Establishing Axle Centerline

Marking Axle Centerline

We mounted the body on the bare rails and rolled the wheels in place to see what looked "right". We then stepped back from the car to get a better look. note: the frame is not built yet - the body is sitting on two rails that have spreader pieces lightly tacked in place.

Put a level on top of the tire to get “true north”. Mark this location on a piece of tape on the body. Also mark the rails by placing a square on the rail, through the centerline of the wheel. This step is crucial to getting the wheels centered in the wheel well, so make sure to take your time to get it right.

Engine Setup

Engine Setup 2

Macho, macho man. Paul Horton manhandles the ENTIRE engine block AND tranny into position. What he doesn't want me to tell you is that it's a P-AYR piece made of plastic. You don't have to use a crane and you can save your beer because you won't have eight buddies over mocking the engine up.

We used boards to get the motor where we wanted it to sit at the front, and also to establish where the center section will go. We pushed it to the firewall as close as we could, but still allowing room for the removal of the distributor. Watch for the fittings on the passenger side of the tranny- they can be a hassle if you forget about them. We didn’t want to cut the floor, so we left a bit of room for them.

Putting the Front Suspension Together

I know, I know. "When did you get the frame together?" I guess I was so excited about the build, and since cameras aren't logical tools used in the construction of a street rod, I forgot to take some pictures. The body was used to get the exact width of the frame we needed to build. This way, it doesn't matter where someone else says to put the body - we know for sure that it will work, the first time.
I've got the four-bar brackets welded to the frame, so all that's left is to install all the components. We will be using a Super Bell Alum-I-beam aluminum axle- the one pictured is being used so nothing bad happens to the aluminum one. A Magnum brake kit with Wilwood calipers and Pete & Jakes chromed spindles all look top shelf together. No, that’s not a chrome rotor- it’s the Magnum polished aluminum caliper bracket, and it also hides the 11” rotors nicely with rounded edges.

In this picture, I’m running a tap into the steering arms. When they’re chromed, sometimes it’s difficult to run a bolt into them. This makes it much easier. Notice the cardboard I put down. Just in case something falls, it won’t get damaged.

Here's a closer look at the front brakes. There are chromed spindle stops on there now. That's a Welder Series' hiboy front four-bar kit, which has bars that go all the way back to the cowl line. A mono-leaf spring will get the front in the proverbial weeds. mmmmm… those chromed spindles sure complete the package.

Also, notice the protection I taped to the back of the steering arm- it will hit the batwing if one is not careful.
Note that Welder Series' parts are sold "ready-to-weld". This makes it great for guys (like me) who like to do their own welding. If you want kits all ready welded, call Welder Series - they'll tell you where you can buy them ready to install.

Rear Suspension Setup

The New Generation

OK, grille me again for not having the camera ready. We put a 2x2 steel tube on top of the frame, with tie down straps used to hold the rear end at the height we wanted it. This height was determined when we had the rear wheels mocked up in the wheel wells. The other (and most important) thing to consider when you’re setting up the rear end is the coilover (or ShockWave in this case) designed ride height. If you don’t, you could be bottoming out or topping out your shocks. That’s bad.

This is Air Ride Technologies' ShockWave. It is an airbag with a shock running up the center. At 4" diameter, it's not much bigger than a coilover, and we can adjust the spring rate from the driver's seat. That's a lot easier than trading springs. Adjustable shock valve dampening, 13" ride height with 4.1" stroke, set it up the same as a coilover but have a lot more adjustability. We put a Schrader valve in so we can inflate it to ride height without installing the tank and compressor right away.

Rear Brakes

You can see the Nine-Plus 11" drums on the rear in this picture.

Need I say more?

12 Studs

Installing the Differential (11 studs this time)

I had to title this picture that way.... Here we're mildly straightening out the studs in the housing. It doesn't take much misalignment and the diff. won't slide smoothly over the studs. We threaded the front panhard bar (it has 3/8-24 threads) over the studs in question, and using a square tweaked them all so they were perpendicular.

I'll let my dad hold the engine in place, and I'll worry about the diff. We got the whole shebang; 3.89:1 gears, axles, carrier, differential, plus the 9" housing kit from Currie Enterprises.
Notice how nicely the carrier is sliding over the studs? Installing the 4-bar rear axle brackets was easy - just measure the distance between the frame brackets, measure flange-to-flange on the rear end, subtract the four-bar frame dimension from that, and divide by two.

Rear 4-bar Frame Brackets

Yes, these are the wheels we're using

The pieces for these brackets come with the Welder Series WS2220 rear four-bar kit. It's designed for a '32 Ford but is really easy to use in a lot of frames.

Mr Billet Boy (you know who you are!): aluminum axle, aluminum hubs, aluminum caliper brackets, aluminum calipers, aluminum heads & intake- if we used aluminum wheels, we wouldn't be able to keep the front end down at a launch! It's strategic. Now I hope the baby moons will fit over those hubs!

The Frame

Rollin', rollin', rollin'... Now we can move to the body for a while.

Mounting the Body 1

Mounting the Body 2

Remember the '70s? Since the body comes with only the front and rear holes drilled (nice, because often the body and frame holes don't line up anyway). Here we're just getting an idea of approximately where the body mount holes are.

That's better. Now we will raise the body up, and put tape under the floor along the inside of the rails. This will tell us the location of the rails relative to the body. Notice the Welder Series hiboy front 4-bar kit, which brings the bars all the way back to the cowl line. It's a little detail, but it makes a huge visual difference.

Mounting the Body 3

Mounting the Body 4

Here we have the inside of the frame rails marked on the bottom of the body. We will lift the body up and put a few lines of tape outside of this line, so that we'll be able to mark the holes with a pen.

While the body is up, we marked the inside of the frame rails with the location of the holes. Put a straight edge along the centerline, and use that to both measure the center-to-center dimension, and mark the location on the tape.

Mounting the Body 5

Mounting the Body 6

An action shot of marking the hole center on the inside of the frame. Also at this time, measure from the inside of the rail to the center of the hole. Mark this on the tape. It doesn't matter how far apart the holes are side-to-side- we established that dimension by putting tape on the bottom of the body along the rails.

We put the body back on the frame, and clamped it in place so that it didn't move.

Mounting the Body 7

Mounting the Body 8

We marked a line along the bottom of the body where the inside of the rail is, and marked the location of the hole. Now we can take the body off again and measure out the same distance as the center of the hole. Remember to mark this number on the bottom of the body to make it easier.

We put a chalkline from mark-to-mark. Now we will measure out 1-3/8" (for this hole) which SHOULD be the center of the hole.

Mounting the Body 9

Mounting the Body 10

Another action shot! We are drilling pilot holes from the bottom, then we'll drill the full-size holes from above.

With the body clamped in place once again, we can drill through the pilot holes. We will go all the way through the body, and try to mark the frame (hopefully right in the center of the hole!) with the drill bit. "Officer, I couldn't have been doing 95! My gauge never moved!" Pay no attention to the paper instruments- something else is planned...

Mounting the Body 11

Mounting the Body 12

I think the Stones said it best: "You can't always get what you want". So we're a little off. It could have been that we didn't drill through the body at a perfect perpendicular. We'll hang the excuse sheet on the window. The rainbow behind the clouds is the 3/8" plates we welded behind the holes before we boxed the rails. That way, it doesn't really matter if the hole in the body isn't directly above the hole in the frame- I outlined about where the plate is.

Some filing had to be done after all the body holes were drilled, so the bolts would go in smoothly.