Not quite, but the firewall on this year’s Road Tour coupe now accommodates our Ford Coyote hi-po V-8

In this installment of the 2012 AMSOIL/STREET RODDER Road Tour ’40, Troy Ladd and his crew at Hollywood Hot Rods are making a recessed firewall. You might wonder why the firewall needed modification at all. When Bob Drake designed his “new” ’40 Ford coupe, he decided to offer both a stock firewall and an optional Hot Rod 5-1/2-inch recessed firewall that can accommodate a wide range of both small- and big-block V-8 engines. The body we’re using already had the Hot Rod firewall.

Two issues drove the firewall modification. First, the Ford Coyote V-8 with dual overhead camshafts is an extremely wide engine, actually wider than an early Chrysler Hemi. (The Ford Racing 5.0L Mustang Boss 302 crate engine takes the Ti-VCT 5.0L engine to the next level of performance with high-flow CNC cylinder heads and revised intake to deliver 444 hp and 380 lb-ft–plus of torque on premium gas.) Second, this car is being built for serious driving; even occasional autocross use, so the engine has been moved back, bringing the front spark plug slightly behind the front axle centerline. This helps balance the weight between the front and rear of the car.

As with any metal fabrication process, it’s always a good idea to plan ahead, and make at least a mental checklist of all of the steps for the process. First, Ladd’s crew took careful measurements from the new engine and transmission, and these dimensions were used to determine the size, shape, and location of the new firewall recess, and to plot exactly where the Drake Hot Rod firewall would be cut away.

With the plan worked out, they carefully laid out the cut lines on the center of the firewall, double-checked everything, and then used an abrasive wheel in a hand-held grinder to cut the opening. With this step completed, careful dimensions were taken for the new firewall recess, and these dimensions were transferred onto a piece of 18-gauge cold-rolled steel sheet.

Ladd has made a special radius-bending attachment for his manual leaf brake, and that allows him to make beautiful, rounded corners for items like this firewall recess. Four carefully laid-out bends were required for the recess, and the blank was made slightly oversize to allow for trimming later.

Once the recess could be fitted into place, several areas on the old firewall required a “tune-up” to allow a precise fit. With these modifications made, the new insert could be properly positioned, and the upper edges and the sides were marked for trimming.

The abrasive cut-off wheel was used again to trim the upper edge of the new recess, and the cut edge was trued and smoothed with a small handheld disc sander. The sides of the insert were rough-cut with the cut-off wheel, and since these edges were completely straight and flat, they were hand-trimmed with aircraft shears.

Once the edges of the recess were finished, a filler piece was made to attach to the top edge. This was carefully laid out, then rough-cut with a bandsaw, and tuned-up with a hand sander. When this was completed, the top edge of the insert was rounded-over with a special set of “tank” dies on a power beading machine. This edge was curled to about 45 degrees, with the idea of curling the edge of the metal it would mate to as well. This strategy creates a beautiful rounded edge, and even more importantly, the strength provided by the curl will go a long way toward keeping the metal from distorting from the welds.

Next, the top edge of the recess was curled with the beading machine, to match the top filler piece. Then, the recess and the cap strip were tack-welded together, the joint was worked with an Eastwood hammer and dolly to smooth out any irregularities, and the panels were finish-welded together with a Miller Diversion 180 TIG welder.

The next step was fitting the recess assembly into place to check the fit one last time. After the final adjustments were made, the new recess was tack-welded into place, and all the joints were worked with a hammer and dolly. There were two small areas at the edges of the recess that required special care because of the extreme convolutions required there. The solution was to cut a small section of metal away and fashion properly contoured filler pieces. These were carefully fitted into place, tack-welded, and trued with a hammer and dolly in preparation for the finish welding.

After giving everything one last inspection, all of the panels were welded together. If you look closely at the photos, you’ll see the strategy the Hollywood Hot Rods crew used for this sensitive job. They made a series of small welds, about 1-inch long, skipping 6 or 8 inches away for the next welds. This “skipping around” technique is great for keeping the metal as cool as possible, which keeps distortion from welding to a minimum.

The final steps were sanding the convex tops off of the weld beads, raising any low spots with careful hammer and dolly work, and re-sanding until everything was perfectly smooth. As you’ll see in the accompanying photos, the end result is superb; the new firewall recess is just as straight, smooth, and uniform as a die-stamped part, and it is entirely consistent with all the other top-quality work being done on this project from start to finish.

Keep an eye out for the next stage of the Road Tour ’40 project. We don’t want to give it all away, but have you ever wondered if the classic shape of the ’40 Ford roofline could be “sweetened”? You’ll love seeing the next steps being planned by the talented crew at Hollywood Hot Rods.

Tools You Will Need

5-inch right-angle electric grinder, Abrasive cutoff wheels, 2- and 3-inch right-angle pneumatic sander, 2- and 3-inch sanding discs, Aviation shears, Body hammers, Dolly blocks, Pneumatic die grinder, Thin 3-inch cutoff discs, Magnet, Tape measure, Scriber, Straightedge Circle template, Marking pen, Bandsaw, Tank dies for bead roller, Power deep-throat bead roller, Miller TIG welder, Sheetmetal bending brake

AMSOIL Inc.
(800) 956-5695
www.amsoil.com

Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts
(704) 786-8139

http://www.dennis-carpenter.com/

Hollywood Hot Rods
(818) 842-6900
www.hollywoodhotrods.com

The Eastwood Company
(800) 343-9353
www.eastwood.com

Miller Electric Mfg. Co.
(920) 734-9821
www.millerwelds.com

With Bob Drake and company moving onto new product and parts development, Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts has been named the Official Body and Sheetmetal Sponsor for the 2012 AMSOIL/STREET RODDER Road Tour.

The ’40 Ford coupe reproduction steel bodies are assembled at the Real Deal Steel facilities in Sanford, Florida. Real Deal Steel is the company that introduced the ’55-57 Chevrolet reproduction steel bodies to the hobby in 2011. Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts is a national distributor for the ’40 Ford coupe bodies and the exclusive distributor of the fenders, doors, decklid, and the individual body and sheetmetal panels that are used in the completed bodies.

Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts is a familiar name in the auto restoration hobby, and has been for many years. In 1968, Carpenter needed a set of plastic knobs for a ’40 Ford DeLuxe he was restoring. Not able to find quality originals, he set out to reproduce a set of knobs for his ’40. The rest, as they say, is history. Carpenter and company grew along with the auto restoration hobby and now produce over 11,750 different classic Ford parts. They have even expanded into the popular Ford tractor and Cushman scooter restoration market. Many of their products are produced at their 300,000-square-foot facility in Concord, North Carolina, just down the road from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Work is progressing on our ’40 Ford DeLuxe coupe and everything is right on schedule. Scott Bonowski and the pros at Hot Rods and Hobbies, in Signal Hill, California, have applied the beautiful copper PPG waterborne paint and the body has headed back to Troy Ladd and the team at Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank to finish the build that they started last fall. We are all anxiously looking forward to our summer on the Road Tour in the Ford Coyote-powered ’40. We are also looking forward to our new relationship with Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts, their reproduction ’40 Ford coupe body, and their complete line of Ford parts and accessories.

By Gerry Burger

Building a platform for a street rod that will be able to drive across this country several times and compete at an autocross or two calls for a chassis that incorporates good road manners, an enhanced handling package, and big brakes to match. This is no small order, but luckily the team at Fatman Fabrications was up to the task.

They began the 2012 AMSOIL/Street Rodder Road Tour chassis based on their basic ’40 chassis. The key to good handling is good tires, and that means big rubber on all four corners. To facilitate the additional rubber, the frame was pinched up front and in the rear the chassis was stepped inward in the wheelhouse area to allow for big wheels and tires on the back.

In the Feb. ’11 issue of Street Rodder, we covered the basic frame fabrication and installation of the front suspension. In this second segment we will install the Strange Engineering rear axle housing along with a set of their coilover shocks and four-link arrangement. Brent Vandervort, aka the Fatman himself, jumped in to fabricate an adjustable rear sway bar to complete the rear suspension.

The big challenge came from the combination of high-performance parts and packing them between the stepped framerails of a ’40 Ford. Once again team Fatman was up to the task and they managed to mount the two coilover shocks, a sway bar, and four-link brackets on the big Strange Engineering rear housing.

Mounting the non-power, polished aluminum Wilwood master cylinder under the floor proved to be a simple affair and the big rear brakes with cross-drilled rotors were bolted to the rearend housing, effectively completing the suspension and brakes. The completed chassis was shipped to Hollywood Hot Rods where the brand-new, all-steel ’40 coupe body was joined with the Fatman Fabrications frame. Hollywood Hot Rods will handle the remainder of the build and like all of the Street Rodder Road Tour cars you can bet the craftsmanship and selected parts will be second to none.

AMSOIL Inc.
(800) 956-5695
www.amsoil.com

Fatman Fabrications
(704) 545-0369
www.fatmanfab.com

Flaming River
(800) 648-8022
www.flamingriver.com

Strange Engineering
(847) 663-1701
www.strangeengineering.net

Wilwood Brakes
(805) 388-1188
www.wilwood.com

Yogi’s Inc
(800) 373-1937
www.yogisinc.com

By Gerry Burger

What started in 1996 as a cool idea to drive a street rod around the country has turned into a Street Rodder legacy. Every tour has been led by the same man, Jerry Dixey, but the only thing these tours have in common is the driving. The vehicles have been wildly diverse, from open roadsters to last year’s ’55 Chevrolet.

This year we’re building an old car with new parts, a theme many of our readers embrace. The 2012 AMSOIL/Street Rodder Road Tour car is a ’40 Ford coupe based on a brand-new chassis from Fatman Fabrications, topped off with a new all-steel bodies from Dennis Carpenter. In keeping with the new approach, power for the coupe will be supplied by a new 5.0L Coyote motor from Ford Racing coupled to an automatic six-speed transmission from Gearstar. Blending all these new parts into a great street rod will be handled by Troy Ladd and his crew at Hollywood Hot Rods.

With the renewed interest in autocross at street rod events, this coupe will be designed to hit the open road and to tackle the cones. Good handling demands good chassis design and to that end the team at Fatman Fabrications employed the best products available to ensure this ’40 would have ample stopping, steering, and overall grip.

Starting with the standard Fatman Fabrications perimeter chassis that is fabricated from formed rectangular tubing, the frame was stiffened with a box tubing X-member. Up front framerails were pinched inboard and the crossmember is a custom fabricated piece that has been narrowed to allow for larger tires up front. Of course that creates a need for a narrow rack-and-pinion so a new Flaming River rack was mounted to the front of the crossmember. The associated Mustang II-style suspension was added with Fatman polished stainless steel control arms and a pair of Strange Engineering adjustable coilover shocks, providing the ability to tune the ride height, shock stiffness, and corner balance the chassis. The hollow sway bar mounts through custom fabricated mounts and the bar is adjustable, making it possible to tune this chassis for handling.

Out back, the standard Fatman chassis was stepped in to provide room for large rear tires. The Strange rear axle housing is mounted with a Fatman four-bar arrangement, and once again a set of Strange Engineering adjustable coilover shocks provide suspension that includes ride height adjustment and adjustable spring damping.

The stepped frame in combination with the large centersection of the Strange Engineering rear axle housing and the coilover shocks presented some interesting challenges for the fabricators at Fatman. Brent VanDervort stepped in and designed the sway bar brackets specifically for this chassis, though we suspect similar units will soon be optional on many of his frames. Once again the hollow sway bar is mounted with adjustable sliders so the rear suspension can be tuned for perfect handling. When it was all completed the rear suspension takes on a very business-like look and it is apparent at a glance that this is one high-performance chassis.

With the Strange Engineering coilovers and Fatman Fabrications hollow sway bars on each corner, the next task was stopping the car. Wilwood handled this chore with big mono-block six-piston calipers up front and slightly smaller four-piston caliper found on the rear. A Wilwood master cylinder was mounted under the floor. The use of big two-piece rotors and aluminum calipers will effectively drop the unsprung weight of the suspension, which goes a long way toward improved handling. The only thing left to complete this high-performance braking system is stainless steel brake lines that will be formed by Hollywood Hot Rods.

We spent several days at Fatman Fabrications watching the chassis team pull together to get this project done on time and shipped out to Hollywood Hot Rods for assembly. We enjoyed seeing these craftsmen working to meet the deadline and to that end we’d like to thank Mike “Bubba” Craig, Jason Layton, Chris Elliot, Pete D’Orta, and the man himself, Brent VanDervort for their hard work. Now let’s take a close look at what their collective efforts have yielded for our 2012 AMSOIL/Street Rodder Road Tour car. This car will prove to be one of the best efforts yet.

