Author: DW

32 Update: Finding A Rattle

Over 40,000 miles or so, the 32 had developed a little clunkle (“clunk” + “rattle”) that was driving me batty. The severity of the rattle was not dependant on the size of the bump, or how fast I was driving, or any other variables that I could vary. I could make it happen by jumping on the front passenger side frame rail, but not the driver side frame rail.

I tried to check the most obvious culprits first;

  • Are any exhaust brackets broken?
  • Are the emergency brake cables thwapping on the floor?
  • Is something clunking around under the seat? I have a power outlet built in to the front of the seat, and a while ago I noticed that the wires were not secured to anything and would click on the floor sometimes.
  • Is the heater/ A/C unit secure? Are all the vents secure in the dash?
  • Does the noise happen whether the windows are up or down? Sometimes the glass can clunk side-to-side when it’s down, if the whiskers don’t hold the glass as tight as the upper channel. Also, check the power window motor – maybe it’s come loose?

Moving to the outside, I checked every bolt I could see. Sometimes a click can be caused by a bolt that’s binding and just releasing at a certain point, or the threads are sort of riding at the edge of a hole. I checked the radiator support rod brackets against the firewall, I checked the air cleaner, I checked the headlights… I checked all those things again. Ready for the spoiler? When I was grinding the boxing plate welds where the engine mounts meet the frame, I must have sneezed at one point and taken off more than necessary. There was a tiny spot where the vibrations of the engine travelling through the mounts to the frame had worked a stress crack, and going over a little bump or jumping on the frame rail would cause the boxing plate to flex just enough to create a little click… kind of like a mason jar lid.

I was able to go over the spot with the tig, and now I’m no longer canning! It’s nice to be able to focus on something other than that little clunkle.

What are some noises that you’ve discovered in your hot rod?

Dear Welder Series… Sway Bar Install – 32 Ford

Dear Welder Series…
Attached are pictures of my plan for the Welder Series rear sway bar kit that I am installing on my ’32 Ford project. At this time it is tacked in place and I think it will work as I hope. I still need to tweak the positioning. I ran the bar through the square tube crossmember and the arms ended up directly over the rear axle. Also you can see the Welder Series exhaust hangers near the transmission tail housing and one behind the pipe passing over the rear axle. These are the parts that I recently ordered from you.

The bar runs through the square tube crossmember.
Our exhaust hangers were used as well.

New Testimonials

Over the weekend, I received a few emails from some happy customers, which is always nice!

Regarding our sway bar kit:

Just a note to advise that the Welders Series universal swaybar kit I installed some months back , may well have saved our lives .

We were traveling on Saturday , cty rd 10 , outside of Hanover , coming back to our motel  from the Jamup show , 60 mph , when an unknown vehicle turned  left in front of us    “right now “,,,,, quick reaction hard crank to left ,brakes on hard ,  missed them , then hard crank to the right , missed the oncoming pickup truck ,,,,,, all over in the blink of an eye ,,,, NO QUESTION  that the rear sway-bar kept body roll to a minimum , and allowed us to retain control ,,,,this would have been a major bodily injury , or fatality for Barb or I ,,,,,,,,and on my 75th birthday ,,,,, one can only thank God for his mercy’s ,,,and Horton folks for quality products … jp

And this note regarding a set of Buick “baby” nailhead engine mounts:

Paul,

Thanks so much for building the engine mounts for my 322 Buick engine. I received them last week, and they look great, the bolts align perfectly. I don’t have them bolted to the engine yet, because it is still in the run stand. (having some cam and lifter problems) When I get it out of the stand and ready to go into the chassis I will take some photos. I hope you can market these to some other folks, they are getting to be popular for rods.

Larry

…and this complementary note:

Good Morning!

                I received my order in good condition on Thursday 18 Aug 16. It was opened and inspected today (19 Aug) and I discovered 3 (!) catalogs with a date of 14 Jun 16. 1st reaction was: “Well now! Wonder what’s up with this??”  Reading the information gave the answer; One copy will go in a binder of some sort and the others will go to friends. Thank you.

                I placed an order for a couple small pieces that looked good to finish an engine swap in my IHC S-120 4×4 pickup: I needed to adapt a Speedway 8” drop engine swap crossmember for use as a transmission mount  instead. The tranny mount and the reinforcement tabs I received look like they will be more than adequate for this. I’ll know more by Wednesday 24 Aug 16; if I have issues, I’ll let you know.  

