these things.......





.....and this is the only way you can check the preload, turn both ends the same direction until it "feels" right.......too tight and the bearings will fry, too loose and you'll snot up everything else and the bearings......what fun!

So , enuff of the smalls.....



..had this little honey in yesterday for some repair and assessment.....



..it's a rare in the USA Club Coupe , only been out here a week, it's a ripper car.....



,,,,that's the original '37 woodgrain finish......cars been retrimmed and painted outside but basically it's a mint original that's been fitted with juice binders and a dropped axle , and one of those scary monoleaf rear springs. Most of what's been changed needs fixin' , lock to lock is maybe 10 degrees before you pick up a fender , but it's all do-able without too much pain . Engine is the orig. 21 stud V8 ,it's a bit wheezy but with a bit of a quicky tune up I got it useable again........drives OK, but a bit loose due to the ratty suspension.




...also went to do an on-site check for one of our lady forum members who's thinking of stepping up on this gem......



....the guy who has it was fascinated to see my old 36 with all it's bits attached.....



...also have this neat '40 Deluxe in at the moment.....belongs to mate Calvin who's also on here......



....had the engineer come check out where we were at before doing much else.....after all the recent changes to rego and roadworthy's it seemed a prudent thing to do, but no drama's arose apart from having to do some work inside the cab for the upper seat belt mounts that haven't been started as yet.

....also did the accel. linkages for Pete's '33.....



....made 'em up out of a cut down '37 set , nice spoon pedal inside too so it all looks "right"......



.....cut up a cranked filler tube/breather that I got hold of at Ballarat swap meet to gain a little firewall clearance....





...also swapped across Pete's alloy manifold off the ex USA engine....check out the sludge......



...the "new" old Flatty is much healthier.....



....probably 'enuff for now...ciao chaps......

[lone*star]

Col, Decades of knowledge right there...The only Chevy part I recognise in that photo is the lower crank pulley in the background.

[jailbar joe]

like going back in time......seeing all those bits on your bench reminds me of the twin spinner steering box i pulled apart......saw all the bits and got scared and threw it
away but i think you might know what to do next

love your updates
cheers joe

[35coupe]

Far right on the pic... looks like gm 1st gear...?

[Oldcol]

Far right on the pic... looks like gm 1st gear...?

...well yeah,it does,but it aint!

[Oldcol]

like going back in time......seeing all those bits on your bench reminds me of the twin spinner steering box i pulled apart......saw all the bits and got scared and threw it
away but i think you might know what to do next

love your updates
cheers joe

...never thought of throwing them away.....must try that!

....there's a fair heap of extra pics on now too , the phones went out and some of it got lost so I've just done it again......

[Mopar Mick]

Fantastic update Col.

Very glad you could be bothered taking the time to take the pics and then post them up here.

The inside of that flatty looked like the inside of my Hemi back in the beginning.

Quite a few "very nice" customers' cars.

Mick.