It has been over six months since our former partner Adam has taken possession of the fixtures dies and patterns to manufacture these products. I was told by June of this year he would be in production but to circumstances beyond his an my control that has not happened. I do not have contact with him other than the 602-390-1142 cell phone number, I am getting word that this number is disconnected. I apologize but this is the only way I know to get hold of him.

To answer the common questions we receive; We do not have old stock laying about. The last run of product was made last November and sat for months finally selling out in March of this year. We do not have the capacity to build you just one. Without the tooling it is very time consuming and costly to build a production part such as this unless we can build your chassis in house. We do not offer a list of customers that have bought kits, we respect their privacy. However, if anyone has purchased a kit and wishes to sell it I could provide a link to their advertisement on Ebay or Craigslist. It could be as easy as a response to this blog post below.

Sorry folks. It was great while it lasted but we must move on to survive.

Steve

He knew the original Studebaker frames were fairly flimsy to start with and his had been laying in the mud for a few decades. After sand blasting it was obvious it wouldn’t be up to his standards. We showed him his options and work on other Studes we had here at the time and made some decisions. Mustang II with custom tubular control arms, Bilstein shocks, power rack, complete new frame with tubular center section and a narrowed C4 Corvette rear. He dropped off the original frame for us to use as an armature and the tube stared flying.

The rear axle assembly gathered most of our attention. To narrow one of these this much you lose the ability to shorten or otherwise use the stock spring. We converted the stock shock mounts to take Bilstein Coil overs and had to rebuild the steering rod assembly to clear the frame rails. I totally screwed up and didn’t get any shots of that work, I do have the 3D files of the center mount.

First up was getting the body mounts, frame contour and suspension located. We used one of our existing frame clips for the front end and mocked up the rear suspension to see if we needed any special considerations before laying out the 2X4 box tube. Mid build it was decided that we needed a few more inches of space for the rear wheels, this threw a minor wrench in the works but it all worked out.

New frame with rear installed

Corvette rear mounting

CNC plasma cut four bar brackets

New frame from the rear

Tie rod box bolted in place of the orignial spring mount

Frame done we got the nod to fix the rusty parts and fit the body to the frame. This also gave us a chance to change the body mounts and add some really nice bellypans. Most of the rust was concentrated in the trunk area. Both front footwells needed to be replaced and the superfluous rear seat footwells were also eliminated.

The stock firewall was lacking in style for a build this serious, same for the inner fender wells. Wes tuned up his hammers and knocked down some good stuff.

New firewall and fenderwells

I took on the custom hood hinges. In these shots you might be able to spy the firewall mounted brake power booster, inside is a custom pedal bracket with the option of adding a clutch. Wes got to do some extra detail work, the upper control arm openings got a nifty support and rubber boot.

Custom front opening hood hinges

Adjustable hinge mount

Hood in the open position

Control arm cover

Wrapping up the project before it left us, we got a few drawings from Jim Smith

Jeem's pencil scribbling

View from the rear, custom tail lights and mini-fins

Just about ready to leave us

Staged for the door, Thanks Brad!

This old truck came to us as a “street rodded” finished truck. Decent maroon metallic paint and gray vinyl interior. Didn’t drive worth keeping.

Braking was wishful and the steering was about as good as guiding the truck down the road with the same rope steering you used on your first go-kart. The new owner really liked the truck but wanted to actually drive it, he also wanted to make a few changes like a Tremec TKO five speed and a correct dash instead of the street rod billet affair the truck had. It had to come apart after our initial inspection. It had a very poorly installed Mustang II kit from Speedway. The best we could determine was the kit was actually for a 1935-1940 Ford. Not even close enough to work with the Studebaker. The wheels were inset too far and just looked goofy, the anti-dive was backward, the caster and camber settings were not good  and the frame wasn’t even boxed, everything flexed and popped.

