Year: 2009

H.A.M.B loses an icon


There are some people on these internet message boards that have just about a universal command for respect.  If you’re a member of the HAMB, you would recognize the tag C9… unfortunately Jay passed away recently.

I won’t take too much time here, because I didn’t know him personally, but I did enjoy reading what he wrote.  C9 was more than just a tech post kind of guy – he was an actual writer.  Here are links to some of his hot rod related stories.  I highly recommend taking some time to read them.

The Red Roadster, Part 1
The Red Roadster, Part 2
Doofus & Whiny
One Black and Foggy Night

Early Ford hubcaps on slot mags tech post

There are more Doofus & Whiny stories… just hop on the HAMB and have a look.  Also, please feel free to post a link to parts 3 and four of the Red Roadster.

Like I said in the thread announcing his death, whenever I saw his name and this picture, the scroll bar would stop and I would read whatever he had to say.

Safe and Sound… again

I would like to quickly mention that our web store is secure… again.

If you encountered the dreaded “This site is not secure” page when you tried to buy something from us within the past few weeks, we’re very sorry for the inconvenience.  Can I explain?
Thanks.  Our security certificate has been automatically updating every year for five years.  For some reason, this year, the company that provides our SSL certificate took 43 days to do what should have been done in less than one day.  This has caused us some grief, to put it extremely lightly.

If you came across the “unsecure site” page, let me assure you that it has been made secure.  An easy way to tell if a site is secure is by the address bar – it will turn green as you enter the login portion of a website.  Green means it’s safe to go ahead.

Thanks very much for your patience through this trial.  If you have any questions about our products or our internet practices, please let me know.

Mustang II Application Chart

I’ve added a table which tells you what track width Mustang II kits will work best on which vehicles. The list will be updated as I get time to go through the thousands of emails asking “what track width should I use on my ________?”

We are often asked about making a Mustang II crossmember kit for a track width less than the stock 56-1/2”. 56-1/2” is the distance from the rotors wheel mounting face to face. Aftermarket brake kits and rotors can change this 56-1/2” dimension. It’s good to have the brake kit, rotors, wheels and tires before deciding how much the crossmember should be narrowed.

Here are the steps I’d suggest:
Read all the way through this for best results.

Use our 56-1/2” kit, for either stock springs or coil-overs. Coil-overs will provide more spring to frame clearance and make it easier to dial in ride height and ride quality.

Get the wheels and tires that will be used.

Get the brake kit and rotors that will be used. (Might as well get the calipers, too, but this won’t affect the crossmember width.)
Mock up the car at ride height and position the wheels and tires, front-to-back and at the desired track width.

Compare the spindle height (the center of the wheel) to the height of the frame at the bottom. Decide on stock or dropped spindles. See our coil over kit instructions, page 6, or coil spring kit instructions, page 6 for info regarding this decision.

Decide on stock length or shortened (narrowed) control arms. The upper arm cross shafts on stock length arms will be about 29-1/2” center-to-center with a stock rotor-to-rotor face width of 56-1/2”. When the crossmember gets shortened, the control arms will move closer together by the same amount. See if there will be clearance issues because of this. Shorter control arms will move the pivot point out by their “shortened” amount, given that the spindle location does not change. Shorter arms will mean a slightly choppier ride. Get the upper and lower arms that you decide on.

Mock up the wheel/tire, spindle, brake kit, rotor, and lower control arm. Put the assembly in position in the fender of the mock-up. The tire should be very close to vertical. Make the lower arm level. This can be done on just one side. Measure from the frame centerline to the lower arm pivot and double that dimension. Or mock up both sides and measure lower control arm pivots center-to-center. Subtract the lower arm pivot dimension from 22-1/4” and you have the amount that the crossmember should have removed from between the rack mounts.

It will be necessary to use a shorter than stock rack. Some machine shops will do this and there are aftermarket companies that make custom-length Mustang II racks. Before making the crossmember shorter, confirm that a rack will be available. 

VehicleTrack WidthComments
Chev, 1962-67 Nova56"
Chev, Car, 1935-195456"
Chev, Pickup, 1937-1955 (early series)56"
Chev, Pickup, 1955 (second series)- 1959 60"
Ford, Car, 1933-194856"
Ford, Falcon, 1964-556"
Ford, Car, 1954-5958"https://welderseries.com/57-ford-mustang-ii-install/
Ford, Mustang, 1965-656"
Ford, Mustang, 1967-7058"
Ford, Mustang, 1971-7360"
Ford, Pickup, 1935-194156"
Ford, Pickup, 1942-195258"
Ford, Ranger, 1983-8856"
Ford, Pickup, 1953-1979 F10060"
Mercury, Comet, 1960-6356"
Plymouth, 194956"
Studebaker, 193456"
Studebaker, Pickup, 194958"
Willys Jeepster, 194956"
Willys Pickup & Panel (with top hat frame), 1946-5456"
These are the correct track width kits for the corresponding vehicles.

Dear CUSTOMers… happy new year

Every customer is different.  You’re different from the next customer.  There is no formula, no equation that will work with all of you.  It takes a different approach to everyone to determine how best to serve anyone.  Some people need videos, some people need descriptions.  Some people need us to weld it together.  Our approach has been, and will always be, to serve each of you where you are and to treat you the same way we would like to be treated.

It’s been just over four years since we officially opened the doors to Welder Series, and we’ve just had our best year so far.  I say four years, but the product line has been percolating for over 30.  Paul Horton began developing and building many of the parts we still manufacture when I wasn’t yet a twinkle in Paul’s wife’s eye.    Thanks very much for your business and support over the years.

The future looks great, but there are some things that we won’t be changing.  When you buy parts from Welder Series, that’s what you get.  Parts.  We don’t use fancy boxes, custom printed packing tape, or glossy catalogs.  Our reported damaged box claims are quite less than half a percent of parcels shipped.  Our ~60 page catalog will continue to be printed in-house so you get an up-to-date copy.  Actually, I should have said copies… we send three catalogs with every order (most people request more than one when they order, so they can give one or two to friends) – here’s a true story: a customer of ours is a police officer, and had his daily driver broken into.  The thief stole the standard items – cash, camera, wallet, Welder Series catalog.  I’m not making this up – we had to send him another catalog because his had been stolen!  Anyway, we try our best to keep expenses down because we know that will help you keep your expenses down.

Thanks again
Paul, Dorothy, and DW Horton (yes, that’s all of us)
Welder Series Inc.