1929 Model A Sport Coupe to Cabriolet conversion
- Thread starter markg
- Start date
Love it! The personal touches and efforts are showing very well…great show, and thanks for contributing!!
Being a machinist by trade, this build is rocking my world ;-)
Greg
Being a machinist by trade, this build is rocking my world ;-)
Greg
We're skipping around a little now....
Early on, making the T5 bellhousing adaptor
The T5's input shaft is a little long, some guys just cut it and grind the splines to allow the clutch its required travel. I tried to buy a spacer online but no response from the guys making them after repeated attempts, so I decided to have a go myself. ( https://www.hotrodworks.com/product/1955-and-later-chevrolet-passenger-t5-transmission-adapter/ )
Turned on the 13'' South Bend and profiled on the late 70's Bridgeport CNC mill I found on Kijiji and converted to MACH PC control ( short vid on that here....
)
Early on, making the T5 bellhousing adaptor
The T5's input shaft is a little long, some guys just cut it and grind the splines to allow the clutch its required travel. I tried to buy a spacer online but no response from the guys making them after repeated attempts, so I decided to have a go myself. ( https://www.hotrodworks.com/product/1955-and-later-chevrolet-passenger-t5-transmission-adapter/ )
Turned on the 13'' South Bend and profiled on the late 70's Bridgeport CNC mill I found on Kijiji and converted to MACH PC control ( short vid on that here....
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Thanks Shane!
Thanks Keith! No am not a machinist or welder. I'm just a now retired hobbyist who has taken some community college courses in welding and machining. Also I have been inspired by various hot rod, machining and welding threads on the forums here, on the HAMB, the Garage Journal and the CNC Zone among others.
I have a pretty good sized workshop out behind the house that I have equipped with used machinery over the years, almost all of it from KIJIJI and F'book Marketplace. I did about 10 seasons of Formula Ford racing in the eighties here in the east (Mosport, Tremblant, Montreal GP, Trois Rivieres tracks) and did that without machine tools or a workshop. I vowed that once all my money no longer was going to my racing endeavors that I would tool up and make my own stuff.
My forté tends to be on the mechanical side, the metal forming, bodyworking and paint I have left to my bud Danny who is a lifelong hotrodder and coincidentally lives just down the street.
Like everyone else, I am posting this stuff not to show off but to share what can be done in a home shop if you put the effort in and to try to inspire others to have a go!
Cheers!
Off topic but an example of my latest F'book Marketplace machinery score....a tool and die shop in the east end of Montreal advertised two Rotex style punches and a corner notcher on a dedicated stand.
Marked down. Nobody was interested. "...We need the space, they gotta go, come and get them ....." Got 'em for 275$ for the lot.
I think they look pretty good in my shop now LOL.
North America is still deindustrializing guys and the stuff is still out there, keep your eyes peeled!
![20211116_140904[1].jpg](https://canadianrodder.com/forum/index.php?attachments/20211116_140904-1-jpg.6659/ "20211116_140904[1].jpg")
![20220417_162951[1].jpg](https://canadianrodder.com/forum/index.php?attachments/20220417_162951-1-jpg.6660/ "20220417_162951[1].jpg")
![20220418_192606[1].jpg](https://canadianrodder.com/forum/index.php?attachments/20220418_192606-1-jpg.6661/ "20220418_192606[1].jpg")
![20220418_193747[1].jpg](https://canadianrodder.com/forum/index.php?attachments/20220418_193747-1-jpg.6662/ "20220418_193747[1].jpg")
![20220418_235326[1].jpg](https://canadianrodder.com/forum/index.php?attachments/20220418_235326-1-jpg.6663/ "20220418_235326[1].jpg")
Marked down. Nobody was interested. "...We need the space, they gotta go, come and get them ....." Got 'em for 275$ for the lot.
I think they look pretty good in my shop now LOL.
North America is still deindustrializing guys and the stuff is still out there, keep your eyes peeled!
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Mark, I am with ya! It is very disturbing to see this “de-industrialization”… we had chatted recently about this on here somewhere, not giving the ‘kids’ the opportunity in shop class etc…still I seem to be on the wrong side of the great deals you are seeing out there! Lol
Cheers.
Greg
Cheers.
Greg
Yeah Greg I think we have to make it happen ourselves. We have to pass our knowledge on to the the young guys however we can, you know, encourage them. These forums are a great way I think.
I have a son who has grown up out in the shop with me and he is now quite proficient in mig/tig welding and running the lathe, cnc mill and plasma table. If the environment to learn this stuff wasn't available to him he would be a computer nerd, although he's a computer nerd too anyway LOL.
Off topic but check out my son's build thread on turning an 1100 V65 Honda cruiser into a cafe racer four years ago. We worked together on it and we both learned a ton as I don't know a thing about motorcycles. Good fun.
