Category: Tech

Mustang II Crossmember Trim Lines Worksheet

Welder Series has a free service to help builders lay out the crossmember and upper tower cut lines. If you fill them out, take pictures of them, and email the pages back to us, we will give you drawings showing the sections to be removed. These worksheets can also give us the info we need to provide you with boxing plates. We’d give you a price for the plates and you can decide if you want to order them or make your own.

MII frame dimension tech sheet

Overdrive!

I wanted to give a little shout-out, as they say, for the kit that controls my overdrive and torque converter lockup. Here’s the link: https://www.transdepot.net/A518-Lock-Up-Wiring-Instructions-46RH-Only_c_279.html

I was whining to a customer a couple years ago about how high my D100 was revving on the highway. I could barely get to 55 mph and it sounded like an indy car. Maybe I’m exaggerating.

He told me I could add an overdrive transmission to the back of my 318 with “very little work”. Those three words often accompany a lot of work, so I was skeptical. A local transmission shop (Tri City Transmissions in Kitchener) sourced the A518 out of a pre-1995 Dodge pickup, and I got to work installing it. This was happening right before my annual trip to Syracuse, and I found out by doing the swap on my own that transmissions are heavy. You’ll need to move the transmission mount somewhat, but we have some parts for that. Check out the link for a kit that will let you control the overdrive and lockup without a computer. It’s been working flawlessly for a couple years now. Make sure you have consistent vacuum (I had an arcing spark plug wire and it caused a lot of frustration during my first trip).

Let me know if you have any questions about the swap! I’ll see what I can do to remember an answer.

Dear Welder Series… why are there three holes on the axle brackets?

Dear Welder Series…

Hey DW
Hope all is well sir and you are having a good year so far.
A question came up in our shop this weekend and I am wondering if you could let me know the correct answer when time permits please!

The axle brackets on your parallel 4 link kits- the 3 holes on the rear for shock mounts- are the 3 holes used for initial ride height setup ONLY, or are they options to be used for future ride hide adjustments??

Great debate here on whether they are meant to be used adjusting the ride height whenever you want or if they are meant to be a ‘one time’ use during the chassis build.

Could you let me know the official response please? (I have a $100 wager on this)

Regards,
John

Dear John…

Hi, John.

DW suggested we give you the answer you want for a cut of the action… (Just kidding…)

My “official” answer is: Nobody loses this bet.

Usually the 3 holes are used as a lower mounting point for coil-overs or ShockWaves. They can be used as shock mounts when conventional air bags are used, but my first thought is for coil-over suspension. That’s the basis for my answer.

Coil-overs and ShockWaves have a “designed ride height”. http://welderseries.com/tech/tech-sharing/coil-over-mounting-offset/. We feel a custom vehicle should be built with the suspension at ride height. http://welderseries.com/Right-Height-Vehicle-Set-Up-Tool-p83035424. Physical constraints might dictate the (ideal) location for the upper coil-over mount. The 3 axle bracket holes will give some flexibility to the upper mounting hole location, since the (fixed) coil-over ride height is important to the vehicle ride height. So the wager winner is the initial ride height setup only… maybe…

The 3 holes allow for future adjustments that might involve different coil-overs, different wheel/tire combinations, or a different “look” desired for display at a car show. I have moved the lower coil-over up a hole when going on a vacation trip with a “kitchen sink” in the trunk. So the wager winner winner is the adjustable person… maybe…

I hope you two have a laugh over this and save your money for Welder Series parts.

Thanks for writing. It’s been fun answering.
Paul Horton

Dear Welder Series…

Thank you very much Mr. Horton

As always I appreciate your responses. (I will selectively edit parts of your response and attempt to cut you guys in as I might lose now)

Another question if I may- wouldn’t adjusting up or down a hole as you suggested at the bottom throw off your driveline angles? Or would the difference be minimal?

What brought this about is a wager on my Model A coupe- it rides a touch too high in the back & the wager was whether you can drop it a hole and not throw everything off. 

Thanks, John.

Dear John…
Raising or lowering the rear by 1” on a Model A will change the driveline angle by less than 1/2 of 1 degree. I’d consider this minimal and should not cause a problem… unless the driveline angle is already borderline. Lowering the rear could be offset by shimming the transmission mount.