Poorly installed Speedway kit, no boxing plates and FUBAR geometry

Proper alignment wasn't possible so the slotted it to death

Looked even worse after Kelly pressurewashed it down

So “off with it’s head” we chopped out everything and cleaned it back to the bare frame rails. There was a bit of minor repair work to be done but fortunately the stock frame was salvageable. I drew up some boxing plates and a new crossmember system that was two inches wider than a stock Mustang II and adjusted the upper and lower control arm connection points to put the instant center where we needed it and to correct the camber curve for the 1″ longer control arms we were going to build and use.  You can also see the tubular frame support and adjustable transmission mount Court bent up and the new Flaming River steering column Kelly installed.

Newly fabricated crossmember and boxing plates installed.

If you spot the tube crossmember was custom fit to preserve the stock gas tank

David (the customer) wanted a manual trans, a Tremec TKO ! The stock below floor brake assembly was butchered beyond use and David likes swing pedals better anyway. Kelly fabricated a new sheet metal box to accommodate the odd Studebaker firewall/dash board arrangement. Then he modified an aftermarket brake and clutch assembly provided by the customer to fit.

Brake and clutch pedal box

Brake and clutch pedal with new Flaming River steering column and drop

The rear got some attention too. The truck came to us with a GM Corporate 10 bolt that was a touch too wide, 5 on 5″ bolt pattern and 2.56:1 gears that just wouldn’t work with the overdrive five speed. The springs themselves were shot, so they came out and got rebuilt over at Valley Spring service. New spring mounts were also in order to eliminate the lowering blocks. We also boxed the frame and installed a 2″ deep C-notch.

Rear frame boxed, rebuilt springs and new shackles and hardware.

In the meantime we got the new control arms fabricated and installed. We used a Dodge Dakota front anti-roll bar also. Bilstein shocks and stainless steel brake lines and a bit of clean up on the frame. We shot it with catalyzed enamel paint. The new Currie rear axle got stuffed in as well as a set of fresh Bilstein shocks. New stainless steel brake lines and the fuel system got treated and reinstalled.

Assembled front suspension

Currie rear axle, Bilstein shocks and Stainless brake lines

Interior wise the street rod dash had to go. Horrid rust sandwich with a gallon of bondo frosting. These are integrated pretty well into the cab. We acquired a donor cab and Kelly cut it out, then carefully trimmed out the offending piece to install the donor dash. While he was busy doing that I designed and built a plenum box to mount under the dash and distribute the cool air from the air conditioning. We also made provisions for the AC unit to draw air in from the cabin instead of hot underhood air. All this got covered up by a nicely fabricated aluminum panel on the engine side.The engine and new transmission got stuffed back in, new through the floor gas pedal from Lokar, the battery box got fabbed, wiring panels got mounted. The cab got undercoated with multiple layers of Second Skin spray on Damplifier. In fact so did the bed and all four fenders.

Engine and accessories

New dash panel and underdash

We buttoned up the remaining pieces as soon as the undercoating dried and delivered it to Scott of Steel Dreamz  where the paint was attended to and and interior got redone. We hadn’t seen it in a while but were surprised when it showed up at the Studebaker International Drivers Club show. Here is the letter we got from David:

All,Below you will find photos of our 1952 Studebaker PU  aka “The Cow Island Express”  nearly finished (but shown anyway) in time for the Studebaker International Meet held last week in Glendale, Arizona.  The PU was built with loving care by Scott Cawley of Chandler Arizona for Lori and me.

The pickup is entirely modified beginning with a Mustang II/Dodge Dakota style custom front end and suspension (built by Steve Szymanski at Industrial Chassis), GM 383 stroker motor (Tony Sanchez), Tremek TKO 5-speed, 4-wheel discs, Currie  9″ rear end and a custom interior by Doug Stinson at All American Upholstery that includes massive amounts of dynamatt insulation.  Scott did the flawless body work and the stunning 2-tone paint which is tweeked current Cadillac CTS-V red metalic and champagne.  The gold leaf pin stripes and lettering was applied by Tony Perez as was the freehand lettering.  Chuck at Metro Plating did the chrome.  Particular note should be made of what I consider the signature piece on the truck; the gold and chrome Studebaker hood piece that Chuck spent rediculous time on.   Blow it up and take a good look at it.