Build thread here http://www.v4musclebike.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25947
When it comes to scoring machinery I have to admit my good scores are few and far between. I have, however, had some good ones LOL!
As my Greek philosopher friend says "...you can't build cool shit with garden tools..." Words to live by, I think. See next post.
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So with the floor of this car perimeter welded to the bottom of the frame rails, it gives you a lot of legroom under the steering wheel but it causes a bunch of other problems to keep stuff out of the passenger compartment.
Not the least of which are that:
-You now have a trans/driveshaft tunnel the length of the passenger compartment.
-Your pedal cluster and master cylinders have to move to under the dash - so hanging pedals https://kugelkomponents.com/brake-examples/reverse-mount-90-brake-configuration-examples/
-You have to be creative with the exhaust system, I used ovalized Nascar style tubing https://spintechmufflers.com/oval-round-tubing/oval/straight-oval-tubing/
-Your fuel and brake lines to the rear have to run through the frame rails. - future post
-With the battery sitting in the trunk, you have to run at least the power cable to the starter. This is how I did that.....
I was lucky enough to score a Pullmax P3 from an industrial auction in Toronto in 2018 . Paid well under 1000$ for this beast.
I made up a set of dies out of 1/2'' aluminum in the shape that I wanted, which is the diameter of the battery cable wrapped in a spiral cable protector with allowance for the sheet thickness. The dies were drawn in Autocad and cut out on the Bridgeport CNC mill here in the shop. The dies then sit in the universal die holder shown below.
With multiple passes through the Pullmax with progressive adjustments to the lower die with each succeeding pass I ended up with a formed battery channel/protector out of a flat strip of 18 ga sheet that easily attaches to the bottom of the floor of the car. Powder coated black to match.
In retrospect, I should have made some drain holes in the channel to allow any water that gets in the channel to escape and I will probably do that this winter....
For those unfamiliar with the function of a Pullmax Universal Sheet Metal nibbler type machine....
Not the least of which are that:
-You now have a trans/driveshaft tunnel the length of the passenger compartment.
-Your pedal cluster and master cylinders have to move to under the dash - so hanging pedals https://kugelkomponents.com/brake-examples/reverse-mount-90-brake-configuration-examples/
-You have to be creative with the exhaust system, I used ovalized Nascar style tubing https://spintechmufflers.com/oval-round-tubing/oval/straight-oval-tubing/
-Your fuel and brake lines to the rear have to run through the frame rails. - future post
-With the battery sitting in the trunk, you have to run at least the power cable to the starter. This is how I did that.....
I was lucky enough to score a Pullmax P3 from an industrial auction in Toronto in 2018 . Paid well under 1000$ for this beast.
I made up a set of dies out of 1/2'' aluminum in the shape that I wanted, which is the diameter of the battery cable wrapped in a spiral cable protector with allowance for the sheet thickness. The dies were drawn in Autocad and cut out on the Bridgeport CNC mill here in the shop. The dies then sit in the universal die holder shown below.
With multiple passes through the Pullmax with progressive adjustments to the lower die with each succeeding pass I ended up with a formed battery channel/protector out of a flat strip of 18 ga sheet that easily attaches to the bottom of the floor of the car. Powder coated black to match.
In retrospect, I should have made some drain holes in the channel to allow any water that gets in the channel to escape and I will probably do that this winter....
For those unfamiliar with the function of a Pullmax Universal Sheet Metal nibbler type machine....
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Around the time the frame came back from paint, the 283 came back from being freshened at Jesse Robinson's engine shop in Summerstown Ont. ( https://www.motortrend.com/features...s-gen-iii-hemi-2018-engine-masters-challenge/ )
At this point my buddy Keith came over and we set it up on the stand I fab'd up from pallet racking and other odds and ends and ran it in for about 45 minutes.
At this point my buddy Keith came over and we set it up on the stand I fab'd up from pallet racking and other odds and ends and ran it in for about 45 minutes.
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It's about at this point I look over the slowly coming together rolling chassis and decide I don't like the look of the tops of the cheapie Speedway kingpins 'cause we're going to try to run this car around a fair bit as a fenderless hiboy or at worst throw some cycle fenders on it.
So I decided to whip up some more aesthetically pleasing kingpin caps. Spun in the lathe, a slightly conical look with nice radiused edge, and tig-tacked on. And oh yeah, they got the powdercoat treatment too.
They look better, no? Whaddya think?
So I decided to whip up some more aesthetically pleasing kingpin caps. Spun in the lathe, a slightly conical look with nice radiused edge, and tig-tacked on. And oh yeah, they got the powdercoat treatment too.
They look better, no? Whaddya think?
Holybcrap that’s a ton of equipment...all of mine fit in one tool box..lol…car looks great…cabrio…sounds Mexican…imported?…