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1950 Ford F1 Hydro-Boost Brakes

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.

Body mount and booster mount

Actual part

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.

Modified arm and splined adapter

Splined shaft and bell crank

Bolt, washers and bushing

Bushing and washers assembled

Factory location, plenty of clearance

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

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1931 Model A Sedan build

This build has been in the works for a few months now.  A 1931 Ford Model A that has made it’s way here from Bakersfield California passing through many promising hands before our customer got it. Now we are working for a classic hot rod look in the lineage of Doane Spencer 1932 Ford Roadster.

Starting off with two lengths of 2X4 inch pickled and oiled box tube, we capped the ends and filled them with packed sand. Using a process called bump bending in a hydraulic press we are able to curve the frame rail sections to conform to the outer profile of the body.  Once the basic profiles were created using a simple drawing on the floor we were able to transfer these dimensions into Alibre’, our solid modeling software. This allows me to make design decisions before committing our customers cash in wasted labor. We can also take this data and export it into the CNC plasma to make one off parts for each build.

Perimiter frame mockup

The center crossmember is fabricated from 1 3/4″ tubing, the frame rails got a series of 2 1/2″ holes on the inside and the rear kick-up is fabricated from 2X3 P&O steel tube. The front spring crossmember is a generic hot rod Model A part. we did several mock ups with the front and rear suspension parts in place to confirm our measurements and to make sure we had the “look” down tight.

Perimiter frame and mocked up suspension parts

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Open House and the holiday Kick-Off

Howdy folks, It’s that time of year again. Man oh man did this summer fly by, its been a tough one for sure.

I wanted to say a good by to a good friend and mentor to me, Rick Stewart. I owe a ton of my style and techniques to this man. He is one of the very few that pushed me into this business and I am honored to have known him and called him a friend. I will miss him.

http://www.hansenmortuary.com/obit.php?id=229

On a brighter note, the annual Open house party. This will be the 8th one, so that means the seventh annual? Whatever, it’s gonna be a blowout again. Chris Swanberg is bringing his furnace and we’re gonna melt some metal and show everyone how to do at home casting techniques! This should be a crowd pleaser. And I will give everyone a demo on gas welding sheet metal. DJ Dan and his side-kick Dedo or is it the other way around will be spinning the wax and vinyl again. Most likely an impromptu mini-bike race will break out and there may be some burnouts, you just never know.

We have had some employee shakeups but are pleased to announce Wes Zeller as our newest addition to the staff.

Check the Photobucket over there on the right for the latest pictures.

Steve