Using a different body on 33 chassis..

[RoadRacer]

It's no surprise I'm building on a budget, mine's all donor build than brand new parts, but I'm about done with stage 1. Stage 2 is next, and just a quick look at the order form shows me that stage 2 will cost $11,600 ish (hardtop, roadster windshield delete), plus $1,500 shipping or so. So say $13k.

Now, it comes with a whole bunch of parts other than body - door fixings, windows, seats, exhaust, steering wheel, etc, etc.. but still $13k makes me pause.

I looked online real quick, and found some 32/33/34 ford bodies with all panels I need for considerably less - as low as $4k

Just one example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1932-Ford-5...t/142643666428

Goes without saying, this will likely be a lower standard, (much) harder to fit and will require a much more traditional 'you're on your own to find parts' approach (which can be fun and frustrating)

But $4k.. plus parts as you go along is a lot easier to swallow than $13k upfront. I don't even want some parts like the FFR steering wheel. I can get going now, rather than 6-9 months.

Is this a completely insane idea? It's the classic "trade time for money" situation I know..

[Arrowhead]

That's a fine idea, just keep in mind you'll have to widen and highly modify a "factory" sized body to fit the chassis. I think the doors would need a lot of modification to accommodate the perimeter frame/threshold also. Heck, one of the guys on the 33 hot Rod Facebook page build his entire hot rod from scratch - and it turned out pretty awesome.

[NAZ]

It's an interesting idea and no it's not insane. However, when you stray that far off the reservation you can expect your cost and ETC (estimated time to completion) to grow exponentially. So the first cost may seem attractive but in the long run I doubt you would be money ahead and likely be spending more than if you picked up the FFR body kit. If you really were looking for a custom hot rod and have the skills to pull it off then I'd say it's a great idea. If you're working on a cost saving strategy then I think you'll be disappointed.

I did just the opposite -- used the FFR body (with lots of mods) and built a new chassis. I have way more time and $$ into my build than if I'd had stayed with the "kit" version.

[1932]

I love the idea of a car built to the way you see it in your mind (that is why my car is more work). Put the money off for now, look at what is in your mind then start measuring to see how far things need to grow or shrink.
You need to think and look how changes will look and will they work with other changes? As far as work, much much more, but when you do mods or changes it will make it your car. After all that there is the money and time.
It is only fiberglass - cut it up and put back together!

[progmgr1]

This is an idea I've been kicking around for my "next project", if I ever finish the current '33 build, that is. However, I've been coming at it from the other direction (more $$). One fever dream is stretching the FFR chassis to fit with the '37 Woodie body from these guys: http://www.herculesmotorcarcompany.com/1937-woodie.html. Keith

[RoadRacer]

keep in mind you'll have to widen and highly modify a "factory" sized body to fit the chassis

It is only fiberglass - cut it up and put back together!

good point about width (forgot that), but grp doesnt scare me, I've made moulds from chicken wire, foam before. it's kinda exciting thought having a blank slate to fix some niggles, make it my own, etc. I assume the certification etc goes with chassis number and the body is incidental (although I'll keep 30's vintage looking)

but in the long run I doubt you would be money ahead and likely be spending more than if you picked up the FFR body kit

I'm hoping it's not *more* money, but yes it's not to save money as much as dramatically improve cashflow.

[erlihemi]

I considered it at one point, but, not necessarily as a money or time saver. I may still do one with a different body, BUT, it likely be a later 30's fat fender body that is wider than the standard 32/33 bodies most vendors have. Keep in mind this build is a tubular "space" frame vice traditional 2 rail with mustang crossmember. you need a body that is rigid without a floor unlike most of the glass out there. A cheap "race glass" Willy's body is on a shorter wheel base in case you are thinking way off the reservation. What I wouldn't bother with on stage 2...hmmm

1) Maybe leave out fenders and running boards. FFR has been good in the past about giving you 50/50 price if you bought some of the stage 1/2 during 50/50
2) Maybe run with different seats, like procar or something.
3) You might find a hard top and glass from another builder that didn't use his for less.

Keep in mind that you can nickel and dime yourself to $10K pretty easy. As much as I hate leaving the Chinese parts in the box and getting something else I think the majority of the Kit is viable. Fiberglass gets very labor intensive regardless of the choices made.

My reason for going off the FFR glass would be more along the lines of making a unique car like an Austin Healey on a MKIV chassis or a Briggs Cunningham clone (hmmm). I had considered repro steel body parts at one point also. That's not cheap unless your grandfather left a 37 ford in the Barn for you. You can always do what I did and put a different nose on it. Not sure the parts deleted will make up for the effort. You can get 33 Chevy glass and 37 ford glass to. A 33 Willy's is too short.