Dear Welder Series…

Well sir I appreciate your insight very much regardless of the $100 I just lost haha

Thank you very much regardless

John.

Custom Axle Brackets

We’ve always designed our brackets for 3″ axle tubes, but once in a while someone asks whether we can make them for other sizes. Here’s the process:

Brackets are laser cut with a slit along the bend line.
Grab an adjustable wrench and a square, then clamp and fold the ‘wings’. Remember – you’re only bending the little bridges at the end of the laser cut slits.
Weld up the corners, and you’ve got a set of custom axle brackets!

This can be done for any axle housing diameter, bushing width, or bar location relative to axle centerline.

We charged C$29/ea for the brackets, plus labour to weld them. Turnaround was a few days. Please get in touch if you have a special project that you think we can help with.

D100: Rack Extensions

Here’s a quick bit of info on how we matched the rack to our 62-1/2″ Mustang II crossmember.

Theoretically, you could widen a Mustang II crossmember as much as you wanted… the key is protecting the control arm pivot points and tie rod geometry. When you’re thinking of widening a Mustang II rack, there are two ways to do it properly… outside the bushings and inside the bushings.
‘Outside the bushings’ refers to pushing the tie rod ball and socket joint towards the wheel. This has to be done the same amount as the crossmember is wider than stock – typically 2″ per side on a 4″ wider than stock configuration. Longer tie rod ends can also be used on a 58″ wide crossmember.
‘Inside the bushings’ refers to lengthening the actual rack and rack housing. For a much wider crossmember, this might be a good option… there are even racks available that are wider than stock for this purpose. Your crossmember will have to be set up or modified for a wider rack. Welder Series crossmembers are designed to use rack extenders – the ‘outside the bushing’ method.

On my 1968 D100 truck build, I used a Welder Series 62-1/2″ track width crossmember, with rack extenders from Heidts. I used two (4″ total) on the passenger side, and one (2″ total) on the driver side. Our rack mounts favor the driver side, so the steering input shaft is closer to the frame rail and will be more likely to be aimed away from your headers.

Note: the rack bushings mount with the shoulder against the crossmember, and the serrations biting in to the rack mounts. Use a bolt size washer (included in our #24410 power rack mounting kit) on the front of the bushing, and let the bushing mushroom as you tighten the nut.

Driver side ball & socket joint removed.
Rack extender threaded on (use red locktite!)
Passenger side.
2″ rack extender installed (red locktite applied).
4″ total of rack spacers. This is effectively lengthening the rack.
Install the boots which come in the rack extender kit, and crimp the band clamps.
I used these pliers from my EZ Clip A/C hoses.

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?

Sway bar used on Corvette IFS in 1942 Chevy pickup

Here are some pictures of the installation of a universal sway bar on a 1942 Chevy pickup. I installed it to the rear of the a arm because it gave me much more room. It was going to be very close to and possibly hitting on the tie rods for the rack and pinion steering. I was very pleased with the sway bar and the installation. I will and have recommended your products. Thanks so much,
Jim

The customer bent the arm to clear the tire in a turn.
Nice stout bracket to mount the outer tube.

1950 Plymouth Sway Bar

Well, I just learned something… had a message on the answering machine from a gentleman asking about a front sway bar for his bone stock 1950 Plymouth. I returned his call, telling him our kit would require quite a bit of fabrication on his car, and he told me that the station wagon of that year had a front sway bar and he had a line on one.

So I thought I’d pass it along… need a front sway bar for your ’50 Plymouth? Try a wagon.

Custom 8-3/4 Dodge rear end Panhard bracket

John was in to the shop the other day and asked if we had a bracket for his 8-3/4 Dodge rear end to mount the Panhard bar. We don’t have one specifically for it, and after going over some pictures he had, we brainstormed and came up with something like this:

He used two Versatabs to mount the bar and formed a plate to box them in and to hold the bolts.

Thanks for sending the pics, John!

Small Block Ford in an MGB

Grant Schwartz has sent in some pictures of his 302 installation into a 1974 MGB. He modified the 3/8″ engine block plate and welded a section straight down from the mounting holes.

Parts used: