Street Rod Builder published a great little ditty about our frame curves in their April '09 'Street Rod Trends' section.
Author: DW
’32 Update: old news (article 41)
I found half a Bear body at a car show, which better explains the features I've been talking about.
Dear Welder Series… Four Link Question
I have a 1956 Chev truck and want to put a 4 link in the back. I was thinking of a triangulated one. Would that work?
’32 Update: tank vent (article 40)
A gas tank needs a vent. Otherwise, as the fuel leaves the tank and is blown up in the engine, a vacuum is created and eventually the fuel pump won't be able to suck hard enough.
Dear Welder Series… four link setup
I'm about ready to start fabricating the rear section of the frame and I was wondering if you can give any tips on how to rig up the rear suspension/frame so I can get the car as close to the ground as possible without loosing to much headroom since the car is going to be chopped.
YouTube WooHoo(b)
A fellow called today and said he had seen our lower axle bracket video on YouTube and that he would like to order a pair. I was pleased – that’s exactly what those videos are intended to do… educate the customer so they feel confident buying our parts.
To be honest, I was a little skeptical of YouTube at first, in terms of driving sales. We started posting videos in about June of 2007, mostly to show people how easily our Mustang II kit goes together (it “practically assembles itself“) and highlighting the benefits of making your own hot rod parts. In our instructions, we would include a link to a video on YouTube where they could see what they just bought being assembled. It was a free place to host videos! Soon after, we started getting comments that people had seen our videos and would like to order “that part”.
Currently (April, 2009), we have 46 videos hosted on YouTube. They consist of installation videos, tech tips, how-tos, and even a few Model A frame build videos. Almost 200 people have subscribed to be notified when a new video is posted. In total, the Welder Series videos have been watched almost 156,000 times from the USA to Spain to Slovakia.
UPDATE (March 2019): After ten years, our subscribers now number 3,777 with 1.86 million views of 113 videos.
As we continue to release new products, new videos will always run parallel.
It’s exciting to think that right now, someone might be watching a Welder Series video somewhere around the world!
Click here to see our YouTube channel.
Thanks for your support.
dw
Bob’s Frame Stub
Bob sent us some pictures of one of our Mustang II kits he's made into a frame stub for a '57 Olds.
’32 Update: body bolts, motor mounted. (article 39)
I welded stainless washers to stainless allen head cap screws for the body mount bolts.
We thought for a while, drew our thoughts on the blackboard, and finally came up with a much simpler edition. Since the floor of the Bear Fiberglass body is so thick (almost 2″), and it is composed of two layers of fiberglass sandwiching a sort of foam material, it can be ‘squished’, for lack of a better word. Imagine standing on a pop can. Or you can stand on a soda can. Either way, unless you’re reading this blog from the comfort of the womb, you will probably collapse the walls of the can. Imagine now that you drop a steel tube inside, just shorter than the height of the can. The walls will collapse just a tiny bit, but then the strength of the tube will hold your weight. Probably.
Same idea here. We’re putting a tube spacer inside the floor so that when the bolts get tightened, they will cinch the body down but won’t be able to overtighten and crush the fiberglass.
This is one of the only pictures you’ll see of me working on the car… and it happens to be the easiest job other than cleaning.
Time to install the engine! Here, the transmission mount is swung (my computer didn’t put a red line under “swung”, so I guess it’s a word) out of the way, waiting for the transmission.
Great! Fits just like it did the first time!
Join the Group!
If you’re on the HAMB, how about taking a minute to join the Welder Series group… you can suggest new products, share pictures of ways you’ve used our parts (standard or custom!), and generally talk chassis brackets!
’32 update – deep breath (article 38)
Sometimes planning ahead can be a pain in the behind. A long time ago, before the rear end was painted, we decided to drill a hole for the breather. Great idea, we thought. It looked pretty slick, right between the four link brackets like it was supposed to be there. Fast forward to a few weeks ago (yes that makes sense if you think about it), and now there is a sway bar tab right over the breather hole. In order of priority, the sway bar tab wins. I had tacked it in place from below, and I didn’t notice/didn’t remember that the breather hole was there too.
I removed the tab, filled the hole, ground it smooth, and welded the sway bar tabs permanently. Then we had to choose a new location for the breather. As it turns out, it was a good thing we waited to install it; Garth Webb, a builder from next door, brought over this mini stainless breather for us to use! The holes in the sway bar tabs are 3/8″, so you can get an idea of how tiny this little guy is.
Thanks Garth!
Unholes
So what the heck would you call these things? "Lunar Cycle Diorama?" "Substitutes for cucumbers on the eyes while sunbathing?" "Really heavy, boring buttons?"
We decided to call them unholes.
Bill’s Sway Bar
This is a good shot of our sway bar kit installed through the frame rails. In this case, it's hooked up to a Jaguar IRS with some rod ends and threaded tubes.
’32 update… nice heads (article 37)
Smaller, thinner bolt heads for the front spreader bar.
HAMBANDY
There’s sad news over on the HAMB… a young boy that the members had “adopted” has passed away due to a desease called chordoma. While I didn’t know him personally, I certainly felt his presence on the HAMB.
I can’t imagine the loss to his family.
Are You a Fan?
Well, you can now show your support for Welder Series by becoming an official fan! I don’t think I’ll have T-shirts made or anything, but it’s still fun. Click on the logo above for access.