AMSOIL Inc.
(800) 956-5695
www.amsoil.com

Fatman Fabrications
(704) 545-0369
www.fatmanfab.com

Flaming River
(800) 648-8022
www.flamingriver.com

Strange Engineering
(847) 663-1701
www.strangeengineering.net

Wilwood Brakes
(805) 388-1188
www.wilwood.com

Yogi’s Inc
(800) 373-1937
www.yogisinc.com

Click Here to Download Road Tour Registration Form

Sherm’s Custom Plating SEMA Road Tour
October 26 – November 4
Burbank, CA to SEMA Show, Las Vegas, NV

The Sherm’s Custom Plating Tour starts at the Nethercutt Museum on Friday October 26th . Also on Friday we will visit the Galpin Auto Collection and Hollywood Hot Rods. On Saturday we will be in Huntington Beach for shop and car collection tours. On Sunday we head south to Escondido near San Diego where we will visit Hot Rods and Custom Stuff. Monday we make a stop in Yuma, Arizona and then on to Phoenix. Tuesday we will be in Lake Havasu and Wednesday we roll into Las Vegas. On Thursday and Friday we will be special guests at the famous SEMA Show. In the evening we will visit Art Goldstrum’s car collection and on Saturday we will attend the Optima Battery Challenge.

Click Here to Download Road Tour Registration Form

Steele Rubber Product’s “Triple Crown Challenge”
#3 MEGASPEED Show Road Tour
September 14-23
NSRA Nationals North Plus, Kalamazoo, MI to NSRA Northeast Nationals Plus, Burlington, VT

The third leg of the Steele Rubber Products Triple Crown Challenge is the Megaspeed Tour. We start in Kalamazoo and cross into Canada at Port Huron, MI. Monday morning we will visit Hitman Hot Rods and then Lucky 7 Enterprises along the route as we make our way to Oshawa, Ontario. Our Motor City Car Club pals will again greet us in Oshawa and that is always a good time. We will cross into the U.S at 1,000 Islands. On Wednesday we will have a very special day at the Fort Drum Army Base near Watertown, NY. There we will get a close up look at the troops and support helicopters and vehicles that have just returned from Afghanistan. On Thursday we will head to Burlington, Vermont and the NSRA Northeast Nationals-plus.

Click Here to Download Road Tour Registration Form

Steele Rubber Product’s “Triple Crown Challenge”
#2 Drive-by-Lokar Road Tour
September 8-16
Shades of the Past, Pigeon Forge, TN to NSRA Nationals North Plus, Kalamazoo, MI

Sunday the Drive-by-Lokar Tour kicks off with a beautiful drive through the Smokey Mountains to Maggie Valley, NC and the Wheels through Time Motorcycle Museum. Monday morning the folks at Lokar will greet us at their facility in Knoxville.

Monday afternoon we will head north and stop to say hello at Butch’s Rod Shop in Tipp City, Ohio. On Tuesday we will visit some amazing private car collections in the Youngstown, Ohio area. We will even stop at the home of Road Tour leader Jerry Dixey. Wednesday morning we will see Fred Warren’s fantastic collection of hot rods, the new Precision Hot Rods shop in Macedonia, Ohio and Flaming River in Berea. It is then on to the NSRA Nationals North-plus in Kalamazoo, MI for the weekend.

Click Here to Download Road Tour Registration Form

Steele Rubber Product’s “Triple Crown Challenge”
#1 Shades of the Past Road Tour
September 1-8
NHRA US Nationals, Indianapolis, IN to Shades of the Past, Pigeon Forge, TN

The kick-off Tour of the Steele Rubber Products Triple Crown Challenge is the Shades of the Past Tour. We will spend Labor Day Weekend in Indy and attend the NHRA U.S. Nationals. While in Indy we will a center of attention at the Rib-America fest downtown. We will visit the Indy 500 Hall of Fame Museum and stop at some area shops. We head out on Tuesday with our sights set on Louisville, Kentucky. We will be welcomed by the local rodders in Louisville and make some visits to local shops and car collections. On Wednesday we will stay in Nashville and visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Greening Automotive Company — the folks who won the 2012 Ridler Award at the Detroit Autorama. Thursday we roll into Pigeon Forge for the famous Shades of the Past Hot Rod Round-up now held at Dollywood Splash Park.

Click Here to Download Road Tour Registration Form

Ford Racing’s Week on Woodward Road Tour
August 11-19
Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI

For the first time the Road Tour will spend an entire week in one city. During the week leading up to the Woodward Dream Cruise our day trips will include visits to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Pratt and Miller’s new restoration shop, the Walter Chrysler Museum, and many local private car collections. On Wednesday we will travel to the fantastic Gilmore Museum to take part in their cruise night. On Friday and Saturday we will have front row parking spaces for all of the action that makes up the Woodward Dream Cruise. We will be joined the entire week by Editor Drew Hardin and many readers from Muscle Car Review magazine.

Click Here to Download Road Tour Registration Form