[home brew]

Hat's off to you knighthawk that is a great job. You are the man. You have shown us what can be done using paper and a pair of scissors in the planning stages and then following it up with doing it in steel!!!! Lots of work but you did it.

Looking forward to seeing better angles of the whole car outside with better lighting. Are you planning any other custom body work?

[boatbob2]

hi nighthawk,how about walking us thru the steps that you took to chop that 48 4 dr top.the pictures looked good though a little dark,and hard to make out details (old eyes) im boatbob2

[willys36@aol.com]

Very nice. My only suggestion to a first-timer is strip the steel to clean bare metal. You would be surprised how your eyes fool you when there is a lot of confusing coloring going on as in Homebrew's photos. Clean monochrome metal makes eye-balling the progress much easier and after all, it is what the eye ball thinks that matters in the end!

[knighthawk]

thanks Homebrew, for the posting, I realize as Willys36 suggested, sanding first, but it was more intresting ( fun ) to do the chop first. I'll probabley sand it all now before doing all the fininsh welding. I'm still fitting the doors and windows. I plan to try all the modifications possible, like shaving, frenching,etc. Not having done any of this before, now's my chance ..Open for suggestions.......

[knighthawk]

Instead of starting another thread, as long as it's the same car :........ tilt hood.. I know there are alot of posts out there regarding tilt hoods. BUT , I want to keep the two peice split hood also. My problem is figureing out how to keep the center hing assy thats at the cowl, and the holder upper springs, tie them in to the fenders, with out it looking like crap !! Any suggestions????

[FordMan1951]

Knighthawk, I gotta say it.... You got a pair!!! Talk about jumping in the deep end. The end results is gonna be great. Makes me more apt to tackle even the most daunting task with a whole new attitude. Great job chopping a difficult car to picture chopped.

[knighthawk]

when I bought this car , it was only a body and frame, been sitting in the feild for about 40 years, had to cut 2 small trees down to get it out. I figured this was my chance to try all those customizing things that you read about all the time.. Before this , all my work has been ''original'' and restoration stuff. This is my theory...........the only difference between me and the proffesionals , or the experts, is, they've already done it, I ain't done it yet ! If I say ''he'' can do it and I can't, that's like saying he's smarter than me ! I've already put the volare style suspension under the front, raised the rear spring shackles, dropping the car almost 4'' , I'm still welding the roof and doors, but also intend to ''french the headlights, change the grill opening ( round or oval ) differnt grill, remove the dip in the trunk lid ( to match the new roof line, , maybe a tilt hood, then some minor changes to to fender lines........and....

[Chopt 48]

I have a friend who chopped a 48 Plymouth 4 door way back when. He showed it in the Pacific North West in the early 60's
I last saw the car about 1981 in some guys yard.
I think I took some photos that day but will have to dig through the archives.

[knighthawk]

I'm putting in the 318 from my '85 donor car, with the volare suspension. I need to make the front cross member for the motor mounts. I'd like a ''U'' shaped loop under the motor, also will need to make one for thr rear trans mount. ...What size and shape material is reccomended for this ???????

[Chopt 48]

Ok you are probably thinking of something like Transdapt and several others make.
I checked the transdapt sight http://www.tdperformance.com/pdfs/34...Swapmounts.pdf and didn't spot one for a smallblock mopar but it shouldn't mean that you can't come up with something on your own.

Most of the ones I have seen are made out of 1-1/2 mild steel tubing.

If you don't have someone who can bend the tubing you might check out this one with the idea of modifying it to fit your engine and mounts.
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...0&autoview=sku 50 bucks plus shipping might solve some problems.

By snooping through and engine mount catalog you should be able to find some pretty clean mounts to fit your engine and help make building the brackets to your crossmember easier. If I remember correctly the mounts for a small block in a 69 Barracuda were pretty simple.

[knighthawk]

O K , guys : next question : How much room should I allow between the trans tailshaft and the floorboard tunnel ? Assuming I some room to play with, I'm thinking : keep the rear mount assy the same or higher than the bottom of the frame rails.......... then how big of hump I need ??

[home brew]

The rear mount of the trans has to work in conjunction with the engine mounts. Hang your engine and tranny from a hoist and place it into the engine compartment and make sure everything fits - alternator, fan, headers, steering box location, etc. Remember that the engine carb base should be relatively level. The oil pan should have enough clearance to avoid being crushed when going over potholes and into steep driveways. When all these things are taken into consideration then you can pace your crossmembers for your engine and tranny mounts.

As far as clearance with the floor board tunnel as little as an inch is all that is needed to account for engine and tranny torque flex.

[knighthawk]

thanks ''Brew " , I think I got it covered, just wanted to be sure I wasn't overlooking something.

[knighthawk]

First of all, I want to give you guys alot of credit ! It takes a lot more ''thinking'' to build a car than I realized .. My question is : how do I determin where the steering column goes ? Am referring to the right or left. I am going to have to use multiple u joints under the hood, so that won't affect it. Like , maybe put the seat in, see what feels right ? How about if I measure another vehicle ( from the horn to the window ? ).........thanks

[home brew]

Originally Posted by knighthawk

First of all, I want to give you guys alot of credit ! It takes a lot more ''thinking'' to build a car than I realized .. My question is : how do I determin where the steering column goes ? Am referring to the right or left. I am going to have to use multiple u joints under the hood, so that won't affect it. Like , maybe put the seat in, see what feels right ? How about if I measure another vehicle ( from the horn to the window ? ).........thanks

"Like , maybe put the seat in, see what feels right ?" That is the answer. You will never get it in the correct location no matter how much you measure and guess at it. You may get it close enough but why take the chance. Get the seat you will be using (or mock something up at the right height that you will build you seat too) place your column in the car and figure out where it has to go to be comfortable to drive. Check out different angles and distances from the dash. Make sure you are using the correct diameter steering wheel as well as that will make a difference in the final placement.