Chassis - Shopping

I have been shopping off and on for the last few weeks trying to get prices and a feel for what each Company offers. Each Company seems to go about things differently to the other so its hard to make direct comparisons. A large part of it is just a matter of listening to what they have to say and trying to get a feel from others that have dealt with them. I have also been pawing over old hot rod mags to see what components others have used in their builds.

For me at this stage I am probably looking at the following items;
- Chassis Rails that have been boxed
- A 'K' Member or centre section that acts as the backbone of the chassis
- A brake Pedal mount. This will also house the brake booster and master cylinder
- An independent front end that will also need to be installed in the chassis
- Mounting of the Jag rear end I have already purchased
- Mounting of the Engine & Trans I have already purchased

These pictures show what the first 4 items looks like. (Obviously the Jag rear and Engine & Trans as per the previous two posts below)

These are unboxed chassis rails. In original car this is how they were, just a U shaped cross section. To make them stronger (and a requirement for Certification) they weld in a plate to the inside edge to make the rail a closed box, hence the term boxed. You can see in the next picture the rails are boxed.



This section is known as the K Member. This one is a traditional styled one which is what Ed Junior Kustoms use. If I go with one of the other suppliers it is more likely to be a tubular construction. The only difference really is the look. They both function perfectly well.



This pedal mount is light, the one I'll be using will be a bit beefier than this. You can see this one has the brake booster (gold) and the master cylinder (on the left attached to the booster. This holds the brake fluid. There are two reservoirs one for the front brakes and one for the back brakes)



This an IFS or Independent Front Suspension. It is called independent as each wheel is free to go up and down on its own, unlike a beam axle which is effectively a straight axle that goes straight across from one side to the other with a wheel on each end. Supposedly the IFS gives better handling.



And here you have it, what I hope to achieve once the chassis get delivered to my door. Of course it will have an engine and trans in there too! This picture shows a Jag rear end too. Again this is an independent suspension meaning the rear wheels can go up and down independently of one another.



Soooooo, who will it be?







I'll make a decision once I've got everyone's prices in. Watch this space!

Engine and Rear Axle

Well here we are a week later and already things have changed.

My intention was always going to be to install a Jag rear in this build. I've always liked these from back in the 70's when I first saw one all chromed and polished under a 38 Chev coupe. Unfortunately you can't narrow these rear ends and get them through the cert process, so you have to buy one that is the right width to start with. That means sourcing a rear from a 60's S-Type Jag or an E-Type Jag. Given these are now 50 year old cars and the fact that a lot of these rears have already been nabbed by rodders, they have now become quite rare and as a result bloody expensive. I was quoted $3000 by a Jag wrecker but they didn't have any and hadn't had one in stock for ages. They said even just a pair of axles can fetch $1000.

Because of this the plan was just to keep my eyes open and hopefully track one down in the next year or so.

That's where things have made a rapid change. I put a wanted add on TradeMe and in less than 24 hrs I had a guy in Wellington ring me with details of an S-Type Jag rear he was looking to sell. Expecting a phenomenal price tag I hesitantly asked what he was wanting for it. $250 was the reply. No surprises I said I'll take it while trying not to sound too keen. Anyway cash has changed hands now so its a done deal!

Here's what they look like straight out of a Jag.....


And here's what it will loook like once I've finished with it....


Since last week the engine has arrived in Wellington and Phil Bradshaw has taken a quick look at it. He reckons it is looking to be in good shape and is extremely clean, so lets hope it is as good as the visual inspection indicates when he finally gets it fired up.

I'm just about ready to make a decision about who I'll get to build the chassis, I just have Chris at Blackjack Engineering to see this weekend before making up my mind finally, so next post I should be able to let you know!

Engine - Well lets get started

Today kinda marks the start of the Tudor project. I have just sold my 3 Window Coupe (see www.1933fordcoupe.blogspot.com) and will now reinvest funds into getting the next project underway.

It was pretty hard selling the Coupe, but we needed to free up some cash for our business and if there is a positive to be taken from it, its that I now get to start another project and take into that all the learning's from the Coupe build.

I will build another 1933/34 but this time it will be a Tudor and I'll go for a more modern rod that is dripping with fruit like aircon, powersteer, electric windows, cruise control and a few other goodies I have up my sleeve that I'll cover off in future posts. I'll certainly be doing things a bit different this time around and will take a lot more time to get things right. It will be nice starting from scratch and to not be working around stuff that others have done.

Initially I will be looking at a chassis, an independent front suspension and an engine/trans combo.

First big spend today, the Toyota Quadcam V8. They are all alloy 4 litre engines, fuel injected and will rev out to 6500rpm with a smidge under 300hp. Should be good value, nice and reliable and economical. Certainly more than powerful enough for a glass bodied rod. Whats more, at full noise they sound like a V8 Supercar. Sweeeeeeeeeet! Add to that the fact that the trans is 4 speed with a lock up torque converter and a power/economy selector.

Above are some pics of the actual engine. It is being shipped up from Christchurch via Phil Bradshaw, an engineer in Wellington with a passion for these V8's. He knows these engines inside out and how to get them running just as they were in the $160,000 Lexus it came out of. Phil will wire the engine for plug and play for me and do the cam belt. Should hit my garage in 6 weeks or so.