1964 Dodge A-100 Hot rod sort of rat rod build thread.

So this time I will try it at 9 in off the ground and see how that does. I have no clue how I will do this in my garage at home once I don't have a rack to work with. Told my wife this week I might need to get one of those little 24-in lifts for our garage at home. Like this one.

20240813_144925.jpg

Screenshot_20240811_115907_Chrome.jpg

 
Kraut_n_Rice said:
The last shop I worked at had lower ceilings.  We used the low rise scissor lifts.  Been thinking about getting one for home.

https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/mid-rise-scissor-lifts/md-6xp/
Click to expand...
Yep I've been looking at those two. Although it would be really hard to work underneath the middle of the car with one of those versus the other style. Sitting here thinking it might be easier to do all of this on the ground instead of using the hoist. Really I just have to get those back tires 9 in off the ground and then lower the cradle down. The hoist is actually in the way and everything is taller by probably 5 in. I will definitely keep playing with it and have a system to get those rear tires off.

 
Kraut_n_Rice said:
The last shop I worked at had lower ceilings.  We used the low rise scissor lifts.  Been thinking about getting one for home.

https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/mid-rise-scissor-lifts/md-6xp/
Click to expand...
Just looked at the specs and lift height is 47". Much better than the two footers. For sure need to look into one of these. Almost a 1000 lbs so not light to try move around. 4.7" lowered height which is pretty low. Figure hit the high setting on the bags and the truck should clear. I can see one of these in the future.

 
I've probably put more than a thousand car in the air with ones similar to this.

FWIW, I always put the "mobile" end of it toward the front of the car.  It clears more of it out of the way to do things like oil changes, clutches/trans work, etc.

 
Well I did determine today that removing those four bolts between the cradle and the dobbertin mounts is NOT going to work. Like wrangling a damn octopus once the upper a arms and shocks are all unbolted. So three and a half hours to put it all back together and back to my regular program here. Now I can start putting the brakes on the back. I actually think this project will be easier with one of those bend pack scissor jacks to keep the truck level and then use my motorcycle jack to raise and lower the cradle. That cradle also flops around like a fish rolling back and forth forward and backward on the transmission mount so I need some sort of gusset bars to hold that steady to do this. One things for sure changing tires on this truck will never get done out on the road.

20240814_112013.jpg

20240814_112022.jpg

 
Angle of the motor when the whole drivetrain is tilted down to get the wheels off. We will make sure on the fuel lines there is some flex. I will have to drain a little bit of coolant out each time just to take the upper radiator hard line and hose off. Throttle cable and transmission shifter cable will both be flexible. Where the fuel line goes from the tank to the bulkhead fittings I will have to crack those fuel lines loose to get those two side bolts out. 

20240814_112523.jpg

20240814_112602.jpg

 
Back brakes all loctited, torqued, and installed. Sure wish everyone made their products like Wilwood does. So I will put it all back together and then next time I pull it back apart axles will be going in. They are shipping out from G-Force next week. Also probably put a new set of tires on at that point. Although one of the tires I have now has a 2021 date code. The other one is 2008 so no way on the dyno. One of the next steps will be putting the fuel tank back in it after cleaning the dust and dirt out of it. Then next time I  need to see if the cradle is going to drop away from that fuel tank mount. I will need to make some sort of strap to hold the front portion of the fuel tank in place while the cradle drops away. Tabs on the fuel tank and that bracket are all pretty tight so I will have to be very careful not to tweak my bead rolled steel panel up top. Will probably be a circus.

20240814_151534.jpg

20240814_151545.jpg

20240814_151715.jpg

20240814_151739.jpg

 
Now that I see my black LEDs in place I'm thinking the trim ring that holds the bulb in and the big beauty ring need to be blacked out with flat black. Also anything that is shiny on the outside of the truck glass bead and paint flat black. Maybe buy another set of door handles at some point and either anodize or powder coat them.

20240817_074621.jpg

20240817_080705.jpg

20240817_081320.jpg

20240817_081326.jpg

20240817_081938.jpg

20240817_081944.jpg

20240817_081949.jpg

20240817_081956.jpg

 
Looks like a few simple brackets but man that was a lot of work. Big bracket is 3/16 steel and the small bracket is 1/8 inch. a little twisted sister action on those lower brackets to get the right angle. At least two full days of work to get these potentiometers working correctly. I was able to use the old rear sway bar mounting point and not drill into the a arm itself. I have two inches of travel here so I'm within the range. At full droop and full compression I'm at about 95 degrees so well within spec there. We will see how this works. Now the front. Uggg. Not a surprise though, I knew these would be tricky.




20240818_065413.jpg

20240818_071919.jpg

20240818_073719.jpg

20240818_073746.jpg

20240818_080110.jpg

20240818_101755.jpg

20240818_101819.jpg

 
The old rear front leaf spring perch is riveted to the unibody. For whatever reason I only cut one side of it off but left the other side hanging. This is going to give me a bracket to attach to for part of my air compressor mount.

20240818_103438.jpg

20240818_103511.jpg

 

Building these front potentiometer brackets being a challenge is an understatement. Ridiculous. I think I got them in the correct spot except the brake lines could be an issue. Would suck to have to do this all over again if l can't get the brake lines to clear. That would be another minimum 3 days work. I didn't want to put it on the front side because the sway bar goes there. Counting today I've worked 47 days straight at this shop without a day off. 9 to 10 hour days. Along with some nasty heat thrown in. My mind and body are done. Walking zombie the last two to three days. I have to take a weekend off and rest. Closing a 57 year old business is a massive undertaking and has been overwhelming.

20240823_064406.jpg

20240823_064427.jpg

20240823_064450.jpg

20240823_093620.jpg

20240823_094135.jpg

20240823_094141.jpg

20240823_094147.jpg

20240823_094152.jpg

 
Custom built front brackets and then the rears I just used what came in the kit with a little twist on it.

20240826_100108.jpg

20240826_125550.jpg

20240826_134611.jpg

20240826_143802.jpg

20240826_143816.jpg

20240826_143834.jpg

20240826_143907.jpg

20240826_143618.jpg

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top