I stuck with the FFR body. The next one might go further off the reservation...

[RoadRacer]

This is an idea I've been kicking around for my "next project", if I ever finish the current '33 build, that is. However, I've been coming at it from the other direction (more $$). One fever dream is stretching the FFR chassis to fit with the '37 Woodie body from these guys: http://www.herculesmotorcarcompany.com/1937-woodie.html. Keith

Ha! that was similar one of the bodies I started to build once.. like a stretched 37. In the end I put a grp 55 chevy on that chassis instead.

grp37.jpeg grp 55.jpeg

[erlihemi]

This is an idea I've been kicking around for my "next project", if I ever finish the current '33 build, that is. However, I've been coming at it from the other direction (more $$). One fever dream is stretching the FFR chassis to fit with the '37 Woodie body from these guys: http://www.herculesmotorcarcompany.com/1937-woodie.html. Keith

That 34 Woody would look good on the truck chassis...

[NAZ]

Why didn't I think of a woody -- that body kit is very cool looking.

[Svtfreak]

I considered doing just that. I wanted the FFR frame and front suspension. After seeing what all i would have to modify, I elected to just buy the kit. Body length, mounting points, door shape and placement, suicide doors, completely different firewall shape and placement.

However, I considered one thing that I elected against and should have pursued. What about buying the FFR body, but not all the other crap that comes with it that you seem to be outsourcing? Maybe that’s the ticket.

[NAZ]

Svt, I'd have been money ahead if I'd have done what you suggest -- buy the body and build the chassis. As it is I have a cut up FFR chassis in my scrap steel pile and my (now modified) FFR body is setting on a fabricated chassis.

However, after dealing with that warped body; if I had it to do over I'd skip the FFR 33 HR kit altogether and source a body from another supplier. Maybe theirs is just as warped but I know for sure that if I bought another FFR body I'd have the same problems to deal with as there is nothing symmetrical on that body and some dims are > 1/2" from side to side. Making a NHRA legal roll cage fit under that tight body is hard enough but when left and right are not even close to the same dimensions it's more difficult and much more frustrating.

[mikeinatlanta]

Back to your stated motive for doing this, money, even with an expectation of reduced quality.

IMO: Unless well equipped with a composites shop, the time you would spend on this endeavor would be better spent working some overtime or a second job and paying for the kit. The FFR frame is radically different from other 33 Fords and you can expect to spend and enormous amount of time and materials adapting a body meant for a conventional chassis. Been involved (even taught) with composites for a very long time. Rule #1: Never build what you can buy. You will never, ever, save money. Rule #2: Never build from scratch if you can modify something else to meet your needs.

[Presto51]

Back to your stated motive for doing this, money, even with an expectation of reduced quality.

IMO: Unless well equipped with a composites shop, the time you would spend on this endeavor would be better spent working some overtime or a second job and paying for the kit. The FFR frame is radically different from other 33 Fords and you can expect to spend and enormous amount of time and materials adapting a body meant for a conventional chassis. Been involved (even taught) with composites for a very long time. Rule #1: Never build what you can buy. You will never, ever, save money. Rule #2: Never build from scratch if you can modify something else to meet your needs.

For my money Mike is spot on. If he every writes/wrote a book on composites, I'd buy that in a N.Y. minute.

Ron

[RoadRacer]

The FFR frame is radically different from other 33 Fords and you can expect to spend and enormous amount of time and materials adapting a body meant for a conventional chassis.

yeah, this is the key, isn't it? On a normal hotrod, you have simple chassis rails design.. not the case here. I like the FFR chassis but as you say, they've already made basically a custom body for this chassis. I'd have to do the same thing. I will ask FFR if they sell body and all parts separately, they don't publicize that.

[mikeinatlanta]

They will. And if the steel body comes about you'll have a choice of steel new of somebody's fiberglass takeoff.

[GoDadGo]

I'd stay the course by using the Factory Five Bits; however, if you are going to widen another company's body then C-Flex is a good material that can be considered.
It is used for one-off boats, boat plugs and a host of custom fiberglass based projects.

http://seemanncomposites.com/cflex.htm

[RoadRacer]

The deeper I dig into this, the less I prefer this route! As all of you point out, the FFR body has issues, but they're not even on the same scale as using a 'stock' body that would have to be dramatically butchered to fit. Widened, channeled, grill laid back, rear wheels re-radiused, etc..

I'd get a body cheap, and end up with a huge time investment instead - and may screw it all up. Not to mention no safety net of a thousand people who've done it before!

