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1938 Ford rat rod build


Barry

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Had a bit of free time on my hands today so I decided to knock up a battery tray out of some scrap 24mm angle that was lying around. Henry Ford would probably be turning in his grave if he knew I was measuring an American car in metric units. 

First thing I did was mark out the steel so I could cut 90 degree angles out to enable me to fold it into a rectangle. Note the safety glasses beside the grinder. You only get one pair of eyes. 

After folding I welded up the corners to make it solid. 

I drilled a couple of holes in it so I could fit the clamp. It’s a cheap universal clamp so I had to drill a few holes and make a couple of cuts to make it fit. 

The plan is to mount it on the floor behind the drivers seat. I still have to think how I’ll attach it. Maybe if I can find some nice countersunk screws lying around. I also have to paint it and find a piece of rubber to put in the bottom. If I have nothing suitable lying around, I’ll use some plywood. 

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That's very neat work, glad to see this project seeing some sunshine now.

Good work buddy, keep it up and hope you have someone to hold your hand in dark moments.

Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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At the minute I’m doing all the work myself and to be honest, I like it. It’s very therapeutic.

Ive had a change of plan. Because there are no pedals in this car, I don’t know where the seat is going to end up so my original planned mounting position might not work. I’d rather just do it right the first time rather than lose half a day later on down the line.

So, I’m going to put the battery underneath the cab. I’ve cut an appropriately sized hole in the floor and it looks like it will work. 

I’ll use the original battery tray I made but I’ll modify it and weld a few bits onto it to suit. 

I have a few big jobs coming up with my day job so I’m trying to get as much done as possible when I have a bit of free time. 

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A bit more fabrication today. 

I added some uprights and a top onto the battery tray I made to create a battery box. Don’t worry about the picture, it’s just tacked up for a trial fit. It was properly welded after.

The hole I originally cut in the floor was a bit small so I cut it a bit more. The great thing about projects like this is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can cut, hack and weld things until they fit. 

Next I drilled and tapped a hole in the chassis as my main earth point. I also need to make a chassis to engine earth but I didn’t have enough terminals so I’ll do it later. 

I didn’t have a grommet for the earth wire to come through the floor so I just siliconed around it with some black neutral silicon. I know it’s the earth wire and it doesn’t really matter if it rubs through as it won’t short circuit but it might rub through and cut to the point where the wire heats up when starting so I put the silicon to stop rubbing. I already made the earth wire and there’s no point having to make another later because of cutting corners.

Battery in, connected and clamped down. 

Ill make a lid for the box at a later date. You never know when something will roll under the seat and short it out.

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I don’t know why the pictures aren’t coming out in the order I posted them. @Carnity

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And I might use black for the positive just to add to the confusion. 

In all seriousness though, it’s all I could lay my hands on. Terminals are stamped + and -. If anyone is stupid enough to mix them up, they probably deserve what’s coming.

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People who are stupid enough to mix them up should not be working on cars anyway, so it should be fine for you to mix them up. :-D

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At a guess, maybe around 700kg. It's supposed to be 275bhp standard so we're talking 390bhp per tonne. It will be properly fast in a straight line. Good for showing up Mustangs and Camaros and a lot of other stuff up at the traffic lights but the handling won't be great. It's an 80 year old suspension design. There may be a chance that I'll have to raise the chassis up an inch and add some shock absorbers but we'll see what happens. I have a feeling that when there's a load on, that chassis is going to touch the differential.

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