My Modified under construction

oj · December 18, 2011, 11:55:13 AM

Heres some pics of the modified i am currently working on. The body is from a touring car, frame is model 'a'; engine is '56 331 hemi; tranny is 40something top loader ford; rear is late 40's ford open drive pickup; wheel are wide 5 with the hubs cut loose and mated to buick drums.

I am having to figure how to post pics, and will add them soon.

enjenjo · December 18, 2011, 12:05:27 PM

Email me the pictures, and I will post them.

oj · December 19, 2011, 08:02:27 AM

Sorry about the delay guys, i used a better camera and i have to resize the pics

enjenjo · December 22, 2011, 07:32:41 PM

Pictures

rog · December 23, 2011, 02:10:02 AM

looks like a good start! Love the motor choice.

oj · December 24, 2011, 10:03:00 AM

Thanks Rog, the hemi was my 2nd choice. I had an old twincam XKE 6cyl i was going to use until i mocked it up. It is a great engine but the hieght of the thing created too many problems and i had to cut it loose. I am also considering that Mercuiser 3.7l 4cyl that is 1/2 of a Ford 460 engine as they can be wicked pieces of work and a 4cyl is the traditional choice for a 'modified'. For now that hemi looks pretty good.
I am going thru some chassis design changes right now and have had to 'back up' quite a ways and i am in limbo until i get the spring package worked out in my head. I will have to change some of the interior work as well. The structure you see inside the car is 16ga steel and is intended to be structurally significant as there is no subframe for the cab and the seats are below the top of the frame. What looks to be a driveshaft tunnel was to be a tunnel for a torque arm, the driveshaft was to have been 'exposed' and above that tunnel. The hemi has a much lower package than the XKE motor so now i need to redo that tunnel and have the driveshaft inside of it and eliminate the torque arm altogether. As soon as i figure out how the rear spring and my butt can share a common space i will go back to work and you'll see progress.

Merry Chrismas Everybody, oj

enjenjo · December 24, 2011, 01:34:06 PM

Since you have an early Ford trans, and rear end, why not convert back to a closed driveshaft, which should solve most of your problems, and if you sell the open drive parts, you should come out money ahead.

rog · December 24, 2011, 09:39:32 PM

There's been some debate over 4 cyl engines this side of the pond, with the idea a full house blown 2 litre is very tempting

I have a twin webber 2.4 litre jag 6 cylinder i hope to use in a similar application (Although will be an rpu) one day! Keep at it, Grass roots rodding at it's best

oj · December 25, 2011, 12:51:27 PM

Quote from: "enjenjo"Since you have an early Ford trans, and rear end, why not convert back to a closed driveshaft, which should solve most of your problems, and if you sell the open drive parts, you should come out money ahead.

It is tempting to convert back, but the driveshaft thing isn't the problem. That is just a question of redoing some sheetmetal. The real problem is that i did the typical 'z' in the rear with model 'a' crossmember with tranverse spring. Something bothered me about the way it looked and i realized it looked too much like a 'kit' and i whacked it off - that is why the rear is just sitting back there in space. I am designing rear quarter elioticals to go inside of the existing frame and will connect to the axle tubes, kinda low - that part is still in design - with triangulated upper links tying to a behind-the-cab roll bar. I will also incorporate some kind of axle control device down low and out of sight as well. The net effect will be to make the rearend look as if it is 'floating' behind the cab where the frame ends.
Please remember that there is no space under the cab - there are pockets in the floor and the seats drop down below the top of the frame rails so that most of your head is below the windshield.
I'm explaining this because of the interest in the engineering side of what i'm doing - i don't like getting this wordy.