tfeverfred
Well-Known Member
Well, I am getting payment for my car very soon and I am going to start the tear down today. I'm only going to take off the front suspension at this time because next week she'll get hauled across the street to a mechanic frined of mine. He has agreed to let me use a space in his shop and the move will be a little easier if she doesn't have that crumpled metal hanging off in front.
For a while, I thought I'd need a new frame and had made steps to get one. In fact, I was going to go with a whole new chassis. That feel through for reasons I won't get into. Friday afternoon, I looked at my frame a little closer. An eye and mind that is not grieving seems to see and think straight. I think I can save the frame. It appears that the wire wheels, and other suspension pieces took the impact and absorbed most of the shock. If you look at this pic you'll see that the spring perch is bent on the drivers side where the axle hit it. This pushed in the cross bar. Looking at it yestarday, the cross bar doesn't appear to be out of angle and the crossbar is pushed in at a max of maybe 1/4" right in the middle.
Now that my mind is a little clearer and my thinking cap is on tight, I think I can bend the perch back to shape and possibly the cross bar. I'm gonna give it a shot when I get her moved.
Cost wise, not having to replace the frame will save a bunch of cash. Even though I'm getting what is more than enough to fix her, I don't wanna go spending money like I won the lotto. I'm a smple person and Miss Behavin' was a simple car. Mabe that's why I loved her so much. She was a driver and the 6,342 miles I put on her in a span of 4 months is a testament to that. I'd like to go with a dropped "I" beam and may give up the few extra bucks to do so, but that would be my only "treat" during the rebuild. Damn, I just LOVE this frontend! RPM sent me a set of headlight brackets that would put my headlights down low like the pic, but I'd need to figure out a way to use friction shocks. I think regular shocks and the brackets to use them would be a little too much and distract from the "I" beam axle. Again, I like a simple look.
Somebody talk me out of it! Tube axles are cool too. Right!?
She won't get extra chrome or anything like that. Well, I'll try and talk myself out of it at least.:crap: If I go with the "I" beam, it would get painnted or powder coated lik before. Either way, she's gonna end up what she was always intended to be. Just a freakin' hot rod.
I'll post pics of the rebuild when it hits full stride.
For a while, I thought I'd need a new frame and had made steps to get one. In fact, I was going to go with a whole new chassis. That feel through for reasons I won't get into. Friday afternoon, I looked at my frame a little closer. An eye and mind that is not grieving seems to see and think straight. I think I can save the frame. It appears that the wire wheels, and other suspension pieces took the impact and absorbed most of the shock. If you look at this pic you'll see that the spring perch is bent on the drivers side where the axle hit it. This pushed in the cross bar. Looking at it yestarday, the cross bar doesn't appear to be out of angle and the crossbar is pushed in at a max of maybe 1/4" right in the middle.
Now that my mind is a little clearer and my thinking cap is on tight, I think I can bend the perch back to shape and possibly the cross bar. I'm gonna give it a shot when I get her moved.
Cost wise, not having to replace the frame will save a bunch of cash. Even though I'm getting what is more than enough to fix her, I don't wanna go spending money like I won the lotto. I'm a smple person and Miss Behavin' was a simple car. Mabe that's why I loved her so much. She was a driver and the 6,342 miles I put on her in a span of 4 months is a testament to that. I'd like to go with a dropped "I" beam and may give up the few extra bucks to do so, but that would be my only "treat" during the rebuild. Damn, I just LOVE this frontend! RPM sent me a set of headlight brackets that would put my headlights down low like the pic, but I'd need to figure out a way to use friction shocks. I think regular shocks and the brackets to use them would be a little too much and distract from the "I" beam axle. Again, I like a simple look.
Somebody talk me out of it! Tube axles are cool too. Right!?
She won't get extra chrome or anything like that. Well, I'll try and talk myself out of it at least.:crap: If I go with the "I" beam, it would get painnted or powder coated lik before. Either way, she's gonna end up what she was always intended to be. Just a freakin' hot rod.
I'll post pics of the rebuild when it hits full stride.
I'll wait til I get her to my friends place before really tearing into her. Today, I just wanted to know what I could save off the front and see if it would let me get that dropped axle setup. I think I may have made it. I'll crunch numbers later.
