Neil asked why my metal fabricator wasted his time on the tractor BBQ smoker. This guy loves metal. He doesn't want me to buy MustangII kits to hang on his frames because he says he can do better. Here's a boxed Mod A frame with his front crossmember (incorporates ideas from others plus Mod A fender/headlight bar brace mount) and various brackets he made and welded on. Yes, the welds have been smoothed but it really easy to do welds that are nearly there to start with. Note the radius on the boxing plate. The transmission crossmember fits so exact to the frame it almost looks like it's part of it. He amazes me.
Whoa baby. That's a great looking frame there. I can really tell that he takes his metal work very serious. Is that frame powder coated or just painted. I like the smooth texture.
Ha! Leave ME speechless! That confirms that I gotta get some pics on line. There's a father/son brain pool here that fab all sorts of stuff. Dad is more the expert than son is, but not by much. They both did '32s. He stuck a 12 hole airplane engine in his. They made their own brake rotors, dash stuff, frames, etc. The Mrs. is the one who bought all my art. She said I had it goin' on. It's funny how we can see stuff in others that we can't see in ourselves.
Yo Evan, Where'd you get that guy? How does he DO that? Been welding myself for many years. Dad had a structural steel fabrication shop when I was younger, but I could NEVER do something like that. Most welding I did was on 40 ft. I-beams. Real tricky for me now to cope with the little mig sometimes because I grew up with high heat and big welding rods. That guy is something special. Who does the smoothing? Him or some other people in your shop? Andy
Come on, Andy. Welding? or did you start describing your grilling practices? No, you'll never forget!
Answers: frame is painted, he smooths welds with carbide ball to where urethane primer will fill scratches, and yes, Zig, there are people tucked in all sorts of out of the way places that have amazing skills. I'm thinking of a fellow near Sherman, Texas that is restoring a WW2 "Bearcat" that crashed AND burned. He's probably 85% there and the aluminum panels, many with compound curves fit so good I think you could fill it with water and not leak. Another guy in Ft Worth does metal spinning and made us eight new injector tubes with belled tops that needed to be tapped into the injector bodies. This was done FREEHAND. If you get a chance watch this process, they start with a flat piece of metal and while spinning form it into the desired shape. It makes my brag about still being able to adjust the valves on a running 216/235 with just a wrench and screwdriver, not the special tool, seem kind of puny.
No Evan.... It is simply a different set of skills , many cannot grasp the mechanical end of this Auto Trade . Don't sell yourself short . -Nate
Ok ok, i wasnt critisizing his skills just his choice of project Whilst i like the smoothed look for welds its not my bag really, id rather see a good weld, also i noticed on a few project cars ive done for other people that the filler tends to crack round the weld after a while, having said that, that chassis looks real good. ________ Lesbian vids