Did I mention it also sound terrific.  It had Flowmaster 50s on it that sounded too motorboatish.  We went to Scottsdale Muffler and had them put on some Flowmaster Hushpower mufflers that are small and look kind of like glasspacks.  With the new tips, the sound is deep and throaty.

It drives at least as good as it looks.  Nuff said.

Besides Scott and the others above, Eric, Big John, Johnny, John the audio guy, Ty and many others worked on the “Cow Island Express”.  If you don’t get the significance of the name, ask Scott or Pam Contes and they’ll tell you.

I mentioned that it’s almost done; it still has a few minor issues and needs like a dead speedometer, door handle, cruise control and the console with stereo and the critical two cupholders.

This unit has a date with Lori and me for Biloxi and “Cruising the Coast” in October.

Oh, yeah, it won First Place in the Modified Trucks category at Glendale.

Dave

Here are the pictures he sent of the finished product.

Thanks David!

Recently we built new movable stands for our shrinker/stretcher machines. Their modular design allows for reconfiguration for different styles of head units to stave off obsolescence. Designed in our 3D solid modeling software, cut on the CNC plasma and press brake formed the 1/4″ steel body is fully TIG welded. Future machines will be welded with Dual Shield MIG to save time. The pedal arms are cut from 3/8″ steel and are bronze bushed with 3/4″ CR axles and all high quality hardware was used. This is meant to last.

3D solid model of the shrinker/stretcher stand

Using the new shrinker stand

And we are now in process of building a new Helve Hammer/Planishing hammer hybrid. This hammer will be modular and reconfigurable also.  This machines primary function is for sheet metal forming. Traditional Helve hammers are very large and hit very hard. Mostly used by armorers and for roughing in compound curves in heavy gauge sheet metal, our needs require a softer touch. The purpose of this machine is for the rapid forming of automotive body panel and trim. It will have multiple hammer arms and drive linkage to tailor the style of hit from a heavy fall of a Helve to a rapid plannishing action.

The body is made fro 3/8″ and 1/2″ HR A36 steel and will be welded with Dual Shield. The stabilizing legs are 1 1/4″ 0.125″ DOM tube and will be gusseted. The body assembly will be mounted to the floor with anchors and high density polyurethane mounts and machine feet for leveling. This will absorb some of the vibration and dampen the machine for slightly better user comfort.

Helve Hammer hybrid base and arm

Helve hammer drive system detail

Helve Hybrid base tack welded together

Earlier this week we produced a simple stamping die to press a design into 18 gauge sheet metal for a firewall on the ongoing 1931 Model A sedan build. This die and punch was made from 3/16″ HRPO A36 steel and will actually last on a short production run.

Die and punch set for firewall design

First pressing test

These are just a few recent examples of what we can do for you.  Feel free to contact us about your project, fixture table, art design, structure or small machine. We have the experience in metal fabrication and forming , tube bending, notching and pneumatic power, hydraulic power, plumbing and and mechanical power transmission to meet your goals. We can build from your spec or if you need our design services to turn your napkin sketch into a reality, we are here to service your needs.

This HAMB thread covers quite a bit of the progress: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=404411

This is one of those things that gets overlooked in the details. The aftermarket has come up with some stellar components and some not so stellar. But when you use high volume production parts, your car will look just like everyone elses. This car does use SoCal hair pins and a SoCal forged heavy beam axle but that’s about where it all ends.

This car runs the spring behind the axle, what is commonly known as “suicide” and requires special batwings or hair pins to mount the spring and carry the entire load of the front of the car. Not one to skimp out we cut and machined a nice pair for this car. Our initial mock up was using the supplied SoCal stainless steel pieces. Very nice with a shock mount integrated. Just not the parts we really wanted.