                I appreciate that you have the various pieces of your kits pictured within the catalog. One of the issues with the above mentioned pickup, is that the power steering that was added by a previous owner can’t be added easily to the Chevy 250-6 (that’s going in) without a rather expensive aftermarket  NOS bracket, and then I’d need to tweak that to suit. The PO made a pretty good bracket to mount the steering pump to the right side of the original IHC engine, and to move it to the other side of the Chevy engine with the NOS bracket would involve considerable work.  Having the kit bits pictured in very nearly actual size has made it possible to match several of the frame bracket bits to the available accessory mounts on the front right of the Chevy engine.   I hadn’t expected the boon of having pictures to match to the necessary accessory bolt holes, but I thank you for the forethought to include pictures in your catalog!!  Treat others as you would like to be treated, indeed!

                My guess is, at some point one of you said, probably in passing, “It sure would’ve been nice to have a picture of this piece before I bought it! Now I have to either eat this or send it back! Man! What a hassle!” And one thing led to another…

                 I thank you very much indeed for the pieces I have; more are likely to be ordered as I find things, that need your kit bits to fix, on the old Binder.

                                 Mike

Thanks very much for taking the time to write. We’ve always had great customers, and will continue to look after you as we would like to be looked after.

Dear Welder Series… what tie rod ends with 60″ MII?

Dear Welder Series…
When using the MII cross member, what tie rod ends are used on the 60″ track width?

Dear Robert…
Robert, it’s best to use rack extenders, but Fairmont tie rod ends can be used. The rack extenders are available from street rod companies that sell racks. They extend the center of the rack at each end. There are different thread pitches on Mustang racks, so I suggest getting the rack and extenders from the same company at the same time. Have 2″ extenders put on each end of the rack.

Paul Horton

Dear Welder Series…
Question on the triangulated 4 link. I will be ordering the triangulated kit to us on my 8.8 going in my 57 F100. I’m going to order the rear first to see what kind of stance the truck has with a straight axle. I would like to do the MII front end but the vin # is stamped right where the upper brackets would go and I can’t cover that. My question is, do all 4 bars have to be level? Ride height is an unknown till the axle is in. Will anything be affected by having the bars angled?

Dear Robert…
Robert, the installation tips are at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26254738/Instructions/318500IN.pdf . These are the instructions for the regular and 8.8 4-link. If your 8.8 is from a Mustang, order the 8.8 kit. If your 8.8 is from a leaf spring vehicle, order the regular kit. The bars do not have to be level. There is some tolerance with the mounting points, too.

A comment regarding ride height: We always build so the finished project is at the ride height we want. This is easier to do with coil-overs or air bags than with leaf springs. Ride height clearance over the rear end can be 3″. It might be necessary to c-notch the frame if the ride height you want puts the bottom of the stock rail too close above the axle tube. Make sure there is clearance between the top of the differential housing and the bed floor when the suspension is fully compressed.

The ride height with the stock front suspension should be fairly easy to establish. Then you can stand back and see if the truck is sitting the way you want. If it isn’t, make changes so it will. This will take more time, and maybe more money up front, but you will be happier with the finished product.

I hope this helps with your planning.

Paul Horton

Louisville 2016

The shop will be closed from Wednesday – Tuesday while the whole staff is attending the Street Rod Nationals PLUS in Louisville KY. Paul and Dorothy are driving the ’40 down, and I’m driving the ’32. If you see me in the 32, reach in and grab a shop rag!

We will still be checking emails and voicemails while we’re away. If you’re on Facebook, please follow us – I’ll be posting pictures and maybe even doing some live videos during the show. www.facebook.com/paul.hortons.welderseries/

Hope to see you there!

I’m not bringing any cute girls with me this year 🙁
The 40 should flip 100,000 miles this summer!

Syracuse

I’m getting ready to leave for the Syracuse Nationals Wednesday morning, and Paul & Dorothy are heading down on Thursday. That being said, if you call the shop and someone answers, please keep them on the line while simultaneously calling the RCMP, eh.

I’ll have our new shop rags, catalogs, and coloring pages in the ’32 which will be parked beside the Tucci Hot Rods tent, right in front of the main vendor building. There is a coupon in your event program which will get you a free rag!

See you at the show?!

Update: We had a great weekend! All the rags were given away, starting first thing Friday morning. You can check out the Welder Series Facebook page for pictures.

Discontinued Product: short flat front crossmember

We’ve decided to discontinue the 24″ wide flat front crossmember, making the 28″ wide crossmember the winner of the revered “Flat Front Crossmember Battle of 2016”.

The 28″ kit can still be trimmed to fit inside your frame rails, with the option of using it as a C notch if you change your mind about how low you want your front end (hint: you want it lower!). Click the image to view the item in our web store.

flat front crossmember

Worth Repeating

I honestly can’t remember if I posted these pictures yet, but I was going through flagged emails tonight and I know exactly why this one was flagged.

