1929 Willy's Whippet, Ford Model A, Mercury Flathead,Frame Fabrication, Body Channelling, Pinion Angle, Firewall Reversal

Setting up the front suspension.  I am going to make what is called a "suicide perch" for the front axle.  If it were to fail the frame hits the ground, hence suicide.

Just a shot of how I connected the rear suspension and the rear frame section that I made.  The wheelbase is longer than a Model A and on a Model A the rear spring is directly above the rear axle.

I cut the frame horns off the Model A Frame and removed the front stock cross member, both items that easily get you a couple hundred bucks on ebay.  Money toward the project!

Here I set the pinion angle at +3 degrees for suspension compression under acceleration.

Here I have the body channelled 6 inches over the frame.

You can see the first part of the front spring perch welded on.  I later add bracing to it.

A closer view of the semi-finished suicide spring perch.  I made it tall to get the car low to the ground.

I removed the firewall to reverse it and give me the engine bay clearance I need.  Reversing is just flipping it around.

Here the firewall is reversed and welded in.  The hole in the side of the cowl is for the cowl steering which I will show later.  I cut the tops of the doors off, welded the doors shut, removed the windshield sun visor, and chopped the windshield frame about 3-1/2 inches.

I have the driver side door top folded over, you can see the original height on the passenger door waiting to be done.

1929 Willy's Whippet, Ford Model A, Hot Rod, Mercury Flathead

Started with a pretty bare Ford Model A Frame

I started this project about 3 years ago with the intention of taking parts I already had, putting them to together and making a rolling project that I could sell and make some coin off.

I made the rear section out of new 2x4 box tubing.  I stepped it up to get the car lower and extended it rearward to use a spring behind banjo rear differential.

I also needed something to occupy my mind that winter, so I rounded everything up and brought it to my garage in October 2009.

1949 Mercury 8CM Flathead

I had an old Ford farm truck that had this Mercury Flathead V8 in it and it still spun over so I yanked it out and started tearing it down.

1936-39 Ford Wide Five Wheels and Brake Drums

I used part of the Model A frame that I cut off to make a rear cross brace and then used c channel from another frame section to make this rear spring perch.

Here is the 1929 Whippet body as I bought it.  I sold it on ebay and I think the guy who bought it died and nobody came to pick it up.  It is a Sport Coupe, it used to have a leather top like a convertible.