With a way to attach the spring to the axle, we needed to attach the hair pins to the frame. The shape of the frame plus the location gave us a few different options. Most people would weld a tube or bung into the frame to attach a HEIM or bushing to. We opted for stainless steel tie rod ends from So Cal and fabricated this nifty little plate that cancels the angle between the frame and hair pin.

]]> http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?feed=rss2&p=131 0 http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=110 http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=110#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:30:32 +0000 Steve http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=110 The missing link(s) in your stock 1932 Ford frame, these bolt in legs turn your K-member into a full ’33 and up style X-member increasing chassis stiffness greatly. These legs are made from 10 gauge Cold Rolled Steel and formed in our press brake to mimic the look of a factory made part. Drilling holes in your frame is not required. These use the existing transmission mount bolts and the rear fender bolt locations. We have included a third mounting bolt hole location that would fall inside the rear fender if you desire to install it.

I have two for sale in the product section.

Ross Racing Engines has provided some stellar adapters to mount manual and modern GM transmissions to these engine. We use one of their adapters in the current ’31 Sedan build using a Tremec TKO 500. The loss of the stock Hydro means the loss of the rear engine/transmission mounts. It makes sense to use the mounting pad on the Tremec and mount the engine more conventionally. This was the idea behind the vintage Hurst mounts, we went a slightly different route. CNC cut from 1/4″ steel plate, formed and TIG welded, we picked up the stock engine mounting holes in the timing cover. The mounts are made from Energy Suspension universal polyurethane mounts, we machined the aluminum cups to restrain the bushing and add a bit of class. These will get polished and the mount will be chromed.

Mount installed

So if you are interested in something like this for your own project, we made a few extra. They are in the E-store in plain or chrome!

Now in CHROME!

]]> http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?feed=rss2&p=95 2 http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=84 http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=84#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:58:40 +0000 Steve http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=84 We usually prefer to mount a vacuum brake power booster on the firewall but it doesn’t work in all instances. This is one of those situations, we have a  customer who brought us his Ford F1 frame and cab. His plans with this build are to use a Ford Powerstroke 7.4L diesel engine and a reasonably heavy duty suspension. The frame supplied was pretty bent up and required some extensive frame rail straightening. Once within spec, we boxed the rails and added a 1.75″ DOM tubular crossmember with enough room for the rather large automatic transmission and a crossmember kit to accept the Dodge Dakota components. The owner has been doing some research into using Dodge Van brake rotors to give him a 12″ X 1″ rotor with a 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern to stop this very heavy power plant.

To round out the upgraded brakes we need the rest of the system to be just as serious. Given that diesels do not have manifold vacuum our choice is to use an electric pump or the Hydro-boost system that uses power steering pump pressure to give you some serious assist. The tubular structure under the cab restricts pretty much any braking system to be installed between the frame rails. So our option is to utilize the unused space outside of the frame rail. We did this same trick on the Dynacorn build in the summer of 2008 and it works extremely well.  We used the stock brake pedal arm and location to retain the original look. This put the pivot through the middle of the body mount. It was much easier to measure it up and replace it.

Making the stock pedal work for us in this situation we used a 3/4″ X 36 spline steering shaft and coupler housed in a tube with bronze bushings for long life and durability. The splined shaft also gives us the ability to service the system and make it easier to remove the cab if ever need be. Or just to make putting it all together when painted less of a chore. The old clevis mount was band sawed off and the bushing hole drilled out to 1″ to accept the steering coupler and TIG welded into place. A bit of machine work on the shafting for bushing clearance was need also. With all the components mocked into the proper positions a bell crank arm was fabricated from 3/8″ Cold Rolled Steel and welded to the shaft.

The final connection was from the bell crank arm to the Hydro-Boost pushrod. I used a shoulder bolt, spring wave washer and a bronze washer along with machining a small bushing to compensate for the differing sizes. In the end we have a very durable and serviceable braking system that should be more than up to the task.

If you’re interested in having this sort of work done, drop us a line!

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