1930 Ford Model A Coupe

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Started the 4 link with a truss.   4" x 3/8" plate.   Strong and keeps the profile low.

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4 link mocked up.   Lower axle tabs are 3/8" plate.   All other tabs are 1/4".  Lower Heim joints are 7/8"  Uppers are 3/4"   All tube is 1.375x.188 wall DOM.  All through bolts are 1/2" Grade 8.   

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Rolling chassis status.    Through bolts are 5/8" grade 8.

I didnt like the traditional single shear lower mount these type of hot rods use.  So I milled out a chunk of 2" X 1.5"  1" plate and then drill a 5/"8 through hole.
I dont think those will break off.

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Started cutting away the rust today to see what I have to work with.  Front half of the sub rails are useable.  From the B pillar back are gone. 
Not a big deal as I plan to channel the body 1.5".  Lots of sheet metal work in my future.

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More cutting out the rusty bits.  Then started at the rear with a replacement panel.  Next had to build the rear sub frame from scratch.  Used 2x2 16G box.  The corners were a PITA because the curve progressively gets tighter, its not just a radius.

It is easy to get overwhelm with the amount of body work these type of builds require.  So you just pick a spot to start and chip away at it.

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Still plugging away at the body patch panels and sub frame.

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Body patch panels and sub frame complete.   Still have patch panel work to do on the lower section of the doors.
With the sub frame done was able to make some body mounts, 6 in total, firewall, B pillar, rear and then get the body on the chassis.  Next was the start of the floor cross members.

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The three floor cross members will need to clear the driveshaft and still be strong to support the floor.  I started building some tunnels from 1/4"' plate and 1x1 box tube.   I need to get the driveshaft built before I can install the tunnel.  The shaft will have a 1350CV and 1350 rear yoke.  The shaft will slope up to the axle and be off set to the rear as 8.8 are not center yoke.

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I plan to run cowl steering on this car.   

I searched and found a manual steering gear that does not require it to be reversed. Meaning the rotation of the steering wheel will swing the pitman arm the correct direction for my application.  This is a 1971 box from a Mopar car.

 For this to work I need to mount the box on its side and extend the output shaft so that it will pass through the driver side cowl.

First step was to cut off the spline part of the pitman.  Then i spun it down to a 1.495 OD so that it will fit inside a 1.75"OD .120wall chunk of DOM tube (thanks Smike for the tube).  Then drilled 1/2" holes in the tube so I could plug weld and surface weld the spline slug in to the tube. 

Next issue is fitting a socket.  The nut is 1-5/16" and a 1-5/16" socket OD will not fit in the extension tube.   So I milled down the nut to 1-1/8".

Thats about 6 hours of work...

[mr.mindless]

I had to look up cowl steering. like the photos in the first post here? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/mopar-cowl-steering-problems.944068/page-2

I was wondering why change the nut size rather than increase the tube ID, but I think now I follow what's going on here and you'll be using a couple extensions to tighten that nut? Nice!

I doubt I can embed the image...

[etk300ex]

interesting!

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Im doing the cowl steering for the "cool" aesthetics factor.     The fact is this type of steering has an inherent flaw with its geometry that will produce bump steer.  There are a lot of things you can do to mitigate the issue,  but then again this car was never going to ride like a Bentley..  Its all about compromise.

[rejeep]

essentially the same mechanics as the land Rover Series setup..

would love to see the inside..

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Mock up.  I start with building a mounting flange for the steering gear that I will build box tube supports around.  The box tube structure will also be the mount supports for the steering shaft/column, master brake cylinder, dash and other stuff.

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Yes,  I need the socket with an extension to fit in the tube to tighten the nut.  I could go bigger with the tube to allow fitment of the larger socket, but that is not a common tube size and it starts to look a little out of proportion.

I was wondering why change the nut size rather than increase the tube ID, but I think now I follow what's going on here and you'll be using a couple extensions to tighten that nut? Nice!