Kentucky Armory Club

Had this car sitting in my shop since we moved here 8 yrs ago, and sat in my old shop for 2 yrs before that. Father in law gave it to me, figured it was time to get started on it.



'30 Ford, its gonna be a helluva project. My son and I started knocking bolts out today, trying to get the body ready to pull off the frame. We pulled the front fenders off and cleaned most of the crap out of it (still had all the leaves, branches, and an elk antler inside from the years it sat on the farm).

These parts should be a goldmine, gonna sell the fenders and stuff to help fund the build.






The plan for now is: chop roof 4", channel body 4", clean up and put new cross members into frame. As we dug into it, we found some serious rot in the lower part of the body on the driver's side. This will cause some hardship for channelling, I'm going to have to do some major work to get the body solid enough to support its own weight when dropped down to straddle the frame. Maybe there's aftermarket patch pieces, gonna have to look into that. Why reinvent the wheel?



My original plan was to buy an aftermarket frame, but this one is in pretty good shape. Frame has some damage at the front end on one side, and all cross members need replacing, but I think I'll source out some replacement parts instead of a whole new frame. I'm not planning on building a supercar, its going to be a cruiser.



Just thought I'd post up the beginnings of this project, hopefully we can stay focused and get it done!

Cool project to do with your son. Keep the pix coming

Awesome project car

Yep....keep us posted....awesome project

Umm I have a confession....I'm jealous of the Canadian!!!!!

Btw very cool project esp to work on with your son!

Back in the mid-70s a friend had an original 1931 Model A sedan. I drove it once, it was a blast, mechanical brakes and unsynchronized transmission.
Great father and son project MK.
Nothing beats building memories.

Bad ass, but im horrified that you would chop it up and make a hot rod out of such a classic car!!! Thats like cutting up a WW1 1911 to make a tactical style 1911, im pretty sure its a sin!

Cool project, good luck with it.

son of liberty wrote:Bad ass, but im horrified that you would chop it up and make a hot rod out of such a classic car!!! Thats like cutting up a WW1 1911 to make a tactical style 1911, im pretty sure its a sin!

Kind of agree. Even if it will be miserable to drive.

But also agree working on cars with my dad was my best times with him.

If it wasn't an original I would chop it. There are so many kits out there and very few originals. I would go back to all original if it were mine. Kits are just as fun to build also.

hell yeah

kyswede wrote:Back in the mid-70s a friend had an original 1931 Model A sedan. I drove it once, it was a blast, mechanical brakes and unsynchronized transmission.

My wife's uncle has several Model A's and T's, all restored to original configuration. Cool, but damned if I know how they work. Let's just say if there was a zombie horde coming at me and all there was was an original Model A, I'd die. Wouldn't even know how to start the damn thing let alone drive it!

We did some more cutting and removing today, got the rear fenders off, along with one running board and skirt. Lot more cleanup, found more rot in the body too. Think I have a good idea for starting the channel job, need to get going on a bunch of temporary cross bracing in the body. Word on the street is that if you simply unbolt the body from the frame its a bear to get everything lined back up again. More on that when I get closer to that stage.

Part of me wants to keep it on top of the frame, but it will look awesome dropped down a few inches.



The frame skirt here still has to come off. The other side was a real mofo, body mounts need to be removed, body lifted up, and running boards removed before skirt comes off. Running board is held on by two rivetted brackets to frame (those ended up meeting the sawzall cause they were not coming off any other way). Then you have access to rivets to grind off and remove running board supports. Too bad cause they were pretty solid. Lots of little useless pieces now.



Rear inner wheelwells are both in pretty rough condition. Should be pretty straightforward to fix, cut sheetmetal to proper shape and weld in. Not going to see much of it after the wheels are on anyway.



Marked out for roof chop, I think 4" is as far as I want to go. Still leaves a 6" rear window.



Rear floor section is rough too, but once the floor is channeled it'll all be replaced anyway.





Body cross members are shot too (one's completely missing). Again, with the new floor in place it won't be an issue.

Not very exciting so far, hope its not too boring.

Not very exciting?? That's so incredibly awesome!

Pretty cool

Bought a motor tonight, a 239 inch 8BA out of a '51 truck. Slightly torn apart, so who knows what's missing. Block looks decent though, and short of a Merc 255, this was the type I wanted. Came with another complete flattie, a 59A out of a '46 car and the dude threw in a 3 spd tranny to boot. Paid 340 for everything, so not too big a risk.

After many days away from this project (working away from home and a quick 13 hr drive to BC last weekend for a memorial service and get together with wife's family) I'm back at it. Body is separated from frame, getting ready for the channel job. I want to have it done by the end of this coming weekend. Next pics will be the body sitting 4 inches lower on the frame. Just trying to decide what the best way to do it is.

Most guys seem to weld up a flat tube assembly in the body that sits on top of the frame, but I want to actually do frame "channels" in the floor to retain as much foot room as possible. I'm 6' 4" and need as much as possible.

Not going too crazy with the body work, would probably feel too cramped if the chop and channel were more than 4". These A sedans are tall cars, my only real concern is how narrow they are. Not much elbow and foot room.

Stay tuned if you want to see how a first time rodder fucks up a classic!

Finally got my motors home! Work has been hectic as fuck so not much time to wrench or cut. All I can say is a flathead with cast heads is heavy as shit. Stripping the 8BA to the bare block, hoping to have it ready to drop off at local shop for dunking and pressure testing by the end of the week. I need more tools, I'm not set up for an engine rebuild. Not using any of the original cast parts if I don't have to, I'm going to use Offenhauser heads and intake. If the block checks out, I'm going to bore to 3 3/8" with a Merc 255 crank. Big power haha.

Parts-buying will commence shortly thereafter. Want motor done before Christmas.

Took the day off work today so Tom and I could get started on the body. Here are a bunch of pics (before and after).

4" cut marked out: about to find out if I know what I'm doing or if I'm going to make this thing fall to pieces.









Tom on the grinder:

Roof's off: now to cut the 4" off all the pillars.





Trimmed, and ready to re-install the lid.

Set back in place, the easy part is done.



A guy drove 2 hrs to buy the front fenders and running boards today, made 400 bucks to put towards the engine build. He also brought me a good original '30 visor, so that's another detail taken care of!





Sold the old front axle and wishbone on Friday (another 110 bucks for the engine), here's the new front end from a '34 Ford.

Before:



After: