1930 Chevy Coupe with a twist.

[ctruss53]

That probably shouldn't have blown my mind as much as it did. Might swap reels on mine now since the wire spool came with the welder i recently bought. Thanks for the insight!

I had no idea this was a thing. Crazy. Never thought of it.

More news and progress:

I bought a new spool. When I was changing the spool, I realized that the welder polarity was backwards!!!!

The welder came with a very small spool of flux core wire, that I never used. I just put on a bigger spool of solid core wire right out of the gate. I didn't realize that when I did that I was supposed to change the welder polarity. So this whole time I was struggling with clean welds, assuming I was part of the problem. Come to find out that my welder was set up wrong to begin with and it was impossible to weld right.

With the new wire, the polarity correct, my welds are coming out much, much, better.

I spent Friday night and a few hours Saturday finishing up the frame notch. I'm so excited to be making progress again.

Pics
Fish plate clamped down
20200424_200208_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr

Tacked
20200424_200523_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr

Welded
20200424_201114 by Chad Truss, on Flickr

Almost done
20200424_201732_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr

Boxed in
20200424_204541_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr


After that welding work I went back to the bench to assemble some suspension parts. I am missing two heim joints, to I placed an order for them. And I welded in the front suspension crossmember incorrectly, so I need to cut it out and relocate it or replace it. I ordered another one just in case I need to replace it. They are $60 and Speedway has a good return policy if I don't need it.

Then I checked the fit of the hairpin brackets that need to get welded to the rear axle. They don't fit. The radius is more than an 1/8" too small. Instead of grinding them large enough to fit over the axle tubes, and likely ruining how round they are. I am drawing up new brackets for my buddy to cut out on his laser.

Yaaaaaa, I'm making progress again!!!!!!

[Gene]

WOW! What an epic build. That is a lot of posting to bring us up to date, but we now get to see the whole deal. It sounds like its been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.

Your welds are looking much better. I don't know how long ago you changed the roll of wire and discovered the polarity was reversed, but if your old wire is still around, you should be able to feel a roughness or see a discoloring if the wire was rusted. If it looks OK and feels smooth to the touch, it may still be good. Usually rusted wire won't feed through your tips smoothly long before they won't weld. For the price of wire these days, it might be worth another look. Gene

[2.3Turbo_T]

Really good progress! Luv all the progress pics! Keep the updates coming. I kinda feel a kinship here although yours is a coupe, mine is a roadster. You started with a rusty/rotted mess, so did I.....check. You're running a turbo'd 2.3, so am I (only Ford)....check. 4 cyl Mustang T5....check. Pretty much handmade everything....check. You're 3 years into it, it took me 9 to finish mine....check. The list goes on!
If you haven't seen it, check out my build.
https://www.killbillet.com/forum/20s...uild-has-begun

[Burnin#2]

Holy *hit your back... !
with a vengeance it seems
Great progress!
Gene is right about that wire, even if theres a bit of surface rust on it, use one of them strong black paper clips fold a small piece of scotch brite pad or something similar in the clamp, clamp it around the wire between the spool and the feeder drive and that will preclean the wire, so to speak.

[ctruss53]

Great tip for the wire in the welder. Thanks!

SQUIRREL!!!

20200505_123128 by Chad Truss, on Flickr

20200505_123300_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr

1994 Pontiac Firebird Formula. Bought it just to have something fun to play with while I build the hot rod. It's in pretty damn good, original shape. Just has a ****ty aftermarket stereo in it, and a clunk in the rear suspension I'll get fixed. Then I'll just enjoy it.

[Old Stuff]

Gotta love a '30 Chevy! Just went through the build. A lot of work there! I look forward to seeing the progress continue.

[ctruss53]

Big progress this weekend! The hot rod now has a complete rolling frame. It is currently just tack welded together, but it is complete and rolling. WOOOO



At this point, we located the axle left to right, and did some cross measurements to make sure it was square, and where I wanted it front to back. And then started test fitting the hairpins.

20201011_125548_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_125557_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr




Here, both hairpin mounts are tacked to the frame. We started making sure the hairpins were the same length (they are adjustable), double checked the axle location, and then started locating the axle brackets.

20201011_132643 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_132643 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_132702_HDR by Chad Truss, on Flickr




After that, tacked the hairpin brackets to the axle. And then mounted the panhard bar.

20201011_141522 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_141531 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




Then weld on the coilover mounts.
20201011_165605 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




Rear suspension laid out.

20201011_165614 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




Put tires on and see how it sits.
20201011_170843 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_170834 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_170823 by Chad Truss, on Flickr




20201011_170818 by Chad Truss, on Flickr







Progress will probably little to none for the next few months. I am moving next month, so I have work to do on the current house. I have to pack. And then the new house still needs a 220V circuit added to the garage for my welder. Plus it gets stupid cold here and I'm not sure how well insulated the new garage is.

So we will see.

[Gene]

Good progress. At least a rolling frame is easier to move.
It is the time of the year we just can't put off all those little outside projects we need to get finished, for much longer! I always figure the end of Oct is about the end of getting stuff done outside. The end of Oct is getting here fast. Gene

[Burnin#2]

Yep.. summers end clean up... I working my way through it now (almost done!) On a farm there is soooooo much.
clean chicken coups, blow out water lines, tidy up entire yard, move hay bales, cut grass, turn horse shelters to the south, bed horses.........

Great progress!
I'm looking fwd to this winter... I'm sure its gonnawe me get to the point of inspection to make my rod road worthy.

[Old Stuff]

Great mental accomplishment. Stuff like that makes it a bit easier to focus on current necessities. Hoping for smooth trails on your transition!

[ctruss53]

New house purchased.
Moved.
Old house on the market.

Now that I had a rolling chassis, the easiest way to move the body of the hot rod was to set it on the chassis. So, I got to have a look into the future of approximately how this thing will sit when it is done.

Remember, I am building a jalopy. A traditional style, hot rod. I channeled the body only 3", the rear of the frame only has a 3" Z in it. And I am not chopping the top. I want it to look like a 50's era hot rod.

The cowl is not sitting down on the frame because the sheetmetal needs to be cut open a bit to fit over the frame.

20201121_123718 by Chad Truss, on Flickr

[Burnin#2]

Hope you get settled in to your new digs quickly so you can get back on the build.
I'm looking forward to see that Saab in it's new home!