D&D Rod & Custom in Church Hill TN do really, really clean work. They narrowed one of our Mustang II crossmember kits for this 1950 Mercedes frame, and used an assortment of other Welder Series pieces. I like the little tab on the engine mount plate which mounts the lower tab of the alternator. Also, check out their frame table… see the two pieces of C channel welded back to back with a few spacers between them? From what I can gather, a bolt slides in the space between the channels, and tightens on a plate top and bottom. Simple way to adjust the width of the uprights! Clever fellas.

Excellent work, guys!
Welder Series four link.
Narrowed Mustang II coil spring kit.
Clean and simple engine mount with alternator tab built in.

Dear Welder Series… stock Mustang II control arms?

Dear Welder Series…
Bought a mustang 2 crossmember kit that takes coil overs last year from your website… Wondering if the mustang 2 stock control arms ( upper and lower) will work….

Dear James…
They will, but it might be hard to find coil-overs that will fit the lower arms, the upper mounts and clear the stamped upper arms.  

The lower arms require a coil-over with a fairly high lower spring seat to clear the stamping. The lower coil-over mount will need some spacers to make up the inside dimension of the arm. The hole in the stock lower arm takes a 7/16” bolt, so it would have to be opened up to the size of the coil-over lower hole.

Our coil-over kit upper mounts are for conventional-style coil-overs that have an “eye” top mount. When you order coil-overs for the stock lower arms, the person filling that order will think you need a coil-over with an upper mount like the stock MII shock, which can be thought of as a threaded extension of the shock shaft. The hardware in our kit is 1/2”, so you should be sure the coil-over upper is for a 1/2” bolt.

The stamped stock uppers are bulkier than tubular ones around the ball joint and I’m not certain that they will clear the coil-over spring when the ball joint is in a low position (as when the frame goes up).

Seemed like a simple question but there is a more involved answer. I hope this helps.

Paul

Dear Paul…
Ok thanks for the fast reply. So I guess I should use tubular control arms… Should I use narrowed ones or the regular ones? As for coil overs what do you recommend to use or brand to go for? And lastly for power rack and pinion, can I use a 78 mustang 2 or is there one you recommend to use with your crossmember?

If I would’ve gotten the other crossmember instead of the coilover ones…  The stock control arms would’ve worked?

Please email me back on to what control arms, power rack, and coil overs i should use for my truck…  

Lastly, I’m driving to Ontario in a few months for a few weeks and visit the folks, I was wondering if I can drop by your shop and drop off a running board bracket to be remanufactured ( I would need 6) and I’m planning to buy a 4 link but don’t exactly know where to start. Would you be able to give me quotes for the bracket?

Thanks a million Paul.

Dear James…
James, the tube arms are more money, but maybe not much more when you add the strut rods, bushing, and gussets. The ride with the tube A-arms will be much smoother. I’ve had both on our ’40 Ford and was amazed at the improvement from a good ride to a great ride. Stock or narrowed arms depend on the brake kit. 

I don’t think it matters whose North American made control arms you use. The ’78 power rack you ask about will be fine. If you have to source one, it will be easier to find a ’79 and newer Fox body power rack. Regarding coil-overs, I suggest you check with Canadian street rod shops to see what their policy is regarding spring exchange, if required. It will be easier to change springs when dealing with a Canadian company rather than with US and Canada Customs. I realize these are general answers but there are several good companies making and/or selling those parts.

I hope this helps, too. Thanks for asking me.

Paul

Dear Paul…
Thank you for the info good Sir! I will swing by your shop soon enough and planning to pick your brains more than I already have! Thank you again

Dear James…
I realize I did’t answer about the running board bracket. I’d need the bracket for a few days while I do a CAD drawing. Then I can quote it.

I’m not at the shop all day, every day anymore. If I know when you plan to come, I’ll be sure to be there or see if another time would suit.

Paul

Shop Tour This Saturday

Garage Crawl PDF

Grant Kay has put together another breakfast and garage crawl around our area of Southern Ontario. He was in today with an update of 156 people!

If you’re still interested in the crawl (breakfast is full), check out the attached PDF and get in touch with Grant. We’ll be open this Saturday so people can check out our little operation and pick up some stickers :). I heard that my wife may be doing some baking too…

Dear Welder Series… 351W engine mounts?

Dear Welder Series…
I have a 50 ford truck with a early camaro subframe and a 396 in it. I want to swap a 351 windsor into it. Do you offer motor mounts for this swap?

Thanks

Dear Lee…
We make a couple of mounts for your 351W, Lee.

http://welderseries.com/Ford-Engine-Mounts-Urethane-Bushed

http://welderseries.com/Ford-Engine-Mounts-Rubber-Insulated

There might be some oil pan clearance issues with the Camaro clip. Probably a good idea to trial fit the 351W before burning any bridges.

Thanks for looking at Welder Series parts.

Paul Horton