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Hi all,
Back to the project, thanks to all for comments and especially to Gabe for his information about his build. Attempting a photo post.
OK so the photos posted.
The track width shown in the view is 48 inches, about the same as a TD. I’ll use a narrowed Mustang II for the front suspension and a narrowed 8 inch rear end at 50 inches. Tires and wheels 15 X 6 with a 3 inch backspace. The nose will be cut about 2 inches in front of the cowl. I’ll keep the nose around in case someone needs it to refresh their TD.
And the frame will follow Gabe’s design with a couple mods.Looking good! Is that an early FiberFab kit also, based upon the looks of that front splash pan?
IMO, you’re wise in following Gabe’s lead. If you can do anything close to what he has done with his, you’ll have a wonderful TDr. His pretty amazing!Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...Don’t hesitate to ask anything….I usually check in every day (except for the last week, went skiing).
Awe no pictures for me! Glad to hear you’re making progress!
By “nose” are you meaning the two sides of the hood, that have the louvres in them? If so I may or may not need them depending on how bad mine are when I finally get into re-doing the front end.Or if you are talking about the front piece that goes under the grille shell then I might need that too… 😕Hello all,
After I posted a couple photos, the web site went down. Thought I had done that, but I guess not. Anyway a little progress. I removed the front upper/lower A arms from the ’39 to use to mock-up the front suspension and frame. My track is 48 inches and using 205 65 15 tires the fit looks good. Also I believe if I use 2 inch dropped spindles the frame will be about 6 inches off the ground. The frame will be Z’d 3 inches by lapping the 2 in by 3 in tubing just in front of the firewall.
I have a rear end from an S10 which I first thought would be the correct width 54 inches. But I need 50 inches and so will narrow an 8 inch Ford.
Since my TDr is VW based it seems to be sized differently than others therefore it’s measuring carefully then cutting twice, still to short!!
Maybe you can see that I cut the nose of the VW pan so that I can make it a front engine using the 2.3 Ford. The frame is 19 inches inside.I am running an unmodified Ford 8″ from a Mustang II Cobra.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Your car is wider than a VW-based one, Bill.
Nice work, Mel. Very impressive. BTW, how hard/expensive is it to narrow a Ford rear?I looked around and can’t find anything in the 50-inch range. even the MGB diffs are almost 52 inches, drum to drum.Hi all,
To answer a couple questions;
The kit is an undisturbed 1982 VW based Fiberfab. It had been in storage in CA since new.I plan to make the side panels from metal so the fiberglass ones may be available later. Also since the fenders are different left and right, the lower passenger side must be redone to clear the upper A arm and the front valence as well.
The 8 inch rear is not difficult to narrow. The big problem now is finding them. But to answer the question this is what I was quoted:
Narrow housing and install new ends about $250, new axles $400. In addition I will fab all the other brackets and weld them on. I would do all the work except the axels, but at $250 I’ll let the shop do that work. Also I may not find a diff with a good ratio so may need to change the gears. And then the brakes, on and on and on. The gift off this project is not looking so good anymore!!!!
I’ll try to drive to Charlotte this week to order the front suspension and start the rear end work. Now it’s get the chassis jig down to start welding the frame.
Have a grear day all.
MelHow about using a 9″? Everyone narrows them. You might find a used one reasonably priced. I admit the 9″ would be overkill in the strength dept., but there are more of them.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Bill,
The 9 inch is a little heaver than the 8 inch and I have a good source for the 8 inch, also 9 inch would cost more as well. Are you running the 9 inch? And what was the donor for your 2.3 and 5 speed?
Thanks
Mel8″ from MustangII Cobra with 5 speed from ’85 Mustang, I think.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"So TDers
Back to the project. I received the front suspension kit and have it tack welding in place on the frame.
So the question is: How low is too low?
also in the side view does the tire look to be in a good position under the fender?
The spindles are 2 inch drop which results in 4 inches under the rack mounts.
6 inches under the Z’d frame.
check the photos
Thanks for comments
Mel
Mine sits just a hair over 4″.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Been there, done it.
I’d want at least 5 inches clearance under the front of the car.But 4 is probably enough if you want to cruise it slow and don’t mind babying her into parking lots and over speed bumps.Frame looks good and the front wheel placement does too.edsnova2014-03-14 19:15:01
Thanks a lot guys,
I think I’ll go with it this way for now until I install an engine etc. I can always go back to stock spindles for about 6 inch front height for that rough cruising. Now to work on the rear suspension.
Regards
Mel
Good afternoon,
I found an engine and transmission from an ’80 Mustang Saturday. So when the ice melts (about a quarter inch) I’ll strip it down for a good inspection.
But now I’m working on the rear frame. A question are the front and rear bumpers at the same height?From all the photos they appear to be. Also how close to the rear fender tips are they mounted?
Thanks for any comments.
Mel
Bumpers should be the same height and stand off a couple inches from the body, You should have (or get) some spring-like brackets–four of them–two for each bumper. Those mount to the frame but on my car (and I think on TDs) the back ones are spaced away by some aluminum spacers about an inch and a half long. They’re like pipe sections.
You can just make one out on the back of the car in this photo:This ebay ad gives an even better view: http://chicago.ebayclassifieds.com/classic-cars/alsip/1952-mg-td-roadster/?ad=32106275Here’s a real nice front view with the curly bumper brackets on the front:edsnova2014-03-17 20:48:42
Mel: Looking real good.
–I used a stock Cobra II 8″ rear, with leaf spring brackets cut off and replaced with scratch built brackets for a fox-body trailing arm.
Front crossmember was out of a 76 Mustang II. I did not use drop spindles, instead moved the whole crossmember up 1 1/4 inches. Same effect, no cost.
Frame clearance is designed for 5″ clearance. Have not bottomed out.
Keep up the great work…..Thanks again,
Gabe or anyone that would comment,
I like your rear suspension arrangement using the A arm. For normal cruising how is the feel and do you get any noticeable binding in the bushing for the lower control arms? Not that I know much about
“roll center” but how does it affect “roll center” which seems to be important?
Mel
The car tracks very well. The major difference I have found between this car and others I have had is that it “likes” to enter a curve much more than others and I have to be more aware when exiting the curve. But that’s a good thing. Just have to get used to it to take advantage of this feature. I have yet to drive it hard in a very curvy road as there are almost none of them in southern Maryland. No binding at all in lower arms that I see or feel.
The main reason I used the A arm was to make room for the double exhaust. A panhard bar would have conflicted with any exhaust traveling through that very confined space.
I did have one problem with wishy-washy turns that felt just like the rear tires were low. Turned out the rear tires were low. A little more air and it’s fine. Running 28 in the back now.Gabe, your test bed for a windy road would be the Carlisle Autocross. See you there.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"I must admit that I’m envious of you guys with your rack and pinion steering…
Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...Hi all,
It’s been a while, so some photos of engine and transmission mounts.
Motor mounts uses the stock 2.3 mounts with about 1/2 inch sliced from the face and a flat plate welded,
then sbc isolators bolted to the flat plate.
I will not use the fan shown but will use electric. Weather not looking good for Friday, Carlisle but may show up on Saturday.
Melvin
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