Struggle in the union

Now that the body had been sealed and primed, the next step was to set it on the frame for mockup and start dealing with the issues related to making everything work in harmony. What I did was set the chassis on jack stands and tried to approximate ride height with the 750 16 bias tires on the rear and 500 15 bias on the front. I had the rear wheels, which were original 1940 ford wheel widened from 4.5 inches to 8 inches which gave the 750 16 just the right look.

The car chassis would have to be dialed in based on the ride height that I wanted to achieve by modifying the mounting pad the 1940 ford transverse leaf spring would be bolted to. Estimates based on finished weights would have to be guessed at, as the 15 gallon fuel cell would end up mounted inside the trunk just in front of the rear axle. Additionally the frame horns on the rear would be bobbed to give the car a finished look.

The firewall had been constructed around the engine after the engine was in place. The most important diamension is the distance between the radiator and the leading edge of the fan. I like to use mechanical fans instead of electric as I feel that they are more efficient and less prone to failure. Plus a mechanical fan give more of a vintage look. So with that in mind I set the fan to be less than 2 inches away from the engine side of the radiator. When that was fixed (by welding in the motor mounts) then the body shell got the firewall setback dialed in and tack welded. You can see in the photos that it actually set back pretty far, but with a coupe leg room is not so much of an issue.

You can see by comparison, the original Ford firewall goes straight across from cowl side to cowl side. My firewall takes a huge gap, and fits the engine with less than an inch of clearance oeverall. Nice clean look! Other small details were to take the Charlie Brown zig zag (named after his shirt) pattern out so it wouldn't look like a dotted line in the center. Most builders just cut off the firewall and leave the center jag where it is - How unsightly! It take a little more time and effort, but the end result give a finished look. Additionally I cut two vertical patterns aout of a 1946 chevy truck firewall and welded them to each side of the cowl. It gave a factory original look so that the firewall looks somewhat original rather than modified.

I really strived to give a vintage retro look but not to look too contrived. Kind of like making something look really easy when its actually not.

Well just a few final cool photos until next entry....