montanafordman
Well-known member
With the help of three friends from the Treasure Valley Model A club we accomplished a great deal of work on my 31 slant window sedan today. Photos at the bottom.
I have been plugging along on my 31 slant window. The car is a looker but underneath there have been a lot of issues that needed correcting. One of them was the bolted in crossmember. Not only was it bolted instead of riveted in, but there had also been a piece of flat iron booger welded in there to reinforce an already cracked and repaired crossmember. I've gone through pretty much all the mechanical stuff on a Model A before with my coupe, but have only riveted on some running board brackets many years ago with someone who knows a lot more than I do when it comes to Model A's. Of all the work I have been doing and have planned - this was the most daunting task for me.
I bought some rivet bucking bars and sought advice but I never found a heavy enough bucking bar that would get inside the front crossmember to buck the inside rivets and do the job I needed - so I made my own bucking bar out of my driveshaft that was removed when I installed a Mitchell overdrive. I cut and welded separate pieces together to give me the offset to clear the drop-down arch of the center crossmember and fit inside the frame rails where needed. It weighs just over 7lbs, and was long enough to push on and hold from the other side of the car, while the person with the rivet gun has access to buck the outside rivets on the side of the frame. On the opposite side of the bucking bar I made an offset that allows bucking the four rivets facing downward inside the frame rails, and also shaped it to fit inside the crossmember and clear the radiator mounting bumps to buck the underside of the top rivets. Each end also had a dimpled spot to securely hold the head of the rivet.
Three members of the Treasure Valley Model A club came over today and we went after it and the job went quite well! Better than I hoped. We tackled it pretty quick although I had several days to plan the operation, Weld and redrill my holes to the proper size for the frame (the rivets in my "new" crossmember were all drilled properly and the donor was in great shape with no oversize holes) and make my own bucking bar, and had the necessary tools.
After we bucked the rivets we assembled the burtz flywheel housing on my new Burtz Motor and checked the runout with a dial indicator - that was all good so we installed the flywheel, clutch and disk and got the motor in the car! It was a very productive day - and a fun one sharing it with local Model A friends.
I have been plugging along on my 31 slant window. The car is a looker but underneath there have been a lot of issues that needed correcting. One of them was the bolted in crossmember. Not only was it bolted instead of riveted in, but there had also been a piece of flat iron booger welded in there to reinforce an already cracked and repaired crossmember. I've gone through pretty much all the mechanical stuff on a Model A before with my coupe, but have only riveted on some running board brackets many years ago with someone who knows a lot more than I do when it comes to Model A's. Of all the work I have been doing and have planned - this was the most daunting task for me.
I bought some rivet bucking bars and sought advice but I never found a heavy enough bucking bar that would get inside the front crossmember to buck the inside rivets and do the job I needed - so I made my own bucking bar out of my driveshaft that was removed when I installed a Mitchell overdrive. I cut and welded separate pieces together to give me the offset to clear the drop-down arch of the center crossmember and fit inside the frame rails where needed. It weighs just over 7lbs, and was long enough to push on and hold from the other side of the car, while the person with the rivet gun has access to buck the outside rivets on the side of the frame. On the opposite side of the bucking bar I made an offset that allows bucking the four rivets facing downward inside the frame rails, and also shaped it to fit inside the crossmember and clear the radiator mounting bumps to buck the underside of the top rivets. Each end also had a dimpled spot to securely hold the head of the rivet.
Three members of the Treasure Valley Model A club came over today and we went after it and the job went quite well! Better than I hoped. We tackled it pretty quick although I had several days to plan the operation, Weld and redrill my holes to the proper size for the frame (the rivets in my "new" crossmember were all drilled properly and the donor was in great shape with no oversize holes) and make my own bucking bar, and had the necessary tools.
After we bucked the rivets we assembled the burtz flywheel housing on my new Burtz Motor and checked the runout with a dial indicator - that was all good so we installed the flywheel, clutch and disk and got the motor in the car! It was a very productive day - and a fun one sharing it with local Model A friends.
