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I have collected all the required pieces to begin putting a 1932 Ford frame together the way I wanted for the new Hot Rod coupe.

I’m a big fan of original old Ford parts, they just look right and have the right feel to them so you’ll see a lot of them on this build. Unfortunately, 70 to 80 years off use and neglect usually warrant rework and refinishing but that’s the price you pay for using old junk.

Let’s get started!

This is the mock up roller frame. I picked these rails up for $200 from some guy at the Turlock swapmeet.

They’re from a dirt track Jalopy and look like they were used well. The rear crossmember is a decent 1932 piece and the front one a stock Model A.

The suspension and axles will be going into the new frame when ready.

The front suspension is 1932-1936 Ford axle, dropped by Sid in Oklahoma, 1942 spindles, wishbone, drums and hubs from the 1942 Ford tudor I parted out. I have 1932 spring perches and front spring to replace the Model A stuff.

Rear end is a Chrysler 8 3/4 out of a B-body suspended on 1935 Ford bones and the front spring for the 1942 Ford tudor as well. I’m going to add a torque arm to help control the axle windup when I build the front mount for the wishbones.

1940 Ford X-Member

This is the 1940 Ford center x-member I’ll be installing. This will help stiffen the chassis incredibly while looking appropriate for the car. The x-frame has been crudely converted for use with an open drive transmission and I’ll spend a little time repairing the hacked out spots and cleaning it up aesthetically. Despite needing repair, I’m pretty stoked that this frame was part of a 1940 Ford Hot Rod truck in the past. Nothing like old Hot Rod mojo….

These are original 1940 Ford pedals which of all crazy things, bolt into a 1940 Ford frame. I wanted to run these because I like the original old Ford stuff and it keeps the firewall clean by avoiding mounting the master cylinder on it.

Front legs trimmed to fit. The front crossmember is held in only by gravity at this time.

Rear legs trimmed to fit. Looks good, needs final tweaking to make it ‘right’.

Lowered Rear Crossmember

I got lucky as this rear crossmember came with the 1940 Ford frame I bought for the x-member installed above. It was like buy one get one free! Hah!!

These crossmembers are too wide and have way too much drop for a hot rod, so we’re going to pie-cut it, bring the ends down, and weld it back up!

CHOP CHOP!!!

Four identical cuts. Before you think that’s nothing realize this isn’t paper I’m cutting and I did these with my trusty cordless DeWalt reciprocating saw. One of my favorite tools!

When they say “Think outside the box’…..

I had no large c-clamps and the press was on the other side of the garage behind the Coupe body, not really accessible. After destroying a piece of 3/8″ all thread, I needed another solution.

The weight of the car brought the crossmember flat. High was measured evenly on both sides.

After removing the weight of the car the steel’s memory brought a little open, which was okay because I need to clean 70 years of tar undercoating, primer and rust off this thing.

Put the weight of car on it again so a can tack weld it together and have it retain its shape

It’s still a bit too wide for the frame. I’ll trim the ends off next.

Compare the drop of the modified cross member (red lines) to the original 1932 one (blue lines). This mod will lower the rear of the car several inches over stock.

Here is it, all cross members have been cut and fitted in the 1932 Ford frame I’m building for the new Hot Rod coupe.

Still have to make some boxing plates and repair some previous hot rodder’s hackjob repairs to the x-member…