So, I'll stick with FFR, and spend some time tweaking to what I want. I can't seem to drop the idea of using a 32 grill, and have gathered 3-4 cars that have done it very nicely..and a few that didn't. It may need front end/rad work (and obviously hood work, if I use one), but that at least is a fun project on a different scale.

2018-01-12 08.16.46.jpg

[Arrowhead]

Again, not to be a buzz kill, but to put a '32 grille on it and stand it up straight will probably require you to extend the hood 6" or so (and being tapered means splitting it, widening it and lengthening it). The limiting factor is the lower control arm mounts, you can't just stand the grill up and bring it back to meet the hood. (I had entertained this idea myself at one point)

[AJT '33]

The deeper I dig into this, the less I prefer this route! As all of you point out, the FFR body has issues, but they're not even on the same scale as using a 'stock' body that would have to be dramatically butchered to fit. Widened, channeled, grill laid back, rear wheels re-radiused, etc..

I'd get a body cheap, and end up with a huge time investment instead - and may screw it all up. Not to mention no safety net of a thousand people who've done it before!

So, I'll stick with FFR, and spend some time tweaking to what I want. I can't seem to drop the idea of using a 32 grill, and have gathered 3-4 cars that have done it very nicely..and a few that didn't. It may need front end/rad work (and obviously hood work, if I use one), but that at least is a fun project on a different scale.

2018-01-12 08.16.46.jpg

Hey get the grill try it out and if it does not work then it will still make a great wall ornament!! Its a custom car that your putting your take on it, cant hurt to go ahead and just try it!!

[RoadRacer]

Hey get the grill try it out and if it does not work then it will still make a great wall ornament!! Its a custom car that your putting your take on it, cant hurt to go ahead and just try it!!

Oh, I'm going to try it for sure, and will be deleting the 33 grill when I order stage 2. It's made easier by the fact that I don't want hood sides, and the hood can be a longer-term project that doesn't stop me putting the car on the road.

What's the worse that can happen? As you say, I'll just buy the stock grill and have some fun garage art.

[NAZ]

I have some of that garage art hanging on my walls too. That's the thing about experimenting -- you end up with lots of leftover pieces. I probably return items to Summit Racing and Speedway at a higher rate than most of their customers. I always like to have lots of options in the shop to choose from and worry about surplus items later. That's how my builds always end up costing twice as much as I budget for.

[erlihemi]

I may have enough garage art to get started on the next car... I think the 32 grille would look good. My advice is to get your centerline/ baselines well marked. This body is crooked. I took measurements off the firewall to do the nose and then found close to 1/2" difference in my "other fenders" and the rear FFR fenders don't sit in the same place symmetrically either. Speedway glass can be worse. I had one fender that looked like it was made from the mold of a collision. I made sure I left everything so I could return to the original FFR stuff if need be, No irreversible Frame alterations. Lots of tweaks and minor welds along the way. If you keep the grille upright you may be able to put a short Griffin hot rod radiator in it and possibly get the cap through the shell. Then you can put cool gargoyle looking hood emblems on it

[RoadRacer]

I may have enough garage art to get started on the next car... I think the 32 grille would look good. My advice is to get your centerline/ baselines well marked. This body is crooked. I took measurements off the firewall to do the nose and then found close to 1/2" difference in my "other fenders" and the rear FFR fenders don't sit in the same place symmetrically either. Speedway glass can be worse. I had one fender that looked like it was made from the mold of a collision. I made sure I left everything so I could return to the original FFR stuff if need be, No irreversible Frame alterations. Lots of tweaks and minor welds along the way. If you keep the grille upright you may be able to put a short Griffin hot rod radiator in it and possibly get the cap through the shell. Then you can put cool gargoyle looking hood emblems on it

Yep, I marked centerline on chassis, front and rear, so we'll see if that helps.

I love hearing all these problems with fenders, hood, hood sides because NOT USING THEM Now if only I could figure a way to glass the doors in place and have no windows..

[DaveS53]

I found build pictures to be quite valuable - both to see how to do something and sometimes how not to. This website has a lot of pictures that illustrate how a conventional '32-'33 goes together. The '32 3 window has plenty of pics of the grille, hood and radiator. All of these cars, including my Oze, used 1" square steel tubes attached to the body to support the hood and hood sides. You can buy a side hinge kit that allows the hood to be opened from both sides, but most of these kits only work with steel hoods and hood sides. Most of these builds appear to be fair weather show cars, with no attention paid to keeping water out of the doors or trunk. That sure makes the job easier.

http://www.enginesandstreetrods.com/home

At least one FFR '33 builder had custom hood sides made by Rootlieb. They made the custom hood for last year's NSRA giveaway car that has a '33 body with a '32 grille.

http://www.rootlieb.com/ford-1932-36-hoods.html